I'm sorry, but I have nothing new to say about Chez Zee: except that I'm glad to see them expanding into the old Twin Liquors space (and I'm glad Twin Liquors remains close by.)
I like Chez Zee. The appetizers (crab cakes, crab quesadillas, and a pseudo-pizza focaccia) were fairly tasty, and the salads were adequate. I enjoyed my lamb entree quite a bit, though the portions could have been more generous (though the price wasn't out of line for the Fine Dining Continuum). However, I can't really recommend Chez Zee for fellow Atkins devotees, as there are just too many tempting desserts! Hopefully I'll be able to try some of those next year.
The biggest problem there is that automatic 18% gratuity thing for larger parties. (Though having six of us didn't seem to keep our waiter from bussing several other tables.) Is this war lost? Drop us a line to let us know whether you think we should give up our "no automatic gratuity above 15%" Jihad.
YA icky TexMex place. Yeah, it's in East Austin, but so what? The food, service, and decor are nothing to write home about, and I don't like looking over my shoulder the whole time worrying that the agressive drunk panhandler from the parking lot who we told to piss off and who is now sitting at a booth is going to try and jump one of us.
Sucks.
Pretty much your standard hole in the wall TexMex place. Average nachos, average, skimpy if cheap fajitas and tacos el pastor, and better than average hot sauce with some real bite to it. Service was good considering there was only one waitress/owner on duty. I could live without the Spanish language soccer game on TV, and without the aggressive illegal alien panhandler hanging around. Hard to recommend except for those within walking distance, and even there I prefer Arturo's across the street.
Walburg Restaurant is, as far as I know, the only German option for miles around. Fortunately, it is pretty good.
Two of the three appetizer plates we had (the Gemischter Salat and the Schweizer Wurstsalat) were quite good, especially the Wurstsalat. As Lawrence notes, the potato pancake was undercooked in the center: I suspect this was because they set the sauce bowl in the center to heat it up. Important tip, guys: heat the sauce bowl on the side.
As for my main course, the Farmer's Plate was pretty hefty. I even tried some of the red cabbage, not a dish I usually eat: it had a nice sour bite to it. And the band was better than tolerable.
The area around the restaurant, and the restaurant itself, screams "historic" without being pretentious: the restaurant is, frankly, a bit funky decor-wise. (Folding chairs?) I'd gladly take my folks out there for a good meal and a nice country drive next time they came down: if you're going to do something like this, though, I'd suggest doing it in the summer when there's more daylight.
The demise of Gunther's has left Austin without any apparent choices for German food. Hence the 45 minute trek out to Walburg.
We started off with a meat sampler plate, which consisted of cold cuts and cheese. Not bad, but I prefer the teller (sausage) sampler plate Gunther's used to serve. In light of the holiday season, I started easing off Atkins to have a few bites of the potato pancake, which was pretty good around the perimeter, but too undercooked in the center. My veal entree was pretty good and reasonably hefty.
Drawbacks (besides the drive): Since it's outside The People's Republic of Austin, the restaurant has a smoking section. And a band did start up while we were there, but oddly enough I didn't mind the music. Though they're no Brave Combo, they actually did the polka thing pretty well.
If you want German food and don't mind the drive, Walburg Restaurant is a pretty good choice.
Christmas break.
See the logs for January of 2003.