Last week, I broke delicious cheese-stuffed bread with some of my favorite food grammers in town at a media tasting at Andiamo Italiano. Andiamo Italiano has been serving authentic Italian food in Austin from an unassuming strip mall brick and mortar for 15 years. I’ve lived in Austin for 16 and am so sad it took me this long to visit. Every single bite I had of this meal was pleasurable. Every. Single. Bite. Each dish was so photogenic that I thought why not walk you through our entire meal?
and feta cheese in a lime olive oil; $8 //
Caprese Pops; mini heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella
in a fresh basil olive oil; $9.5
We started with a salad and some caprese pops. I gobbled the watermelon and arugula salad down. Both the salad and the caprese pops manifested summer happiness.
mixed with capers, green olives, green onions and lemon zest
in extra virgin olive oil; $14.5
These sea scallops tartare on watermelon radish were delectable and bright bites. We folded the slices of radish like mini tacos and happily tucked into them.
There are family sized entrees available every Thursday nights. We tried the risotto and the ribeye steak from the family menus. For an idea of scale, refer back to the first photo on this post to see how big the risotto is. I wanted to nuzzle my face into that bowl! (Lucky for my eating mates, I refrained.)
The ribeye steak was wonderful. I often take polite bites of the steak when it’s offered to me and very rarely (pun intended) order it on my own. I have lockjaw and ordering steak feels like lockjaw roulette. My apprehension was thwarted with perfectly seared and tender steak. The port wine reduction sauce was tasty but the steak didn’t need it!
Speaking of special menus, there’s a seasonal lobster offering available only for the summer.
I love lobster and pasta, so this entree (tied with the squid ink pasta) would be my default order. Succulent lobster meat with saucy garlicky pasta? If you close your eyes while chewing, you might be able to forget you’re in Austin and not somewhere in Italy without a care in the world.
sauteed with fresh clams in a light spicy garlic white wine sauce; $21.5
Add fresh raw sea urchin for $8.
And the same sentiment applies to the squid ink and clam spaghetti. If squid ink anything is on the menu, I always order it. Top this pasta dish with uni to add a few more happiness bonus points.
celery and brown cherry tomatoes
in a rosemary olive oil; $28.5
While enjoying the refreshing octopus with my friends, we googled the nutritional benefits of octopus. Octopus is a good source of niacin, vitamin B6, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc. The more you know!
And we finally move into dessert! We shared two desserts, the fruit tart and fried ravioli.
served over zabaglione; $8
Don’t worry. I googled for you. Zabaglione is an Italian dessert or sometimes a beverage, made with egg yolks, sugar, and sweet wine. A creamy and light creation.
So that concludes my photographic experience of Andiamo Italanio and its Authentic Italian food. As I mentioned earlier, I am only sad that it took me this long to discover Andiamo. Google Translate tells me Andiamo means “Let’s go” in Italian. How aptly named. Call your friends and partners in joy and tell them, “Let’s go to Andiamo!”
P.S. I also include Andiamo in my Stripmall Gems Guide to Austin!
Andiamo Italiano Authentic Italian
2521 Rutland Drive, Austin TX 78758
http://andiamoitaliano.com
Possibly Related Blog Posts (automatically generated)