Kona Grill

Probably not the best idea to review while buzzed, but let's see how this goes.

The new upscale shopping complex near my house, The Domain, includes the chain Asian fusion restaurant Kona Grill. For a chain restaurant, the atmosphere and decor are actually pretty decent. Sure, the "stone" tables on the patio are faux stone, but the chairs are nice and solid and likely where they focused their patio furniture budget.

If you're a beer drinker looking for a good happy hour spot, you're out of luck. Only Bud Light was on special. But the margarita selection is quite good and potent. It's $3.75 for regular, raspberry, or strawberry 'ritas, frozen or on the rocks, and women get an additional $1 discount. The half-price appetizers are well worth it as well. We split pot stickers and chicken satay. The pot stickers are not exactly what you'd get at a Chinese restaurant, but they're quite tasty. Flavorful crumbled chicken and vegetables with a nice sauce and just a touch of crispiness. The satay was good as well, though it's not really satay in the Indonesian or Thai sense. They use a teriyaki sauce to complement the chicken kabobs. Our waiter recommended substituting rice for the default cabbage slaw that came with the satay; that was definitely the right decision.

Happy hour itself ends at 7 pm, which would be hard for some people to make from work, but it starts up again at 9 pm (their "reverse happy hour"). Happy hour specials include half-price pizzas and sushi rolls; we didn't get to try either of those this time, but they sounded promising. And the 'ritas did their thing for a decent price. For splitting three appetizers and having three drinks, all at happy hour prices, I rang up an $18 tab including tax and tip. Not cheap like 219 West, but not too shabby.

So, if you can make it by 6:30 pm (or after 9 pm), Kona Grill is definitely a good happy hour spot, and a welcome addition to north Austin. It's only been open for 2 weeks, but from the looks of it, the nice covered patio already gets packed by 6 pm. Still, it's worth a look if you want to try out a new spot on the north side of town.

Restaurant Review: Tin Star

The Tin Star restaurant has been under construction on McNeil and 183 (across the street from the Water Tank) for what seems like a year and a half. Lately, they look like they're ready to open. Periodically we'll drive by at night, see the lights on, and slow down to look inside. Nope, the chairs are always still up on the tables.

But tonight, we drove by, and voila! People were sitting in the chairs and eating. We whipped in to the parking lot eager to try a new place. When we got up to the door, we saw a sign that read, "By invitation only. Open to the public on Wednesday, November 8."

Oh well, we thought, and started to walk back to the car. Suddenly a woman burst out of the restaurant and invited us in. She said that tonight was a sneak preview for some of their business partners, but that we were invited in as well.

Great, we thought. We'll be the first people in the 'hood to try this place. Well, we soon found out that wasn't the coolest part. The kicker? All the food tonight was free. Niiice.

The place reminded me of Pei Wei. It was sort of upscale fast food. You order and pay up front, get your beverage, then sit down and they bring you out your food. Tech nerd detail: They give you a little plastic T-shaped device that you swipe into a black box at your table. The box tells the kitchen where you're sitting, so they know exactly where to bring your food. Also, the black box has a white button that you can press anytime to summon a waitperson.

We had chips and queso for an appetizer. I ordered the veggie tacos and Liz ordered the black bean quesadillas. Doesn't sound that exciting, right? Actually, the veggie tacos were kind of fancy. They were filled with marinated mushrooms, broccoli and some other veggies, and topped with strands of grated sweet potato. Very tasty. The black bean quesadillas were even better. And the salsa was delicious.

Those two dishes were pretty much the only veggie options, so you omnivores will have lots of chicken and beef Mexican dishes to choose from.

And just when we thought we were done, they asked us if we wanted a piece of chocolate eruption cake. I said, Hyeah. We had the choice of chocolate or raspberry sauce, on top or on the side. We had the razz, and it was really good.

So, if you want some quick, tasty Tex-Mex, check out the Tin Star.

Bye bye, Boston Market

I first went to Boston Market in, appropriately enough, Boston, back in 1995. It was one of the restaurants Leslie had recommended I try during my vacation. Eventually the chain made it to Austin, and because of their sandwiches and vegetable side options, it became one of my main staples when I was too lazy to cook. Over the years, their prices crept up and their sandwiches kept shrinking, but I stuck with them. I knew I was going to their drive-thru a lot when one day, the woman on the speaker actually finished my order for me after I'd just started to talk. She knew just from my voice. That was scary. Eventually, their chicken sandwich got too small to justify the price (it was so small, they didn't even bother slicing it in half anymore). But they introduced really good deli sandwiches that kept me coming around every so often.

However, as my layoff period stretched out, I clamped down on eating out, and Boston Market was one casualty. Recently I went back for the first time in months. Their deli sandwiches were gone. And their old sandwiches had jumped up in price more than a buck. The sandwich/side/drink combo now costs nearly $8.50 after tax. For glorified fast food?!? You can get away with a meal for less at a "casual dining restaurant" like Chili's! (And by the way, did KFC coin that term??) At least the sandwich has jumped back up in size, but that doesn't make up for the price hike. I can't justify spending that on one fast-food meal for one person, job or no job. So, after years of loyalty, I'm dropping Boston Market. That's just too much to spend for a damn fast-food sandwich combo.