Second Bar + Kitchen
Coffee
SBK “Bread Basket” with Banana Muffins, Sourdough English Muffin, Jalapeno Corn Biscuits, Cinnamon Rolls, Preserves, Butter
Brioche French Toast with Ginger Snaps, Blueberry Agro Dolce, Vanilla Syrup, Seared Foie Gras
Chocolate Hazelnut Rice Pudding with Fig Puree and Orange Sorbet
The casual little sister to David Bull’s Congress, I’d been on the fence about “Second” for my last restaurant meal in Austin until just twelve hours prior when a duo of desserts from pastry chef Erica Waksmunski forced my hand – a focus on nuance amidst pronounced sweetness veering right up my alley when it comes to breakfast or brunch. Housed in the same building as Congress but featuring a far less dynamic room with a bar along the wall and boxy booths juxtaposing long communal tables it was shortly after noon that I arrived to find the restaurant just a quarter full and escorted to a seat near the bar coffee was quickly poured before the first of many inexplicable delays – the space significantly understaffed even at low capacity and only to worsen as the crowd grew. Eventually snagging a server, first to refill my coffee – an ongoing issue all morning – and then to place my order it was not long before the meal then began with Waksmunski’s signature pastry basket, a collection of four elegant rolls from which the dense banana bread and wispy cinnamon rolls naturally stood out while the others greatly benefitted from fresh jam – the English Muffin perhaps the most delicate I’ve experienced to date. Moving next to a true ‘main course’ after begging a back server for more coffee it was with good fortune that the food at Second would continue to shine with custard soaked golden brioche crowned with caramelized duck liver and aromatic accoutrements rousing images of a blueberry muffin, the whole plate every bit as decadent as it sounds and worth every penny of the $25 tab…a theme that carried right over to an $8 textural masterpiece of rice pudding that would not have been out of place at Congress or any other fine dining venue in the country.
http://congressaustin.com/second/
