Hudson's. Meat Lover's Paradise.
Written: May 12 '00 (Updated May 14 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great and unique food. Courteous and professional service.
Cons: I wish I could go back again.
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| jdanishevsky's Full Review: Austin Restaurants |
This review is in the travel section, because there is no Austin in the restaurant review selection. This review is not for the Austin travel, but on the Hudson’s on the Band restaurant. Epinions suggests that if you can’t find your city in the restaurant section, this is where it should be.
My first restaurant review, so I am still trying and learning. If anyone has any suggestions or advice on how to do a better restaurant review please let me know. If some of the food items are misspelled please let me know the correct spelling, since for some of the items I could not find the proper spelling anywhere.
On my business trip to Austin, I decided to try all I could in the food category. I figured, since someone else was paying I might as well splurge a little. On my client’s recommendation I decided to try Hudson’s On the Band. As my client mentioned, this place has a very unique variety of dishes. Since my wife has joined me on the trip, we made plans to have one dinner at this fascinating restaurant. Well, we got more then we could ask for.
When it comes to food, my wife and I are entrepreneurs and will try anything at least once. We wanted something that we haven’t tried before and something that will make us remember the trip. Hudson’s has definitely hit the spot.
Atmosphere
The restaurant has a small gravel parking lot. The outside is dimly lit with the standing torches. There are some tables outside, but not too many and if the humidity is high, you might not want to be seated there. When you walk inside, it feels like you are entering someone’s house. The rooms are not very big and there is a few of them, but it looks and feels very cozy. There are wine racks on the walls and actually looks nice for picture taking. The tables are not to close together, so you feel very relaxed and not pressured to move your chair all the time.
Service
From the Host to the waiters and to the busboys, the service was fantastic. Everyone was very courteous and extremely professional. Our waiter actually turned out to be a native of New Orleans and when it came to knowledge of food, this guy took the cake. He knew everything about everything. From his wine suggestion to the appetizers and main courses, he recommended the best of the best. When it was time for desert, this guy just blew us away with the choices that he had suggested. (Hmmm, what was his name?)
Food
Even though in some cases it is not THE most important factor, well in Hudson's it definitely is. The food variety is unbelievable. There is a great selection of dishes, but I will only talk about what was served to us.
Appetizers
We had a combination platter. What was in the combination platter? I am glad that you asked. The combination platter consisted of various game.
The items were:
- Antelope – a bit chewy and sort of feels and tastes like thin Italian ham. It is smoked and served cold.
- Wild Boar – spiced and cooked to perfection. Served cold in thick slices. If you ever had wild boar, it is from the pork family but tastes sort of beefy.
- Duck – I have had duck before in many forms and shapes. They have marinated it and cooked it very lightly, almost raw. It is served cold and is definitely worth a try.
Now since we came to this place for a reason and what I wanted to try was only a main dish by itself, I figured that just a little bit of taste would do. This is where our waiter really outdid himself. He suggested that he could bring me a small appetizer size of Kangaroo meat on the side with some house sauce. Wow, what a treat it was. You know how they say that everything tastes like chicken, well not exactly. It tastes like combination of Boar and Beef. It was very tasty and the sauce was a very nice touch. It was cooked well done and served hot. There were about 8 thick slices of meat.
Main Courses
My wife decided to order a Grilled Pheasant dish.
Pheasant is a very gamy bird, usually very rough and tangy. In Hudson's it was very tender and cooked perfectly. The meat was very juicy and a pleasure to eat. This dish was served with some vegetables and baked potato. The portion was not very small and the presentation was nice. I believe the portion was the whole bird separated in about four large pieces.
I on the other hand decided to go for the (I forgot the exact name) Game Combination Platter. Me and my combination platters. I absolutely loved it.
The items were:
- Rabbit – rabbit tastes like…Rabbit. If you never had rabbit, it is definitely a treat. It is very tender meat and tastes absolutely wonderful.
- Quail – for any meat eating humenosorous (my own word, no spelling on this one anywhere), like me, it is something out of this world. It is a bird of the birds. Quail is very tender and tastes unlike any other bird I have tried before. NO, it doesn’t taste like chicken.
- Venison Sausage – anything in the sausage form tricks you with what the actual meat would taste like, so I couldn’t exactly tell you the true feel for the venison. All I can say is that it is in a deer family, so I would think it is somewhat similar to a deer.
Oh boy, did I have fun with that one. I don’t even remember what was the side dish. Well, with the plate like that it really didn’t matter. Even though I have previously tried most of the items on it, it was still an incredible treat.
Alcohol
Hudson’s carries a nice wine selection. We had a bottle of red wine on recommendation of our waiter. They carry wines and champagnes to quench different tastes. Since I am not a big wine drinker, I would not be able to explain the flavor of the wine.
Dessert
After all that food, we had to take our deserts back to the hotel. Well when we opened one, it was some type of a chocolate fudge cake, which was absolutely amazing. The second desert I do not even remember.
Price
The whole thing with the appetizers, main courses, deserts and wine was in the area of $150.00. It is not cheap, but considering the fact how much we got for the money and the fact that it was not out of our pocket, it was worth every penny.
Final Thought
When it comes to trying new foods, as I have mentioned previously, we are always up for the challenge. We love the excitement of trying new, authentic or creative foods. This place is definitely something that I have never experienced before and their variety is amazing. If I happen to be in Austin ever again, this would definitely be the restaurant of my choice for at least one dinner. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys trying things, which are not part of the everyday routine.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jdanishevsky
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Location: Central Jersey, USA
Reviews written: 171
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