Fabrik *

Texas’s newest One Star! It’s vegan, but don’t let that stop you. Lord Almighty y’all, Giddyup!

Everything made with local farm ingredients as well, super cool to see if you’ve been around the hill country.

1. Pepper and Peach Gazpacho. A proudly texan kick in the nuts, super refreshing and eye opening and playful. Did not know gazpacho fucked that hard.
2. Mushroom Pâté on french toast. Take tiny tiny bites. This is so powerfully deliciously strong you can make it last forever. Incredible. Amazing texture on the french toast and ridiculously savory umami goodness otherwise.
3. Edamame Cream Tartlette. This was unbelievable. It tasted like the best tuna salad ever. Had some yuzu and a little heat to it. I don’t know why it ended up tasting like tuna salad but it did, was absolutely incredible. Three amazing openers.
4. The bread might be the best bread in America. After summers abroad in Europe I became disappointed with most American bread but this is sublime. I hate my snotty opinion on this but I’m just trying to say, goddamn. They encouraged me to play with the different dips. There were leeks and dates in a white bean hummus, a fennel oil butter, and a tomato and walnut and roasted red pepper cream. I cannot stop thinking about the bread service.
5. Watermelon and Beet tartare, in a thousand layer cake form. The watermelon rinds are pickled in fresno peppers and some other spices. There’s a beet cream as well. And the cracker was heavenly. Perfect play on textures. Roasted and smoked compressed watermelon as well.
6. Scalloped Potatoes with lemongrass hollandaise and dill cream. This dish reminded me of traveling to Central Europe. Simple ingredients done absolutely beautiful. I cannot overstate the perfection of the potato. Thin thin layers, crisped on the edges and perfectly gooey in the middle, battling against a perfectly snappy unique compressed sauerkraut. The dill cream and hollandaise were insane.
7. Mushroom and lentil pasta in a cream corn base. The smell. The smell reminded me of memories I didn’t even have. That transition between summer and fall, running through corn mazes and seeing autumn kick in, jack-o-lanterns everywhere and mushroom foraging… Incredible dish. Served with jalapeño and cilantro cornbread madeline. The pasta was stuffed with a variety of mushrooms and lentils. A szechuan oil gave everything a kick, and the corn chowder was to die for. They told us if we were so inclined to save some sourdough to scoop up the sauce at the end.
8. Shiso Lime Sorbet. This was fashioned after a moscow mule, my favorite cocktail. Ginger Beer, lime and shiso sorbet,

honeydew melon,

1. and matcha cream with a few different oils and goodness it was to die for. My favorite and most substantial palette cleanser.

2. Banana and Miso Mousse. Not a fan of bananas but this might be the most clever use of them I’ve experienced. Made with a roasted banana compote, a thick and creamy miso banana mousse hides inside a white chocolate shell, atop a sesame crumble, garnished with yuzu cream. Unbelievable, incredible how well banana and miso play together.

3. Molé spiced truffle with candied orange. My favorite petit-four, absolutely sublime, unreal how much flavor this thing packed. Nibble slowly.

4. Strawberry sesame crumble. A perfectly delightful bite. The strawberry was amongst my favorites and I wish I could eat spoonfuls of that jam.

5. Yuzu macaron. An airy and fluffy transcendent final bite.

Final notes: I didn’t do the wine pairing but had a glass of pinot noir and cherry kombucha, both were incredible. Can’t remember the wine 🙁 but it was amazing with the watermelon and beet tartare, brought out another layer. Kombucha for dessert.

Service was so kind. Ambience was top notch and the shoegazy dreampop music made me feel so warm and cozy. Incredible choice.

Chef was open to talking to me for a solid amount of time after the meal. Lovely person who seemed so joyful. Staff was incredible, friendly, funny, and clearly confident.

If you’re worried about the lack of a main protein dish, go outside your comfort zone. Almost every dish had protein in some form. You’ll get your fill and full up beautifully. I think it’s a uniquely clever way to work around the whole vegan thing. Many of the creams and sauces contain a huge variety of proteins. The mushroom toast had brazil nut as well, edamame cream, the hollandaise sauce, lentils, the bread dips, etc. It’s all there and you WILL feel it in a very satisfying way.