Austin Eats: barley SWINE

barley SWINE 
2024 S Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 
barleyswine.com

This place is incredible. 

It’s my favorite type of restaurant – small shared plates, inventive ever changing menu, casual atmosphere, beautiful plating. It’s also very popular and I will share the warning I was given - get there right when they open since they don’t take reservations. I went with three other adventurous foodies so we of course ordered one of everything, doubling up on the most exciting dishes. This is the perfect way to experience this restaurant and if I lived in Austin I’d do it every week.

Here’s a peek at our amazing meal, the entire menu captured by iPhone seconds before every morsel was devoured leaving nothing but gleaming white plates behind... 

grilled okra, black eyed peas, hush puppy, goat feta 

soft duck egg, grilled zucchini salad, popcorn, goat cheese

This was our second dish and the one that inspired the request for "something to sop up the sauce" before our plate was taken away. The server quickly brought back a mini spatula that my shameless foodie friends happily made quick use of scraping the plate clean! (They apparently get this request quite a bit.) Awesome.  

grilled butternut squash, peanut, jalapeno, coconut milk

scrambled egg, blue crab, almond, roasted pepper, avocado 

One of my favorites! It's very light and refreshing, reminds me of summer in California. 

pulled pig face, potato salad, pickle, egg yolk, apple 

I've had pig face once before but this dish wins hands down. If you're curious about the flavor here's my best attempt at a description: It tastes like the dark meat version of pork, if there was such a thing. 

rabbit, schnitzel, shishito pepper, radish, chanterelle  

This was my first time trying rabbit! I loved it!! I am afraid the bar's been set pretty high though. 

crispy stuffed pig ankle, foie gras, beans, hot sauce 

Is there anything better than foie? Another favorite. 

grilled lamb loin & sausage, eggplant, falafel, persimmon

olive oil mousse, meyer lemon, parsley sorbet, chickpea cookie 

German chocolate cake

Hefeweizen doughnuts, smoked pork ice cream, whiskey, chile 

This dessert was absolutely stunning. I've never had a doughnut that tasted anywhere near as good as these mini Hefeweizen versions. With the whiskey marshmallows and the pork ice cream, forget about it. Heaven. 

Before your night is through, be sure to order the last thing on the menu - "Beer for the Kitchen”! It's $1 toward each chef (we had six) to thank them for an incredible meal and reward them with the same suds that inspired it.