Eats on 8th

Kyla and I have discovered that we love it when our kids are invited over for spontaneous sleep overs at their friend's house.  Sleep overs mean date night, which also equates to us trying out a new Central Texas gem or going back to one of our favorites.  For this occasion we revisited a favorite of ours, but one we haven't written about yet - Eats on 8th in Georgetown.

Eats on 8th is another quaint restaurant on Georgetown's town square that prides itself on only using the freshest local ingredients for their culinary creations.  The restaurant is located just off the square in an old Victorian style house with both outdoor and indoor seating available.  While the decor and ambiance alludes to a fine dining experience, the welcoming atmosphere and friendly staff will make even the most casual diner feel right at home. Kyla and I still like to "dress to impress" for our dates - which after ten years of marriage normally means Kyla will wear make up and I'll find a shirt with a collar and use that cologne that I got on our honeymoon.  Other than that we were totally in shorts and flipflops for our evening out.

Quaint setting with great eats on 8th Street.

We of course had to start with wine, and while the wine list is modest, it is more extensive than most places we've found in Georgetown.  I had a nice red zinfandel while Kyla went for her favorite varietal pinot noir.  We were pretty hungry so an appetizer was in order, and there are plenty of interesting choices on the menu from duck fat fried potatoes to scallop ceviche.  We both decided we needed some more vegetables in our diet and begrudgingly turned down the duck fat fries in favor of a side salad.  One of the draws to the side salad was that from the menu description, it didn't look like your typical side salad.  With mixed greens, spinach, honey balsamic vinaigrette, bleu cheese, avocado, figs, heirloom tomatoes, candies walnuts, and fuji apples we were intrigued.  That intrigue ended up being the best salad either of us had in a long while.  The honey vinaigrette was the right combination of sweet and tangy, with the sweetness from the figs, walnuts, and apples providing a nice balance to the heartiness of the tomatoes, bleu cheese, and avocados.

Our first dilemma of the night, choosing a starter

Mix of fine and casual dining with the mason jar water glasses - collared shirt and flipflop material with the best salad ever

Deciding on a starter was only our first decision making cross-road of the evening.  We also had to choose an entree, which was an even more daunting task given the choices available.  Kyla's choice was slightly easier since she is a sucker for scallops, and the seared scallops with corn puree, fennel, sliced almonds, and apple wood smoked bacon immediately called her name.  I was more conflicted over my choices, with seared duck breast, grilled quail, red snapper, and lobster mac n' cheese all calling to me.  I ended up going with none of those choices and settled on the bourbon candied pork belly with crispy beans, turnips, and pork cracklins instead.  

This is where eeny-meeny-miney-moe comes in handy

Both of our dishes were awesome.  With the hearty salad we had as a starter, I can honestly say that our opinions weren't unduly influenced by hunger.  Kyla's scallops were cooked to perfection with the corn puree providing an interesting flavor profile.  My pork belly was both savory and sweet with the bourbon glaze, but the biggest and most pleasant surprise for me was the texture and flavor of the crispy beans and how well they complimented both the flavor and texture of the pork.  I personally love it when the side dishes play an integral role in the meal as opposed to be simply a side, which the chefs at Eats on 8th definitely strive for.

Kyla enjoying her scallops and corn puree

Bourbon candied pork belly with crispy beans - as good as it sounds

Of course our night couldn't end without dessert.  The desserts are made fresh each night with the server giving you the daily choices.  I can't remember all of the choices, but the two that we went for were the chocolate roll up which was chocolate cake rolled with a cream cheese filling and topped with ganache, ice cream, and berry glaze - the other option we went for was a lemon-berry cheese cake.  Both desserts were good, but the cheesecake was the standout of the two.  The cheesecake was sweet, with a light texture that wanted to melt in our mouths as we ate it.  The chocolate roll up was the richer of the two desserts, making us glad we opted for coffee.  After polishing off dessert we were fully stuffed and walked away from Eats on 8th more than satisfied with our experience.

Desserts were not only tasty, but substantial

With Eats on 8th having a fairly large footprint just off the square and right across the street from the very popular 600 Degrees Pizzeria, the restaurant is fairly well known within Georgetown.  While Eats on 8th does enjoy a good reputation for quality, endorsements are typically given with a caveat that the place is expensive.  Since we are not locals and are accustom to the food prices of places like the greater Baltimore-Washington metro area and Monterey, we didn't find the price of dinner exceptionally expensive.  Eats on 8th costs as much as a typical night out in Monterey, but does cost more than the average small town Texas eatery.  Comparatively speaking, you get great value when you look at what you pay for what you get at Eats on 8th, making it another gem on the Georgetown square and saving us the drive to Austin for fine dining quality with a come as you are atmosphere.

The Hollow

Tonight the girls' gymnastics studio was doing a Parent's Night Out - 4 hours where they feed our kids and let them play for the low call-ahead price of $35! Sounded good to us! Now where to go for a date?

Kyla posed the question in our new hometown Facebook forum. We got most answers of "eat on the Square, walk around, drink a beer, hold hands" for what to do on a Saturday date night.

Yes, we currently live in a sleepy little town. We like it!

So, we dropped off the girls and walked around the town square. It was voted the "Most Beautiful Town Square" in all of Texas and after visiting a few towns, we agree!

We have a few favorites already. (We only moved here in January.) But in the quest to find somewhere new, we decided to go to The Hollow American Brasserie. Find it here, not that we looked it up before we showed up: http://thehollowbrasserie.com/

We arrived right after EVERYONE ELSE. Lynda offered to let us wait at the bar and find us a table after a few couples had left and the kitchen had a chance to catch up. We decided to wait at the bar.

Kyla scoured the wine list and found a Sonoma County Pinot Noir. Our last duty assignment was in Monterey, California and we were spoiled being in wine country with wine tastings as our dates. Tim went for a bordeaux. We were both happy with our wines.

The decor, if you've ever been to Monterey, is a cross between Lalla's and 1833. For those who haven't been there, it had original paintings on the walls, painted deer heads with antlers on the walls, old wood details and corrugated metal. Kind of a rustic chic. There was an upstairs that looked cozy and quiet, but we didn't go up to investigate.

As we sat at the bar, we saw a few lamb dishes served to the people on either side of us. It smelled and looked good. We learned the chef is Jacob and he seasons everything well. You will not find salt or pepper on the tables. If it's not seasoned to your liking, he requests you tell him, and he will season the rest of the food. Seth, the guy at the bar who likens himself to Norm from Cheers, gave the example of soup, that was "complained about" and was on the menu the next day and was better with the salt addition.

Kyla finished her first glass of wine by the time the table had been turned over and was ready for us. We got our official welcome from our waitress who explained the menus are new everyday. She pointed to the bottom right corner to show us which farms provided the food for tonight's dinner menu. Every day it is fresh farm to table food, served in new imaginative ways.

After a bit of reading the imaginative menu descriptions, Kyla decided on "The Pig is a Drunken Master" a pork dish that was marinated in a local brewery's beer with red cabbage. Tim had a duck dish with the clever title "What the Duck". Plus a small plate of bulgogi with "pickled things".

We were given bread that was baked fresh today with three types of butter, Beet, Herbed, and Honey Smoked Paprika. The Honey Smoked Paprika butter was our favorite as it was smoky on the first bite, but a honey smoothness on the way down.

The small plate came out next. It was DELICIOUS! So good, we are now in the mood for a whole plate of bulgogi and other Korean food.

Kyla's pork was so good she had to call it food-gasmic! It was a huge portion of pork with a generous helping of cooked red cabbage. Tim's duck had a crispy skin and moist meat that was fantastic, plus roasted peaches that were incredibly delicious!

Not only was the food good, but the staff friendly and helpful! Turns out Lynda recognized Kyla from her Facebook forum question. Yes, she uses her real picture as her profile picture. Our waitress checked on us as often as we expected/needed.

This place is expensive for Georgetown, but it's appropriately priced for a gourmet farm to table date night dining experience. We will go back! We may even use it as bait to make our children do our bidding for awhile. The girls love fine dining with us and have better table manners than some adults in restaurants. (We once got them to do chores for a whole year, by dangling a family date night to the Sardine Factory. It worked!)

We opted not to go for dessert. We wanted to try ice cream at the store next door. But that store closed at 6 pm. So we raced across the Square for cupcakes, but our favorite cupcake bakery closed at 8 pm. Since it was 9 pm, everything was pretty much closed. Did you forget about the part where we said we live in a sleepy little town? Sometimes we do.