Hill's Cafe

I have always had good meals at Hill's Cafe. I've been for dinner a number of times over the years, but hadn't been in a good long while (like a year), and had never been for lunch that I can recall. I was talking to a co-worker a few days ago, and I mentioned Hill's as one of my favorite spots for a burger. He immediately said that his wife had heard horrible things about the place, and she wouldn't eat there. Then another co-workers chimed in and said she had heard from two people in the past several months that it wasn't up to snuff. I stuck to my guns though, and convinced co-worker #1 to meet me there for lunch. I prayed that this would be a good meal. And doggone it, I was right!

The place is owned by local personality Bob Cole. The entire place is fairly heavily decorated with all kinds of stuff....hard to describe, but think Bevo heads, neon beer signs, local musicans/politicans, etc. We had the unparalleled joy of sitting in the Rick & Anita Perry booth, so we had Governor Good Hair himself staring at us throughout the meal. (Look closely at the signatures.... they're the same handwriting.)We got an appetizer of the "World Famous Mexican White Wings", which are small chicken strips, wrapped with a serrano pepper (their wording, jalapeno peppers said my chile-head friend) and bacon, then fried, and tossed in a cayenne pepper sauce (as in tabasco-style sauce) with a side of ranch. Tasty, but not sure I'd call them world famous. These looked like they may have been under the heat lamp for a little bit. We were barely halfway through them, when another waiter brought our burgers -- the Old Fashioned for me, and the Fat Bob for my friend. The guy who brought them made a pleasant comment about how the kitchen has been doing fast work lately, and how it hasn't been real busy.

My burger was just a plain one, no cheese, no toppings; one of the things I've always liked about the burger is the bun, a kolache bun, so it's a bit sweeter than normal buns. It did come with the requisite lettuce, onion, & tomato, and I asked for sweet potato fried instead of the regular ones. I requested it medium rare, and it pretty much was that. It was great. Nice grill marks, great charred flavor. A half-pound of beefy goodness. My friend's Fat Bob burger had bacon, cheese AND a fried egg on it, and he was mighty pleased with his too, and polished the whole thing off. I am surprised that ate almost the entire thing! It's certainly more than what I normally have for lunch, and need a cleanse of fruit & veggies now.So I feel vindicated. Hill's has come through yet again. The burgers were fabulous. Next time, I'll get the chicken fried steak, which has always been good too. Meanwhile, I should have left some Farouk Shami paraphernalia for Rick Perry to enjoy...

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.

Flip Happy Crepes

Flip Happy Crepes is probably one of Austin's original trailer food stands, apart from the roving taco trucks. They've been around Austin for 3 or 4 years now (longer?), and have even survived an episode with the slightly obnoxious Bobby Flay on his "Throwdown" show. (I am sure the national exposure was fantastic for business though!) So after starting out in the lot where Olivia's is now located, just north of the Lamar & Oltorf intersection, they moved their Avion trailer to a lot about 2 blocks north of Barton Springs and 1 block west of Lamar, on Jessie Street. Plenty of parking, both in the lot and on the street. Picnic tables and folding chairs fill out their space.On the downside, somehow, I ONLY manage to go to FHC when inclement weather is looming. And it's with the same friend too! This is the second, though possibly third time we've been there, and the weather was not conducive to eating outdoors. I think this is the third time, once it was raining, and we ate in the car, and another time it was just hot out. Well today has been overcast all day. We're supposed to get some rain. And of course as we met there, and look at the menu board, the wind picks up. And a few rain drops start falling. Great.
And it takes a fairly long while for the crepes to be ready, like 15 - 20 minutes. They do have a very polite sign up saying everything is made from scratch, it takes time, yada, yada, yada, but when it's windy and rainy, it's hard to be patient! But, as your mother says: good things come to those who wait. Ahhh, my little crepes! (Or not so little, as the case is.) We ordered the Roast Chicken (with caramelized onions, goat cheese & garlic cream), the Three Cheese (with gruyere, goat, & cheddar), and the Peanut Butter Chocolate for dessert, and decided to split all three items. Though we had asked for the meal to go, we ultimately decided to just brave the wind and eat at the picnic table. The savory crepes came wrapped up in paper, and given the climate conditions, it was not conducive to take a photo of it, especially since I would have had to cut it in half and prop one side up, etc. I am not a food stylist! But, they were delicious! The chicken one had a lot of goat cheese, which if there had been any garlic cream on there, it was overwhelmed by the goat. The cheese one also had fresh spinach and tomato in it. While they're not fat crepes, they are a good 6 - 7" long, and I am still full, after eating the equivalent of one.

Oh yeah, and dessert. We asked for the peanut butter crepe to be prepared without bananas, but when it came in it's environmentally better-than-styrofoam container, it did have them. No biggie, because it too was fantastic. A great blend of flavors and texture -- a pillowly PB & cream cheese mixture, stuffed inside a crepe, with dark chocolate drizzles, and chopped almonds. Not entirely sure what the chantilly cream in the description refers to. And if you look real close, you can see the raindrops on the table.
So hopefully my next trip back will be on a nice sunny, spring day, where I can sit outside and enjoy my meal without the weather being a pain in the ass. I think I need one of each item on the menu, please.

El Chile

The owners of El Chile are creating a empire, now with three locations of El Chile, a couple of baby El Chilito taco bars, and a pizza joint. An El Chilito had opened up (this past summer?) at the corner of Dawson (aka S. 5th St.) & Barton Springs Road (across from the Palmer Events Center), and about 10 days ago, the owners decided to shake things up by switching the locations of the El Chile downtown with the El Chilito. According to the press release on their website, they listened to their downtown customers, who preferred the idea of quick tacos for breakfast & lunch, and thereby relocating the more leisurely restaurant and it's liquor license to the Barton Springs locale.

And speaking of that liquor license, as all good things with the TABC take time, so they are currently offering free drinks (with the purchase of food, limit two per person, I believe) at the BS spot. Their sign board outside is advertising it too, and at a hair before 7 pm on a Wednesday night, I wonder how many people were there just for the freebies or what. We had to wait just a couple minutes before getting seated, but it gave me a moment to take the place in. In all the years I have lived in the neighborhood, I have never been to any of the restaurants (and there have been a number.... Gypsy, some sandwich place before it, and I can't remember what else!) that have inhabited that corner. While the lighting inside is dim, the walls are painted in bright colors -- avocado green, tangerine, bright yellow -- and contain nice bold & colorful paintings. The back wall is actually built into the existing cliff/rock wall, and there's an intriguing spiral staircase that must lead to storage, as I saw of of the staff go up and return with napkins.

Anyway, we were seated, and our waiter came by and told us about the free drinks; we each got a frozen margarita with a sangria floater. I think they taste better when they're free! They do half price appetizers until 7 pm, and unfortunately, by the time we got seated, we just missed that mark. I ordered the Enchiladas de Mole Rojo, and my friend the veggie puffy tacos. We devoured our initial bowl of chips and really tasty, very dark, very smooth salsa (no clue what's in it!), and the next round of chips had just arrived when the food did. (Also judging by the diners around us, all the food was coming out of the kitchen fast.)

I am pretty much always a sucker for mole. It's that savory-sweet, spicy, chocolately thing that it's got going on that I just love. These was corn tortillas stuffed with tender & moist pulled pork, covered in the mole, with rice & black beans. While I'd say the beans were rather underseasoned, the mole was great. It hit the aforementioned notes, with enough depth to the sauce, and just enough spice to leave your lips just a touch warm. The white rice had finely chopped carrots, corn, and I think cilantro in it (it was something green & leafy), not overly exciting, but a good foil to the sauce. I almost licked the plate clean. While I didn't try any of them, the puffy tacos looked good, though not terribly puffy. Still a bit hungry from my lack of a discernible lunch today, I asked for a dessert menu. The waiter said they didn't have a menu, but told us they had tres leches, flan, and a margarita key lime pie. I asked his opinion, and he suggested the tres leches. Upon tasting it, pretty certain that one of the milks is coconut. Gave it a nice flavor, but otherwise, not the most memorable ... I think they use shortening in the frosting, as I had a bit of a greasy feel to my lips.The only drawback of El Chile was the noise level. The place was packed, and it was LOUD. And the speakers were playing music. I noticed there was foam under the tables, assumably to help with the noise, but..... It was a varied crowed, mostly people in their 20s & 30s it appeared; one older (50s?) couple was leaving as we walked in, there were a couple of families with kids, a couple rocker-looking musicians. But it pretty much stayed at capacity while we were there, and the food was frankly better than I remember it at the Manor Road location. The neighborhood can always use some decently priced and well-executed eateries, and hopefully this one, with it's known success, will keep the southeast corner of Dawson & BS Road occupied for years to come. And I would happily return.

Two Hot Mama's Grill

I have always enjoyed the Two Hot Mama's product line: salsas (rojo, verde, and a combo one called mambo combo), the creamy cilantro dip, and particularly the roasted almond chimichurri -- great for chip & dip, as a salad dressing, in tacos, on fish...you get the idea! They have always won awards at the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, amongst others. Now one of the Hot Mamas has branched out to her own eatery, the Two Hot Mama's Grill in Lakeway. (Geeez, wasn't I just in Lakeway right before Christmas?!)

So it's really only about 15 miles from my 'hood in South Austin, and on this warm, cloudy January day, it was actually an easy drive.....but I wouldn't want to do it in rush hour! Located at 620 at Lohmann's Crossing, it's just behind the Compass Bank building, which is easily visible from 620 when headed northbound. The place is painted with nice bright colors, a couple of flat screen tv's, and free wifi.

From the menu, you choose whether you want a burrito, tacos, tostado, etc. and on what type of tortilla. Then you pick your meat and 4 toppings, plus salsa. It's a lot of picking! I settled on a beef fajita burrito on a whole wheat tortilla with black beans, rice, cheese, black bean & corn salsa (okay, I got a little redundant with the black beans), and my favorite roasted almond chimichurri sauce. Everything tasted very fresh, the meat was nice & tender, and I ate all of it, except a bit of the tortilla. My friend got the soup of the day (which they post on their Facebook page; so far no website), which was chilled avocado & cilantro, and soft tacos, one with pulled pork and the other with veggies. All of it was delicious! The soup was VERY thick & creamy, but had a great flavor -- you could taste the cilantro, but it wasn't overpowering, like cilantro can be. It was thick enough that I think it would be great on grilled chicken or fish, or even as a cole slaw dressing.
I wish it was closer to Austin, as I would certainly go back with regularity. It's a family run business, and owner Genevieve was refilling customer's glasses with tea, and chatting with people as they came in. It's in a great location, right on the edge of the shopping center's driveway, so it has great visibility. Screw the national chain restaurants, and give some good local businesses your business!