Italic

Seared Calamari

On the second night of my conference in Austin, my father-in-law invited me to dine with him.  He lives in Austin part-time and recommended that we dine at a new Italian restaurant that he really liked.  The restaurant, Italic, was only five blocks from my hotel, so we met for an early dinner in downtown  Austin.

Tuscan White Bean Soup

The first item we tried was the Seared Calamari, which was garnished with minced olives, blood oranges, mint, escarole, and almonds.  While I am used to fried calamari, this was my first time to try it seared and I was very impressed by the flavor.  I also had a bowl of the Tuscan White Bean Soup.  This soup was very rich, but the white beans, kale, Italian sausage, red chili flakes, and parmigiano combined to make a fantastic soup.  

Soppressata Pizaa

For our main course, we decided to split a Soppressata Pizza and the Niman Ranch Two-Bone Tomahawk Pork Chop.  The pizza was topped with a spicy soppressata, fontina, honey, red chili flakes, and basil.  Although it was a very good pizza, it was my least favorite menu item that I tried.  The pork chop was tender and juicy.  It was also topped with a chile agrodolce sauce, which was actually very sweet and was a perfect compliment to the pork.

Niman Ranch Two-Bone Tomahawk Pork Chop

As you can probably tell by now, I was very impressed with this restaurnt.  The food and the service were both terrific.  While the calamari was probably my favorite menu item I had on this night, I really did like everything that I tried.  A table next to us had two desserts that looked appetizing, but I was too full to eat another bite.  I will make it a point to try a dessert on my next visit. 

Italic
http://italicaustin.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=4