Taverna

Friday night, tickets to Erasure (yes, I still love them after 20-something years!) at Austin City Limits Moody Theater. Needed an easy place to meet my friends for dinner, and thus we hatched a plan: park at City Hall (at only $5, it's a bargain downtown), walk across the street and eat at Taverna, and walk across the street once more to ACL. It worked perfectly!

We arrived just after 6:30 pm, and Taverna had seating availability on their covered front patio. Our table was right by one of the misters, and it was a pleasant atmosphere to people watch. It was sort of like being a tourist in our own town, as we saw the mild hustle and bustle of what's become downtown Austin -- there were concert goers in their Erasure t-shirts, (actual) tourists, people walking their dogs, a group of young women ALL in short black dresses and one in white (bachlorette party?)....fun to watch.


Food-wise, we started with the bruschetta and frito mixto plates. Warning: the photos were taken with my cell phone, as you can't take real cameras into ACL; everything's got a blue tinge to it....The bruschetta was very vibrant, and wasn't over-dressed. The frito mixto had calamari and shrimp, as well as shoestring carrots and zucchini; very well-fried, not greasy, though maybe a touch over-salted for some (not me!).

I had the risotto al vin santo, with asparagus, prosciutto, and pecorino cheese on top. This photo completely washes the dish out, and it tasted much better than it looks! Could have used a hint of acid, perhaps from some white wine, but I ate the entire bowl.

This is the pear and gorgonzola fiocchi (tortellini), with walnuts, arugula, and a cream sauce. It was rather sweet from the pear, but it all went together nicely.

And, linguine pasta with chicken, mushrooms, truffle oil in a cream sauce, very rich!

All of us cleaned our plates, and then went to the concert to dance it off! I had been to Taverna in early spring for drinks and appetizers with friend, but it had been a long time since I had a full meal there. They seem to be doing quite nicely for themselves, and from their website, I learned they have locations in the DFW area, and appear to be part of a larger Italian restaurant family. They do seem to know what they are doing, and they're  positioned in prime real estate downtown to attract whomever is walking by.