La Condesa in Austin, TX: Upscale Mexican

I have not had a bad meal in Austin until this week.

My first choice for dinner was a trailer called Odd Duck farm to trailer, but I couldn't get my act together to get there.  There was a place around the corner from my hotel with 4 stars on Yelp. It seemed like a good compromise so I settled on La Condesa, serving contemporary Mexican. The menu looks fantastic and I was excited.

Now, I realize eating take-out is not the optimal experience.  The chef at La Condesa couldn't have intended for the food to be eaten out of a paper box. Plus, I'm not sure how long the food sat there before I picked it up. Upon picking up my food, I did take note of its trendy looks (which I like, yes, I'm one of those people) with trendy people all around.

I chose three small plates starting with what is called a huarache, a crisp corn tortilla with toppings. Love trying new things! I just think blue cheese with pork belly is a terrible, terrible marriage. I call for an annulment! The cheese completely overpowered the pork belly and I could not taste any other element. Awful.

Panza de Puerco:  berkshire pork belly, pure luck farms blue cheese, piloncillo caramel, apple-brown butter purée, apple-tomatillo salpicón

I also ordered a side of Plantanos served with salsa verde and queso fresco.  It was also not very good.  How does a restaurant calling itself "Mexican" make bad plantains?! The main problem was the plantains were not cooked well enough. And a few pieces were hard. I dream of the plantains for Versailles, a fabulous old-school Cuban restaurant in Los Angeles. Order the garlic chicken, you will not be disappointed.

Back to La Condesa.  My third small plate was the savior of the night.  This corn was covered in queso fresca and chili spices.  The corn itself was grilled and sweet, sweet, sweet. I loved the mild queso on top, along with the hot chili!

Elotes: mexican-style street corn

I asked three different people about La Condesa, and none of them liked it. Puzzling that it was nominated for a James Beard award for best new restaurant. So, I won't be dining here again. But maybe I'll stop by for a drink one night and order that corn again, a little spicy and sweet snack.