On my last trip to Austin, Texas I stopped in on my favorite restaurant - The Emerald Restaurant. Imagine a cottage that could have been picked from the emerald fields of Ireland. Now transport an entire Irish family with it and you have this warm quaint little restaurant set in the Texas hill country.

Start with some warm homemade bread and rich hand- churned butter, in a variety of flavors. Choose from an extensive wine list, loaded with your favorite vintages. Then sample their onion soup which has been poured into a whole onion and gently laid over a sumptuous stuffing. Gently pierce the bottom of the onion so that it gradually moistens the stuffing as you sip your soup. Then dive on in.

For your main course the monkfish in a gentle mustard sauce accompanied by a mound of fresh vegetables and laid over even more of their homemade stuffing is one of my favorites. Or a stuffing and bing cherry-stuffed duck drizzled with a rich cherry sauce will have you moaning with delight.

Then finish off with their freshly baked whisky cake or mouth watering zabaglione. And cap off your evening with an Irish coffee that is out of this world.

The Emerald Restaurant

13614 W. Hwy. 71

Austin, TX 78738

(512) 263-2147