Odd Duck
It's Thursday afternoon and my last night here in Austin, I reflect on how fast the week has gone by. As I’ve learned in the past few days, here in Texas, Barbecue is king of the kitchen.
The day is not over yet and this trip to Austin is not complete until we make a visit to the legendary farm to trailer restaurant called Odd Duck. It’s a place to share food, drink, and hospitality. Shaped by their craftsman's approach to cooking, the culture of our city, the creativity of their staff and the products from their amazing farmers.
Odd Duck was founded in 2009 by brothers Bryce and Dylan Gilmore with a mission to serve only locally sourced ingredients. It’s outfitted with a wood burning open fire grill using Texas post oak that gives the ingredients a deeper and smokier flavor. They are one of the first restaurants that started to source all their ingredients from small sustainable farms around the area. The concept initially started as a trailer which became beloved by the city instantly after opening. The concept has now grown and fans from all over the world now come here for a local organic Texan meal and finally my time has come with my 5 pm reservation.
The menu was so simple and well-balanced highlighting the quality of the ingredients while utilizing the height of seasonality. Jeff, my server, brought me the draft paloma as my first cocktail which was light, refreshing and somewhat like a grapefruit spritz. The salt foam was a unique garnish to the drink that complimented the lime nicely.
My first dish to arrive was of course the world-famous cornbread and this is one of the dishes that they are best known for. It was topped with cheddar and green garlic butter that gives the dish a savory flavor.
The Redfish Ceviche was my second dish and this by far has been the best ceviche I’ve had this year including being in Miami twice already. The Texas redfish or also known as the spot tailed bass is wild caught off Port Aransas which is near Corpus Cristi. The green curry and strawberry were such a unique take on this dish along with their home-made chips garnished with their own “ODD BAY” spice.
The Dry-Aged Richardson Farm Pork Loin was my entrée which came with a garlic-pecan mole that was nice and smoky and garnished with strawberry kimchi and fried oyster mushrooms. It was topped with a carrot glaze and fresh avocado. This dish was just perfect in every way from the grilling of the pork to the preparation of the mole.
Time for dessert and I got the vanilla bean ice cream with milk crumble and bourbon pecan syrup which was phenomenal.
The kitchen was kind enough to offer me the strawberry sorbet with pickled strawberry and dried lemon meringue which was another perfect dessert as well. I ended the meal with the Beets by the Dro cocktail which was like their digestive which was prepared with still Austin gin, Strega Superiore with beet and lemon.
This was a magical meal and I am so happy that I was able to experience the awesomeness that is the Odd Duck, Austin ☺
#KULINARYATRAVELS will be back next week for the final installment of our Austin series with a trip to Carabao Express…