June's All Day opened last summer at 1722 South Congress (at West Annie Street) in the former Wahoo's/Texas French Bread space. With a moniker of "new American," its multitude of twinkle lights gave it a comfortable feel and for me at least, kept it from taking itself too seriously.
On one of these recent warm January days, my friend and I dined at one of the sidewalk tables for dinner. Given the noise from the evening traffic, I am not sure I would choose to sit there again, but c'est la vie. They have happy hour from 4 - 6 pm EVERYDAY with ALL FOOD 50% off (yup) and discounts on various drinks. We sat around 5:45 pm, and our friendly waitress said she'd give us a few minutes but wanted to be sure to get our orders in before 6 pm.
We both had a glass of Weinert Malbec, and wine of course makes everything better! There's the wine list that's with the food menu, and then there's the
Wine Zine list that's in a cute hand-drawn booklet. It should be noted that June's is named for June Rodil, master sommelier of the McGuire Moorman Hospitality group.
Food-wise, we started with the salt cod croquettes, which were perfectly fried and come with a laurel leaf aioli and mojama. Mo-what? Yeah, had to look that one up. It's salt-cured tuna, which explains why I thought it was a buttery prosciutto when I first tried it. Not sure I got laurel flavor in the aioli, but there was garlic, and it was also real good with the accompanying rustic bread.
Next, the French onion soup, which had a really nice thick crusty layer of Gruyere across the top. The broth was a touch on the sweet side; I would have loved a little more thyme or sherry in there or something, but the cheese pretty much made up for everything.
My friend had the matzo ball caldo, which had a really nice spicy broth. I didn't try to matzo balls but I didn't hear any complaints from the other side of the table.
I had the bone marrow bolognese, made with fresh tajarin, or thin Piedmont-style egg noodles. Silky smooth noodles and a wonderfully savory sauce that wasn't overly rich. And given the previous courses, I took over half of the bolognese home, where it made an outstanding lunch the following day. I would order this again in a heartbeat. And I didn't think about light for photos when we choose to sit outdoors; I was forced to use my flash as it got darker out!
We finished off the meal with a Meyer lemon tart. Fantastic lemony flavor to the tart but the bottom of the crust was a bit soggy, which dampens my enthusiasm for it. But the tartness of the lemon was nicely complimented by the fairly neutral meringue.
All in all it was a fine evening, and at happy hour pricing, that certainly sweetens the deal. We encountered very friendly waitstaff at the bar and our waitress Alyssa was spot on. I hear June's has an incredible creme fraiche donut for breakfast, which sounds just up my alley. A welcome addition to South Congress; glad to have June's nearby and I look forward to returning.
