Eddie V's Edgewater Grille, Austin

These crappy photos don't do the food any justice, but it was really dark in this place (301 East 5th, 477-9794). It actually looked strikingly like Morton's with its linens and little lamps on the tables. But there were no wheeled carts here, and the place is actually more of a seafood place (in addition to steaks).

The food nonetheless reminded me of Morton's too, if just half a notch down. For instance, the iceberg lettuce wedge with creamy blue cheese just went straight down my throat, seeing that I can't resist fresh veggies and blue cheese. But it was just a tad short of Morton's when they had the little cubes of tomato and bell pepper on the side, which seemed a bit pointless to me.

My main course was the sauteed gulf snapper with lump crab and lemon chive butter. This was a nice one. While it was a bit thicker and crustier than I was expecting, it was fresh, went very well with the rich lemon butter, and packed in a few surprise morsels of fun with the crab. And, just like at Morton's, the sides, like the broccoli, come in huge clusters, and yet were very simple in preparation with just some hollandaise sauce. Finally, my dessert was just some fresh berries with fresh whipped cream, which had some delightfully sweet pieces, but was also a bit short of what I would have expected, as the cream was a bit tasteless, as were some of the berries.

Anyway, it doesn't matter. By and large, this place was definitely very posh and worthwhile. Next time, I've just gotta use the flash on my cameraphone (and bring a coat or something too, as it was freezing in there).