Truluck’s

 
What would you get if you crossed Sullivan’s, a toney steak emporium oozing with cool people, with Hudson’s on the Bend, Jeff Blank’s extravagant and wonderfully creative Hill Country hideaway? Well, I think you’d get something like Truluck’s.

My associates in the gonzo gourmet club and I blew in to Truluck’s the other night, and what a night it was. Sophisticated décor, but very inviting as well.

And there’s not much that could be wrong with a place that harvests and flies in its own stone crabs every day. When I first found Joe’s Stone Crabs in Miami, I thought I had gone into crustacean heaven. Imagine my delight when Augie ordered up a mountain of stone crabs for the table. And they were fresh, and wonderful. They bring ’em in from their own fisheries in Florida and Belize. Now for Austin, that’s serious.

Then we tried the “voted best in Texas” Gulf Coast crab cakes. Well, you know, somebody’s always voted best of something. Why, I was voted best TV and radio food critic in Austin, for gosh sakes! Anyway, I found the award winners to be a little too smooth and textured for my taste. Great flavor, but I like my crab cakes unadorned … just tons of crabmeat done in that simple, Chesapeake bay style. That being said, I had no other complaints with Truluck’s.

The hot and crunchy trout. Cooked with corn flakes and crushed red peppers and served on mango aoli with a jalapeno mango sauce… this dish was excuisito! Flawless preparation, truly their signature item. I loved it I’m convinced that you will as well.

Another stellar item is the seared sesame crusted tuna. Operating owner David Tripoli brought this one from his former restaurant in Chicago. The ahi tuna is seared on a flat top grill, done with a tamari sauce and served with dollops of creamy wasabi. Order it rare or medium rare and you will be in for a major treat. I am totally serious about that.

We had a lovely bottle of Grgich Hills chardonnay, well several bottles actually, but who’s counting? Nice, thoughtful, wine list. And a great waiter who knew the fine line between being attentive and overbearing.

And dessert, you must try Truluck’s chocolate sack. They craft Hershey’s milk chocolate into a little sack, and load it with yellow sponge cake, blueberries, strawberries, cream cheese frosting, more blueberries and I am here to tell you, this confection is perfection.

Truluck’s is downtown, at 4th and Colorado next to Polly Ester’s. You owe it to your palate to visit this place before the rest of the cognoscente adopt it and make it impossible to get into. So go this weekend. And you will enjoy. They’ve raised the bar here folks, and I for one, am glad to see it.