Recent Eats, Part Two

(See my last post for Part One!)

Arro
I attended the soft opening of Arro with some food blogger friends. The week before their official opening, they offered meals at half price, so we happily took advantage. Arro is the latest from Chef Drew Cullen of 24 Diner/Easy Tiger, and his pasty chef wife, Mary Catherine, and is located in the old Haddington's on West 6th Street and Nueces.

We started with the Chef's bread board, with an assortment of fresh breads, regular and anchovy butter, a nice piece of French cheese, pickled veg, and an incredibly creamy and velvety pork mousse. We followed this with mussels and frites, which had a nice broth with it.

For the main courses, there was a mix up with mine; instead of the lamb and sweetbreads dish I ordered, I was given the grilled antelope (with figs, cherries and endive), which was very tasty, but not the lamb I had been anticipating.

Croque monsieur

Steak frites

Desserts, from 12 o'clock: a chocolate creme brulee cake, chocolate pot de creme, walnut napoleon, and lemon goat cheese tart. The pot de creme was the hands down winner, given its fudge-like quality and the sheer smoothness of it.

The interior decor is gorgeous, and the staff was working very hard throughout the evening. Arro is also offering a $25 three course menu, which will be a great value, plus they serve late, Sunday through Wednesday until midnight, and until 2 am Thursday through Saturday.

Mueller HEB
A group of us foodie-types went to check out the new HEB grocery store in the Mueller development a week after their grand opening. The building itself is stunning, and is the largest eco-friendly building HEB has built. And given the summer heat, the mostly-covered patio felt very nice at one in the afternoon.

The cafe menu is a bit all over the place, from Texas BBQ to pizza to Asian bowls to salads and sandwiches. It is certainly trying to please a broad range of palates. Unfortunately, the only thing that they really did well was the brisket, and while it was good brisket, it's not Franklin or Snow's quality by a long shot. The chicken in the Asian chicken salad tasted like it was previously frozen, the egg roll was dripping in grease, the Brussels sprouts were good, but very salty, whereas the Asian rice bowl was under seasoned. And all of the sauces and dressings taste like bottled ones, not freshly made. One of the cafe chefs did come by asking people how the food was, and we gave her some feedback. Again, first week, and when you look at the fact this is a grocery store, they've done a good job. I don't think they will have any problem attracting customers, even if the food doesn't improve.

Cafe Bistro at Nordstrom (Barton Creek Mall)
I met a friend at the mall to go walking (beats the outdoor heat!), and we ended up also having lunch at Nordstrom. I had never eaten there before, and actually left fairly impressed for what it is. According to their menu, they are using local and organic whenever possible and my Warm Asian-glazed Chicken Salad was just the right size and more to the point, tasted great.