D&L’s Texas Music Cafe

1321 S. Congress, 445-4441

Monday-Friday, 11am-12mid; Saturday, 10am-1am; Sunday, 9am-12mid

Continuing with the development along South Congress, D&L’s Texas Music Cafe is one of South Austin’s newest dining spots. The concept is great: a cozy space serving upscale Texas-style home cooking, accompanied by a good dose of Texas music. But while the idea is good, the execution is not quite there yet.

On a recent Thursday evening, we went to D&L’s for dinner with some of our family. The restaurant is small but comfortable. They have a full liquor license, but the place is really too small to have a bar. I suppose the cute backyard patio is considered the bar area, but it was cold that night and not very good for outdoor drinking. There is no live music on Thursdays, but the Texas artists coming out of the speakers provided a very pleasant backdrop for our dinner conversation.

We were in time for happy hour, but the prices were not much better than during regular hours (and why Shiner Bock, the national beer of Austin, is still considered a premium import worth $3.50 is still beyond me). I decided on wine, and was hoping for a bottle of something good from the Hill Country. Although the list has a nice selection of affordably priced, good wine options, there is not a single Texas wine to be had at the Texas Music Cafe. When asked, our waiter said they used to have Texas wines, but that they didn’t sell. While not necessarily the restaurant’s fault, it is still a sad state of affairs, in my opinion.

For starters, we ordered the grilled portabello mushroom topped with herbed shrimp and goat-cheese sauce ($8.95), which was tasty and satisfying without being heavy. The soup of the day, a cream of fresh broccoli, was unfortunately a little heavy on the chicken base. I was rather pleased with the meat entrées. The grilled Beef Tenderloin With Gorgonzola Butter and Rosemary Jus ($18.95) was perfectly medium-rare and tender, the sauce rich but not overwhelming, and the garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed asparagus were the perfect companions. The grilled jalapeño mustard-rubbed Sirloin Strip Steak ($15.95), topped with crispy fried onion slices, was also cooked just right and benefited greatly from the tangy spice of the mustard rub. This dish screams “Texas!” with a loud, self-assured voice.

I was not as impressed with the fish entrées. The corn-chip crusted, flash-fried Catfish With Chipotle Cream Sauce ($12.95) was good, but quite overpriced for one medium piece of catfish and two sides. The catch-of-the-day special, a fillet of sesame-crusted red snapper served with sautéed asparagus and saffron rice was nice, but it seemed to me that the saffron rice came straight out of an Uncle Ben’s box. The whole menu could benefit from better or more exact descriptions, which could dispel future confusion or disappointment. It describes an appetizer of Gulf Shrimp-Stuffed Jalapeños wrapped with smoked bacon, served with a lime-infused sour cream ($6.25). The jalapeños were good, cooked al dente and with just the right amount of bite, but the filling was mostly creamy stuff with a few pieces of shrimp in it. We ordered the pasta entrée ($10.95), described as a “grilled vegetable Napoleon served on fresh pasta of the day, tossed with fresh basil, olive oil and tarragon essence.” I don’t know if the cooks didn’t care because it was for a kid, but there was nothing on that plate that resembled a Napoleon. We got rather insipid pasta spirals dotted with sliced grilled vegetables and a hint of basil. The descriptions of all these dishes were misleading, and the dishes themselves overpriced for the quantity and quality received.

Despite these problems, there are bright spots at D&L’s Texas Music Cafe. The Hockey Puck, a chilled chocolate mousse between slices of brownie, topped with homemade fudge sauce and fresh whipped cream ($5), was a chocolate lover’s dream. The Lemon Satin Pie ($5) was light and flavorful. Our server was very polite, friendly, and efficient. With a little fine-tuning, D&L’s Texas Music Cafe has the potential to become one of South Austin’s favorite dining spots.

This article appears in February 27 • 2004.

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Mexico City native Claudia Alarcón has made Austin home since 1984. She worked her way through college in the local restaurant industry, graduating from the University of Texas in 1999. She has been a Chronicle contributor for 15 years and presents lectures and workshops on topics related to the foodways of Mexico, both locally and internationally.