Changing with the Times

The past few weeks have brought some very sad news to the Austin food scene.

The owner of La Mexicana Bakery announced his retirement and the longtime South First institution will close for good before I hit publish on this post.  I made it by two weeks ago for tacos, which I will sorely miss.

La Mexicana breakfast tacos...no frills but large and inexpensive!

Chocolate tres leches, just one of hundreds of items from their panaderia.

Winebelly, my favorite wine bar, and not just because it was 5 minutes from my house, sadly could not withstand the economic times and closed in January. RIP to the best chicken liver mousse in town.

Winebelly's chicken liver mousse, this one during a pandemic pivot to carry out.

And an end of an era, though not by choice, as fire ripped through Texas French Bread on Rio Grande Street on January 24th, leaving literally ashes. A Go Fund Me has raised nearly $195,000 for staff; at this time they do not know if they will rebuild. This was one of the first places I ate when I moved to Austin in 1994 and their Hyde Park Fudge Cake was legendary.

As they say, all good things must come to an end, which includes this blog. Not hanging it up quite yet, but getting close. Stay tuned.

New Favorite Austin BBQ: Moreno

Like I needed MORE food over Thanksgiving weekend, but when your Pacific Northwest friend is in town and wants barbecue, you happily oblige. And you happily discover what is now your favorite barbecue spot in Austin. Shhhh, don't tell! 

Ladies and gents, introducing Moreno Barbecue, which graduated from a trailer to a brick and mortar three weeks ago! Occupying a former restaurant (Subway?) at the southwest corner of  Stassney and Manchaca, technically 5608 Manchaca, they have both indoor and outdoor seating, friendly service and most importantly, excellent food. Don't just take my word, they got an honorable mention in the Texas Monthly Barbecue edition.

Moreno BBQ spare rib, jalapeno cheddar sausage, brisket

Of course I opted for moist (read, fatty.... fat equals flavor) brisket and did not regret my decision for a minute. This brisket was easily cut by a plastic fork and just melted away in your mouth. I loved the texture of the finely ground Heartland Akaushi beef sausage with enough jalapeno and cheddar to know they are there, but not too much to distract from the beef. The spare rib has a sweeter glaze on them than I like, but the ribs were good and meaty and quite tender too. Loved the cole slaw with it's mild vinegar dressing. 

Brisket nachos

Now my friend got the brisket nachos and some of the smoked pork belly, which I think was life altering. Now the nachos alone are a huge portion, cheesy and hard to go wrong with. 

Smoked pork belly

But I can't get the pork belly out of my mind. It's RICH. I only ate a couple bites and don't think I could eat more than a slice at a time, but the fat just dissolved with a mild smokiness in your mouth.
And you could also get this in a taco! Along with the nachos, they do tacos, sandwiches, and mac + cheese. 

Shortbread chocolate chip cookies  -- the perfect little bite of something sweet to finish the meal.

Keep your eye on their social media (Instagram) too, as I have seen weekend specials and discounts mentioned on there! They smoke their meats with post oak, which is appropriate as there's a huge oak tree out front. 

Welcome, Moreno! Can't wait to come back!

The Best Things I Ate In 2020

While I think we're all ready to kick the year 2020 to the curb, there fortunately have been some outstanding food highlights for me.  More details also on my Instagram. The first three were in-person dining experiences, and everything else has been carry out. Presenting in chronological order of when I ate them.

Old Thousand's brisket fried rice

Bone marrow at Comedor.

My one trip of the year was to the San Francisco area the end of February; the massaman curry lamb shank from Nari was stellar.

I made a coconut cream tart for a friend's birthday, recipe from Dorie Greenspan.

La Patisserie's gluten free chocolate hazelnut cake. *swoon*

Le Bleu's grilled pork banh mi, eaten social-distance style with a friend, each of us in our cars.

Beef enchiladas and colorful sides from El Dorado.

I have fallen in love with all things Vivian's Boulangerie! Here the chocolate croissant. I've ordered a few times from this online bakery; they deliver or you can pick up from their kitchen. The caramelized shallot and brie tiger paws are also a complete downfall for me.

El Naranjo's costillas de res (boneless beef short rib with goat cheese mashed potatoes) and huitlacoche empanandas. 

French dip, Vietnamese style from 20Pho7, a food truck at South First and Live Oak. Incredible flavors!

Little Ola's sausage + egg biscuit for comfort food indulgence.

Thai Fresh has long had my favorite pad thai in town, but I only recently discovered their fried chicken skins! A side of sauteed veggies makes it all healthy, right?

The new Mumtaz Market and their amazing lamb burger.

So there you have my top dishes of the year!  All this delicious food, and proud to say I've lost 30 pounds through intermittent fasting, and eating what I want. 😀

What are your favorite meals of 2020? Stay safe, y'all and let's make 2021 an outstanding year!

What I've Been Eating, Part Three

AMAZING chocolate croissant from Vivian's Boulangerie!

Welcome to another edition of what South Austin Foodie has been eating recently! I continue to get carryout a couple times a week, and I try to get things where I can at least get two meals out of my order. Some home cooking, but overall it's been too hot! Here are the main highlights, please keep tabs on my Instagram, especially Stories for a more comprehensive run down of my meals!

Hey Say is a homestyle Vietnamese spot on East Oltorf; I think they're serving a few more general Asian dishes than before, but definitely look for their house specials! These are twice fried wings with a fish sauce that were really good and very different from other wings (in a good way!).

Thai Taste's spicy larb!

Molly inspects some of my first Vivian's Boulangerie croissant order.

From my second Vivian's order, beet and goat cheese kolache, brie and caramelized shallot tiger paw, cardamom snickerdoodle and salted chocolate chip cookies, and almond croissant. They've now expanded their order pickups/deliveries to FOUR days a week! (Very dangerous.) Seriously, some of the best stuff I've had. 

Steamies frozen pork char siu, pork dumplings, and beef bao. Storefront at Airport and Lamar, I will definitely be back!

Here are the Steamies dumplings, which were very good. I think the bulgogi beef bao was my favorite as it had a TON of flavor and the beef was moist. And very pleasantly surprised with the puff pastry texture and filling of the char siu triangle. 

Winebelly's chicken liver mousse is always a favorite.

My friend Curd Culture lives in Houston, but worked with local cheese shop Antonelli's and taught a cheese class via Zoom. A friend and I had the chicken liver mousse and then split this cheese board, a bottle of bubbly,  and sat socially distanced for the class. Great way to spend and evening!

Stunning chirashi bot bowl a friend got from Lucky Robot

We also split these pork belly buns  from Lucky Robot, which were crammed with stuff including pickled cauliflower which gave them a nice crunch. 

Also up there for Best Thing I Have Eaten Recently, this Vietnamese French dip sandwich from the 20Pho7 food truck at Live Oak and South First. The bread was perfect, the pho broth flavorful, the beef super tender and rare! Filled with bean sprouts, scallions, and a spicy mayo. I cannot wait to go back!

Support your local businesses and let's make sure they stay in business! What fantastic things have you been eating?

Two Months of Carry Out, Cooking + Baking

Here's another edition of what I've been eating lately, in case you wondered!😊 Much of this is on my Instagram page too!

As an essential employee, I don't always feel like cooking. I've been getting carry out about once a week, and it usually gives me an extra meal or two of leftovers. (I don't understand people who don't eat leftovers or take their food home from a restaurant!)

Via 313 in Oak Hill had an easy pick up system. I don't discriminate against different styles of pizza, and sometimes just crave the Detroit-style thick squares. I also learned that you can request it "extra crispy" for those nice, almost burnt edges!

I found some chili (with beans!) in the freezer, and had some of Trader Joe's organic corn chips for Frito pie!

My Easter project was making lamb osso bucco, which was supposed to braise in the oven for a few hours. This was the day I discovered my oven wasn't working, but at least the stovetop was, so at least I could cook my lamb! This was delicious, and a new oven was ordered.

Phantasma Kitchen asked me to try out their food, and I was happy to oblige. A total contrast to Via 313's pie, and like I said, I don't discriminate! Loved how thin and crispy Phantasma's pizza is. Also impressed by their Cesar dressing for the salad.  Hopefully this place won't ghost us anytime soon.

Finally scratched the itch for tacos; love Papalote, but have decided their al pastor is not my personal favorite, as it doesn't seem to be made in the traditional way. The bean and cheese taco was great, as was the sope.

New GE oven in the house! Had to test it, and I tried a new focaccia recipe, the no knead one from Bon Appetit. Thumbs up!

Sichuan River is always a go to favorite of mine, both for dining in and carry out. I almost always get the eggplant in garlic sauce and add pork to it. And I get three meals from it! The dan dan noodles were good and you could definitely taste (or I should say feel the numbing effects) the sichuan peppercorns, but after the first day, the noodles had absorbed much of the liquid their texture wasn't as good. So need to eat these immediately! I was also rather enamored by the crab rangoon, which seemed exceptionally crispy, even after being transported home in a styrofoam container.

Baking project #2 in the new oven, King Arthur Flour's bacon cheddar scones. Good quality thick bacon I think makes a difference! (I used DaBecca bacon, one of Costco's best kept secrets; also I didn't have chives but I didn't really miss them in this recipe.)

And if you saw my previous blog post, all things apples! Gala apple hand pies.

The mole enchiladas from Curra's TOTALLY hit the spot! Lightly sweet, savory, with a bit of spiciness. And I took a chance on something I hadn't tried from them before, lamb empanadas, and I will definitely order these again too! Also really liked the chipotle sauce that was with them.

I met my friend Mad Betty up at Le Bleu for a socially distant lunch. We both ordered online and coordinated the pick up times, and then we parked our cars and ate and talked from them! And the banh mi and summer spring rolls with sausage were both fantastic! They also have contactless pick-up mastered perfectly.

And finally, last night I had friends from New Mexico passing through town, so we decided to meet up at Terry Black's BBQ for dinner. This was my first meal inside a restaurant in two months, as restaurants have just re-opened at 25% capacity. The staff was great about keeping people socially distant while in line for food, and tables were appropriately spaced apart. And this Texas trinity did not disappoint -- pork ribs, brisket, and sausage, and yes, I have leftovers!

I should wrap this up by saying I started intermittent fasting on March 1st (after eating my way through San Francisco!), and I've lost 13 pounds!  What favorite things have you been eating (either making or ordering?!) these past few months?

Bonus! I forgot to add this originally so have come back to include it. My Quarantini -- elderberry juice, tonic water, and gin! Cheers!

Eating In the Time of Coronavirus

That's eating in, as in during this epidemic, and eating IN your own homes.

You would have to be living under a rock to not know that coronavirus/COVID-19 has invaded our world. Literally. You've heard it all, social distancing, stay at home, wash your hands, et.al. Every aspect of our daily lives is affected. But we still have to eat.

I've been cooking, and about once a week, I am ordering take out from local restaurants. They need our help! Many businesses are offering online gift cards that you can purchase now and you can either use them at the places that are offering contact-free pick up or delivery, or save them for when it is safe for businesses to reopen. Check the website of your favorite places, and don't forget to tip the restaurant or delivery person when you order food! I fear that the unfortunate reality is many of the smaller businesses will not survive.

Also if you're able, support some of our area non-profits who are also scrambling to serve the community. I've made small donations to Central Texas Food Bank and All Together ATX.

Here's a look at what I've been making and ordering. Thankfully, I've always been one to eat leftovers, so many of these got me at least three meals.

The produce department at Central Market Westgate on March 15th, the day before the official shelter in place order was given for the city of Austin. Not a potato or onion was to be found! Just a couple small acorn squash, and I did buy one.

If you saw my previous post on my trip to San Francisco in February, I've been obsessed with the lamb massaman curry from modern Thai restaurant Nari. Here's my first attempt at re-creating it! Not bad, but not quite the same. 

Bao'd Up has three locations in Austin, and offers Chinese comfort foods such as bao and bowls, which I have really enjoyed. They invited me out to help spread the word they were open for business! I particularly loved the guabo, this one with fried fish. Looking at their online menu right now, it appears they have limited their selections.

I've been making this same focaccia recipe since the late 1990s (!). Unfortunately, this batch didn't turn out as well as previous ones, possibly because it was over-kneaded. 

Thai Fresh has long been one of my favorite spots for Thai food in Austin, as I love their pad thai. I opted for something different this time, the drunken noodles, fried rice and shrimp fritters. 

Happy birthday to me! Sweet friends dropped off these cupcakes from Polkadots. 

Sometimes you just need some medium rare flank steak.

Detroit-style pizza from Via 313!

And I spent an afternoon making some facemasks. With my very helpful assistants. 

Friends, it is some strange times we are in. Stay safe.