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March 16, 2010
Food in the SXSW Zone: Hot Dog King
Located in the parking lot next to Beerland, the King, whose name may conjure images of Elvis, but who looks more like a Midwestern Philip Seymour Hoffman, serves a few variations on the all-beef hot dogs you would expect from a native of Chicago.
But he really sets himself apart from the lifeless dirty-water hot dogs of a tired street vendor with some of the finer offerings from his menu of a dozen meals on a bun.
Save yourself the trip out to Elgin by digging on the small town’s most famous export - the sausage, piqued and fatted with jalapeno and cheese for $5. Enjoy a taste of the (slightly) exotic with a venison Polish sausage that is full of flavor and comes hand-sliced.
And, for vegetarians, there’s a vegan, organic tofurkey dog, Though it does seem a sin to skip out on encased meats from this Red River royalty.
Hot Dog King
Yellow Truck @ 8th Street and Red River Street
Hours during SXSW: 11am - Late (3am?)
(American-Statesman photo by Mike Sutter)
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Food in the SXSW Zone: Kebabalicious
Inspired by some Turks whom they met while logging serious kitchen hours in Europe, friends Chris Childre and Kristian Ulloa opened the late-night trailer near East Seventh and Trinity streets three and half years ago. Kebabalicious became such a hit that the guys parlayed their success into a second trailer at Second Street and Congress Avenue, meaning a downtown office worker with a drinking problem can now eat spit-roasted lamb and beef or chicken wrapped in warm pita for lunch and dinner.
The staple of European street foods, the kebab comes topped with fresh, crunchy tomatoes and lettuce that have no business being up at the late hours of the original Kebabalicious’ operating hours, along with a homemade tzatziki and tangy red sauce that carries varying degrees of spice.
Vegetarians are no afterthought here, as they can choose from the falafel kebab (which holds up admirably against its meaty brethren), which features lightly fried plum-sized garbanzo bean balls and hummus.
Expect long lines at the food trailer that helped usher in quality street dining in downtown Austin, but if you ask any local in line, they’ll tell you that it’s worth the wait.
East 7th and Trinity streets
SXSW Hours
Tuesday, 3/16 (9 PM - 3 PM @ Congress Ave & 2nd Street)
Wednesday, 3/17 - Saturday, 3/20 (11 AM - 3 AM @ 7th & Trinity streets)
Photos by Mike Sutter AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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Food in the SXSW Zone: Frietkot
7th Street and Neches Street, next to Lovejoy’s
Photos by Mike Sutter AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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February 15, 2010
Restaurant critic kicked out of a restaurant for being critical
Some of my friends give me hell for being picky about my food. It’s true that I’ve sent back limp French fries or an under- or over-cooked piece of meat. I don’t make a habit of it by any means, and I think my friends are exaggerating and just like to give me hell regardless the situation.
But, when I do send something back, I always do it politely and without causing a scene. And I’ve always been treated with respect equal to the respect I show the restaurant’s staff.
Good thing I don’t live in Houston or dine at Jonathan’s The Rub.
Alison Cook, the restaurant critic at the Houston Chronicle was recently kicked out of the aforementioned restaurant for sending back an overcooked steak. And, here’s the rub (pun intended), she was kicked out not by an under-trained server or a lippy food runner, but by the owner himself.
The entire incident began when Cook informed her server that her $34 steak au poivre was not cooked medium-rare. The server informed chef-owner Jonathan Levine who responded indignantly. He then hostilely offered to re-cook the steak. Cook was reluctant, as would I have been, to let a resentful person take her food back to the privacy of the kitchen. Then, it was on.
After some back and forth with Levine, at which point she admittedly became steamed, Cook was asked to leave the restaurant. To his (very, very) slight credit, Levine offered to comp the entire meal, but Cook and her guest would not accept the “courtesy.”
The incident led to some back and forth on the Houston radio airwaves and much commenting on Cook’s blog, on which she was rather modest and borderline contrite, which seems completely unnecessary in this case. Levine, in part, attributed his response to being a New Yorker.
Well, Jonathan, chalk this one up to “when keeping it real goes wrong.”
Check out her entire account of the event on her blog, Cook’s Tour.
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February 5, 2010
Free chocolate-covered strawberries
Anyone who has passed down Duval Street north of campus has seen the Hyde Park Grill fork. The sign is almost as much of a neighborhood institution as the fries. I received a message from the fork today (no, my meds are not out of balance), telling me that today the art would be changing atop the sign. Gone are the Longhorns. That’s so January. You can also meet artist Dale Whistler, who is in creative control of the fork’s new ‘do.
But, more importantly, the fork told me that if you stop by the restaurant today between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., you can get a free chocolate-covered strawberry, a nice taste to get you in the mood for everyone’s (least) favorite holiday next week.
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February 4, 2010
Café Mundi is closing
The little cafe tucked away by the railroad tracks has been a neighborhood staple — it’s kid-friendly, pet-friendly and, generally, just friendly.
Their Facebook page was updated with the following: “To all Café Mundi patrons, friends, family, and the spirits that surround us. It is our deepest regret to announce the closing of Café Mundi. The final day will be Sunday, March 21st……at this location. We do not see this as an end, but as a new beginning.”
A worker at the cafe recently verified that information, and I am waiting to hear back from ownership about details on the closing and any possible plans, as alluded to in their Facebook post, for the future.
Photos: Scenes from the Café Mundi Halloween party in 2007
Photo by Deborah Sengupta-Stith AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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February 2, 2010
20% off all beer at Central Market
Hump Day has never tasted so delicious. Beginning tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb. 3), both Central Market locations will be offering 20 percent off each and every beer in stock at the store, from singles to cases. While the Super Bowl is coming up this weekend —- an occasion for much beer drinking — I’m told that the sale is simply a celebration of beer and an opportunity for customers to try some new things. So, while you may be tempted to stock up on Fireman’s 4 or Sierra Nevada, you may also want to get extravagant and put that 20 percent to good use by taking the plunge on a Deus Brut des Flandres, which would usually run you $36.99
The sale runs through Tuesday, Feb. 9. And, remember your shopping etiquette, folks, no pushing.
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January 29, 2010
Enjoy a chef's table experience at The Carillon this weekend
1900 University Avenue [map]
404.3655
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January 27, 2010
Alligator Grill closes its doors
As of 3 p.m. today, the Alligator Grill, made famous in Mike Judge’s comedy “Office Space,” is closed for business.
The “costs were prohibitive and it forced our hand,” said general manager Paul Blandford, who said the restaurant faced a huge challenge in trying to sell seafood on South Lamar Boulevard.
According to The A.V. Club Austin, which shares a parking lot with the restaurant, “it’s a bit of a shellshocked scene over there right now, with workmen yanking in tables and suddenly unemployed waiters wandering around aimlessly.”
Photo by Lynne Dobson
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Jack Allen's brings flavor to the Oak Hill neighborhood
Were I not tagging along with Statesman restaurant critic Mike Sutter, I may have never made it to Jack Allen’s Kitchen. Located just past the “Y” on Highway 71, it’s the kind of place that you’d probably only hit if you lived in the neighborhood, were on the way home from work or headed back home from the golf course.
For those living in the Oak Hill area, Jack Allen’s must certainly be a culinary salvation. I don’t know the neighborhood all that well, but it seems JA’s has to be considered the best restaurant offering within six miles or so.
While not necessarily outstanding, the casual restaurant/bar headed by former Z’ Tejas Executive Chef Jack Allen Gilmore (see how that works?) resembles an art museum in Santa Fe or a suburban version of Austin’s city hall and does a solid job of serving up up tasty Texas-inspired fare, from Gulf Blue crabs to chicken-fried everything, along with plenty of convivial atmosphere. I will leave the comprehensive review to Sutter, but a few thoughts from me: The bacon-wrapped quail came already cut into easily managed pieces, and the bacon surprisingly did not overpower the succulent gamey flavor of the small bird, that was balanced nicely with a sweet and crunchy fig and microgreen spread placed in the plate’s center. The smashed guacamole appetizer had come highly recommended, but it didn’t do much for me. I have not had many great avocados of late, so I wanted to chalk up the lack of a robust flavor to that, but it seems the execution just didn’t live up to the concept. The pumpkin seeds were not roasted long enough, which took away some of the flavor they were intended to provide, and the cotija cheese just seemed pointless, providing no particular flavor or texture to the dish.
The cheeseburger was cooked to a nice medium rare and tasted, probably not surprisingly, a lot like a Z Tejas burger (a surprisingly underrated and unexpected dish). It was served on a sweet roll that was probably a little too rich, almost like a mild donut, but it seemed to fit the spirit of the place, as evidenced by the chicken-fried everything section of the menu. We tried chicken-fried beef ribs that were somehow still moist and flavorful, if not a bit too fatty for my liking. The green chile pork tacos were a do-it-yourself dish, with the pork coming in a boat on a plate that held mini corn tortillas, pico and guacamole. Aside from the fact that I don’t want to build my own meal at a restaurant, I was disappointed in the dish, as the only thing I could taste was the green chile and especially the corn tortillas. As far as I was concerned, the pork could have been chicken, hidden as it was behind the chiles and corn.
From the extensive drink menu, I enjoyed a Tito’s, St. Germain, muddled sage and a splash of fresh grapefruit juice. I could have used a tad more grapefruit, but overall the drink was delicious and refreshing, and a steal at $6.50. It is the only cocktail I had, but the rest of the menu was very tempting and at an average of $7 a cocktail, extremely well priced. A word about those drinks. As the restaurant crowd of families, gray hairs, and groups of men in golf shits and women out for a ladies’ night dwindled, the bar crowd remained in full throat. In fact, they were a little too full throated. I am no Pollyanna, but I would prefer not to hear women (or men) HOOTING and HOLLERING during my dinner, which is what happened as our dinner stretched past 9 p.m.. I mean, these folks were loud, like Sixth Street-loud. Maybe knowing that now — that some of the happy hour crowd like to hang around till near close — I will be better prepared for my next visit, and there will be one. I guess it is an expectations thing.I hate to invoke Applebee’s when discussing a place with the quality of food and pedigree that Jack Allen’s has, but this restaurant really perfects the “There’s No Place Like the Neighborhood” feel on which the generic chain fails to deliver. This is a great neighborhood spot, and with a massive patio that backs up to a creek, has bar seating for 25 and table seating for another 50 or so, it seems hard to believe that Jack Allen’s will follow in the footsteps of its short lived predecessors in this spot, which always seemed to be advertising the next tenant: For Lease.
All photos by Mike Sutter.
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January 25, 2010
More Home Slice
For pizza lovers who feel a little cramped at the incredibly popular Home Slice Pizza on South Congress and for those who wish they could get a tasty New York-style slice seven days a week, there’s good news on the way.
As you’ve probably noticed, part of the space next door to Home Slice — which was previously home to a sewing shop — is being transformed into additional pizza space. The operation at 1421 S. Congress, which is adjacent to Stag (formerly Washburn’s cleaners), will be called More Home Slice and will serve slices and take-out exclusively.
I imagine this means shorter lines/less congestion at the original Home Slice and more oven space for in-house diners. More Home Slice also means people will be able to purchase slices all day long and not just during specified hours, as is currently the situation at the original. Additionally, More Home Slice will be open seven days a week, so pizza lovers will not be left to wander the streets on Tuesday nights.
A manager at Home Slice told me that they were shooting for a Tuesday, Feb. 2 opening. The plan is to have More Home Slice open the same hours as the current location, with individual slices being sold until 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and 10 p.m. on Sundays.
(Photo of More Home Slice, in the background, by Mike Sutter.)
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November 10, 2009
Meat and greet: Chefs celebrate Mondays with camaraderie and cabrito
As I approached the unassuming house in Northwest Hills, I nervously wondered if a secret knock would be required. Maybe a password? The word “fidelio” came rushing to mind (see: “Eyes Wide Shut”).
I followed a six-pack-toting couple in through the unlocked front door and was relieved to see there were no Mardi Gras masks — nothing cloak-and-daggerish about this night. Just a bunch of friendly faces, mingling affably in the living room and kitchen, the intoxicating aromas of meat mingling with the palpable sense of anticipation.
I had heard stories of a furtive meeting of local chefs and cooks who gathered monthly to celebrate the joys of cooked meat. As it turns out, Meaty Monday Madness (the acronym MMM says it all) is more four-star potluck than dark culinary cabal. But this is no ordinary dinner party with a hodgepodge of purchased dishes and thrown-together salads.
After a massive birthday feast at which he loaded his newly purchased barbecue pit to capacity last spring, chef Zack Northcutt (co-owner and chef of the downtown wine bar Mulberry) decided to make the event a monthly happening. For the first MMM in April, he opened his house to several of his chef buddies and their collected friends. Word spread, and the event has expanded over the past eight months to an invitation-only gastronomic fête arguably unparalleled by anything in Austin outside of a charity dinner.
On the first Monday of every month, about 10 local culinary wizards descend on Northcutt’s home, armed with dishes based on a theme of their host’s choosing. The night I visited in October, the tongue-in-cheek theme was Any Baby Can (Be Delicious), indicative of the playful and macabre sense of humor shared by the chefs.
Northcutt says the improvised monthly menus allow the chefs — who come from places such as Perla’s Seafood & Oyster Bar, Jeffrey’s, Wink, Lamberts Downtown Barbecue and Izzos Tacos — to experiment with recipes and ingredients that might intimidate their regular customers.
This October night, the feast featured smoked and braised cabrito, stuffed poussin (young chickens) and, the most visually stunning, whole piglets cooked three ways (straw, brick and wood).
“The big bad wolf wins,” Northcutt said.
After coming up with the night’s motif, often based on a joke or a personal challenge (think whole goat stuffed with a duck), Northcutt distributes the protein to the chefs, who prepare their meals and deliver them to the small kitchen at Northcutt’s house. Guests are encouraged to bring libations or a favorite side, but the stars of the night are always the animals.
It was here I tried the sublime creation of a poussin stuffed with ground veal, cornbread and foie gras. You probably won’t find that re-created on any menu in town. Trust me when I say that is your loss. For “Game Night” in November, one chef raised the bar yet again with a pheasant stuffed with veal and white truffles.
The evenings take on a slight feel of a “Top Chef” episode. But unlike the TV show, there is no competition or judging. Which is not to say that chefs participating for the first time don’t suffer from a slight bit of anxiety.
“I was kind of intimidated at first,” said 21-year-old John Gross, who cooks at Parkside, about his foray into the Madness in October. “But it was fun, and I definitely learn from my mistakes. I’m going to request every single Monday off.”
Gross is not alone in his appreciation for this monthly beacon of cooking and camaraderie among a group of chefs and cooks who have trained or worked together over the years in some of the city’s best restaurants.
“Working in a kitchen is very similar to being in an army or on a team,” Northcutt said at Mulberry recently. “It’s a lot of intense pressure and pain in a short period of time, and a lot of really hard and intense work that builds strong bonds.”
Those relationships, forged by the fires of grills around town, and the crew’s love of food help explain why this group would choose to spend their precious free time cooking for one another.
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October 28, 2009
Trailer Treasure : Hat Creek Burger Co.
2209 Rio Grande St. 732-2025, hatcreekburgers.com. Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Wednesdays; 11 a.m. to midnight Thursdays through Saturdays.
Traveling the country as a reserve guard for the University of Texas men’s basketball team, native Austinite and former Longhorn Drew Gressett had ample opportunity to search for the perfect burger.
But after graduating and splitting his time between Washington, D.C., and China working commercial real estate ventures, Gressett decided to stop looking and just make his own burger.
Thus was born the Hat Creek Burger Co. trailer.
Capitalizing on the public’s growing interest in responsible eating, Gressett takes pride in the fact that his all-natural Angus beef is raised humanely, fed a 100 percent vegetarian diet and can be traced to its ranch of origin.
Don’t let the beef’s heady pedigree fool you. Hat Creek’s Big Hat Burger ($4.99 with cheese, a hand-formed two-fifths of a pound) is a mouth-watering double, dripping with cheese and just the right amount of greasy goodness to evoke visions of the most rewarding of backyard barbecues. The juicy meat is topped with mustard, crisp lettuce, tomato and pickles. For the easily intimidated, the Little Hat Burger ($3.49 with cheese) offers the same delights in a single-patty package. For a more personalized burger, grilled onions and jalapeños can be added for free, with bacon and mushrooms carrying a small charge.
Salty, fresh hand-cut fries ($1.99) complement the burgers, which can be finished off with a sinfully thick, hand-dipped Blue Bell shake ($3.99).
Hat Creek, named in part as an homage to Larry McMurtry’s ‘Lonesome Dove,’ opened last October in a West Sixth Street parking lot behind the Star Bar, which closed in July. The good thing about trailers is they have wheels, allowing Gressett to relocate to a parking lot near UT earlier this month. With an array of picnic tables and college-friendly hours, Hat Creek’s new location gives discerning burger lovers an alternative to bloated fast-food rivals.
For those who dread the labyrinthine infrastructure of the campus area, fear not. Gressett is building off the success of his trailer operation and has opened a brick-and-mortar location at 5400 Burnet Road (in the old Arby’s building) that serves dine-in and drive-through customers.
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October 14, 2009
Is El Chilito in a cursed location?
Where your business is can help drive business and be a determining factor in success, and it can also be a detriment. We all know the spots on certain streets in towns where we have lived that always seemed cursed. A restaurant or shop is there one day and gone the next.
That has been the unfortunate truth for several restaurants at 1025 Barton Springs Road, at the intersection with Dawson Road.
While the west end of Barton Springs Road may be considered Austin’s Restaurant Row, the stretch of road between Sandy’s and McDonald’s has been anything but, especially for the unlucky spots at 1025.
Maybe you remember the sandwich places Castleberry’s Cafe (2003-2005) or Rockhound’s (2006), but it’s doubtful. There is a slightly better chance you remember Gypsy Italian Bistro (2007-2008), an average joint with a limited menu. They’re all gone, of course. Nothing seems to last. But maybe El Chilito will buck the curse that is featured in this CNNMoney.com story about “5 deadly spots.”
I am not sure if it is the fact that there are limited entertainment options within walking distance of the restaurant or the limited parking or relative inexperience of past restaurant operators at the address, but I have always been somewhat surprised that no place has ever succeeded there. Given people’s brand awareness of El Chilito thanks to El Chile and the original El Chilito on Manor Road, I think if any place is going to make it, this is the one.
From the CNNMoney.com story:
Legend has it that in the 1980s, 1025 Barton Springs Road was a hippie commune, with tents and pods stretched along the cliffs behind the property.“Wacky. That’s Austin,” laughs Carlos Rivero, a six-year veteran of Austin’s restaurant scene. In August, Rivero became the fourth entrepreneur in five years to open a restaurant at the address, which has also been home to an architecture firm and a beer garden.
“I’ve wanted to go into that neighborhood for some time,” says Rivero. “Barton Springs Road is a landmark address.”
Rivero chalks the high failure rate of 1025 up to the inexperience of its recent tenants — newbie restaurateurs looking to capitalize on the neighborhood’s high traffic volume. As the hosting grounds for events such as the Austin City Limits Music Festival, the locale is also home to Zilker Park, a 350-acre area popular for its swimming pool and botanical gardens.
Gypsy Italian Bistro, the address’ latest casualty, received lots of good press for its innovative cuisine but was a little too fancy for the area, says Rivero. Gypsy’s chef, a recent graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, “was a first-time operator with very limited experience in the restaurant business — as a sit-down, full-service Italian restaurant, the place wasn’t very well capitalized for this particular location,” he says.
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October 8, 2009
Ben Ali of Ben's Chili Bowl dies
From the Washington Post:
A fixture of U Street since 1958, the cramped restaurant has outlasted the changing fortunes of its neighborhood and supplied hungry Washingtonians with heaping bowls of chili, hot dogs and its trademark chili-topped half-smokes. Photos of visiting celebrities — including Denzel Washington, Danny Glover and Bill Cosby — lined the walls, and in January the restaurant received its best publicity boost ever when president-elect Obama dropped by for a half-smoke (a smoked sausage).Near a sign that warned, “Who eats free at Ben’s: Bill Cosby. No one else,” Obama paid for his $12 tab with a $20 bill, leaving the change as a tip.
Mr. Ali, a Trinidadian immigrant who had studied at Howard University, opened the eatery with his wife, Virginia, and ran the popular but eccentric carryout restaurant with two of his three sons. The place was known as a gathering spot for Washingtonians of all classes and races, who were united by their love of chili and the restaurant’s excellent jukebox and quirky customs. It was open as long as 22 hours a day and survived several urban renewal efforts on a street once known as Washington’s “Black Broadway” but later hit by severe blight before a recent renaissance.
Through the decades, the sights, sounds and smells of Ben’s Chili Bowl endured as a place of comfort and warmth amid a world of change. It was featured in documentaries and in the 2008 Russell Crowe political thriller, “State of Play.”
A full story is forthcoming, but share your memories of the man, not just the restaurant, in our comments section below or in our discussion area. We also have a huge photo gallery online of Mr. Ali and his restaurant.
Here’s a piece that we ran on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the restaurant and the 45th anniversary. It was one of the few businesses to remain open on U Street during the 1968 riots.
Photo from Associated Press.
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October 7, 2009
Sandwich stories
- Photos: Check out photos of some of the best sandwiches in town according to me and Statesman restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Fricano’s Deli
104 E. 31st St. 482-9980, fricanosdeli.com.
A hole-in-the-wall located near the Bermuda Triangle that is the melding of East 31st Street and Speedway , Fricano’s feels like a sandwich shop in a small old college town. The kind of place that, despite being open only three years, feels like it has been around forever. And it feels like the kind of sandwich shop I’d want to open. There are small shelves stuffed with books and board games, a few seats at the counter bar, seating for about a dozen people at tables for two and about two dozen sandwiches and hot dogs on the menu. If my old, imagined, pipe-tugging college literature professor - replete with patched-elbowed corduroy blazer - had a portal in his office that led to a kitchen, this would be the spot.
The sandwiches refrain from trying too hard, offering just the right number of ingredients to provide good flavor without putting on a show. Take, for example, Jamilio’s Italian Cheesesteak ($7.25). Though the only thing Italian about it is the mozzarella, the combination of Boar’s Head pastrami, grilled onions and peppers, homemade Rocket sauce and the cheese on a crunchy, flaky hoagie provide a wonderful combination of savory and spicy. It comes warmed to perfection on a panini press that looks like it gets a thorough workout each day .
It might not perfectly mirror some of the Reubens from the East Coast, but Paul’s Spicy Reuben ($6.95), my favorite on the menu thus far, benefits from the personalized touch of its creator. The bread from the local bakery Panaderia Chuy is pressed and grilled to a perfect crunch that yields to the teeth but not the touch. The sauerkraut, historically an overwhelming feature of a Reuben, is happy to play a minor role here, with the sandwich relying on the Rocket sauce (a combination of spicy mustard, regular mustard, mayonnaise, balsamic vinaigrette and Tabasco) for its mouth-puckering zest.
Longtime Austinite Paul Fricano and his business partners, the husband-and-wife team of Jamil Muhaisen and DeeAnne Bullard, take pride in their attention to detail, fresh ingredients and the fact that almost everything in the store is homemade, except the ketchup. And, really, people can be fussy about their ketchup, so it’s probably safe to stick with the store-bought.
House-made offerings include potato and pasta salads, salad dressings, a red-and-green cabbage slaw, five original spreads that can be added to any sandwich and a soup of the day. Although I have yet to yield to my sweet tooth, one of these days I will give in to the allure of DeeAnne’s Cupcakes , which she bakes daily.
Fricano and his crew are naturals behind the counter, which makes sense when you discover his parents once ran a Chicago-style deli. He and his partners, with their affable vibe and steady stream of regulars, have created a neighborhood joint that, while somewhat new to the block, already feels like a classic.
Tam Deli & Cafe
8222 N. Lamar Blvd., D33. 834-6458.
It’s rare that a sandwich that costs less than $5 would make you want to buy a plane ticket that costs $1,000. But that was exactly what I felt compelled to do after spending an hour at Tam Deli and Cafe on my first visit. If this is what Vietnam tasted like, I wanted to go.
Tam Bui opened the clean, simple shop tucked in a nondescript industrial strip mall on North Lamar Boulevard in 1999, building a menu based on the food she grew up eating.
The menu features close to 100 dishes, but it’s the traditional banh mi that keeps me coming back time and again. The sandwich, full of flavor and history, balances the culinary traditions of Vietnam and its former colonizer, France.
The crunchy cucumber and jalapeño slivers, cilantro and pickled carrots speak to the Vietnamese love of fresh and abundant vegetables. The French might have left decades ago, but their influence remains in the form of fresh, homemade French loaves dressed lightly with tangy mayonnaise. A wonderful marriage of gastronomic cultures. The sandwiches come with a choice of meats or pâté, with my favorites being the grilled lemongrass beef ($4.99) and char-grilled pork ($4.75), which are always juicy and never chewy.
Bui is joined in the restaurant daily by her sister Tran Ngoc and Ngoc’s self-effacing husband, Nick, who will often take his lunch break from his job as a petroleum engineer to offer his services and wit. The charming and friendly women lend their small, delicious deli, which serves not only blue- and white-collar crowds but also chefs from some of Austin’s finest restaurants, a warm and inviting atmosphere.
My trip to Vietnam might have been postponed, but it’s nice to know that I can make the drive up to Tam Deli to satisfy my cravings.
Quality Seafood
5621 Airport Blvd. 452-3820, www.qualityseafoodmarket.com.
When he wasn’t building houses, my grandfather was a shrimper. By the time I was old enough to ride on the boat with him, his seafaring habits trended toward family outings. But it’s safe to say shrimp and their saltwater home in the Gulf of Mexico are in my DNA.
Austin might be landlocked, but you can almost smell the Gulf when you enter Quality Seafood.
The restaurant/market, which has been in the same location on Airport Boulevard for four decades, expanded and added an oyster bar in 2005 under the ownership of Carol Huntsberger. The array of seafood can be tempting to the point of distraction, but I hardly ever waver from the fried shrimp po’-boy .
The fresh, wild-caught, hand-peeled shrimp are dragged through an all-purpose breading, the crumbs sticking to the moisture of the shrimp, and receive one more coat right before being dropped in oil. Cooked at the perfect temperature for just the right amount of time, a paramount chemistry, the shrimp consistently arrive golden brown with a crunchy exterior that does nothing to detract from the moist, tender interior.
The shrimp come served on soft rolls from the New World Bakery in Kyle and are topped simply with lettuce and tomato from Segovia Produce in Austin. The minimalist sandwich allows for personalizing, which I usually achieve by mixing a little tartar and cocktail sauce with some spicy horseradish. You can order the po’-boy a la carte ($8.49), but if you’re going to indulge in Gulf Coast comfort food, it’s always wise to go all the way and get the plate ($10.99), which offers two sides. If you’re not scared to eat multiple fried dishes, the thin, crunchy french fries are a nice option, but it’s hard to go wrong with the combination of cheese and butter that comes from pairing macaroni and cheese with a small ear of corn.
When I want to take a stroll down memory lane and escape to the coast without the hassle of a three-hour drive, there’s no better transportive option than the best fried shrimp po’-boy in town.
Hog Island Italian Deli
1612 Lavaca St. 482-9090, hogislanddeli.com. Also at 407 Lavaca St. 276-8990.
Christopher Columbus. Michelangelo. Federico Fellini. Ferrari. Sophia Loren. Genoa salami.
Thank God for the Italians and their ingenuity, style and taste.
Considering I don’t really recall ever eating mixed Italian meat sandwiches while living in Italy, however, maybe my thanks here should really go to Italian Americans.
While the exact origin of the multimeat Italian sandwich (grinder, hero, sub, et al. ) is debatable, it seems the “hoagie” originated in South Philly . Named after the vessels built in the shipyards of Hog Island, near the convergence of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, hoagies were a favorite meal of immigrant workers, who would stack deli meats, vegetables and cheese on bread to form this twist on the basic meat-and-cheese sandwiches of old Italia. New World, new rules.
Philly natives, brothers Steve and Carlo DiMarco knew several years ago that they wanted to open a sandwich shop like their beloved spots in Philadelphia. With hoagie and cheesesteak shops dotting virtually every corner in their hometown, however, they pondered a move to South Beach, Fla., or Las Vegas to do just that. Fortunately, a relative of one of their original investing partners lobbied for a move to Austin. His power of persuasion led to our reward in the form of Hog Island Deli near the Capitol.
The DiMarco brothers, whose grandparents settled in Philly after arriving from Italy, combined Steve’s culinary skills with Carlo’s business savvy to open a deli they believed replicated the tastes of their hometown.
For my money, you’d be hard-pressed to find an Italian hoagie better than the one served at Hog Island. Although the menu is vast, I almost always end up with the Old Italian ($6.99 for a 7-inch and $8.99 for the 12-inch).
Featuring a harmonious quartet of semidry capicola , sopressata , Genoa salami and mortadella , the sandwich is a cured-Italian-meats-lover’s dream. The sandwich’s traditional provolone cheese provides a subtle creamy flavor without detracting from the meats. Crispy shards of lettuce, juicy tomatoes and onion slices drizzled with oil and a bright, savory balsamic provide a fresh crunch to balance the dense flavors of the meat.
Hog Island’s sandwiches were originally served on somewhat hard sesame seed rolls, but the DiMarcos said they eventually had to come to terms with the fact that Austinites prefer softer bread, so they made the switch to the soft, crunchy Amoroso rolls from Philly, thus eliminating the only complaint I had ever heard from fellow sandwich lovers.
Combining recipes they loved from their old haunts back home with a few twists of their own, the Phillies and Eagles fanatics have given some delicious Italian street cred to the Austin sandwich scene.
With apologies to the good people of Philadelphia, when I want a steak sandwich, I want a thick, juicy, grilled cut of meat, not shaved, frizzled pieces of meat. Maybe it’s the seventh-generation Texan in me.
When I think of steak sandwiches, I think of the day after a family dinner or cookout. Eating steak two days in a row can seem a little extreme, but if you throw that steak on some bread and garnish it to suit your palate ? well, guilt removed. If you can find steak experts to make that sandwich for you, all the better.
Opened in 1993, Austin Land & Cattle is Austin’s answer to the stuffy, country club feel of most steakhouses.
ALC offers class with a wink of kitsch (what other quality steakhouse would adorn its walls with a painting of an AC-DC-themed cow named Black Angus Young?) and without pretense and generally lets its beef do the boasting.
Offered only in the bar area - a crowded but not claustrophobic space that feels separate but equal to the main dining room - the steak sandwich ($10, $8 during one of the city’s best happy hours) features a succulent 6- to 8-ounce rib-eye steak cooked to order. I find medium to be about right for this dish.
Served on a flaky sourdough hoagie, the sandwich comes with lettuce, tomato and pickles. At home, I like to add a little blue cheese and horseradish. At Austin Land & Cattle, I have the luxury of letting the kitchen do the heavy lifting with homemade sauces for an extra $1.75. To get my savory and spicy fix, it’s always a tough choice between the creamy jalapeño horseradish and jalapeño blue cheese sauces. A side of crisp, thin-cut fries can be added for $2.75.
None of which is to suggest the sandwich doesn’t hold up just fine on its own. You could pull the meat off the sandwich and serve it with sides and have a respectable steak dinner. But sometimes you just need a steak sandwich the way it was meant to be served in Texas.
10 more sandwiches to love
- Lone Star beef torta from Izzoz Tacos, 1207 S. First St. 326-4996, www.izzoztacos.com.
- Gypsy Grove sandwich (minus the fried egg) from FoodHeads, 616 W. 34th St. 420-8400, www.foodheads.com.
- Pâte de France from Spec’s, 4970 U.S. 290 W. 366-8260, www.specsonline.com.
- Southside Authentic Italian Gourmet sub from Tucci’s Southside Subs, 801 E. William Cannon Drive, No. 240. 440-1850, southsidesubsaustin.com.
- Crawfish po’-boy from Sambets Cajun Deli, 8650 Spicewood Springs Road, Suite 111. 258-6410, www.sambets.com.
- Tartine with ricotta, fig and apricot preserves from Blue Dahlia Bistro, 1115 E. 11th St. 542-9542, www.bluedahliabistro.com.
- Apricot chicken salad from Central Market north and south. www.centralmarket.com.
- Chicken pesto panini from Blu Cafe, 360 Nueces St. 904-5666, www.bluaustin.com.
- Tuna melt from Jo’s, 242 W. Second St., 469-9003, www.joscoffee.com.
- Grilled pimiento and cheese from the Counter Cafe, 626 N. Lamar Blvd. 708-8800, www.thecountercafe.com
- 1 unbaked 9” shell
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. cumin
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 tsp. red chile powder
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 1 cup chopped green chile
- 2 cups heavy cream or 1 cup evaporated milk or 1 cup half & half
- 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
- 1/2 cup crumbled bacon
- Friday: Italian Beef Sandwich, potato chips and a canned soda or water for $6.50. Go all the way and “Get it Sweet Hot and Wet,” as Miller likes to say.
- Saturday: Fire Dog (spicy Polish sausage with mustard, onion, relish and peppers on top) with potato chips and canned soda or water for $5. For the Kids on Saturday: Two Jr. Dogs with ketchup & mustard, potato chips and canned soda or water for $4
- Sunday: Buy two hot dogs (any style) and get the third one FREE (of equal or lesser value).
You can also buy a hot dog and drink and get a FREE order of French fries. - Jalapiña Margarita: Pineapple, jalapeño, lime, orange, Himalayan crystal salt, organic raw agave nectar, Sauza Hornitos tequila - $11
- Cool Hand Cuke: Local organic cucumber, lime, local mint, aloe vera, organic raw agave nectar, Tito’s vodka - $11
- Teen Wolfberry: Organic goji berry, grapefruit, Himalayan crystal salt, organic raw agave nectar, lime, Hornitos tequila - $11
- Pineapple Popeye: Pineapple, organic spinach, organic parsley, Himalayan crystal salt, lime, lemon, Tito’s vodka - $11
- Ginger Mojito: local organic mint, Lime, organic raw agave nectar, organic ginger, Himalayan crystal salt, Cruzan rum - $11
- Coco Love on the Beach: Fresh coconut water and flesh, banana, Himalayan crystal salt, Cruzan rum - $12
- Son of a Beach: Fresh coconut water and flesh, organic yerba mate’, living B vitamins, Himalayan crystal salt, Cruzan rum - $13
- Raw Chocolate Martini: raw organic cacao, black cherry coconut water, ice cube, organic raw agave nectar, Himalayan crystal salt, Tito’s vodka - $13
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September 16, 2009
Fricano's Deli is the business
Maybe it was my fondness for my grandmother’s summer afternoon preparations, passed down to my mother, to which I was paying homage. Maybe I was portending a future in the service industry or a life as a stay-at-home dad. Or maybe I felt guilty for acting like a jerk to my friends. Whatever the reason, I always had a love for sandwiches, their quality and construction and our desires to have unique and personalized creations even in the simplest of forms.
Over the years, sandwiches have been my staple, my go-to food. Sure, I love steak and tacos … and lobster … and pizza. But I can’t resist a wonderful sandwich. My passion has led me to find stacked pleasures across the country and abroad. Wagshal’s in Washington D.C., Parkway Deli in Silver Spring, Maryland, the original Antone’s in Houston, The Italian Store in Arlington, Virginia and countless sandwich places in Italy have all made me swoon and hold a special place in my heart. In Austin, I have made the occasional love connection to various degrees of intensity at Hogg Island Deli, Wisk (R.I.P.), Spec’s, Central Market, Food Heads, Buenos Aires Café, Whole Foods, Sullivan’s, Tam Deli, Wheatsville Co-Op.
Add Fricano’s Deli to the list.
A hole-in-the-wall spot located near the Bermuda Triangle that is the area where East 31st Street and Speedway Street collide, Fricano’s feels like the kind of sandwich shop that despite being open only three years feels like it has been there forever. And it feels like the kind of sandwich shop I’d want to open, or at least eat at a couple of times a week. There are small bookshelves stuffed with books and board games, a few seats at the counter bar, two-tops with seating for about a dozen people and about two dozen sandwiches and hot dogs on the menu.
The sandwiches refrain from trying too hard, offering just the right number of ingredients to provide good flavor, without putting on a show. Take for example the Jamilio’s Italian Cheesesteak I had earlier this week. While the only thing Italian about it was the mozzarella, the combination of Boar’s Head pastrami, grilled onions and peppers, homemade Rocket sauce and the aforementioned cheese on a crunchy, flaky hoagie provided a wonderful combination of savory and spicy. It comes warmed to perfection on a Panini press that looks like it gets a thorough workout each day and hit all of the right notes.
Longtime Austinite Paul Fricano, and his business partners, husband-and-wife team Jamil Muhaisen and DeeAnne Bullard, take pride in their attention to detail, fresh ingredients and the fact that almost everything in the store is homemade, excepting the ketchup. And, really, people can be fussy about their ketchup, so probably safe to stick with the store bought.
Homemade offerings include potato and pasta salads, salad dressings and a red and green cabbage slaw, five original spreads that can be added to any sandwich and a soup of the day. When I was in Monday, I sampled a bit of the corn chowder, which was rich without relying too heavily on the cream, and featured crisp flavors of crunchy vegetables punctuated by refreshing cilantro. Although I passed on dessert my last time in, next time I will be sure to pick up one of DeeAnne’s homemade cupcakes, which she bakes daily.
While I have yet to make my way through the menu, I will be certain to tackle their roster of Reubens (five in all), and am unafraid to bring vegetarian friends, as the menu boasts four delicious veggie options.
Fricano seems a natural behind the counter, which makes sense when you discover his parents once ran a Chicago-style deli. He and his partners fill the worn joint with an affable vibe that almost makes it feel as if one of your buddies is fixing you a sandwich after a grueling match of ping pong. And they don’t cheat.
Fricano’s Deli [site]
104 C E. 31st St. [map]
482.9980
Hours
Monday - Friday: 11 am - 7 pm
Saturday: Noon - 5 pm
Closed Sunday
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September 14, 2009
Give as good as you get at Flavors of the Town this Thursday
The foundation works to battle Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, by providing support for Central Texas families of those afflicted with the disease.
The evening centers around tastings from a wide range of local restaurants, including Andiamo Ristorante, Eddie V’s, Garrido’s, McCormick and Schmick’s, Salvation Pizza, III Forks and Tiff’s Treats.
“We are delighted to - again - have such amazing participation for Flavors of the Town,” said Volney Campbell, board member of the Busby Foundation. “Our support from the Hyatt Regency Austin makes this event possible and the local restaurants that donate their time and effort make all the difference in our mission to increase awareness of ALS and raise funds to help people in the local community battling the disease.”
Tickets for the event are $100. Additionally, a limited number of raffle tickets for a vacation getaway to a Hyatt resort are being sold for $100 each.
For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit Flavorsofthetown.org or contact Chris Valentine at (512) 699-3467.
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September 8, 2009
Pei Wei offers new ramen dish and a chance to help
Pei Wei Asian Diner, the fast-casual concept from P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, wants to change the way people think about ramen noodles. And they want to help stock food banks in the process. Most people know ramen as dried, packaged noodles with flavor packets that offer college students and budget shoppers sustenance at a low price. The restaurant company’s executive chef, Eric Justice, hopes Pei Wei’s new dish, chile beef ramen (fresh egg noodles glazed in soy-chile sauce, served with wok-seared vegetables and flank steak, topped with cilantro and spritzed with lime) will turn the idea of simple ramen on its head.
“Our goal is to offer Asian food-lovers an exciting and flavorful new experience ? and to finally give the ramen noodles the redemption they deserve,” Justice said.
Wednesday, all Pei Wei locations are offering 50 percent off the $6.95 chile beef, chicken or tofu ramen and the $7.95 shrimp ramen for all customers who bring in any package of ramen noodles, which will be donated to a local food bank along with a charitable contribution from Pei Wei. Pei Wei has five Austin-area locations. Details at www.peiwei.com.
Photo from Sue Tallon PEI WEI.
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New Groupon.com offers amazing deal at The Woodland
Take their initial offer: buy a $25 gift card to The Woodland on South Congress Avenue, and get $50 worth of food and drink. For this deal, 25 people have to purchase the coupon before the deal goes into effect. In this case, the site currently says that 126 people have purchased the coupon, so “the deal is on!” For those of you who do not know, The Woodland features refined comfort food. I suggest the fried chicken sandwich, which I searched out last week when looking for some culinary comfort.
Each day, Groupon users will have 24 hours to make the purchase and get the group’s numbers to the threshold.
I’ll let the folks at Groupon.com explain it more thoroughly:
Groupon is a combination of the words group and coupon. Each day, we offer an unbeatable deal on the best of Austin: restaurants, spas, sporting events, theater, and more. By promising businesses a minimum number of customers, we get discounts you won’t find anywhere else. We call it “collective buying power”! If you want to get the deal, just click BUY before the offer ends at midnight. If the minimum number of people (25 for today’s deal) sign up by the end of the day, you’ll get a printable gift certificate in your inbox the next morning that you can use whenever you want (well, at least until the deal expires—today’s expires in three months). If not enough people join, no one gets the deal (and you won’t be charged), so invite your friends to make sure you get the discount! It’s nice to wake up to something new every day. Some people get their daily fix from desk calendars with a cute puppy and a funny caption every morning. Groupon is like a desk calendar, except the puppy is an unbeatable discount and the funny caption is a profound reflection on the flowers and needles growing from life’s cactus. We selflessly share our deep insights, hoping that you will join our mob of consumers, thus strengthening our collective buying power and commanding even better deals.
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August 31, 2009
Central Market's Hatch chile contest: Bon appe-heat
Separate eggs and beat egg yolks. Whip egg whites until thick and foamy. Fold egg whites into yokes, along with salt, onions, red chile powder, black pepper and green chile. Add cream or evaporated milk to mixture and blend well. Layer Swiss cheese over bottom of pie crust and then pour egg into pie crust. Sprinkle crumbled bacon over top. Bake at 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until browned and solid. Serve hot.
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July 21, 2009
Trattoria Lisina: Little Tuscany in the heart of Texas
While the explosion of restaurants in the heart of the city has been a welcome element of our city’s growth, sometimes one needs to leave his watch at home and escape the heated concrete of the city to decompress.
A trip out to Damian Mandola’s Trattoria Lisina offers a welcome change of pace and a chance to unwind, in true Italian fashion, for a meal that can stretch out its legs and linger for hours.
The 30-minute trip to Driftwood from downtown Austin may not transport you all the way to Siena, but the massive stone building set aside a winery just at the foot of the Central Texas Hill Country does its best to approximate the feeling of Tuscany.
Our helpful waiter directed us to an Allegrini Palazzo della Torre 2005 ($40) not listed on the menu, as the restaurant is apparently transitioning its wine selection and no Mandola reds were among the offerings Saturday night, that had a long finish with flavors of berries and raisins that went well with the meats (salami, prosciutto and mortadella) in our antipasti plate ($12). The asparagus on the plate, however, seemed an afterthought that crunched with more gusto than desired and lacked flavor, and the roasted onion could have benefited by forfeiting its plate space for a similarly cooked clove of garlic. We also submitted to the fried charms of the calamari which was accompanied best by the subtle piquancy of the peporoncini aioli, which went quickly.
As the plates, glasses and bottles begin to collect, you come to recognize one minor drawback of Lisina: the four-top tables do not offer adequate space for all of the food and drink you may desire. Fortunately, our waiter graciously and quickly offered a folding side table on which to place one of our serving plates. This lack of space could possibly be alleviated by serving meals at massive banquet tables, as they do in Siena’s contrade, but that may be a little too close for comfort.
While the tables are located relatively close to one another at Lisina, you do not have to worry about your conversation bleeding over to other tables, however, as the high ceilings and concrete floors make for an aurally rambunctious dining environment, despite the acoustic tiles covering the majority of the ceiling, that goes well with the restaurant’s communal famiglia experience. The tables ringing the central dining room, on what used to be the patio before the Texas sun proved itself more unbearable than its Tuscan counterpart, offer a slightly less noisy atmosphere, though not considerably so.
After finishing our first bottle and appetizers, we moved on to another recommendation from our knowledgeable waiter, a Castello Monaci Negroamaro ($40), the dark berry and slightly spicy aroma of which accompanied well our disparate main courses. It should be noted here that Mandola’s partner, Dr. Stan Duchman, apparently has an amazing personal wine collection, and the co-owner would be proud of his staff’s working knowledge of the bottles on hand at Lisina.
Head chef and general manager John Lichtenberger served on the opening team for (Michelin three star) Le Bernardin in New York City, currently under the culinary stewardship of Eric Ripert, and his French influences could be tasted in the rich Halibut special, which was pan seared and served in a decadent lemon butter sauce.
The Sicilian style breaded pork chop hid behind a bit too much breading but was punched up and topped with a moist and flavorful salad of mixed greens, cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, which provided zest to an otherwise unremarkable dish that left me reaching for my water.
The lasagna bolognese ($14) could have benefited from more seasoning and a stronger tomato presence, but the rotisserie chicken ($16) — another nod to France — was a pleasant surprise, its juicy, tender meat bursting from beneath its heavily seasoned and aromatic skin. The accompanying cucumber salad, with its colorful flavor components of red onions and cherry tomatoes, contrasted nicely the herbed, savory flavor of the succulent meat.
The table lay the two-plus hour meal to rest with a wonderful tiramisu ($8) which begged lustfully for just a nip more of rum and the eye-opening affogato ($4), which had us putting down our spoons to sip the creamy fusion of vanilla ice cream and espresso.
The best part of a meal at Lisina does not appear on the menu, however. It is the opportunity afforded one to slow down and let a meal to unfurl naturally with no accompanying anxiety as to where one must be after dinner. After all, if you’re going to get out of town for a relaxing dinner, the last thing you should be worried about is how quickly you need to get back to the city.
Trattoria Lisina [site]
13308 FM 150 West
Driftwood, TX 78619 [map]
Hours
Sunday, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Monday, Closed
Tuesday - Thursday: Noon - 9 p.m.
Friday: Noon - 10 p.m.
Saturday: 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
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July 10, 2009
R.I.P. Shuggie's
Although its humorous, tongue-in-cheek press release credits a drive-by carried out by a rival chain as the reason for its “death,” the closing of Shuggie’s at the Trailer Park at 1311 S. First St. has a much more peaceful and natural cause.
After selling burgers, shakes, chicken sandwiches and other deliciously heart-stopping foods for the past 10-plus months, with a three-month winter hiatus mixed in, the owners of Shuggie’s, a spin-off of Torchy’s Tacos, have decided they want to focus on doing what they know and do best, which is serving tacos.
While Shuggie’s was doing a “nice business,” according to co-owner Bob Gentry, the ownership group decided they “can’t be all things to all people.”
Torchy’s will move its Trailer Park operation into the former Shuggie’s trailer, which has two service windows, allowing for better service to its legions of fans. The elimination of Shuggie’s will also afford more parking for Torchy’s, which can overflow with people during peak hours, Gentry said.
While Gentry says ownership has no interest in expanding into the world of franchising, despite regular inquiries from outsiders, Torchy’s does have its eye on expansion, with North Burnet Road and Southwest Austin being locations of specific interest, with a possible eastside expansion down the line.
In addition to its locations at 2801 Guadalupe St., the Trailer Park on South First Street and 2809 S. First St., Torchy’s has also remained busy with a booming catering operation, Gentry said, and has recently begun expanding into numerous coffee shops around town. (I noticed this morning that Torchy’s Tacos are now being served at Flipnotics on Barton Springs Road.)
While devotees of the burger trailer will likely miss the green chili cheese fries and chicken-fried, bacon-topped burgers they’ve come to love from Shuggie’s, Gentry notes there are other local businesses specializing in hamburgers and doing them well, and the company’s press released urges lovers of Shuggie’s to continue to support local burger shops such as P. Terry’s, Hat Creek Burger Co. and Sandy’s.
To celebrate the “life” of Shuggie’s, there will me a “memorial” at the Trailer Park this Sunday from 6 to 10 p.m. Considering the tenor of the press release, expect some good humor in addition to specials on food as the sun sets on a burger stand that was gone too soon.
Photo by Mark Matson FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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July 2, 2009
Fourth of July weekend food/booze specials
And while it’s always a good time to fire up the grill and throw on some hot dogs or burgers, or watch Dad man the pit while praying he doesn’t pull a Homer Simpson and blow up the neighborhood, sometimes it is more enjoyable to sit back and let somebody else do the work.
With that said, here are a few dining/boozing options for Fourth of July weekend. So dust off that Francis Lightfoot Lee costume and have a blast this weekend, whether you’re doing the grilling or not. (And, please, eat and drink responsibly.)
Chris’ Little Chicago: Chicagoland transplant Chris Miller makes, in my opinion, the best damn dog in town. (Read my profile on him here.) Stop by his trailer on South Lamar this weekend for the following specials (and as an added bonus, bring a football or frisbee and enjoy the grassy acreage behind his trailer with some old-fashioned leisure activities.)
Chris’ will be open Friday and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. (or until folks stop coming) and on Sunday from Noon - 5:30 p.m.
Cru Wine Bar: From 2 p.m. to close, Cru is getting in the bicentennial spirit by offering a three-course meal for $19.76. Check out the menu here.
Ranch 616: The upscale grill will be offering a special 4th of July menu that includes the following that can be served as appetizer platters or individually: Sugar-Cured Grilled 1/2 Quail, Scallion Grilled Beef Vacio Sliders, Mesquite Smoked Pork Brisket Sliders, Chile-Lime Grilled Tiger Prawns, Rosemary & Garlic Lambcicles, Mesquite Smoked Baked Potato Salad, Truffle Fries, Tony’s Agua Fresca of Mango-White Peach Lemonade
The Woodland: Head down South Congress for free appetizers with the purchase of an entree on the Fourth of July. You can also grub for free on a few Woodland appetizers at The Mohawk, as they will be dishing it out on Friday the 3rd for their afternoon happy hour that runs from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and includes kiddy pools, free grub and drink specials.
Mama Fu’s: Get red, white and Fu, as Mama’s has said this Fourth of July and receive $5 off any order of at least $20. But you gotta say, “I want Red, White and Fu,” so there’s that.
Veggie Hot Dog Eating Contest: For those of you veggie lovers or people who just love competitive eating, check out the Third Annual Veggie Hot Dog Eating Contest at 2 p.m. on the Fourth of July at the Tiniest Bar in Texas.
Hyatt Regency Austin’s Marker 10 patio: Stop along the trail at the hotel for free watermelon slices from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the Fourth of July before taking in the fireworks. The bar and grill will also be serving a fancy backyard menu that will feature fresh watermelon martinis, Texas pulled pork sandwiches with an arugula watermelon salad and refreshing watermelon skewers drizzled in local honey and aged balsamic vinegar.
Z’Tejas: [From their press release] In honor of the July 4th holiday, guests can enjoy a bucket of four ice cold Bud or Bud Light beers or four famous Leo’s Street Tacos, each for the low price of $7.04! This incredible deal will be available starting July 2 at 4 p.m. and run through July 5.
Photo of the Italian Beef from Chris’ Little Chicago provided by Chris Miller.
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April 6, 2009
Popped perfection at Cornucopia
1914 Guadalupe St. Suite B [map]
477.2676
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February 24, 2009
Get fat for free today at IHOP
Of course, we all realize that today is Fat Tuesday, also known as Shrove Tuesday. Did you know it was also National Pancake Day? From my Internet research, it seems that the unofficial pancake holiday was born out of English Christians need to use up all of their dairy products before Lent, at which point they would give them up in observation of religious custom. Well, what was once a pre-refrigeration religious ritual has now become a marketing gimmick, naturally.
To celebrate National Pancake Day (and maybe combat all of the free publicity Denny’s got following the Super Bowl), IHOP is giving away free pancakes today until 10 p.m. There’s not even much of a catch, really. All they ask is that you consider a donation to local children’s hospital through the Children’s Miracle Network in exchange for a free small stack of buttermilk pancakes. And, yes, each person only gets on stack, fatty.
I headed over to IHOP around 2 p.m. today in hopes of getting some footage of people queuing up for flapjacks, but, sadly, there were no massive lines. I would imagine there will be some around 5 p.m. Of course, you could just go drinking after work and then head over to IHOP at 9:30 p.m. to soak up the booze with buttermilk pancakes.
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February 17, 2009
Crawfish season off to a crawl
Update: (My original post was intended to explain that my two favorite crawfish options in town don’t have them yet, but that doesn’t mean the city is entirely crawfish-free. The Boiling Pot on East Sixth Street has them for $9.95/lb. and Evangeline Cafe in South Austin is actually having a crawfish boil this Saturday, starting at 3:30 p.m., with the mudbugs going for $6.99/lb.)
Usually, by this time of the year, people are flocking to suck the heads off crawfish, nosh on buttery corn and savor new potatoes stacked in a messy array on butcher paper. Sadly, 2009 has not been the Year of the Crawfish.
I had heard the season was slow but I didn’t realize just how slow it was until I called the good folks over at two of my favorite places, Sambets Cajun Cafe (which you must visit, if you haven’t already) and Quality Seafood, who informed me that this is one of the slowest crawfish seasons in years. The shortage of the little mudbugs means that there are none to be had at this time.
The men at both places informed me that they hoped to have them next week, but it seems like the first week of March may be a safer bet.
Why the slow season? It seems Mother Nature is to blame.
According to the Shreveport Times:
Hurricane debris such as leaves and grass remained in some flooded ponds for weeks following Hurricane Gustav, sucking up the oxygen in the water and choking crawfish, said Mark Shirley with the LSU AgCenter.In southwestern Louisiana, crawfish farmers were hit by a drought, Shirley said. Crawfish burrow into the soil to hibernate. A lack of rain causes the soil to dry up and the crawfish die.
In Vermilion and lower Iberia parishes, Ike’s storm surge sent salt water into as much as 4,000 acres of crawfish ponds. They’re recovering slowly, Shirley said. Some may have reduced production later this year, but some will not produce enough to sell.
The good news is that by March or April the young crawfish that are present in ponds today but are too small to catch should be large enough for harvesting, he said.
So, fear not. While we may be off to a slow start and you won’t be elbow deep in butter, seasonings and crawfish juice any time too soon, it looks like the prospects for a good spring are still intact.
In the words of David Cook owner of the Crawfish Palace in Haughton, LA, “Nature beats us up early in the beginning, but it pays off in the end.”
Laizzes les crawfish roulez. (Eventually.)
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The Kitchen Door has moved (kind of)
I went to pick up a chicken salad sandwich last week from The Kitchen Door on Lake Austin Boulevard, home of some of the best sandwiches in town, only to see a vinyl banner hanging in front of the store thanking their Lake Austin customers for their business over the years and asking folks to visit them at their new location downtown.
Determined to get my hands on some of their freshly baked bread and a soda with their country club ice (you know, the little granule style ice), I decided to go down to the new location at 221 W. Sixth St. (Chase Building). But after finding metered parking and making my way to the old Apple Annies location, I discovered the door locked and the cafe empty.
Apparently The Kitchen Door, which had planned to open the new location last week, had not received all of its city permits, and had to delay the opening. After speaking to Erica this morning at the Far West location, I learned that they hoped to open this Thursday. So, if you want a sandwich from the Kitchen Door, don’t go to Lake Austin Boulevard and don’t believe the sign directing you to the new location.
With that said, the new location (once open) will operate from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays. They will serve their wonderful cinnamon rolls, kolaches, etc. in the morning and their award-winning sandwiches in the afternoon. While it will be nice to have a new place to hit up for a midday sandwich downtown, I will miss the convenience (ample parking) of the Lake Austin location. I can only assume the owners felt they could do a more brisk business in the new location, despite limited hours. A boon for downtown workers comes at the expense of those of us who liked shooting across MoPac for a hassle-free sandwich. So it goes.
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February 11, 2009
Get 'Checked Out' at Whole Foods today
“Hey there, lonely girl, lonely girl …”
Let’s face it, you may go to Whole Foods for the organic produce and to “keep it local,” but if you don’t admit to doing a little window shopping for a date, you’re not being totally honest. It may not be a meet market, but you’ve probably eyed someone before and wish you could come up with an acceptable pick-up line. I mean, maybe you didn’t leave a missed connection on Craigslist or anything (and, seriously, aren’t those always for the WF employees, anyhow?), but you’ve looked. And maybe felt a little creepy.
Whole Foods feels your pain and wants to assuage your guilt by actually inviting you to come in and peruse other shoppers while you shop and graze.
In honor of Valentine’s Day (week), Whole Foods is hosting its “Check Out” Singles Event tonight from 6 p.m. - 8 p.m..
From Whole Foods’ site:
“If you want a ‘healthy relationship,’ where better to look than Whole Foods Market? Stroll the aisles and taste decadent chocolates and champagne, flirt over fondue, sample perfect recipes for romantic dinners for two, and mingle on the patio with your new friends. You might just find a date for Valentine’s Day!”
Although I am sure there will be chocolate and champagne lovers in attendance who are actually in a relationship, it couldn’t hurt to give it a shot, single folks. And nothing soothes rejection better than some free food and booze. For those simply looking for organic produce and not awkward flirtation, you may want to steer clear of the giveaways.
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February 3, 2009
Where to eat on Valentine's Day
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, if you don’t have reservations for dinner, you better get busy, as most of the city’s best restaurants are full or filling up quickly.
Of course, you can pull the ol’ “it’s a corporate-based, greeting card holiday, and I show my lady/man I love her/him every day.” Despite the validity of said claim, it’s probably not the best tack.
You could also prepare a romantic dinner at home or head out to a bed & breakfast in the Hill Country for the weekend. Or just rent a movie. But you can do that any weekend. Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to blow a couple hundred bucks on a great meal, and don’t we all deserve a little indulgence this time of year? Besides, if you take her/him to a really nice restaurant, you don’t really have to get a gift. Just blame the recession. You have my approval.
Below are 11 of my favorite restaurants in the Austin area. Many are booked, but there are still some tables available. I included the ones that are at capacity to save you the call. You can send me thank-you chocolates at a later date.
Aquarelle (606 Rio Grande St., 479.8117): Austin’s best French restaurant is booked for Valentine’s but will be open on February 15.
East Side Cafe (2113 Manor Rd., 476.5858): Fresh and simple flavor components with a wonderful waitstaff await you … if you want to eat early (5:30 p.m. and earlier) or late (8:45 p.m. and later).
Eddie V’s (301 East 5th St., 472.1860): Surf and turf will be hard to come by here on Valentine’s Day, unless you want to eat at 4:45 p.m. or 10:45 p.m.. They will be open on the 13th and 15th, however. As an added bonus, appetizers are half-price Sunday and Monday starting at 4:30 p.m..
Hudson’s on the Bend (3509 Ranch Road 620 N., 512.266.1369): If you have a hankering for espresso-rubbed elk backstrap or the best beef tenderloin in Central Texas, surprsingly, you are in luck. Hudson’s has slots open at 5:30 p.m., 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.. Eat your crème brûlée on the patio after you stuff yourself silly.
Jezebel (914 Congress Ave # 100, 499.3999): Unfortunately, my favorite restaurant is booked solid. There a few times available on Friday the 13th, however, if you want to dine on Chef/Owner Parind Vora’s sublime creations.
La Traviata (314 Congress Ave., 479.8131): This quaint and authentic Italian joint on Congress Ave. is not as ostenatious as its peers, and it never fails to impress. You are in luck, if for only a hot minute, as they have tables available at 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. They will be offering a prix fixe menu with eight options per course for $48.
Musashino Sushi (3407 Greystone Dr., 795.8593): Here’s an interesting take on the Valentine’s Day madness. My favorite sushi restaurant is not taking reservations, but they are taking “call-aheads.” This apparently means you will be able to get a table, but you will have a wait to deal with once you arrive. Sounds kinda fishy (intended), but well worth it.
Roaring Fork (701 Congress Ave., 583.0000): Centrally located with good American flavors, they have just a few openings left, at 5 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Ruth’s Chris (107 W 6th St., 477.7884): My favorite steakhouse in town is booked on Valentine’s Day. That leaves Friday the 13th at 6:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. or later.
Uchi (801 S. Lamar Blvd., 916.4808): They take limited reservations as is, and it appears from online sources that getting a table there on V-Day is an impossibility.
Wink (1014 N. Lamar Blvd. # E, 482.8868): One of my three favorite spots in town, Wink is booked. They will be extending hours and open for business on Sunday for the belated romantic dinner, however.
For a list of more Valentine’s Day options, check out Statesman food critic Mike Sutter’s excellent Fork Lore blog.
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January 29, 2009
Celebrate the Super Bowl with a Bacon Explosion!
With the big game around the corner, you are doubtlessly preparing an appetizer, queso or chili recipe that will blow the socks off of your friends and leave everyone in a food coma by the second half.
Before you break out grandma’s secret recipe book or go to one of your old tried-and-true concoctions, you may want to take a look at this barbecued bacon recipe, Bacon Explosion!, courtesy of bbqaddicts.com.
Here’s what you’ll need…2 pounds thick cut bacon
2 pounds Italian sausage
1 jar of your favorite barbeque sauce
1 jar of your favorite barbeque rub
2 defibrillator paddles (ed. note)
911 on speed dial (ed. note)To kick off the construction of this pork medley you’ll need to create a 5x5 bacon weave. If the strips you’re using aren’t as wide as the ones pictured, then you may need to use a few extra slices to fill out the pattern. Just make sure your weave is tight and that you end up with a nice square shape to work with.
The next step is to add some barbeque seasoning on top of your bacon weave. Being the barbeque addict that I am, I whipped up a batch of Burnt Finger BBQ’s competition pork rub for this special occasion. Seeing as not everyone has the time, or the expertise, to create a tasty rub of their own, I would recommend trying Bad Byron’s Butt Rub, Rendezvous Famous Seasoning, or Steven Raichlen’s All-Purpose Rub.
For the final steps, go to bbqaddicts.com.
Photos taken from bbqaddicts.com
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January 27, 2009
Starbucks to stop brewing decaf after noon
In another of the myriad and seemingly endless signs that the flailing economy is affecting seemingly every industry, Bloomberg.com reports that Starbucks will soon stop brewing decaf coffee after noon. The company says that the move will help them save $400 million dollars by September. And probably save people over 50 the same amount.
[From Bloomberg]
The company, which last year started brewing fresh pots of coffee every 30 minutes, will have the caffeine- free version available upon request after 12 p.m., the Seattle-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. It takes about four minutes for a fresh cup to brew, spokeswoman Bridget Baker said.“For many of our stores, the demand for decaf is greatly reduced in the afternoon,” the company said in the statement. “With our current standard of continually brewing decaf after 12 p.m. regardless of demand, we have seen a high amount of waste.”
The company informed baristas of the change yesterday. Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz is accelerating a cost-cutting plan to save $400 million by September from labor and product expenses. The plan includes brewing smaller pots of coffee so that less is wasted if it’s not purchased within the 30-minute time limit.
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January 8, 2009
Sacrifice your Facebook friends for a free Whopper from Burger King
So it appears Burger King has thrown its hat into the sarcasm ring.
In the past few months, I’ve heard plenty of people asking whether their “friends” would be notified if they were “de-friended” on Facebook. It’s the “Who shot J.R.?” question of the cyber generation. The answer, of course, is no. Burger King wants to change that.
The same company that brought you SubservientChicken.com (in which you could command a man in a chicken costume to perform dance moves via Web cam) is now bringing you Whopper Sacrifice, a widget for Facebook that allows you to de-friend 10 people in exchange for a FREE WHOPPER! The catch: when you de-friend said people, their and your feeds will display that you have “sacrificed” them for said supersaturated fat delivery system.
It’s not clear whether the de-friending is permanent or not. (Or whether anyone on Facebook actually eats at Burger King.) Of course, you could also just quickly accept 10 of those people from high school/college you don’t really like who have been in your queue for months and then summarily de-friend them and get your grease on. (And, yes, there is a limit one Whopper per 10 ex-friends, fatty.)
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December 18, 2008
Sparks headed for spot next to Zima in the booze graveyard
Someone take away the hipsters’ skinny white belts and those big wooden paddles from the frat bros … MillerCoors is discontinuing the production of Sparks, the booze-and-caffeine-infused energy drink that helps get your night off to a strong start or a horrific end.
Check out this post from SFist for more details.
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December 17, 2008
Snow's BBQ in Lexington
After five years of serving barbecue mostly to locals in the small Texas town of Lexington, Snow’s BBQ — thanks to laurels bestowed earlier this year by Texas Monthly and, subsequently, The New Yorker — went from little-known gem to regional star to the Mecca of Meat in the blink of an eye. Snow’s, which sells meat for only a few hours each Saturday, was soon being flooded with visitors from around the globe (80 percent to 90 percent of their business is now out-of-towners), and their weekly orders skyrocketed from 300 pounds to 1,000 pounds. The restaurant’s charming backstory and odd operating schedule seemed to add heavily to the mystique. Of course, with great honor comes great responsibility. And gushing praise and sudden stardom wrapped in a precious narrative can be a double-edged sword. (Just ask “Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody.) Everyone loves taking shots at the king, and everyone’s an expert. So, with a bit of skepticism and a huge appetite for barbecue, a dozen or so friends and I headed over to Snow’s to find out what all the fuss was about and see if the meat could live up to its growing mythology. Situated between Austin and College Station, Lexington is home to about 1,000 people. It’s a one-stoplight, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kind of place where kids play in the streets and everyone admittedly knows everyone. Sitting on Main Street across from an old peanut warehouse and down the road from a cattle auction site, Snow’s BBQ opened in March 2003 and resides in what was once the farm and ranch store of owner Kerry Bexley. The place has a few tables inside with a covered area of picnic benches outside by the barbecue pits.
When Bexley, who works at the lignite mine outside town, decided he wanted to open a barbecue joint, he knew there was only one partner to ask to join him. Between his people and management skills (he is a former amateur rodeo clown and ran a rodeo for a dozen years) and Tomanetz’s seemingly unmatched touch as a pit boss, Bexley figured they could be a formidable team. With a restaurant that is open only on Saturday mornings from 8 until they sell out, usually around 11 a.m. or noon, that hard work comes very early on weekend morning, after both Bexley and Tomanetz, who is a custodian for the Giddings Independent School District, have worked all week at their day jobs. The briskets are thrown over the coals between midnight and 1 a.m., then Tomanetz comes in at 2 a.m. and throws on the chicken, pork and ribs. The briskets smoke eight to 10 hours, the other meats smoke six to 10 hours, all over oak coals. After the smoke and Tomanetz have done their work, it’s showtime.
But one taste of the finest brisket in the land is a reward great enough for an unusually early wake-up call. The meat simply melts in your mouth like red velvet cake. The most impressive part of the brisket might have been that each cut of our entire brisket was cooked as perfectly as the next, a mind-bending consistency that put the rest of the meats to shame. Those who prefer a crusty, caramelized edge to their brisket might prefer a rub different than that used by Snow’s, but nobody can argue with beef that crumbles at the touch. The sausage was loosely packed and flavorful, though no more impressive than that of Smitty’s Market or Kreuz Market in Lockhart, while the ribs were a little dry. The most curious piece of meat was a pork shoulder that looked like a pork loin. It was juicy and tender but lacked the flavor of some better pork I’ve had in some other joints. The meat came with traditional sides of slaw and potato salad, both of which were fresh and tasty, as well as the standard pickles, onions and white bread. But who needs sides when the star of the show is so sublime? Beyond the food, however, it is the plain-spoken, unpretentious nature of Bexley and Tomanetz and the family atmosphere they have cultivated that makes a trip to Snow’s worth your while. Snow’s — named after Bexley’s childhood nickname, Snowman — has handled well the explosion of interest and the pressure that comes with it. “There is always the stress level of (meeting expectations),” Bexley said. “I’m very concerned to try to fulfill the honors we received.” Though it might be hard to officially crown any one barbecue spot as the best in the state — a task akin to a parent picking his favorite child — a tireless commitment to quality and a welcoming and unique atmosphere has earned Snow’s barbecue a spot among the state’s elite smoked eats.
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December 4, 2008
The 2009 presidential inauguration: It'll get ya drunk
Millions of visitors are expected to descend on the city to celebrate Barack Obama’s presidential swearing-in on Jan. 20. The council hopes to accommodate the throng by allowing licensed restaurants and taverns to serve drinks later and to keep their doors open 24 hours a day for the whole week. At the request of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, a Democrat, the legislation excluded nightclubs, which would have had to continue observing the current closing hour of 2 a.m. However, council member David A. Catania, at-large independent, moved after the vote to remove the nightclub exclusion from the bill, and his amendment carried 8-5. Council member Jim Graham, Ward 1 Democrat, who introduced the bill, said the measure will allow the city’s entertainment industry to “engage fully” in inauguration week, which includes Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 19. Mr. Graham said the measure also will encourage celebrations that are safely indoors. He pointed to the boisterous revelers on election night as an example for the city to try to avoid. “On election night there were just throngs of people who were pouring into the street, and I think people may be safer celebrating inside than be wandering the streets,” he said.
It’s nice that the city is trying to accommodate a historic celebration, but you think people would want to remain somewhat sober so that they can actually remember being in D.C.
I can’t decide if this is a fabulous idea or a horrible one (although I am leaning toward the latter), and good luck finding a cab in the snow at 5:01 a.m. Regardless, someone better save me a stool next to Liam Murphy at Ireland’s Four Fields.
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November 11, 2008
Santana's latest hit: Suizas Pa Ti
Guitar legend, spiritualist, and lover of life and himself (in the documentary “Before the Music Dies,” he said that guitar gods like himself were, simply, born), Carlos Santana has opened a new restaurant in Austin. Statesman food writer Addie Broyles dishes the goods on her blog here.
Let’s get the easy jokes out of the way … you can probably expect the dishes at this restaurant to be derviative, tired and full of noodles. Jokes aside, the menu was developed by former Fonda San Miguel chef Roberto Santibañez, which portents good things.
Now for a joke of another stripe, the restaurant name … Maria, Maria, as in the title of the song for which he is probably most famous among the majority of the restaurant’s clientele. Oy(e como) vey.
According to Broyles’ blog, “At a media event at Maria Maria on Monday night, Santana, clad in brown and his trademark stocking cap, said he sees the restaurants — there are four total — and even his line of shoes as a way to return the blessings he’s received, to invest in people to give them an opportunity to financially, psychologically and spirituality grow.”
I can’t wait to hit up John McLaughlin’s new sno-cone stand next summer.
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October 29, 2008
Wisps of the Windy City on a poppy-seed bun
But, eventually, “Chicago got a little cold,” as Miller likes to say, and he decided to head back down south to warmer climes and an opportunity to be closer to his brother and nephew.
Miller spent much of the last four years working in various capacities for multiple Central Market locations, but eventually he “got hungry” for a taste of home and wanted to realize the dream of self-employment.
Surveying the food scene in Austin, Miller realized that his adopted hometown, for which he professes the love and appreciation of a native, was in dire need of a true taste of Chicago. And nothing says Chicago like a boiled Vienna hot dog.
The classic Chicago style ($3.75) comes as previously described, but for those who don’t want to stray from their favorite preparations, you can get a dog with toppings of your choice ($4) or experiment with “The Austinite” ($3.75, with mango salsa and avocado) or take the healthier route with the veggie dog ($4, which you can get with homemade veggie chili).
While many folks in Austin may know the pleasure of snapping the casing on a Vienna dog and the subsequent burst of flavor, some might be a little less familiar with another Chicago staple, the Italian beef sandwich ($6). The beef, slow roasted by Miller for three hours, is best served “sweet, hot and wet,” as Miller describes it, meaning you get both sweet and hot peppers and extra au jus sauce, leaving a succulent shaved beef sandwich that melts in your mouth. If you want to really step your game up, you can go with Miller’s favorite, the Italian Deluxe ($7.25), which is a 6” Italian sausage topped with roast beef.
As a testament to his love and respect for these regional favorites, Miller went to great lengths to describe his dedication to authenticity. With vending from a trailer making impossible the ability to keep the traditional Gonnolla bread fresh, Miller has moved to ordering his rolls from Phoenicia Bakery and is in discussions with South Austin’s Moonlight Bakery to develop the perfect roll for his Italian beef sandwiches. So, traditionalists can rest easy.
But the food is only part of the appeal of this recent addition to Austin’s burgeoning trailer scene, one Miller credits for expanding Austin’s palate. Miller’s effervescent personality has already made him famous among regulars, several of whom he now counts as good friends, and he and his big smile can be found manning his trailer seven days a week.
Austin’s new champion of the flavors of Chicago envisions opening a full-service restaurant eventually, but for now Chris Miller is grateful to be “living his dream,” combining his two favorite things - Austin and Chicago style food.
Chris’ Little Chicago
3600 S. Lamar [map]
512.300.1791
Monday: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Tuesday - Saturday: 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Sunday: 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.
(Chris hopes to have his Web site up by the end of November. In the meantime, here are some photos of his menu.)
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October 3, 2008
Quick bites: Hog Island Deli
While some of my friends complain that Hog Island Deli’s bread is brick hard and inedible, I have had pretty decent experiences with the place, even if they do stuff their meat in the sandwich instead of layering it. Today I got their Philly cheesesteak and have to say it is the best cheesesteak I’ve had in Austin. So there.
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September 10, 2008
Beer bonanza at Hyde Park Market
After a few steps into the new market, it becomes clear that things are not what they seem from the outside. Sure, the store has the simple conveniences you would expect — chips, soda, water, candy, etc. — but there is also a deli case featuring Boar’s Head products, a refrigerated case of Green Cart sandwiches, an aisle of hardware necessities, a cooler soon to be filled with organic produce, a plethora of exotic tobacco products, and beer. Man, is there beer.
For years, Central Market, Whole Foods and Whip In (and, more recently, newcomer Spec’s), have been the preferred destination for beer lovers whose discriminating tastes have led them to a life of American micro-brews and delicious imports. With the new Hyde Park Market, the balance of beer power in Central Austin may soon be shifting.
Owner Navid (Tony) Hoomanrad decided that he wanted to deviate from the norm of neighborhood convenience stores by offering a one-stop shop for fresh grocery products generally found in larger markets, along with an amazing array of beer. After a few early orders, the affable proprietor upped the ante and ordered every single beer offered by his eight distributors. The result is a dizzying array of bombers (singles), six packs and cases that is virtually unrivaled in Austin. At last count, Hyde Park Market offers 525 different types of beer. For perspective, Central Market carries roughly 360 beers, Whole Foods 425 and Spec’s 550, while Whip In professes to having a smaller (though equally impressive in terms of quality) selection due to space.
If there is a beer you have had in this town (or towns in Europe), chances are Tony has it. With singles from Ayinger, Maredsous, Afflinger, St. Bernard’s, Urthel and Ommegang, to name a few, a trip down one aisle in Hyde Park Market is enough to make a beer connoisseur’s head spin and mouth water. And, the pièce de résistance, the $40 Deus Brut de Flandres Cuveé Prestige 2006.
If Belgium, Holland, Germany, et al., don’t offer your cup of, um, beer, then the six-pack aisles should please your micro-brew loving heart. There you will find selections from Atlantic Brewing Co. of Bar Harbor, Maine; Boulevard Brewing of Kansas City; Avery Brewing of Boulder, Colo.; and every local Texas brewery, naturally.
While Tony says he quit drinking beer four years ago, and who can blame him, it’s hard to work 85 hours a week if you’re hungover, he takes great pleasure in serving the refined palates of Austin.
“It’s fun,” Tony said about providing the insane assortment of beer. “You have customers calling in for certain beers, and I figure we might as well get them. I like seeing the looks on people’s faces and seeing them content knowing that they can come here and get what they want.”
Tony opened his market in the space formerly occupied by Sunrise Super Stop in May of this year after spending close to two years running the Diamond Shamrock on Barton Springs Road. Although his business may be new to the neighborhood, Tony, whom frequent shoppers call by name, spent his earliest years living in the apartments across the street from his current business. In 1977, his parents moved from Iran to Austin, where his father, Ali Hoomanrad, attended college with dreams of becoming a doctor. Although he was accepted to several medical schools, Hoomanrad’s dreams took a back seat to the political realities of the day, as the 1979 revolution in Iran disrupted his ability to receive monetary support from his family in Iran.
After graduating from Anderson High School, Tony operated multiple convenience stores in the Houston area before returning to Austin. He understands there is something of a risk in putting so much money into a somewhat unorthodox business plan, and despite the fact that he paid close to $30,000 for the largest of his beer coolers, Tony says he is certain he will make his money back in time, and plans no further expansion of his enterprise. And, about those gas pumps outside, Tony has been offering gas at cost, and at times taking a loss, to get folks into his shop. The long lines at the pumps, at which you can’t pay without going inside, seem to be proving his logic as prescient.
Hyde Park Market
4429 Duval St.
Austin, TX 78751
[map]
Photo of Tony Hoomanrad by Mark Deutrom
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September 5, 2008
A cosmopolitan city does an Olive Garden make
Someone once showed me a post on some city-specific search site that has reviews of restaurants, etc. On a post about the massive Cannoli Joe’s in South Austin, a poster wrote after gorging himself at the Italian joint that, “The Olive Garden is dead to me!”
I spit fettucini out of my nose when I read that one. It may have been the greatest line of unintentional comedy delivered via the interdigitubes in all of computerized history. Until this.
This story has been bouncing around the ‘Net today, and, in the words of Gawker, it may be the “most Onion-like real news story of all time.” Apparently, December of 2006 was a slow news month (shocking) in Sioux City, Iowa. In this story, Sioux City Journal staff reporter John Quinlan trumpets the arrival of the town’s first Olive Garden, apparently a hallmark for fine dining and refined palates in Siouxland.
Here are the first few grafs, with the rest linked here. I really can’t make any jokes that this story doesn’t make on its own.
A martini is not a martini without an olive.That, at least, is the thinking of a true connoisseur.
And to Siouxland residents, many of whom consider themselves connoisseurs of fine food, a city is not a city without an Olive Garden. So as of Monday, Sioux City becomes a real city.
What for years has been a local obsession — the OG’s manicotti formaggio, chicken vino bianco and zuppa toscana driving Siouxlanders to Omaha and Sioux Falls — has become a reality.
Olive Garden officially opens its newest restaurant at 4 p.m. Monday at 4930 Sergeant Road in Lakeport Commons.
The OG yearning was best expressed by an anxious woman in a big white car who stopped this reporter as he was leaving the new restaurant last week. She rolled down her window and asked if it was open, then looked heartbroken when told that it wasn’t, that the parking lot was simply filled with the vehicles of Olive Garden staff members in training. “I’ve been watching it and marking my calendar until Dec. 11,” she said, her brief hopes for an early Italian dinner quashed.
FANTASTICO!
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June 30, 2008
Come on, get healthy!
You are what you eat
Sure, scoopsful of peanut butter and jelly are delicious. And who can refuse ice cream (besides vegans, of course)?
Unfortunately, the things that often taste great are rarely those that are the best for our bodies. No news alert there. But with a cornucopia of healthy offerings available at the wonderful groceries around town, it can sometimes be hard to figure out what exactly we should be putting in to our bodies. In theory, we all want to eat well. When we don’t, it is often because we don’t have the discipline, but sometimes it’s just a matter of knowledge. Enter, nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden. The New York Time reproduced his recent list article entitled The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating, and it shot to the top of the most popular stories on the Times’ site today. The list is apparently full of easier-to-find grocery items than some of his original lists, which included the superfruit goji berries, among other things.
The list was culled from Bowden’s article on MensHealth.com.
Here is part of the list from Bowden’s article, complete with links from the Times. (I am happy and say to say that you can usually find several of these items in our fridge at home — beets, cabbage and chard.)
Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.
How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power.
Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes.
How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches.
Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.
How to eat it: Chop and saute in olive oil.
Cinnamon: Helps control blood sugar and cholesterol.
How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal.
Pomegranate juice: Lowers blood pressure and loaded with vitamin C and other antioxidants.
How to eat: Just drink it.
Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but packed with cancer-fighting antioxidants.
How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked.
Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death.
How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad.
Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.’’ They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread.
Turmeric: The “superstar of spices,’’ it has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish.
Frozen blueberries: Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil; associated with better memory in animal studies.
How to eat: Blended with yogurt or chocolate soy milk and sprinkled with crushed almonds.
Canned pumpkin: A low-calorie vegetable that is high in fiber and immune-stimulating vitamin A; fills you up on very few calories.
How to eat: Mix with a little butter, cinnamon and nutmeg.
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June 5, 2008
Hold on to your head, it's Daily Juice After Dark
My good buddy and co-owner of the Daily Juice, Matt Shook, has been mixing his delicious fresh juices with liquor for friends for years. Whether at a party or a poker game, Shook has wowed folks with his passionate mixology, making tasty cocktails sans sugary mixers that not only hit you right in your pleasure center but mitigate any nasty hangover in the morning.
Now, Shook and his business partner Keith Wahrer are bringing their creative cocktails to the masses, with Daily Juice After Dark. The juice purveyors are teaming up with The Belmont for the Thursday night events that run from 8 p.m. - midnight, beginning tonight.
A few weeks ago I went to a small gathering where Shook was trying out recipes for his latest venutre. He made up a host of cocktails with ingredients ranging from black cherry coconut water to goji berries, raw cacao nibs and living B vitamins. Dude does not mess around.
The wild-eyed drink master prides himself on his palate, and is as good a chef as he is a mixologist. His appreciation and understanding of flavor components has led him to make such drinks as the Jalapiña Margarita, a combination of fresh pineapple, jalapeño, lime, orange, organic raw agave nectar, Himalayan crystal salt and Sauza Hornitos tequila. Amazing.
Head over to The Belmont tonight and try one of the amazing cocktails and enjoy liquor (and juice) like you never have before.
And, for all of those who may be concerned, The Belmont does have TVs, so you can probably expect to be able to watch the NBA Finals while you sip on your fancy cocktails. And pardon me while I go all Out & About on you, but there is also a sweet show over at Antone’s featuring Tacks, The Boy Disaster, Golden Bear and my friends The Mercers. So why not make a night of it? You can always cab it home.
The Daily Juice After Dark menu:
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February 13, 2008
Wink and a smile
Arriving at the small space on Lamar Boulevard, we were greeted with warmth and familiarity by mâitre d’ Mark St. Clair, who showed us to our table. We perused the menu’s offerings, but this was generally a formality, as we were prepared to leave the culinary road to those who know best, the chefs. On this night, we wanted only to experiment with pleasure, not decision-making, so we ordered the chef’s five course tasting menu with wine pairing ($100/person).
Following an amuse-bouche of carrot and cardamom soup, the meal began with a light and delicious (it will be hard to find synonyms for which to replicate this word throughout my post) smoked salmon crespelle with crème frâiche. The divine salmon was topped with a bit of Rio Star grapefruit, the flavor of which was perfectly complemented by the 2006 Martin Codax Albarino, a crisp but gentle white wine that had its own distinctive hints of grapefruit.
After the plates were removed by our gregarious yet professional waiter Dickie, we had five to ten minutes to savor the lingering flavor of the salmon and enjoy the end of our wine (a timing that was repeated with consistency and perfection by the front and back of house staff), before being confronted with a succulent U10 scallop topped with a tender grilled gulf shrimp served in a savory lemon brown butter sauce. This dish represented what is unique about Wink. Although, some asperse the restaurant for its small portion sizes, the staff’s expert culinary skills left us no doubt that, while we may have been curious as to why the shrimp was sliced in half, we knew we were in good hands. Furthermore, once we had devoured the seafood (the richness of which was a perfect next step up from the light salmon dish), and admittedly passed over the plate once with the rustic ciabatta rolls offered us, there was not a drop of sauce to be found on the plate. As it should be. Too often a chef, or line cook, will leave your dish swimming in sauce, not only drowning out the flavor of the course, but leaving an aesthetical offense on your plate. Not so at Wink. The scallop and shrimp came with an earthy 2005 Chateau de Campuget Blanc that matched the intense but not overwhelming flavor of the brown butter and seafood.
Next up, duck leg confit with salsify, winter greens, crimini mushrooms and a fig balsamic. Here is the only part of the meal with which we took the slightest of exceptions. While perfectly cooked and wonderfully tender, the duck was quite salty, even for a confit. And we’re two unabashed lovers of salt. Despite the saltiness, the perfection of the cooking, subtle sweetness of the fig, balancing elements of the vegetables and earthiness of the 2005 Argiolas Perdera kept us from feeling the least bit slighted.
Fortunately we had another 10 minutes to rest before the grilled hanger steak arrived, accompanied by wilted spinach and hedgehog mushrooms. Once again, a perfectly grilled and succulent offering from the kitchen, paired with a 2006 Lioco Carignan-Petite Sirah blend from Mendocino County. Despite having satiated our appetites, we could have eaten portions of the steak until the restaurant closed.
The prix fixe concluded with a cheese plate paired with the Lucien Albrecht Rose, a sparkler from France that had a dry finish with crisp notes of berries. Much as the entirety of the meal to this point, the cheese plate proceeded from light to rich and savory, starting with a l’edel de celeron and finishing with a pungent St. Agur bleu topped with candied nuts.
While the cheese plate wonderfully rounded out the tasting menu, our craving for dessert could not be stopped, and without regard we bashed on to the Wink trio ($12). The dessert plate consisted of lemon meringue pot de creme, crème brulée, and el rey chocolate cake, all executed to perfection, and when eaten in order, a perfect succession from the tart and crispness of the meringue to the unbelievably decadent richness of the flourless chocolate cake with zinfandel-infused cherries.
Following our meal, Executive Chef and co-owner Mark Paul appeared from the kitchen and visited our table to discuss our dining experience, a personal touch that completed an exceptional night that bordered on culinary (and service) perfection.
As an aside, I have heard complaints about the portion sizes at Wink, to which I can only say that if you want to leave stuffed beyond belief as opposed to amazed and satisfied, there are plenty of fantastic steak houses sprinkled around town. It is true the portion sizes do not approach those of other restaurants around town, but the execution and flavor components of the dishes are beyond reproach. If you have a large appetite, I would not suggest avoiding the restaurant, but you may want to experiment with multiple appetizers, or just sit back and turn the controls over to the professionals at Wink and go with the chef’s tasting menu.
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December 3, 2007
Quick bites: Asia Cafe
The tender, flavorful chicken was complemented by a dozen chunks of amazingly fresh mango and more than a half dozen vegetables that were crisp, crunchy and cooked to perfection. Although stymied by not being able to read some of the specials written in Chinese, Tami decided on the whole fried fish, served with bean curd. The massive fish, while predictably oily, was not greasy and the chunks of fresh fish tore off the bone with minimal effort and were as tender and spicy as you could hope for. The cafe also offers free hot tea, which is an added benefit this time of year, and is absolutely packed at lunch time (obviously the place’s reputation has been spread far and wide), with the majority of the customers speaking Chinese on the day we were there. After your meal, you can cruise the small market and shop from a wonderful assortment of imported foods that you won’t find at Central Market or Whole Foods, to be certain.
It is rare that I come across a restaurant that immediately solidifies a place in my weekly rotation of dining spots, but the crisp, clean, authentic flavors of the Asia Cafe immediately had me thinking of my second and third visits and wondering about what to sample next. The unassuming restaurant is a Szechuan-lovers’ heaven and well worth the drive (from downtown).
Asia Cafe [site]
8650 Spicewood Springs Road, No. 115 [map]
512.331.5780
Open daily 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m.
Image taken from AsiaMarketAustin.com
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November 7, 2007
I'm holding on for a gyro: Athenian Grill looks to reopen
The Austin retail and restaurant thing can be a fickle one: Blink and you may miss an opening or closing of a restaurant or store. So it happened to me a month or so ago; I told my girlfriend to meet me at Seventh and Colorado so we could have a delicious Mediterranean meal at Athenian Grill. The restaurant on Colorado Street had always done a fairly brisk lunch business, but the dining crowd when I went had always been sparse. The night in question, the dinner crowd was non-existent, as the restaurant had shut its doors. I blinked, and missed it. Apparently the restaurant had closed a few months ago, and I sadly assumed that was the last I would hear of the place, which is a shame, as it was my favorite place of its kind in town, offering a wonderful Mediterranean buffet, delicious chicken salads (which were a huge lunch hit hit with a number of my friends), and savory gyros. Soon after learning about the closing, however, I hear scuttlebutt about the restaurant relocating to an unspecified location on Brazos, but nothing concrete.
This weekend there was an Athenian sighting, as it were. The former home to IKON Office Solutions in Suite c-150 of the One America Center at Sixth Street and Congress Avenue has been cleared out and there is a permit for a beer and liquor license in the window dated 9/10/07 for the future home of Athenian Grill. The space is on the north side of Sixth Street, adjacent to the tunnel that services the parking garage and lobby of One America Center. Considering that the application for the license is only a couple of months old, that the space will have to be turned into a restaurant and that all of the proper city codes must be met, no telling when Athenian will be pumping out hummus, baklava and gyros, but it is definitely an exciting development for me. I imagine the new Sixth Street location will benefit from much greater foot traffic than did the Colorado Street location.
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October 23, 2007
Anthony Bourdain: Rock star chef
Foodies and fans came together Saturday night at the Paramount Theatre in celebration of storytelling, gastronomy and, well, celebrity itself, it seems. The recipient of the packed house’s unbridled enthusiasm and devotion was best-selling author, chef and television personality Anthony Bourdain.
Following a brief introduction, the 6-foot-4-inch salt-and-pepper-haired chef strode to the center of the stage to catcalls, whistles, thunderous applause and a sprinkling of standing ovations. If you didn’t know any better, you might have thought Bono or Barack Obama had just entered the room. Bourdain’s celebrity had fans in such a frenzy, the entire evening featured fans screaming out questions, suggestions and proposals for after-show drinks. I got the feeling many of these folks had never left the house before, or simply were not accustomed to being around someone with serious charm and a sharp tongue.
Even the blustery, yet generally modest, Bourdain seemed a bit taken aback by the reception, asking, “How did this happen?” Bourdain remembered back to his childhood and confessed that when he announced to his parents that he wanted to be a chef, their initial response was akin to hearing he wanted to go into a career in arson. Just look at me now, ma.
Following a failed attempt to get the New York Press to publish a story he had written, a little bit of swagger and luck left Bourdain with a piece in the New Yorker, and the next thing he knew, his small one-off article written ostensibly for his friends in the restaurant industry had led to a book deal (2000’s best-selling “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly”) and “A Cook’s Tour,” a television show on the Food Network. Bourdain maintains a healthy sense of humility and of the absurd when telling his story.
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September 25, 2007
Zocalo Cafe delivers fresh-Mex
The original owners of Galaxy Cafe (Kelly Chappell and Chris Courtney), along with their business partner Jay Bunda, expanded their growing culinary empire this summer by opening Zocalo Cafe. The new restaurant, located just a few doors down from the Galaxy on West Lynn, brings a fresh, healthy approach to Mexican food while maintaining robust flavor.
The restaurant, which is decorated in a sparse, modern and peaceful style by designer Clarisa Hulsey, resembles a refined boat house in Baja. With more than 20 tables inside and another 10 or so on the outdoor patio, the cafe, which resides in the location formerly occupied by West Lynn Cafe and Cosmic Cafe, has enough room to easily seat its dinner and lunch crowds, which are continuing to grow in the restaurant’s fourth month of business.
Beyond simple expansion, the ownership, along with chef Michael Wake, formerly of Whole Foods, wanted to make sure they were a healthy addition to the already crowded landscape of Mexican restaurants in town.
“The menu of interior Mexican food was two-fold — filling a need in the neighborhood and complimenting our existing business at the Galaxy,” Bunda told me recently. “The idea was fresh, lighter food than the typical Tex-Mex offerings all over town. Homemade tortillas, vegan rice and beans, reasonable portions, etc.”
Despite the fact that the restaurant forgoes traditional jack and other fatty cheeses, opting for queso fresco instead, as well as frying tacos and tortilla chips in non-trans fat oils, all of the flavor you have come to expect in Mexican food remains.
All meals begin with lightly fried tortilla chips, served now with two warm salsas, a verde and roja. Both salsas have distinctive and powerful flavor with just the right amount of kick. If you really want to make the chips happy, order the ceviche ($6.75), which is definitely my favorite in town. Often a tricky dish to pull off, the folks at Zocalo have mastered this fresh fish concoction that features marinated white fish, the ripest of avocado, crunchy onions and bell peppers with a taste of jalapeno to provide some zing. Not to be outdone by its seafood menu mate, the campechana ($6.95) is just as fresh, but with a sweet burst of flavor and spicy aftertaste. The saucy combination of shrimp, scallops, mixed peppers and onions is best served on a cracker as opposed to the ubiquitous chips.
The tacos de carnitas ($6.75) feature succulent, flavorful pork that is well seasoned. The tacos del barrio ($6.50), which can be served with ground beef or turkey, maintain flavor without dripping grease all over your plate, and are topped with fresh, crisp produce. The crispy stacked enchilaldas ($7.95) can be served with either beef and ranchero sauce or green chile chicken and tomaillo sauce. The presentation is elegant, if not slightly confusing, almost like a taco cake, but once you crack the shells with your fork, you can dig in from any angle.
If you prefer to eschew beef in favor of fish, try the snapper with chipotle slaw ($9.95). The sizable filet is slightly seared and served over a crispy tortilla and topped with grilled tomatoes, cabbage and carrot slaw and chipotle cream sauce that gives the fish a spicy finish. Each dish is served with moist, well-seasoned rice and either black or refried (although pureed may better describe these) beans that are mixed with garlic, topped with queso fresco and always seem fresh and hot. All of your favorite Mexican beers are served in bottles or cans — along with Dos Equis on tap, as co-owner Chappell confessed he just had to have tap beer to drink with the delicious campechana — in addition to aguas frescas and frozen sangria.
If the homemade tortillas, rice, beer, beans, fish, and meat haven’t filled you up, you can forget the whole “guilt-free dining experience” and attack the dessert menu, which features a firm yet moist tres leches ($3.95) that is heavenly, or try their churros, ice cream with caramel sauce or chocolate cheesecake.
Although Zocalo, like its sister restaurants, features counter-service, it continues in the tradition of excellent customer service, for which Galaxy has become known, with a friendly and efficient staff that gives the restaurant a feel of a regular sit-down joint.
Building on the success of the wildly popular Galaxy Cafe, the owners of Zocalo appear to have found the perfect restaurant and menu for their new Clarksville eatery, as evidence by the crowds of patrons who have come from around the city to enjoy their fresh take on interior Mexican food. If the lunch and dinner crowds are any indication, the new weekend brunch service, which began last weekend, will end up becoming an equally big hit among locals and those who have already made Zocalo a destination location.
Zocalo Cafe [site]
1110 West Lynn [map]
472.TACO
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Mon.-Fri. | 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Sat.-Sun.
Menu PDFs: Lunch/Dinner | Weekend Brunch (10 a.m. - 2 p.m.)
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September 11, 2007
There's a tear in my beer: The Ginger Man being forced out
Beer lovers, and those who are sad at the recent developments in downtown Austin, will soon have more tears to shed into their adult beverages. The Ginger Man manager Kristen Jacobson has confirmed that the beloved Austin pub, which has been serving happy customers since April 1994, will lose its lease, held by Austin Trust Co., in April 2009.
Jacobson said the Ginger Man plans to relocate to another location downtown and hopes that the watering hole can find a spot with a backyard, such as the one in existence at the current pub.
In place of the bar with one of the best beer selections this side of the Mississippi will be — you guessed it, condos! Jacobson told me that Gables Residential has big plans for 304 W. Fourth St. Additionally, Gables also now owns the tract where the former Fox & Hound sits, and Austin Trust Co. has said that Gables has also signed a lease for the parking lot at the corner of Lavaca and Fourth streets, giving it control of the entire block.
Calls to Gables were not returned.
Image by Mark Matson for American-Statesman
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August 27, 2007
Digging in: Whole Foods green chile burger
They grill a juicy 6-ounce burger to perfection and top it with green chiles and melted Jack cheese. As a perfect added touch, they grill the bread, so you have a nice crisp palate on which to spread the green chile mayonnaise. The burgers come with the fresh vegetable garnish you would expect from the local grocery giant — crisp greens, crunchy red onion and vine-ripe tomatoes. The chiles provide a wonderful flavor with a moderate spicy kick, but do not overwhelm with their heat. Of course, seeing as it is in the mid-90s outside, those of you who aren’t huge fans of the heat might desire to take your burger inside.
Whole Foods grills their burgers outdoors on weekends and will continue to do so through ACL Fest weekend (Sept. 16). If you love a good burger, I highly recommend carving out an hour of one of your upcoming weekends and indulging in the $9 burger that comes served with a side of potato salad.
And before anyone freaks out, yes, I’ve had the green chile burger at Shady Grove. It does not compare, in my humble opinion.
Note: The downtown location is the only Whole Foods store in Austin grilling said delicious concoction.
Amber Novak FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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July 17, 2007
Kreuz Market: Go for the jalapeno cheese sausage, not the ambience
When the dust settled from the Schmidt family feud in the late 1990s, daughter Nina Schmidt Sells kept the original Kreuz building, while her brother Rick got to take the hallowed name up the road to open a new restaurant. In my humble opinion, it seems as though the daughter may have gotten the best of that deal.
Though Kreuz has lost little of the flavor that has helped make it a Texas legend for almost a century, the relatively new barnlike building in which it has resided for the past eight years lacks the authentic feel of the original location. In the entryway of the massive building, the proud barbecue restaurant greets patrons with automated games of luck and vending machines commonly seen at national chains, a touch that immediately differentiates the location from the traditional feel of Smitty’s.
The massive pit room where orders are placed features a dozen or so pits that still serve up some amazing barbecue smoked over post oak. As they have always done, staff serves the food on butcher paper that is used as a tray. Customers are then directed into the monstrous dining room to order sides and drinks.
Even during a busy Friday lunch hour, the large wood-paneled room was only about half-full, giving an eerie rotary club banquet feel to our lunch. But, all nitpicking of aesthetics aside, the smoked meat, from a menu almost identical to Smitty’s, was as flavorful as ever. The juicy beef shoulder maintained a rich, smoky taste and was one of the more tender cuts of barbecued beef I have had in years. The ribs were very reminiscent of those at Smitty’s but unfortunately featured a bit more fat, as did the brisket. In sticking with the no-forks tradition, you can still expect to get messy in the process.
Although the regular hot sausage links seemed more coarse and less flavorful than those at Smitty’s, the surprise of the afternoon came when we tried the jalapeño cheese sausage. Piled on crackers with onion and pickle, and just a bit of fresh avocado to temper the heat, the sausage was spicy, cheesy heaven.
After our lunch, we walked around the facility (which really seems a better word than restaurant in this case) looking at old pictures and taking note of the gigantic screened-in patio that was empty, although I could easily imagine a packed house following little league games and family reunions.
The hearty meal made it abundantly clear that Kreuz can still smoke meat with the best of them, but given the choice, I’ll take the superior meat and ambience of Smitty’s any day.
Kreuz Market
619 N. Colorado St.
Lockhart, TX [map]
Hours
Monday-Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m.
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July 16, 2007
Counter Cafe: Too close for nouveau comfort
For years, owner Gus Vayas slung traditional diner grub (hash browns, steak & eggs, etc.) to a contingent of loyal regulars at his tiny G/M Steakhouse. After almost a quarter century slaving over the hot grill, cigar clenched tightly in mouth, Vayas closed up shop and apparently rode off into the sunset.
The closing of one the last vestiges of old Austin dining gave way to new blood in the form of the Counter Cafe. Opened in April by Debbie Davis, the renovated (but still small) cafe features a menu resembling one of the hottest trends in Austin dining: nouveau diner cuisine. But unlike other cafes of its ilk (The Woodland, Galaxy Cafe, Blue Star Cafeteria), the Counter Cafe has decided to cram its tasty operation into a shoebox-sized space.
Although you can still feel as if you could reach over and touch the grill from one of the 10 counter seats, not much else remains from the original G/M. Gone are the staples of the greasy spoon, having given way to a delightful, and rather upscale, menu that features many locally grown items that will undoubtedly appeal to the desperately-trying-to-be-cosmopolitan sensibilities of Austinites.
As my party was seated at three of the barstools (the only spots available in a cafe that features four two-tops and one table for larger parties, in addition to the aforementioned 10 counter spots), the pace behind the counter was at a frenetic level that would be maintained throughout lunch. While diners may find the cozy confines cute, if not a bit maddening, I can’t imagine the level of anxiety and frustration felt by the two gentlemen behind the counter who were forced to work in a space not even suitable for a hallway, although they went about their jobs with relative geniality.
In the tradition of eating locally (more or less), my buddy Steve chose the grilled Bandera quail ($12) served over a baby spinach salad dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette and topped with a smattering of red onion, strawberries and feta. While moist and tasty, the quail was not, as the menu stated, cooked to our definition of perfection. We would have preferred it cooked at a slightly higher temperature that would have given the bird a bit of a crispy finish.
Our appetizer of polenta fried oysters ($8) arrived after Steve’s entrée, an oversight that seemed almost predictable given the crazed nature behind the counter. While the polenta and buttermilk breading was light and crunchy, the breading seemed to overwhelm the oysters, which tasted rather pedestrian, and the dipping sides of lemon aioli and sun-dried tomato were mostly forgettable.
My other companion, the meat-loving J. Pope, was very satisfied with his all-natural hanger steak ($12). The meat was moist, flavorful and cooked to perfection, although we all agreed that we’d rather have a few more ounces of the delicious beef for a couple more dollars. Unfortunately, the accompanying fries left much to be desired. They were thick and fresh but lacked any discernible flavoring and could have used another minute or two in the fryer in order to reach crispy, golden perfection.
My all-natural cheeseburger ($9) came topped with fresh, bright (dare I say ‘pretty’) vegetables, and its juicy flavor definitely left the burger snob in me happy, although it was accompanied with the same sad, uninspired fries.
The staff at Counter Cafe was knowledgeable about the food and its origins, as well as friendly, although having a seat that close to a working kitchen preparing atypical diner food can be a bit distracting. While the food was generally a success, the close quarters left a little to be desired. Such an intimate and boisterous atmosphere seems to work better in a traditional diner. And, while I don’t mind watching a surly short-order cook flip burgers from such close distance, there was something incongruous about paying almost $20 for lunch while being forced to watch the chef season quail and communicate with his sous chef while the steam radiating from the grill melts the ice in my drink within seconds.
I wonder whether the discrepancy between style and sustenance will confuse or irritate diners. Because while I am sure many of the palates in the ever-changing Austin are more than ready for the Counter Cafe, I am not so sure the space itself is.
Counter Cafe
626 N. Lamar
Hours
Lunch: Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Dinner: Thursday-Saturday, 7 -9 p.m.(ish)
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July 3, 2007
Smitty's Market: the tasty tradition continues
Sure, Artz Rib House has great baby-back ribs, and the sausage at Iron Works is divine, but in my opinion, if you want the best barbecue in the Austin area, you actually have to leave Austin to find it. Over the next few weeks, I intend to hit up Llano, Elgin, Taylor and Kreuz in Lockhart, but my journey to the center of the smoke-penetrated heart of things began at the historic Smitty’s.
Historic, you say? That place has only been around for eight years. True and false. While Smitty’s has only been at that location for eight years, it is the original home of Kreuz Market, which stood in that location for almost a century. For those of you not familiar with the backstory, apparently there was a rift in the Schmidt family (which purchased Kreuz Market in 1948) that led to brother Rick Schmidt taking the Kreuz name across town while daughter Nina Schmidt Sells continued under a new name at the original Kreuz location. Confusing? A little bit. But the key here is to focus not on the family drama but on the meat.
I had not been to Smitty’s since it changed name from Kreuz in the late ’90s, and pretty much everything is as I remembered it. Entering the historic building you feel as if you’ve stepped back in time, as you are welcomed by the dark and hot confines of the smoke room. A small board alerts you to the bevy of meats you can order, which you do at a register backed by burning post oak.
My faithful dining companion, Tami, and I could not figure out the portions, so I simply told the kind fella at the counter that we wanted sausage, pork shoulder, pork chops and brisket for two. (The total came to $20.) In classic tradition, the master of the meats laid out two sheets of brown butcher paper on which he piled our bounty. Then he tossed on a handful of white bread slices and a quarter-sleeve of crackers, folded the corners of the paper, constructing a makeshift tray, and directed us inside.
Once inside, the time warp continues. From the Spartan, albeit classic, side offerings (pickle, cheese, onions, avocado, tomato, jalapenos and beans) to the pressed-tin roof and ice cream counter, the place seems as it must have 50 years ago. Well, except for the television in the far corner playing Fox News.
It was almost impossible to decide where to start our forkless meal (more tradition), but we began with the ribs, what I always consider the most telling work from a barbecue joint. The moist, flavorful meat fell right off the bone and had a delicious smoke taste without being overwhelmingly smoky. The ribs, as with all of the other meat, come brushed but no sauce is readily available. You can ask for it, as a person we saw in line do, but you are likely to receive an eye roll in addition to the sauce, as he did.
The pork chop, shoulder and brisket were all incredibly tender and juicy. Switching between meats, I finally decided on making miniature sandwiches on crackers, topped with onion and pickle to help me forge through.
With about 3 pounds of meat in me, there was only one choice left, an ice cream cone. I mean, a man can’t stroll around a historic county courthouse and pay homage to the classic buildings on the town square on a hot afternoon without an ice cream cone. Can he? That would go against tradition. And a trip out to the mind-blowingly delicious Smitty’s in Lockhart is all about tradition. And meat. Lots of meat.
For more on Lockhart’s barbecue scene, check out Statesman food critic Dale Rice’s review of Smitty’s from 2003 and his Central Texas Barbeque Guide from last June.
Click here for my photo gallery of the afternoon in Lockhart.
Smitty’s Market
208 S. Commerce
Lockhart, Texas (map)
512.398.9344
Hours
Monday - Fri. 7 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sat. 7 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Sunday 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Closed on Fourth of July
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June 18, 2007
Tâm, that was a good lunch find
The small family-run eatery, which features traditional Vietnamese cuisine, is in a nondescript strip mall off North Lamar Boulevard, just north of U.S. 183. Since the café specializes in delicious sandwiches, we figured we’d try a couple. We were duly impressed with both the char-grilled pork sandwich and shredded pork sandwich. All of the Vietnamese sandwiches ($4-$6) come with mayonnaise, pickled carrots, cucumber, cilantro and jalapeños. But those fearful of mayo or jalapeños need not fret. The mayo simply adds moisture to the wonderfully crisp French rolls, while the fresh jalapeños offer just a bit of spice to kick things up ever so slightly.
In order to range outside of the standard sandwich fare, we also ordered the Vietnamese green papaya salad with beef jerky and the Bánh Xèo, a crepe filled with shrimp, pork and bean sprouts. Oddly, the two appetizers came out after the sandwiches, but we bashed on undeterred. One of the owners had given us a slight wink when we ordered the papaya salad and with good reason - the sauce that dressed the salad and which saturated the bottom of the plate was quite spicy. While it required the accompaniment of a couple of glasses of water, the flavor complemented the crisp papaya and jerky well and did not ruin the flavor of the dish. The crepe was a little more perplexing, even beyond the shelled shrimp, what with the very egg-y crepe concoction that left quite a bit to be desired.
The confusing crepe notwithstanding, we had a wonderful meal that was enough for three or four people and only cost us $25 after tip, with drinks included. The service was attentive and gregarious, as the owner demonstrated how to shear our crepe with chopsticks in order to eat it. While I almost never find myself in that part of Austin, I will be happy to find the time to make it up that way again for more Vietnamese sandwiches and more experimentation with flavors.
Tâm Deli & Café
8222 North Lamar Blvd.
512.834.6458
10 AM - 8 PM
Closed Tuesdays
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May 2, 2007
Siena Ristorante: Tu vuoi fare l'Italiano
You’ve got Vespaio, which is probably the best, but I have seen it kinda be hit-or-miss the last few times I have been. And there was no way on earth I was waiting for 90 minutes for a table at South Austin’s favorite no-reservations establishment. La Traviata has excellent ownership, a great staff and usually delivers with their food. But I prefer that place for lunch, and am a little vexed by its limited menu. I have been told that Cibo is amazing, but I wasn’t really interested in dealing with a downtown crowd on the weekend, although I do intend to hit that place up very soon. That left me to finally indulge my curiosity and head out west to Siena Risorante Toscana.
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the dinner. Less could be said for the décor and ambiance, not surprisingly. As my friend Steve puts it, Siena is the epitome of rather garish “Texaterranean” architecture. I am sure they are going for that oversized Italian villa style, replacing travertine with limestone, but it just comes off like a high-end chain trying to affect elegance and charm. But, I guess many of the nouveau riche clientele appreciate the style, as it reminds them of their trip to Tuscany last year. I, on the other hand, find it all to be a bit much, especially their oversized print of Il Palio (one of the most amazing sporting events I have witnessed) and the menu’s descriptive homage to said. Look, the contrade in Siena celebrate their victory in the big race by sitting together in small banquet halls and outdoor terraces eating gigantic meals at oversized tables with their friends and relatives. Trying to co-opt the spirit of that centuries-old ritual seems rather disingenuous and gauche to me.
Ok, ok, ok. Who’s being pretentious now? On to the meal. Despite the somewhat hard-to-swallow atmosphere, the food was delightful. We enjoyed a rich, well-seasoned boar bruschetta for appetizer, along with a roasted rabbit terrine wrapped in prosciutto and served on white corn polenta fritelle with green fig, mustard seed conserve. Both were delicious and ample. For her entrée, Tami had the capellini arrabbiata with shrimp. A pasta with such simple flavor components can often be difficult to execute well, as many restaurants make the dish lifeless and underseasoned. Although the dish could have made better use of the sauce, it was surprisingly flavorful. I enjoyed the ravioli stuffed with artichokes, spinach and goat cheese in a fresh basil and roasted tomato butter sauce. The ravioli was cooked to perfection and the sauce, to my pleasure, was not too heavy or rich. The portions were more than we could have hoped for, leaving us stuffed and not requiring dessert. We decided on Popsicles in the park back home once our big meal finally settled.
Now for the biggest disappointment of the evening. (Talk about burying the lede!) About 40 minutes into our meal I began to hear a man’s voice that sounded like it was coming from a PA directly over our table. I didn’t think it was possible that the restaurant was making announcements during the meal, but I could not figure it out. After a beat, I realized I could hear every, single word coming from the man. “Yeah, she is just your stereotypical Highland Park girl. Blah blah blah. Stuff and things about sororities and fraternities and whatnot!” Was I hallucinating? The boar was good, but not that good. Tami said she could hear it, but not make out every word. I had her switch seats with me and she was shocked. Being a bit more perspicacious than I, she realized that the voice was of a young man sitting directly down the wall from me, separated by three other tables. We looked up and noticed that the east dining room in which we were seated featured a vaulted ceiling and that our seats were at the base of the arches. The acoustics of the place allowed, nay, forced me to hear every word uttered by this boy for the next 20 minutes. I could hardly hear myself think, and was naturally a little wary of our subject matter, as I figured he could hear everything I said.
To give you an idea of the anomaly, I could not discern each word from the table five feet from us, but could hear everything from this table 40 feet away. Tami and I tried to make the best of it, trying to scandalize the other table by launching into stories about the homeless person I recently killed, but that only seemed to bring the attention of the 40-something man and honey-pie he was with. We told our waitress, who had offered professional, if a little too impersonal service, and she said she had heard similar complaints. She basically laughed it off. But when I asked for the check, I asked that a manager to come over.
I wasn’t irate, indignant or inconsolable, I just wanted her to know that maybe they should consider moving the tables away from the wall and putting plants in the corner, or a stuffed horse or whatever. She, too, more or less laughed it off and actually admitted that she had been told that the problem existed before and had totally forgotten it until I mentioned it. She concluded that maybe they’d do something about it eventually. Although I was not looking for any special service, I was rather shocked that she seemed so cavalier in her response. You would assume she would have at least offered us a dessert (not that we would have wanted one) or expressed her sincere apologies. Nope. We got a laugh and a, “maybe that’ll get fixed one day.” I would have hoped for more.
Despite the faux-elegance of the place, I recommend a trip out to Siena for the food alone. But I’d avoid the east dining room.
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April 23, 2007
Time to get toasty
Potbelly will open shop at two locations in May: 2316 Guadalupe St. and The Shops at Arbor Walk at 10515 N. Mopac Blvd. (Loop 360), No. 300 (sorry, Michael, it won’t be downtown, per your suggestion). Chairman and CEO Bryant Keil says he’s excited about his company’s expansion.
“Austin is one of the coolest towns I’ve ever visited,” Keil said. “I love the people, the culture and the music. With Potbelly opening there, I have another reason to visit more often.”
In maintaining its commitment to local communities, the Potbelly on the Drag will feature furniture and pictures hand-selected for the Austin store. And, of course, live music.
If you’ve never had a toasted sandwich from Potbelly, I suggest you stop in to one of the two new locations. They definitely beat Which Wich, Subway, Schlotzsky’s, et al. (But not Food Heads or Kitchen Door).
Now if we could just get a Cosi to open on Congress Avenue.
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March 22, 2007
Daily Juice opens in a new location
Just a few weeks before the fourth birthday of their Barton Springs location, the proprietors of the natural juice, smoothie and snack store opened up a new location just off of Lake Austin Boulevard — on the east side of Deep Eddy Pool — on Monday.
Co-owner Matt Shook said the idea of expansion had been percolating for a couple of years and that the new location just above the Town Lake hike-and-bike trail was a no-brainer for the health-conscious store.
“This location chose us. There’s a necessity for this product. And with Deep Eddy Pool just feet away, it’s perfect. We seem to pop up wherever there’s a spring,” Shook said of the business, which has its original store just a few hundred yards from Barton Springs.
The newest store is located in the ground floor of what Shook says was the last residential building on Lake Austin Boulevard. After tearing out shrubs, knocking down walls, applying gallons of paint and performing hours of landscaping, Shook got the once-dilapidated area looking like a small oasis, a perfect complement to the flowing springs of its neighboring pool.
Shook sees the location as an excellent fit for health-minded outdoor athletes, many of whom drive by every day on their way to park at Austin High for a jog — or walk — around the lake. The students at Austin High also seem excited about their new neighbor and the outdoor seating offered by the Daily Juice. When I stopped by on Wednesday, a few runners and several high school students had popped in for a little bit of fresh juice rejuvenation.
Daily Juice offers a wide variety of organic vegetable and fruit juices and smoothies. Customers can make their own or order from a broad array of juices and smoothies already devised by the juice masterminds. The store also carries delicious vegetarian and vegan food products, from the Vegan Snicker Doodle to an assortment of treats offered by Baraka Foods Co., a natural food company owned by Daily Juice co-owner Keith Wahrer.
With word of mouth already bringing in more than 100 customers in the first couple of days, Shook and his partners see a bright future for the enterprising juicers who feel a real sense of pride in bringing their customers what they feel are the best juices and smoothies in town.
In the words of Shook, “This ain’t no Tang.”
Daily Juice
2307 Lake Austin Blvd. [map]
628-0782< br />
6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
In the interest of full disclosure: During peak season last summer, I volunteered some of my weekend time helping out at the Daily Juice on Barton Springs.
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February 28, 2007
It's beginning to look a lot like SoHo
Just a few short years ago, you could buy a car (or a prostitute) on the 1400 block of South Congress (SoCo). Oh, how times have changed.
SoCo has become home to myriad boutiques, restaurants and hotels, a shift that was propelled by Liz Lambert’s development of the Hotel San Jose. Most recently, construction on new condos has begun along the avenue. Once the next wave of young, upwardly mobile professionals moves in, they, along with the families and DINKs living in Travis Heights, are going to need a place to shop for their groceries and specialty items.
Enter Cissi’s Market. I stopped in for a sneak peak at the market, located at 1400 Congress Ave., Wednesday to sample some of their goodies, have a look around and chat with store management and employees before the store opens to the public Thursday.
San Francisco transplant Victoria Lynden, who named the store in honor of her late mother, met Craig Thibodeau two years ago at a fundraiser and told her future general manager of her idea to bring a market to South Austin that offered convenience and quality in a community environment.
Owner Victoria Lynden, right, chats with
confectioner Tracy Claros
Cissi’s Market, a sleek, urbane space designed by architect Michael Hsu, will offer SoCO residents and visitors a wide selection of gourmet foods, beer and wine, coffee, household items and skin care products. Whether you want to pop in and pick up a sandwich for $6-$8 (albacore tuna, eggplant and prosciutto, pulled pork panini, to name a few), or if you are in need of hard-to-find specialty goods such as Urbani Tartufi white truffle oil ($41), or some organic frozen foods for the next day’s meal, Cissi’s will have you covered.
Among the delicious treats we sampled was a fine piece of Akaushi Beef produced by HeartBrand Beef. Chef Michael Pearce explained to us that the Japanese meat is a healthy solution for meat lovers, as it helps to lower cholesterol, fight some cancers and prevent coronary heart disease. Looks like somebody knows their target market.
For all of your dinner-party or quiet-evening-at-home needs, the market also offers a fine selection of wines (from the $8 Moillard Fontagneret to the $52 2004 Joseph Phelps cabernet Sauvignon), as well as an assortment of the finest beers (Duvel, Chimay and Spaten).
Tracy Claros offers up the sweets.
Before I headed out, I stopped for a little coffee and desert and was pleased to discover that the market will be carrying Kohana Coffee. In fact, Cissi’s is the only store in Texas that carries the delicious Hawaiian beans. The bold flavor of the coffee was a great complement to a heavenly desert. Brit Tracy Claros, proprietor of The Sticky Toffee Pudding Company, was on hand to serve up some of her restaurant-quality sweets. Claros returned to Austin, where she received a masters degree more than a decade ago, three years ago with the sole purpose of delivering her confectionary masterpieces to Austin. If you have not tried the Molten Chocolate Baby Cake or Sticky Toffee Pudding, you don’t know what you’re missing. Warning: If you double up on desert and coffee at Cissi’s, expect a horrific sugar crash a few hours later. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Some Austinites will vehemently complain that Cissi’s is yet another example of uber-gentrification targeted at California and New York transplants, but progress is progress, and, as with any new place marketed to a high-end clientele, if you are offended by someone taking a financial risk and bringing quality goods (regardless of price) to a neighborhood, don’t go, but please save your gentrification arguments. Capitalism is as capitalism does. Personally, while I can’t afford to shop for my groceries at the new market, I can definitely envision hitting up Cissi’s for a sandwich (during non-peak hours, if that even exists any more on SoCo) or maybe a little Sticky Toffee on my way home from work.
Cissi’s Market opens to the public on March 1st.
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February 8, 2007
Go Bites prepares to launch
The downtown dining scene is about to get a serious injection of flavor.
After spending the past three months building a successful catering business, Pink Avocado, chef Brenton Schumacher is set to bring some delicious dinner and late-night eats to Austin’s downtown bar-going crowd.
I was one of the lucky few who got to swing into his new kitchen and take a taste-drive around the new menu. Schumacher plans to offer fancy grilled cheese sandwiches, gourmet sliders and hand-cut fries to his (most likely) boozy patrons. Judging by the items sampled last night, the young chef will most likely be the preferred stop for folks looking to add a little sustenance to their bar-hopping plans.
We sampled each of the grilled cheese sandwiches, which resembled something I would try to make for friends after a late night out on the town, given I had the ingredients and/or energy to do so. The grilled-cheese menu consists of mango and swiss, gruyere and onion, prosciutto and fresh mozzarella, and fresh mozzarella and white truffle oil. Yes, white truffle oil. Each sandwich comes served on the customer’s choice of sourdough, wheat or white bread and is spread with a choice of delectable butters, such as the sumptuous curry butter that was on our mango and swiss sandwich. Each of the sandwiches was better than the one before, but if I had to pick a favorite, I would go with the prosciutto and fresh mozzarella. I could scarf down about five of those without thinking twice. Each sandwich comes with a side of hand-cut fries. The potato sticks are lightly fried and seasoned to perfection and will come offered as a separate side for patrons who just want a quick snack.
Although I was near capacity after snacking on the assortment of grilled cheeses, I bashed on regardless, and took down one each of the assortment of sliders. For those who miss Reido’s on Lamar Boulevard or long for a classy White Castle burger, Go Bites will be heaven for you. The blue cheese and grilled leek concoction was as savory as any full-sized burger I have had in town, and then I ate the BBQ, grilled onion and jalapeno-jack slider. The blue cheese burger hid its face in shame. At this point I had reached man-in-“Monty Python’s the Meaning of Life” status, but I promised the cheddar burger I would have a bite of it. So I did. And I was pleased with the flavor but maybe not the decision to fearlessly eat my weight in food.
The new quick eats joint is located at the serving window just feet away from the entrance of Emo’s on Red River Street. Originally the kitchen for the now defunct K Bar, the location was purchased by Emo’s and housed Stella’s Tacos for six months. After Stella’s lease ran out, Schumacher decided it was time to see his baby come to life.
Originally from Detroit, Schumacher came to Austin 12 years ago and worked in various capacities for Central Market since his arrival. He left his position as executive sous chef there late last fall and began his catering business, which handles about 20 big events a month, along with corporate lunches. Schumacher attests to having had the idea for Go Bites for 12 years, and after years of networking and feeling out the market, he finally felt ready to take the leap downtown. With the helpful hands and creative flair of Jessie Burkhart (who recently quit his job preparing sushi at the Hilton to come on board) and Hollace Geneveux, along with a few part-time employees, Schumacher deeply believes it is his team that helps set him and his dream apart from others in the competitive and difficult restaurant industry.
“I’ve got so many great people on board. I think that’s what sets me apart. The people behind me have so much enthusiasm and are passionate about what they do. I am very lucky to have them in my corner.”
While Schumacher praises his dedicated team, it is obvious after spending just a few minutes with him that his boundless enthusiasm is the engine behind his growing ventures. In addition to running a successful catering business and a quality street-side food venture, Schumacher finds time to drum in local band the Score, which was born of the band Dead End Cruisers. His bandmates were recently featured on the TLC show “Flip That House,” an appearance that received such positive feedback from the network that Schumacher and the boys will soon be featured in a new reality show about his band that goes behind the scenes and shows the rockers on stage and off. Expect scenes of the enthusiastic chef to feature him grueling over a hot stove at his new locale, determined to bring quality food fast to downtown denizens.
“Im just looking to do something different down here … some really good food downtown” he told me last night.
Go Bites officially debuts March 1 and will be open from 6 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. Schumacher plans to incorporate breakfast and lunch service once the nighttime business is flying.
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February 2, 2007
Musashino? More like MusashiYes! (ok)
You might potentially file this information under the category of common knowledge, but after an amazing dinner last night at Musashino, I had to say a little something about sushi in Austin. The names that seem to get most of the play with the downtown set are Uchi and Kenichi. While both of these restaurants offer rather delicious sushi and a nice ambience for dates, business meetings, and situations where you may want to impress upon out-of-towners that Austin is indeed a cosmopolitan town, I’ve always found them to be overpriced and too pretentious for my taste. Of the two, I prefer Uchi, but probably go about once or twice a year, and am even beginning to feel those trips a little pointless. Especially after last night.
Musashino, located on Greystone Drive, just off of the MoPac feeder offers a lively and dimly-lighted atmosphere for some of the best sushi in town. Sitting in one of the tiered sections of the restaurant, you get the feeling that you are eating in one of the themed dining rooms of Norwegian Cruise Lines (nonexistent) S.S. Junk or maybe in the bowels of the Pequod. After a 15-minute wait in the back hallway (you can opt to wait in the upstairs bar), we were seated at the sushi bar. From that vantage point we got to watch the mastery of sushi chef Tetsu, as he stoically and masterfully prepared our dinner with his razor-sharp blade.
An amazing feast of hamachi kama (yellowtail cheek) sake toro (fatty salmon), spicy scallop, negitoro (fatty tuna with scallions), spicy lobster rolls and spider evo rolls left us stuffed and happy. The hamachi kama and spicy lobster rolls were the highlight of the night; in fact, the buttery smoothness of the hamachi kama demanded we order a couple of more pieces after we thought we were done. And though we went fairly traditional in our choices, one of the great things about Musashino is that they offer a wide array of a la carte options, such as live aoyagi clam, monkfish liver and NW oyster, that you won’t generally find at midlevel sushi places.
When the bill came, the sticker shock so prevalent at the aforementioned posh sushi joints was nowhere to be seen. We got out of there for less than $40 a person. ‘Tis but a pittance compared to the $200 bill we received last time at Uchi.
Look, those expensive, pretentious, posh restaurants have their place, and for those who see money as no object, that place may be in their weekly dining out agenda. But honestly, we prefer to eat at Musashino for pretty much any occasion. It is classy enough for a nice date (as the young couples scattered throughout the restaurant could attest); fun enough for a group of friends looking to get loaded up on fish and sake (as the table to our right could attest); and family-friendly enough for a couple to bring their eating-with-hands 9-year-old for a delicious and healthy dinner (as the table to our left could attest).
Of course, there are a slew of sushi options around town, and one of the best online resources for said gastronomic delight is AustinSushi.com, which offers a map of restaurants across the entire town, replete with descriptions, ratings and links. So, if you’re always on the look out for a (relatively) new place (think on Maiko on Sixth St.), or looking for the best sushi happy hour (see the lines at Kyoto) or special deals (all-day happy hour Mondays at Silhouette), head over to AustinSushi.com for all your fresh fish needs.
Musashino
3407 Greystone Drive [map]
795-8593
Hours:
Lunch: 11:30a.m.-2p.m. (Tuesday-Friday)
Dinner: 5:30p.m.-10p.m. (Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday)
5:30p.m.-10:30p.m. (Friday and Saturday)
Image from Musashino Web site
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January 31, 2007
The Woodland makes a mean burger
My search for the best hamburger in Austin continued Tuesday night, as a friend and I finally headed over to The Woodland, the latest addition to the South Congress culinary landscape.
A friend had raved about the burger at Michael Terrazas’ new restaurant, a yuppified diner that opened just a week before Christmas last year. With the success Terrazas has had with the delicious high-end Starlite, we were fairly certain we would find the dining experience to be a positive one.
The stylish restaurant, with its concrete floors, faux tree “planted” in the center of the restaurant, and DIY-inspired wall tiling, has a certain ReadyMade Magazine feel to it. Sure, we could never make a space look the way Terrazas and company have, but you get the feeling that one of your really stylish and crafty friends could.
The mood at the restaurant maintains a nice energy that does not cross the line into loud and obnoxious, as South Congress Cafe tends to do. There is a line of booths in the “front” of the restaurant, which is actually the left side of the U-shaped dining area, with ample seating available along the bar, as well. We were offered a table in the “back” of the restaurant, which is actually the north side of the establishment. This part of the restaurant lacks a bit of the charm, and the signature paneled wall, and the way the tables are set up makes the space less inviting than the other part of the restaurant.
From our table we got a view of the line, where we saw the cooks working on our dinner. Having a visible line in a restaurant does not bother me, and in fact you can see some lines at work in some of the best restaurants, but when the only tables that have a view of the line are the handful in the “side” or “back” of a restaurant, it ends up feeling like you are seeing the back of a hospital gown. If you want to showcase the line, do it so it’s not only visible to those who have been given a table in the area of the restaurant that already lacks significant ambiance. Were a person to take a date to The Woodland and be stuck in that part of the restaurant, it would probably be a bit of a bummer, especially considering how cool the other area of the restaurant is.
Enough nitpicking.
We started with an arugula and fennel salad that was delicious, although the fennel probably should have been cut a little finer, but who can argue when you have cranberries and goat cheese in your salad? The pork empanadas followed, and though they were cooked well, and the pork held a nice savory flavor, the empanadas themselves left a bit to be desired. They were soft and flaky, but we could not shake the impression that the empanada tasted a lot like certain frozen pizza rolls we had when we were kids. Fortunately the accompanying sauce saved them from being a complete non-event.
Salads and appetizers are all well and good, but we had come for the burger, and on that point we were not let down in the least. We built our own, which just meant adding bacon and bleu cheese to the Wood Classic, and ordered it medium. The burger actually came out of the kitchen medium-rare, but after our first bite, we realized that although it was not how we had ordered it, it was just what we wanted. The Angus beef was juicy and cooked to perfection, if you like medium rare. The bacon was cooked just to the point of being crisp, and the vegetables could not have been fresher. The juices of the meat moistened the bun nicely but did not make it sloppy. French fries, crisp on the outside, but a little too mushy on the inside, accompanied the burger, but our attention was primarily fixated to the burger, one we easily put in the Top 5 in town.
Dessert was a bit of an afterthought following such a delicious piece of meat, but we bashed on regardless and had homemade chocolate cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The cake was dense and relatively moist, nothing to write home about, but good enough to pique our interest in their selection of homemade pies in the future.
The Woodland offers a nice selection of sandwiches and salads ($6-$9), as well as several main dishes, mostly of the comfort food variety, such as homemade meatloaf ($11) and a Berkshire porterhouse pork chop ($13). Because of some permit issues, the restaurant is not selling beer or wine right now, but if you ask for it, they will be happy to give you a free glass of the house red or white, or even a cold glass of complimentary pilsner.
We’re happy to have this new addition to the SoCo neighborhood, and we intend to go back soon to sample some more of the menu. But that burger’s going to be pretty hard to get away from.
Though the restaurant does not serve lunch, they do serve weekend brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m, and intend to open up for late-night diners in the coming months.
The Woodland
1716 S. Congress Ave. [map]
441-6800
Hours
Dinner: 5 to 11 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday
Brunch: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
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