Chuy's

Like many things, it seems that Austinites either like Chuy's or they don't. I fall into the latter category. I've lived in Austin since 1994, and I probably haven't been inside a Chuy's (and there are now several, even outside of Texas!) one since 1997. I just never thought it was all that great, and life's too short to eat bad food! So imagine my conundrum, when an old colleague is visiting town, several of us are slated to get together for a reunion, and all he wants is a Chuy's strawberry margarita. After all, they can't get good Tex Mex in Minnesota! (Sorry, John!) What's a highly opinionated food *reviewer* to do? Go in with an open mind. Yes, even me. And you know what? It really wasn't bad.

There were going to be seven of us, meeting at 6:30 on Sunday. I met the first couple of people in the bar/waiting area, and they already had a round of chips, salsa, and queso going. The tortilla chips are your standard thin, crispy chips, the salsa is also fairly staid, as is the queso. Once our whole group was there, we got moved to a round table in one of the dining rooms. The only downside is that it's LOUD. The decor is a bit garish, with faux car parts and parrots on the walls and ceiling. Our waiter came and got our drink order; they had just run out of Negro Modelo beer, which was the only beer on the list that really interested me, so I opted for sangria.

I thought a combo plate would be the best way to try a couple of dishes, so I went with the #4, a chicken enchilada with queso, and a ground sirloin-stuffed chile relleno with ranchero sauce. Basically, you get your choices of enchilada and relleno. I asked our server for his opinion on which sauce to get on the enchilada, and he patiently walked me through the options (the menu also has good explanations). When we got the check, I learned his name was Clayton, and he was great. More on that in a sec.

The chile relleno was really good! The beef was seasoned well, it was a nice layer of fried-crispiness that was NOT a bit greasy, and the ranchero sauce, while mild (as advertised) complimented it all very well. I would eat this again. Now the chicken inside the enchilada was nice large pieces of white meat. The queso however, was kind of dried and rubbery. I think this plate sat under the lights for a few minutes, because the refried beans too, had a bit of a skin on them. In retrospect, I should have ordered the enchilada with one of the green chile sauces on it; they claim on their menu to be fairly spicy though, and I still wanted to taste my food, so I went with the processed cheese queso. No bueno.

Other people's food looked pretty tasty too. I believe this plate is the #2, Elvis Presley Memorial Combo, with three different types of enchiladas, and covered in the boom-boom sauce, which I believe is a creamy version of the green chile. Other dishes at our table included the Elvis Green Chile Fried Chicken, with a batter made from potato chips and the Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom, which are chicken enchiladas with the boom-boom sauce.

For the place being fairly packed on a Sunday evening, our food came out relatively quickly. Our waiter would swing by every now and then, checking on drinks, clearing the chip baskets to help make more room on the table, and was just really a friendly, patient, guy. The kicker for me was he automatically split our checks without us even asking. Good call, Clayton! So now when one of my close friend's craves Chuy's tortilla soup (which apparently many people rave about), I won't be so quick to shoot it down. This meal had some pros and cons, but probably the best pro was it opened my mind! :)

El Tacorrido

They don't call the stretch of South First street from Gibson to Oltorf "the Mexican Mile" for nothing. There's El Mercado, Torchy's & Izzo's trailers, Jovita's, La Mexicana Bakery, La Reyna, Polvo's, Little Mexico, and Habanero, though it's squarely on Oltorf. (Did I forget any?) And now, adding to the list, we have El Tacorrido, which took over the former Baby Greens drive thru spot at the northwest corner of South First and Oltorf. Did we REALLY need another Tex Mex spot?

I'd say the jury is still out.

I ordered a gordita with carnitas and a salad, which I don't see listed on their online menu. The very friendly young woman who was working the window asked if I wanted any salsa with the gordita; I asked for her recommendation, and she picked the verde -- avocado, onion, cilantro, and jalapeno. Really nice and creamy, with a bit of a bite, but not overpowering. The salsa was the best part of the gordita! The carnitas meat was not all pulled apart/shredded. There were some chunks in there, and I hate to say it, I passed over a few of them, because they looked like they were a little past their prime, with a bit of that shimmery look to them. I sort of thought to myself "am I taking a chance here?", but I was fine, no illnesses to report. The gordita was fairly greasy, and the bottom portion of it was thick and soggy. Not the best gordita by a long shot.

The salad I saved til dinnertime. For $6, you get a bowl of spinach with tomatoes and avocados, topped with tortilla strips; you can add your choice of meat for $2 more, and I opted for the habanero-marinated chicken breast. Hate to say it again, but the honey chipotle vinaigrette might have been the best thing about it. Some of the greens were past their prime, and I didn't really get any habanero heat from the chicken.

For a Mexican/Tex Mex spot, I find their dessert choices to be a bit odd: ice cream sandwich (vanilla on chocolate chip cookies) or banana bread.

This location of El Tacorrido is the third installment around town, and it seemed like the site sat idle for months, with an "opening soon" banner on it. I have no idea who's behind these joints, and there's no additional info on their website. This was only their second day open, so I will give it a little time to shake down, and go back and try some of their al pastor and breakfast tacos. Their prices are reasonable ($2 for a breakfast taco with 3 ingredients, additional ones 25 cents each) and their hours are great (7 am - 10 pm, let's see if that lasts...). They also seem to be catering to both the traditional Mexican population as well as the gringos; there are some diverse meat options (cuerito, buche) on the board, as well as menudo on the weekends, and meat can also be bought by the pound.

 Let's wait and see if the Mexican Mile can sustain another place....

Borrego de Oro

A trusted foodie friend has eaten at Borrego de Oro multiple times, and has always spoken very highly about their mole. I LOVE a good mole, and am always on a quest to find good ones. I have made them before myself, but it certainly is time-intensive. I do have a pretty darn good recipe that's "only" about an hour of work once you have all the ingredients; if you're interested, email me.  While there are different types of mole sauces (as in, the seven moles of Oaxaca), it's the Coloradito Mole that's the most common amongst Mexican and Tex-Mex places in the US. What attracts me to this mole is its depth of flavors when properly made -- some spice from various chile peppers, nuttiness from ground almonds, sweetness from raisins, a subtle bitter savoriness from chocolate or cocoa powder (or both). It's a huge flavor party, but not everyone appreciates it. 

So I met a friend at Borrego at 7:30 on a recent weeknight; there was no one dining, but two guys at the counter placing a to go order. The friendly waitress immediately brought me water and warm tortilla chips and salsa, as I waited for my friend, who arrived shortly thereafter. Warm chips are darn addicting and go very well with cold Negra Modelo!  After studying the menu, I ordered the chicken mole plate (of course), and my friend got the shrimp fajita plate (a slight misnomer, but we'll let that pass!); we had our choice of charro or refried beans. 

The mole turned out to be okay, but not the billing I was lead to believe. My guess is this batch had been sitting in a container in the fridge, and they pulled some out, and heated it up in some oil. It was fairly oily, as can been seen at the top of the plate. The chicken still had it's rubbery skin on, so I pulled that off to the side. Taste-wise, it had some chile in it, so it was a bit spicy, and it was dark brown, so probably some chocolate in there, but there was no real special flavor to it; I couldn't discern any flavor other than chile with a hint of chocolate. No almond, raisin, cinnamon, allspice.... Just kind of meh. The rice & beans were fairly standard for a Tex Mex place. My friend really liked her shrimp dish, though I didn't try it. 

The two young ladies who were the servers were very friendly. And fortunately, about 4 more tables filled up, so the place wasn't a total ghost town. So while the food was fresh, the service really good, and the food came fairly quickly, the mole was a disappointment. Maybe there are other dishes on their menu that are real standouts that I missed. (Have you been?) But if I want really good mole, I'll stick to Manuel's or Sazon or make it myself.

Jalisco's

Some friends suggested going to Jalisco's on far South Congress Ave last week since they had a gift certificate to use. Sure! Why not! I looked briefly online for info, reviews, a website, etc. and from the info posted on Yelp, I discerned that the service at this Tex Mex spot should be quite good, and the food good, but not outstanding. And you know what? That's pretty much exactly right.

So on a slightly damp Thursday, I headed south on Congress, almost to William Cannon, and discovered a pretty new building with ample parking. Inside, it's quite spacious, with booths lining the outer perimeter, a large bar against the back wall, and a lot of tables in between. My friends were already there, munching on guacamole, and perusing the menu. A very affable younger waiter (late teens/early 20s?) immediately came to get my drink order. After a few minutes studying the menu, I settled on the Clement's plate: beef skirt steak, chicken, and pork al pastor with beans & rice.It was a sizeable plate for $11.95. In the picture, underneath that beef was the chicken & pastor. The beef alone probably would have been enough food (and it ended up being lunch the next day). The steak & pastor were tasty; the pastor was particularly good & tender. The chicken had little flavor to it, and neither did the beans nor rice. In fact, I think the rice had more flavor than the beans. Certainly more color. The real kicker though came when we got dessert. My friends had heard through another that the fried ice cream was great, and what's not to like about fried goodness? Take a close look at the picture. This isn't fried ice cream in the typical definition of FRIED ICE CREAM, as in battered and deep fried. This is a large chunk of ice cream (it was huge) that has been rolled in rice krispies to simulate the crunchy, fried outer shell. I could pretty much tell after the first bite, and while it wasn't bad (and certainly not nearly as caloric), it was a touch disappointing.
Our waiter though, was great. He kept coming back and checking on us. He did however bring the check on assumption, before we had a chance to order dessert. (Maybe it was because we asked for 2 to-go boxes.) And, a mariachi band was playing! There's a banner outside saying "mariachi music", but I didn't ever catch what the name of the group was. Most of the members were younger, which made me wonder if they are a local high school group. Their primary male & female singers were really good! If I lived closer to Jalisco's I'd go back for Happy Hour, because I think they had some decent drink specials, and while the service was great, there are plenty of other Tex Mex spots in this town for much better food. Maybe some real fried ice cream too.