Austin on the Hoof

JC's Bar & Grill

Monday-Thursday, 11am-10pm; Friday-Saturday, 11am-11pm

At JC's, you'll find very pleasant ambience, with dark wood and subdued lighting (it's the old Bombay Bicycle Club). The service is pleasant and efficient, and the menu covers many bases.

We chose the cheeseburger ($8.95/8 oz.) for an appetizer, which turned out to be an excellent choice: a thick patty of Wagyu beef (Wagyu is the breed, Kobe is the region) on a ciabatta-style bun, served with small string fries. A superlative burger with wonderful taste (and a fine appetizer when you're doing a meat feast).

Our Caesar salads were good – slightly overdressed but at a tolerable level. Our rib eye ($19.95/12 oz.) was ordered medium-rare-plus, and that's how it arrived. Unfortunately, it was cut from the chuck end instead of the lean end of the rib eye roll, so there was a large core of fat in the center. The flavor was very good, the steak tender and nicely charred.

Our New York Strip ($18.95/12 oz.) was ordered rare to medium rare and received medium. It was cut from the lean end of the strip loin, but overcooked. It was served fat-side out, which is an amateurish presentation (one should never offer a guest the worst part of the meat as their first bite). The flavor was fine for a medium strip. For sides, our mashers with garlic and cheese were very good, and used real potatoes, lumps and all. The wild rice was a blend that tasted slightly institutional.

JC's surprised and fully exceeded our expectations. We will go back for more.