Qui

We ate at a beautiful restaurant in Austin named after the owner Paul Qui who won season 9 of Top Chef.  I was disappointed we didn't see him there but the food was incredible.

The weather must be manageable most of the year because of the many open air seating areas in most of the restaurants.  I loved the design of the building as well.  Lauren and I kept pointing out cool buildings to each other throughout the city.

The menu was folded up at out seat.  We were able to decide pretty quickly what we wanted but our server did direct us toward eating the partridge which was something new for both of us. 

We both loved the wild japanese hamachi with sashimi, blackberries, calamansi zu and thai chilis. 

And also this dish which was a take on japanese pasta and without any broth to make it a typical ramen dish. 

This was the hen rice a la quique dacosta with hen stock, crispy chicken skin and gremolata.  It was like a risotto and very savory.

The fact that this was a partridge is just a little obvious.  We were given 1/2 of the bird and told to eat the brain which we did.  It was a nice dish with yukon potato and mushrooms.  Neither of tried to chew on the foot but it reminded me of being in Thailand.

I loved our desserts.  Halo halo with seasonal fruit and shaved ice (above) and cheddar cheese ice cream with crispy waffles.  Both again proved that Austin restaurants know how to do dessert.