Judging Taste North Austin Unveils Some Delicious Dishes

A couple of days ago I was baking in the midday heat at the Domain along with my fellow judges at the Taste North Austin competition. Over 20 restaurants participated and at least for me, there were some pleasant surprises. And the heat only started to bother me about the time the 19th dish arrived.

The main street at the Domain that runs by the Italian Restaurant NoRTH was the epicenter of the event. Throngs of foodies with wristbands lined up at the various tents for samples from the participating restaurants.

I have judged these types of events before and the criteria are usually pretty similar: taste, creativity, presentation (although that’s kind of a tough one when you’re sampling finger foods) and overall impression.

The first one up was a veggie wrap with brown rice from Freebirds. I liked it to the extent that tomorrow I’m going to walk down from my So Co office to their store on the corner of Riverside and South Congress and order one. Then came a pastrami wrap from Schlotzky’s which, in my opinion, vividly demonstrated why the old Schlotzky’s with 3-4 sandwiches was infinitely preferable to the new Schlotzky’s where the menu runs on almost to infinity. The pastrami was very dry and had almost zero flavor. Enough said.

More food came, a new dish about every 6-7 minutes. The first one that really caught my was a neat little app from the League Kitchen and Tavern in Lakeway (and soon to be in Avery Ranch). The mix was cold rock shrimp, avocado with mint, jalapeno relish, crème fraîche in a fried won ton wrapper. Delicate and delicious. Loved it.

Next came a brownie from Blue Baker at the Arboretum. Blue Baker is a mini chain with two locations in College Station and the one in Austin. And while I can normally take or leave brownies, this was one to stop the presses. It was thick with the texture of chocolate chips (they allow it to melt) and caramel, and topped with sea salt. Kudos to head baker Nyssa. I was the only one of the 21 presentations that I actually finished. I just couldn’t stop going back to it.

Also very good was the Bruschetta from NoRTH. Loved the prosciutto and the texture (which can be difficult sometimes with bruschetta). It is a fixture on the NoRTH appetizer menu and for good reason.

Tony C’s from Lakeway and Avery Ranch also scored with their tender and aromatic meatballs. A perfect dish for that kind of competition. And Estancia Churrascaria from the Arboretum featured their stellar Pichana which is an extremely tasty top sirloin done on skewer. It lost a bit in translation as it is best served piping hot. But still very tasty.

Toward the end of the competition a lovely appetizer from Urban arrived. It was topped with an avocado mousse along with spicy shrimp, watermelon, mango, and a dash of Tabasco vinegar. The ingredients were highly complementary yielding a flavor profile that was outstanding.

In the end, the top three winners were Urban, Blue Baker, and the League Kitchen and Tavern. It was really close with the top six or seven restaurants. Only a point here and there. But despite the heat, it was a great day for foodies and the judges as well. Had to pay the price though when I got home: up on the exercise bike.