Austin Food Bytes
Un petite peu de Paris (A little bit of Paris)

Last week the CDG International Food Club ventured out to a new restaurant - new to us, anyway. Capitol Brasserie is downtown on Colorado street, below 4th. We went early in the week, before noon, and there was ample street parking.

Capitol Brasserie is light and airy, with several seating areas adding intimacy to the large restaurant. Our waiter was very attentive, when I was disappointed that traditional "citron presse" was not on the menu, he even went so far as to make me lemonade! We were well stocked with excellent fresh bread and butter, so much so it was a struggle not to overindulge before our meals arrived. The selection of dishes is modest and mostly limited to traditional country French cuisine. There are also daily specials.

I ordered the Croque Monsieur, a toasted ham and cheese sandwich with bechamel (white) sauce. It was quite rich, and very tasty, and was served with a lovely side salad. I also sampled the Mussels au Saffron - mussels cooked in a white wine and saffron broth. It was highly flavorful, the broth was a bit denser than I'm used to, and was wonderful when sopped up with the bread served at the table.

I think several of us were leery of traveling so far afield from NI for lunch, especially braving downtown traffic and split checks. I would urge the faint of heart to give it a try - parking was a breeze, and our waiter split our checks up individually and processed them in record time. Next time, we'll stay for dessert!