Chi'lantro BBQ

So it's mid-January, and I've got to get back on my "one new food trailer a week" program. Problem is, the food trailer population keeps growing and growing! But I decided to track down one that I think is one of Austin's original "Tweet our location and find us" trailers -- Chi'lantro BBQ, a tasty marriage of Mexican and Korean flavors. 

I had a doctor's appointment off Jollyville Road this afternoon, and as luck would have it, one of Chi'lantro's trucks (YES, they have TWO trucks!) was at the Twin Towers complex on the Mopac southbound frontage road, between 183 and 360 (it's the building where Google has it's offices). Fortunately, I could see the truck in front of the northern building as I went up Mopac to made the u-turn at 360. And for a cold day, I was pleasantly surprised to see about 8 people waiting for their food. Everyone appeared to be from one of the two office buildings; I felt a little bit like a party crasher! ;)

I decided on the kimchi fries, and asked the woman taking the orders what she recommended, the pork or beef bulgogi. She immediately said the pork was really looking good today. So after a few minutes in the colder temps, I had my hot basket of fries, topped with pork bulgogi, cheese, cilantro, onion, sriracha, their magic orange sauce (it's a mayo-based sauce, I think), and sesame seeds. 

Retreating to my car, I took the picture and began devouring it! Mighty, mighty tasty. A really great balance of flavors. The pork was cut extremely thin, and probably chopped with the metal spatula while on the grill; it has a nice bit of sweetness to it when you get a bite of it with out all the other stuff. The sriracha heats you up, without overpowering, and the creaminess from their magic orange sauce is a nice texture addition too. There's not too much of the earthy cilantro, but what's there adds nicely to the depth of the flavor profile.


Looking at their other menu items, it's mostly Korean flavors made into Mexican foods -- tacos, burritos, quesadillas, with a rice bowl thrown in too. Not sure how the tofu would do bulgogi-style, but with that succulent pork, don't think I'll be getting the veggie option there anytime soon.

Uncle Billy's Brew & Cue

Once upon a time, the restaurants along the north side of Barton Springs Road between Romeo's and the stop light at Robert E Lee all seemed to have surface parking lots. Turning in to Uncle Billy's Brew and Cue, there's now an apartment building/condo in the midst, so while there's still parking, it feels weird doing so in the basement level garage for the building. Fortunately, it's well lit, and I didn't feel creeped out walking through it by myself. Stretching a ways back, Billy's used to be a pan-Asian placed called Mimosa; good food but terrible service. And I can't quite recall what it was before that, but hopefully, Billy's has put the end to the revolving door of eateries at that location.

From the garage, across the driveway, and into Billy's front patio area, they've got what appears to be a sweet set up (it was dark when I got there). Lots of picnic seating, a bar, and requisite TV with football on.  Similar inside, wood floors, TV's, bar.... I had a seat, and waited for my friend, who arrived just minutes later, while I was sipping on my house-brewed Agave Wit beer. Nice citrus notes in the beer; I had a taste of my friend's IPA, which was pleasantly not bitter to my palate (most IPAs usually are to me). We also got a starter of fried pickles, which were well coated and fried. Tasty, not greasy, and they come with a side of spicy ranch. 


Meal-wise, I picked the two meat plate with the pork spareribs and pulled pork, after soliciting an opinion from our waiter who said both of those looked particularly good this evening. My side choices were mashed potatoes and baked beans. My friend also got the two meat plate with smoked turkey and pulled pork. 

The meats, or at least I should say the porks, were GOOD. The meat on the spareribs fell off the bone the moment you bit into it. Good smokey flavor and moistness. The pulled pork was also very moist and tender (and was still very good the next night too -- leftovers). Had a piece of the smoked turkey, which had good flavor to it, but particularly around the edges, it was rubbery and tough. Our waiter said that they used oak wood this particular night, and sometimes they use an oak and hickory combination.  The sides were okay. They use red potatoes for the mashed dish, and they keep the skin on, which I like and they leave some chunks, which I also like. However, some of the chunks were still a bit undercooked. The baked beans must have had a lot of cider vinegar in them, because they were very sweet-tart, as was the bbq sauce, which was too twangy for my tastes; not much balance to either of them. For dessert, we split a piece of the buttermilk pie, which to me tasted like artificially flavored French vanilla pudding.

I was a little disappointed the plate only came with 3 ribs; I guess I expected at least 4 or a quarter rack. And at first I didn't know why I was charged an extra $1 for the ribs (yes, I know, it's only a $1), but now, after studying their menu online, I see it listed. However, because of the design of the menu -- they needed filler space on the right hand side (in yellow) -- the meats are listed, and for moist brisket and ribs, it does say add $1. However, in the middle part of the menu where the meat plates are listed, it doesn't say anything about a $1 extra charge for the special meats, and that's where I would expect to see it listed. 

Our waiter was helpful and friendly, and was happy to answer our questions about the menu. We used a Groupon, and he didn't seem put off by that. Looking forward to warmer weather, when we can sit outside, drink some beers and order some family-style meats.

Ho Ho Chinese BBQ

My butcher friend who likes the entrails and innards of just about all animals has spoken highly of Ho Ho Chinese BBQ for those very things. While I tend to like the more traditional cuts of meat, I of course, am always on the lookout for new tasty morsels. So a reunion with three old friends took us a ways north of the south Austin 'hood to IH-35 and Parmer Lane, in the middle of strip mall central. And I think Ho Ho is about the only thing that isn't a national chain (Walmart, Red Robin, etc.) in that neck of the woods. But it is without hesitation that I say I am glad we stuck our necks out to venture up 35. Ho Ho is heavenly.

The exterior of the building fits in with the rest of the strip mall (or "road rash" as my mother and I call it) design. When you walk inside, I immediately was drawn to the water tanks on the right hand side of the lobby area that are holding tonight's very fresh meals -- lobster, crabs, geoducks, and some sort of fish that would be well-camouflaged if it were amongst rocks. The tanks were impeccably clean. Nothing growing on the walls, and hardly even a fingerprint smudge. And to the left of the door is the requisite plexiglass booth with whole roast ducks hanging by the neck, and the man with a very large cleaver whacking away at things. (Darn, I couldn't get the cleaver really in the picture -- he was working fast! The chunk hanging on the right is the roast pork; I really wanted to grab it and run out the door!)

We were seated in a booth, and all four of us started oohing and aahing over the menu, our eyes growing bigger with excitement with the turn of every menu page.  After a lot of "Oh! What about....." we picked the bbq pork and roast duck combo plate (#M27), the sauteed snow pea leaves (#V8), and the wide flat rice noodles with beef, pork, and shrimp in a brown gravy (#N12). Our charming server, a man in his 50s, was very patient with us, and as we were debating order an appetizer or the roast pork in addition to what we had already committed to, he smiled and said, start with these three, then see how you are feeling. Very nice that he didn't just stand there and let us order a ton of food just to run up the tab.

To myself, I sort of lamented not getting an appetizer, because I was hungry! Lo and behold, the pork/duck and snow pea leaves arrived in five minutes, and the noodle dish came two minutes later. And we swooped in on it all! The pork had a very lovely red tinge to it's outer layer, with sweet tones with mild ginger from the bbq glaze on it. The duck was one of the most lovely ever. Very crispy, extremely well-rendered skin, with a Chinese 5 spice taste to it (star anise, clove, cinnamon, sichuan peppercorns, and probably more ginger than fennel seed as the fifth spice). The pea leaves had thin slivers of fresh garlic sauteed in with them, and they were perfectly cooked, with stems still slightly firm.

The noodle dish was this mound of sliced meats, cabbage and broccoli over the very wide rice noodles, which are hard to manage with chopsticks! I would have liked more flavor in the gravy, though a bit of chili flakes and oil helped; still tasty though. The four of us made pretty short work of the dishes, and all the while, the servers refilled our water glasses, and seemed to be peering over at us to see if we liked our choices. You better believe it! Our gentleman waiter brought us orange slices and fortune cookies with the check. And the check itself.... $30.25 for four people. For that quality food in a sit-down restaurant (heck, even better priced than some trailers), you CAN'T beat it. 

The next day, I saw my butcher friend, and told him I had been to Ho Ho's the night before. He asked if we had eaten the roast pork, and when I said no, we had the bbq pork, he said you HAVE to go back for it, because the texture of the roast pork, especially the outer crispy layer is sheer perfection. Must go back. ASAP!

Upcoming Events

Two food events I have just heard about:

Sip & Savor, a city-wide food and drink celebration, that is organized to try to get people in the door of places they haven't been. Running January 16 - 30, participating restaurants will have special menus for patrons to try. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Wine & Food Foundation of Texas. Go to their website for more details and a listing of the restaurants. A Facebook event page is here, and Twitter hash tag is #SipSavorATX.

The second is the annual Taste of Austin, held at the Palmer Event Center on Thursday, January 27th from 5:30 - 8 pm; tickets are $25 each and should probably be reserved in advance, as they do sell out. The event is designed to allow participants to taste dishes from a multitude of different restaurants, and is sponsored by (and benefits) the Greater Austin Restaurant Association and Westwood HS DECA Marketing. 

Hungry??

Trace

The new, swank W Hotel, just opened the beginning of December. Their fine dining restaurant is Trace, and a basic website has just made it up in the past couple days. If you enter through the main lobby of the hotel, it's a little bit of a maze to get to the restaurant -- narrow passageways and dark curtains. The bar/hostess area also had a darkish feel to it, and then walking into the main dining room, you're met by a pop of neutral colors (silver and white) and mirrored walls. There's a combo of comfy looking booths, a long deep bench with tables up against it, and tables also by the windows. I can see how breakfast in there could be a light-filled experience with the window facing east, and the sun reflecting off the mirrors and white chairs.

Trace has someone on staff whose job is to locate local foods.  And I finally get it, the name *Trace,* as they can trace the origins of all of their foods. They have trained their staff extremely well, as our waiter, Scott, was extremely good at describing dishes and answering off the cuff questions. Like, yes, that is Texas Olive Ranch olive oil at the table with the bread.

The occasion was actually dinner on Christmas night. My family was in town, and I wanted to go to a place that wasn't $65/person for a buffet (Four Seasons, Driskill). Fortunately, my family are adventurous eaters, and we all studied the menu for quite some time. I should have kept a copy of the menu, as now, five days after the meal, my brain is slightly sketchy on some of the dishes, and what's posted online at present differs wildly from what we had. (Sorry!)

We started with the charcuterie plate, which featured prosciutto, sopressata, chorizo, two pates, pork rilettes (lightly breaded and fried; not pictured), pickled daikon and cabbage, and three mustards. I believe the sopressata and chorizo were from local salumi maker Salt and Time, who I have posted about before; not sure if the prosciutto was theirs too. Overall, an incredibly tasty assortment of meats, particularly the country pate and rilettes. The pickled veggies and particularly the molasses mustard were great accompaniments. 

I opted for a couple smaller sized plates, starting with the winter greens salad with hazelnut vinaigrette and baby roasted beets; for a salad, it was fine. Could have used a bit more hazelnut input. I chose the braised pork belly and a side dish of mashed potatoes. The pork was outstanding. The piece was a great combo of caramelized meatiness and melting, rendering squishy fat. The dish was also made interesting by the addition of caramelized bananas and pineapple pieces, and the pork was served on a lemongrass spear. I could have eaten a lot more of that pork! (It was a small serving!) The mashed taters were slightly chunky, which to me, is a good thing.

Also at the table was a plate of creamy grits with wild mushroom ragu and a two-hour sous vide poached egg; a grilled sea trout dish, skin on, with root veggies and I believe sumac; poached octopus  and chorizo....too salty on the octopus (though tender), and the texture of the chorizo links seemed a bit off -- not firm enough, and I am forgetting a dish.... a soup? Apart from the octopus dish, everything else was well-consumed. We weren't stuffed to the gills, but not still hungry either. We split one dessert amongst the four of us; I was rather tempted by the chocolate covered peppermint ice cream (described as their take on a Klondike bar), but we settled for the apple cobbler with huckleberries and lemon and thyme (?). It was an extremely deep bowl; the cobbler topping seemed a bit underdone. I think from the description, we thought the lemon and herbs would be mixed in with the apples, but it was actually a sorbetto or ice cream on the side.

Overall, it was a very nice experience with all of the staff very friendly and welcoming, and solid plates of food. So, solid, but I am not sure how memorable in the long run.