At this busy time of year, eating out sometimes begins to dominate what little free time we have. So it was in the 2 days before Christmas.
I'll start by saying, the one
good thing about Christmas Day falling on Monday meant that apparently
almost no one was dining out on Saturday night. I think we could have hit any one of many popular spots, found parking
at the door, and been seated instantly.
Such was the case at Augustine's on Selby Avenue.
The concept of a bakery and bar
had me imagining dunking croissants in a beer.....actually, not a very
pleasing food image. Luckily, there's some variety at Augustine's.
The lack of business on this
quiet night had upsides and downsides. Instant seating, maybe not quite
so instant service, and a chance to enjoy the atmosphere..... But
this lack of food turnover may have had some detrimental
effects on a couple of the menu offerings.
We started with the harissa
tomato soup. Since harissa can be a fiery condiment, we inquired about
the level of heat in the soup. Our server said it was not very hot at
all, but just a little heat at the end of the
bite so you know you had some harissa. We gave it a try. The soup had
some potential, but we fear that it had been on the burner too long.
It had an overcooked taste and any of the 'harissa heat/flavor' had
cooked out of it earlier in the evening. The
croutons floating on top were flavorful. The accompanying bread had
good texture, but not much flavor to recommend it (disappointing in a
bar/bakery). There was a slight bitterness to the soup....all clues
that it would have been better several hours before
we arrived.
So, we had a bit of trepidation
as we waited for the main course that we planned to share.
Fortunately, the food tide changed for the better as this dish arrived.
So, a pleasant visit marked by inconsistency in the quality of the food.
Our conclusion, give Augustine's
a try. It's not cheap ($6 taco), but they are offering 25 tap beers,
attractive pastries (I hope they taste good, too...we'll test that in
the future) and a really pleasant dining environment.
We hope the inconsistency in our dining experience on this evening was
due to the holiday 'slow-down'. A future visit will help us figure it
out.
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