Emmer & Rye — Restaurant in Austin

An interesting restaurant with a fun format and some good dishes but also some major disappointments. See note on the salted cheddar chocolate mousse at the end if you’re thinking of trying this dessert.

Inside, the restaurant is modern and elegant. We were seated about 20 minutes after our reservation time, but we were able to grab cocktails at the bar while we waited.

Once seated, you receive a dinner menu. There is also a dim sum cart that will approach your table 3 times throughout your meal. You won’t know what is on it until it comes or until you overhear the offerings from a nearby table. The idea is that you’ll order 3-4 dishes off the regular dinner menu and get some items off the cart, which range from ~$3-$16. It is difficult to plan out your meal because you won’t necessarily know if you’ll like what is on the cart more on pass #1 or more on pass #3. I hope they do away with the cart, it’s an impediment to planning the meal. In classic dim sum you more or less know what’s going to be on the cart, so it’s not as much of an issue.

The restaurant emphasizes that it sources local ingredients (commendable) but the descriptions of the dishes get a bit esoteric to the point that you really don’t have a good idea of what will be coming out of the kitchen. This is fine, but things that sounded very complex/interesting on the menu lacked dimension (beef tartar-didn’t get much potato miso or egg custard), other items were too big (tomato puffed carrots were very filling, could have been cut in half), however others were great (chicken liver tart, emmer Johnny cake). A little too much research and reading between the lines was necessary to know what you were going to get and you might still be surprised (more often negatively than not).

Ultimately, I would give this place an A for effort but a C for execution. Much refinement is needed on dish composition and overall meal experience.

Note on the salty cheddar chocolate mousse:

This dish is bad. I personally enjoy dishes that combine salty/savory and sweet, and one of my all time favorite cheeses is a sharp cheddar marbled with chocolate. I’m an adventurous eater with an open mind. When we ordered this dish the waiter made sure to point out/warn us that it was a cheesecake with salted cheddar and we insisted that we were interested to try it. What came out was the equivalent flavor profile of a chocolate lava cake except replace the molten chocolate with a salty mac and cheese sauce. I wasn’t sure what to think after the first bite, but my stomach was turning by the end. This dish should never have made it out of the test kitchen. There are certainly ways it could be refined/reimagined, but what we ate almost ruined the entire experience. This restaurant can and...

I opted for the tasting menu, and the rating would have been one star lower if not for some creative, exciting dishes showing up in the lineup. Of the 9 or so dishes (and the amount and quality of food is worth the $95 charge), I would only count three or four as being memorable, and two of those were amuse bouches. The first two courses were the most refined and exciting to my palate: a crudo of red snapper and a beef tartar. The crudo ranks as the one I relished best. The carrot and ginger soup/water was to die for, like something I would want included to start off my last meal. I've had beef tartare once before in a fairly popular restaurant in San Francisco, and honestly, it gave me the impression that beef tartare is like pate for cats. Luckily, this dish changed my perspective. The miso, daikon, and sunchokes complemented what were nicely seasoned morsels of beef with a slight hint of spice. Both were cool and refreshing, despite the mild March temperatures; I can only imagine how fitting they would be on a hot day. The first bite of a tiny waffle sandwich with creme fraiche was delightful. I thought I would hate it, because I didn't want breakfast, surprisingly, but the sharpness of the creme woke me up. Finally, the second best bite was an amuse of sweet and tangy short rib with pickled ginger. Talk about a tease. I could get a bowl of short ribs like that, I would have been happy to been without some of the other good, but ultimately forgettable dishes. The pasta dish was good and the steak dish was good. Neither though, were memorable. They tasted like many others I've had. The worst dish of the progression was the sourdough bread. It was carried out on three different kinds of plateware. The bread was pleasing, but it was incredibly messy. I felt like a kid whose pizza cheese was sliding off their slice and into their lap and getting smeared on their face. It came with a strange array of directions, and the toppings and dip were okay. Nevertheless, I would definitely return based on the dishes that made the most impactful impression. I would likely choose options that appear the most unique. Also, their cocktail called The Noisy Cricket...

We visited Emmer & Rye for the first time in November when we were in Austin for the Food and Wine Festival and were blown away by every dish in their tasting menu. We were excited to come back now that we came back into the city and while we had a great experience some things were a bit of a letdown:

The tasting menu was duck/rabbit focused which meant we didn’t end up going for it but understand menus change seasonally so it was okay.

The crudo was perfectly balanced and delicious.

The carrot dish while creative and interesting was a bit unbalanced - the seasoning was a bit heavy considering there was way too little lebneh to balance it. I wish they either added more of it or distributed it in a way that didn’t make the entire dish feel dry.

The cabbage was epic. So creative and texturally balanced. Incredible.

The sourdough was amazing. The cultured butter, honey and jam, all perfect.

The cacio e pepe is perfection but it’s not a cacio e pepe. With my husband being Italian - born and raised - I know this is a point of contention but all is forgiven because every single bite is sublime. The best kind of comfort food and feeling possible.

The pork belly with the pickled onion and roasted carrots was perfectly balanced. Loved.

The dessert is where they lost us. First, there is no hot option but rather all options are ice cream based which works for a summer menu but when it’s 45 degrees you do need to add something that isn’t ice cream based as an option. That being said we still went for it and got the chocolate chip yet both my husband and I concurred that dish did not have chocolate and tasted like porcini sorbet. Not something you want to end your meal on and a big let down. I hope they really upgrade their dessert options by the time come back.

Cocktails were not too creative or delicious. Average.

Overall we still love E&R but had to dock a star because even though the meal was still delicious there were definitely misses that I think could be worked on to bring it back to the literally perfect experience we had a few...