I cannot believe that I got so lazy that I have not posted an entry since August. I obviously have been to restaurants since this time. I will try to think of some places I have been. I know that I participated in another Pub Crawl since August. The most recent one we started at Opal Divine's at Penn Field. Just had a beer there. The atmosphere was fine and there was plenty of parking. I left my car here for the duration of the walk. We headed North on SoCo until we arrived at Snack Bar. It was a good walk. There was a lot of traffic on S. Congress. Hopdoddy's had a line snaking all the way out onto the sidewalk. I happened to run into a customer of mine waiting in line to get in to Hopdoddy's. At Snack Bar, we just ordered some appetizers and another round of drinks. It was all good. From here we continued on to The Cloak Room. I had never been here before. I had read about this place recently and was excited to give it a try. It is a dark hidden away speakeasy. It is right across from the State Capitol. I understand that during session this is where you find all the political powers.
Be sure to check out a corresponding twitter account at atxfoodanddrink
Doing my part to Keep Austin Weird!
Alan
Friday, January 13, 2012
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Franklin BBQ
Okay I will jump on the Franklin BBQ bandwagon too. I had been here a couple of months ago but I think I forgot to post about it. As everyone and their mother has already indicated, it is fantastic BBQ. I had a 2 meat plate with Brisket and Sausage. It also comes with 2 sides and I chose cole slaw and potato salad. After waiting in line for about 30 minutes, I finally reached Aaron Franklin. When I ordered Brisket as one of my choices, I then had an additional choice of lean or with a little fat. For me, lean is the only way to go. He proceeded to slice the most amazing looking brisket I have ever seen. There was a nice thick bark on it as well as the perfect smoke ring. Then Mr. Franklin added the sausage link to the plate. Then at the last minute before he passed the plate to the next person that includes the sides, he cuts off the corner tip off a brand new beef slab and adds it to my plate. Well, that tip of the brisket was the most flavorful piece of brisket I have ever had. There may have been some fat on it but it was the kind that just melts in your mouth. I will have dreams about that little chunk of brisket. The sausage was very good. I was just enjoying the brisket so much that nothing was going to keep up.
The sides were great as well. The cole slaw was tart and not too mayonnaisey and the potato salad was nice and mustardy. The tartness of the cole slaw was a perfect compliment to the saltiness of the brisket. I did not order the beans but they looked great. I will have to try them the next time. They had pieces of brisket and sausage mixed in.
The 30 minute wait was well worth it. If you have to drive to one of the surrounding BBQ towns outside of Austin, it will take you that long anyway. So go check out the best brisket around at Franklin's
Doing my Part to Keep Austin Weird,
Alan
The sides were great as well. The cole slaw was tart and not too mayonnaisey and the potato salad was nice and mustardy. The tartness of the cole slaw was a perfect compliment to the saltiness of the brisket. I did not order the beans but they looked great. I will have to try them the next time. They had pieces of brisket and sausage mixed in.
The 30 minute wait was well worth it. If you have to drive to one of the surrounding BBQ towns outside of Austin, it will take you that long anyway. So go check out the best brisket around at Franklin's
Doing my Part to Keep Austin Weird,
Alan
Monday, August 1, 2011
Restaurant/Pub Crawl North-South
My last entry last week was about a restaurant/pub crawl from East Austin to Downtown. This week we began at the Triangle at Sago and walked again to Downtown. The group was a little larger with some different participants. Randy was the organizer again. I also added another new experience. I took a Car2Go to the starting point. I have been a member since inception but had not actually made use of a car yet. It worked out great. There was a car not far from my house and there was car sharing parking at the Triangle. Worked perfect.
So, we all met at Sago at 6 PM. We started with an some guacamole and ceviche. The chips and guac where good but I was not crazy about the ceviche. The ceviche had too much calamari. Not my thing. Since we were at a Mexican restaurant, I started the night with Dos XX. One lesson learned from last weeks crawl was that we had to move on quicker. So, one beer and it was time to move on. It was decided that we would take Guadalupe instead of Lamar to head downtown. The next stop would be Nasty's.
It was a good walk, about a mile. Felt like we were back in college again. The place was empty but it was only about 7PM. We ordered drinks and got change for the pool table. The women took a seat to talk about whatever they talk about. We played pool. I went with a St. Arnold Lawnmower. Randy was very excited that they had Hoegaarden on tap. This place had a great selection of beer on tap. The bartender has been there for 26 years. Now this is a great neighborhood bar. Definitely will have to come back. Time to move on.
Next we continued down Guadalupe stopping at Madam Mam's for a bite to eat. We needed food. We ended up ordering Shrimp Spring Rolls for everyone as well as 3 different Pad Thai... chicken, tofu and shrimp. The Campus Madam Mam's is my favorite. The food was tasty as always. I had only had the Chicken Pad Thai in the past so this was my first tasting of Shrimp Pad Thai. It was great, very smokey tasting. This was a short stop and it was time to move on to the next place. We decided to head all the way down to 6th Street and get drinks at Opal Divines.
This was a long walk. But, the buzz from the previous drinking was now wearing off from the addition of food. We were starting to get tired from the walking. The heat was also getting to us. By the time we made it to Opal Divines, I was ready for another beer. I should have kept better notes during the walking event because, I don't remember what beer I had here. We hung out for about 30 minutes and enjoyed the cool A/C and conversation. We lost about half of the group. People had kids to get to, etc.
The remainder of the group continued on to our final destination, The Mean Eyed Cat. This is where last weeks Crawl ended but this time we made it inside for a drink. I had never been here before. Great Bar! Good beer selection, good vibe and good music. Since I had tasted the Hoegaarden at Nasty's, decided to order one here. It is not on tap but the bottle was good and cold. Again, we hung out and visited and listened to music. It was early by drinking standards, 10:30 or so but after 4 miles of walking in the heat and 4 hours of time, we were all ready to call it a night.
Each time lessons are learned and the adventure gets better. I really enjoyed this outing. We are talking about the next one starting at Hula Hut and walking East to Downtown. Hopefully, we will wait until it is not quite as hot. Either way, looking forward to the next Restaurant/Bar Crawl.
Doing my Part to Keep Austin Weird,
Alan
So, we all met at Sago at 6 PM. We started with an some guacamole and ceviche. The chips and guac where good but I was not crazy about the ceviche. The ceviche had too much calamari. Not my thing. Since we were at a Mexican restaurant, I started the night with Dos XX. One lesson learned from last weeks crawl was that we had to move on quicker. So, one beer and it was time to move on. It was decided that we would take Guadalupe instead of Lamar to head downtown. The next stop would be Nasty's.
It was a good walk, about a mile. Felt like we were back in college again. The place was empty but it was only about 7PM. We ordered drinks and got change for the pool table. The women took a seat to talk about whatever they talk about. We played pool. I went with a St. Arnold Lawnmower. Randy was very excited that they had Hoegaarden on tap. This place had a great selection of beer on tap. The bartender has been there for 26 years. Now this is a great neighborhood bar. Definitely will have to come back. Time to move on.
Next we continued down Guadalupe stopping at Madam Mam's for a bite to eat. We needed food. We ended up ordering Shrimp Spring Rolls for everyone as well as 3 different Pad Thai... chicken, tofu and shrimp. The Campus Madam Mam's is my favorite. The food was tasty as always. I had only had the Chicken Pad Thai in the past so this was my first tasting of Shrimp Pad Thai. It was great, very smokey tasting. This was a short stop and it was time to move on to the next place. We decided to head all the way down to 6th Street and get drinks at Opal Divines.
This was a long walk. But, the buzz from the previous drinking was now wearing off from the addition of food. We were starting to get tired from the walking. The heat was also getting to us. By the time we made it to Opal Divines, I was ready for another beer. I should have kept better notes during the walking event because, I don't remember what beer I had here. We hung out for about 30 minutes and enjoyed the cool A/C and conversation. We lost about half of the group. People had kids to get to, etc.
The remainder of the group continued on to our final destination, The Mean Eyed Cat. This is where last weeks Crawl ended but this time we made it inside for a drink. I had never been here before. Great Bar! Good beer selection, good vibe and good music. Since I had tasted the Hoegaarden at Nasty's, decided to order one here. It is not on tap but the bottle was good and cold. Again, we hung out and visited and listened to music. It was early by drinking standards, 10:30 or so but after 4 miles of walking in the heat and 4 hours of time, we were all ready to call it a night.
Each time lessons are learned and the adventure gets better. I really enjoyed this outing. We are talking about the next one starting at Hula Hut and walking East to Downtown. Hopefully, we will wait until it is not quite as hot. Either way, looking forward to the next Restaurant/Bar Crawl.
Doing my Part to Keep Austin Weird,
Alan
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Pub/Restaurant Crawl
I was invited last night to participate in a Pub/Restaurant Crawl. This was really more of a Restaurant Crawl but there was drinking involved at each location. My friend Randy put this together. He along with his wife invited 4 others including me to join them. We began our journey at Justine's at about 5:45. This is a French Brasserie located on East 5th Street. It is in deep East Austin. The place was already getting full when we arrived and even though it was still a toasty 103 degrees, outdoor seating was the way to go. Randy and I had decided it was going to be a beer night and the lady's had a Rosé wine. We ordered a few items to split between us. We first ordered mussels with frites. I am not big on mussels but the frites were good. We also ordered a cheese plate. There were three different cheeses served with a fig spread. Very tasty on the bread that it came with. We followed this with an order of Steak Frites and steamed artichaut with a butter sauce. All items were very good. It was then time to move on.
We began our 3 mile walk to Rainey Street. We had been instructed that we needed to move over to Cesar Chavez for the walk for safety reasons. This was a long hot walk but the good conversation made it go quickly. We headed to Garage Mahal. This place was packed. It is all outdoor seating so while we waited for our table, we headed over to Icenhauer's to cool off and have a beer. We received the call that our table was ready. Back to the heat it was for us. Here we all split an order of Tikka Masala, Saag and a couple of orders of Naan. All of this was really delicious. It was now getting late and was time to move on again.
We were now heading to the Mean Eyed Cat. It was much later than we anticipated. We now realized that we should have left Justene's after our first order of food. We had spent too much time there. The original plan was to stop at the Mean Eyed Cat for a drink and then move on to Hula Hut. But, by the time we made it to the Mean Eyed Cat, it was already 10:30. Most of us were exhausted. Since some of our group had left cars at the Mean Eyed Cat and cabbed it to Justine's, they decided it was time to end the journey. The remaining group which I was a part of went ahead and called the cab to head back to Randy's house and call it an evening.
I enjoyed the experience and would definitely do something like this again. It probably would make sense to do this in cooler weather and not have such large distances in between the places. I think 3 - 5 miles total would have to be the maximum. Last nights schedule would have been a total of 7 miles if we would have continued on to Hula Hut. By ending at the Mean Eyed Cat, this cut it down to 5 miles. We are already planning the next crawl and are thinking North to South this time.
Doing My Part to Keep Austin Weird!
Alan
We began our 3 mile walk to Rainey Street. We had been instructed that we needed to move over to Cesar Chavez for the walk for safety reasons. This was a long hot walk but the good conversation made it go quickly. We headed to Garage Mahal. This place was packed. It is all outdoor seating so while we waited for our table, we headed over to Icenhauer's to cool off and have a beer. We received the call that our table was ready. Back to the heat it was for us. Here we all split an order of Tikka Masala, Saag and a couple of orders of Naan. All of this was really delicious. It was now getting late and was time to move on again.
We were now heading to the Mean Eyed Cat. It was much later than we anticipated. We now realized that we should have left Justene's after our first order of food. We had spent too much time there. The original plan was to stop at the Mean Eyed Cat for a drink and then move on to Hula Hut. But, by the time we made it to the Mean Eyed Cat, it was already 10:30. Most of us were exhausted. Since some of our group had left cars at the Mean Eyed Cat and cabbed it to Justine's, they decided it was time to end the journey. The remaining group which I was a part of went ahead and called the cab to head back to Randy's house and call it an evening.
I enjoyed the experience and would definitely do something like this again. It probably would make sense to do this in cooler weather and not have such large distances in between the places. I think 3 - 5 miles total would have to be the maximum. Last nights schedule would have been a total of 7 miles if we would have continued on to Hula Hut. By ending at the Mean Eyed Cat, this cut it down to 5 miles. We are already planning the next crawl and are thinking North to South this time.
Doing My Part to Keep Austin Weird!
Alan
Friday, July 22, 2011
Third Time is a Charm
It took me three times to finally get into La Traviata. I kept calling earlier and earlier for a reservation. I finally called early enough in the week to get a reservation. I had read about the Spaghetti Alla Bolognese and already knew that I was going to order this as my entree. I spotted a salad that sounded good and started with the Beet Orange Salad. The salad had baby spinach, beets, orange slices, and goat cheese. It was very refreshing for a hot summer day. My son started with Caprese. I had a bite and it was very tasty.
As I mentioned before, I ordered the Spaghetti Alla Bolognese. It was fantastic. It is made with veal, pork, and beef. There was a smokey taste to it. The spaghetti was the perfect al dente texture. This truly was one of the best Bolognese sauces that I have had. My son had the ravioli of the day. It was Ravioli de Giourno. It consisted of cheese and mushroom ravioli in a butter sauce. He indicated that it was also very good.
My only complaint is very minor and very common. I came to the restaurant with my son and daughter. As is usually the case, I believe the serving staff assumes that it is going to be a low price table so they don't provide their top service. Tonight, the waitress did not ask if we wanted any drinks, didn't offer appetizers, or salads. In fact, after we had ordered our entree, she started to just walk away when I stopped her and ordered salads. Just as I have learned a long time ago, you cannot judge a book by its cover. You never know how much money someone has just by looking at how they are dressed. Just because it was just one adult with two kids, doesn't mean that we are not going to place a large order and tip generously.
I highly recommend La Traviata. I plan to add this to my repertoire of regular restaurants.
As a reminder, don't forget to follow me on twitter to get on the go updates. @atxfoodanddrink
Doing My Part to Keep Austin Weird,
Alan
As I mentioned before, I ordered the Spaghetti Alla Bolognese. It was fantastic. It is made with veal, pork, and beef. There was a smokey taste to it. The spaghetti was the perfect al dente texture. This truly was one of the best Bolognese sauces that I have had. My son had the ravioli of the day. It was Ravioli de Giourno. It consisted of cheese and mushroom ravioli in a butter sauce. He indicated that it was also very good.
My only complaint is very minor and very common. I came to the restaurant with my son and daughter. As is usually the case, I believe the serving staff assumes that it is going to be a low price table so they don't provide their top service. Tonight, the waitress did not ask if we wanted any drinks, didn't offer appetizers, or salads. In fact, after we had ordered our entree, she started to just walk away when I stopped her and ordered salads. Just as I have learned a long time ago, you cannot judge a book by its cover. You never know how much money someone has just by looking at how they are dressed. Just because it was just one adult with two kids, doesn't mean that we are not going to place a large order and tip generously.
I highly recommend La Traviata. I plan to add this to my repertoire of regular restaurants.
As a reminder, don't forget to follow me on twitter to get on the go updates. @atxfoodanddrink
Doing My Part to Keep Austin Weird,
Alan
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Garrido's
Returned to Garrardo's for a second try. I did not remember my first visit being anything special. Tonight was very good. I tried 3 different taco's. One chicken, one brisket and one shrimp. The taco's came with rice and either charro beans or refried black beans. I chose charro beans. They were very good, some of the best I have had. The tacos were all good but the best by far was the shrimp taco.
The bar was full and drinks looked good. Looks like a good place for drinks in the future.
The bottom line is that La Condesa is similar in style but much better.
Doing my part to keep Austin weird.
Alan
The bar was full and drinks looked good. Looks like a good place for drinks in the future.
The bottom line is that La Condesa is similar in style but much better.
Doing my part to keep Austin weird.
Alan
Thursday, April 14, 2011
La Cocina de Consuelo
I have driven by this place a million times. A few years ago a friend had mentioned that it was his favorite Mexican Restaurant in Austin. Since then, I kept meaning to give it a try. I finally went there tonight. It is a tiny place and you really do feel like you are in someone's cocina. My first test in any new Mexican Restaurant are the chips and salsa. The salsa was fantastic. Definitely a bite to it. The waitress told me that they are known for their signature enchiladas with chicken and tomatillo sauce. It comes with a choice of two sides. I went with rice and black beans. While waiting for the entree, I had the Chili Con Queso Especial. This was queso with a scoop of guac. The queso was good but needed a little heat. The salsa solved that problem. Great combination. The enchiladas arrived and I knew I made the right choice. The rice was one of the better I have had at a restaurant here. While black beans are black beans, these seemed to be very good. The enchiladas were definitely home made including the tortillas.
The entire experience as good. I would recommend this place to anyone. They don't serve alcohol but you can bring your own. My next visit will include my own beer from home. I am also looking forward to trying the potato enchiladas with chili chipotle sauce. That sounds really good.
Doing my part To Keep Austin Weird!
Alan
The entire experience as good. I would recommend this place to anyone. They don't serve alcohol but you can bring your own. My next visit will include my own beer from home. I am also looking forward to trying the potato enchiladas with chili chipotle sauce. That sounds really good.
Doing my part To Keep Austin Weird!
Alan
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