Recent Austin Eats

Manuel's
When I used to work downtown, we would frequent Manuel's for lunch or happy hour. Their interior Mexican food has always been consistently good. I hadn't been in a couple of years, and a friend held a birthday celebration there on a Saturday night in August. We had a reservation for about 12 people, and while the food was overall fairly good, the service was not. Clearly the waiter knew that with a party that size, he was guaranteed an 18% tip, and our consensus was, because of that he didn't try very hard at all. Drinks took 30 minutes to come, lemon that was asked for when the fish dish was ordered took an extra 10 - 15 minutes to appear after the dishes were served, and he was in general absent for long periods of time. Yes it was busy, and there were other large tables, but the place was not a zoo, nor did they appear to be short handed. Anyhow, no surprise that I ordered the mole chicken enchiladas. I've always liked their mole in the past, and while I do still find it good, it didn't wow me. Not a lot of depth to it. Still on the quest to find the best mole in town, and sorely disappointed I missed Scumptious Chef's Oaxacan pop-up dinner in September.

Hopdoddy
Hadn't been to Hopdoddy in a long time either, and met a friend for an early dinner. I had the Greek burger, which is made with lamb, and my friend and I split the parmesan truffle fries and a milkshake. Delicious. Have to give props to the staff, as when we arrived at about 5:45 pm, there was a  line to order food, but their credit card machines had just gone down. They had someone working the line with a big tray of fries, and letting people know there was an ATM around the corner. Fortunately for them, they got the machine back up and running pretty quickly.

Bonneville
I was invited by Citygram Magazine to participate in their Twitter chat at the Bonneville. We had a great evening of various cocktails, and a couple complimentary appetizers, the salt cod fritters, and this arugula and banana pepper pizza, which was surprisingly really good with the peppers.

After the event, a few of us stuck around and ordered dinner. I had the bacon and egg ravioli in brown butter. I could have used more bacon (duh), and probably even more brown butter flavor, but the pasta looked freshly made and was nice and light. Throughout the evening the staff was welcoming, and I really want to return for their Sunday brunch.

My Fit Foods
On a recent weekend, I was running errands on Bee Caves Road, and realized I was starving since I hadn't eaten lunch. Not totally knowing what I was getting myself into, I decided to try My Fit Foods, hoping to get a quick bite. I was given the whole explanation of their meal program by one of their staff; in short, when you sign up, you meet with their nutritionist to design a healthy eating program. They make pre-packaged meals in two sizes (basically for men or women, depending on what your calorie intake should be), and they really did have quite a variety. I picked the Chargrilled Crazy Chicken, with green beans and sweet potato puree. They have microwaves to heat the meals up, and you can eat on site (which I did), but everyone else I observed during my time there was buying a few meals to take home. I would have called this poached chicken, as I didn't see any indication that this chicken ever sat on a grill, and it was pretty bland. I could tell even before we popped it in the microwave that the green beans were overcooked, and sure enough, soggy, tasteless green beans. The sweet potatoes were tasty, though definitely sweet. This whole meal was 240 calories, 21 grams of protein, and 6 grams of fat. And completely lacking in flavor, which could be easily remedied by the use of spices, which wouldn't add calories! I've also kept their menu for inspiration for some good healthy home cooked meals.

The Flying Carpet
One of my all-time favorite trailers, The Flying Carpet, recently did an evening of pastilla, a traditional Moroccan dish of chicken with ground nuts, a touch of sugar,  and some egg, wrapped in phyllo dough.  They took a while to arrive, because they had to switch commisary kitchens as the oven in their regular kitchen broke, but it was worth the wait.  I had a salad and fries with their famous L'Afrique sauce in the interim -- make sure you try some when you go, and tell Abdu and Maria I sent you. :)

Austin Beer Garden Brewery
I was invited to the media preview of the new ABGB, located on Oltorf, just east of Lamar Blvd., next to the railroad tracks. Their brew masters come with a lot of industry experience (Live Oak and Uncle Billy's, amongst others), and they will always have 6 regular beers on tap, and another 5 or 6 taps of seasonal or special brews. Plus, they've got a kitchen producing good salads (you could take the anchovy in the Caesar salad dressing), and nice pizzas (good crisp crusts). I've driven past a couple times and the parking lot has been packed, and surely once the weather cools down, their outside areas will be extremely popular. If you build it, they will come -- and they are!

LA Barbeque
A friend bought it, and I only took a bite, but OMG! This is LA Barbeque's El Sancho, with pulled pork, sausage, and onions. Must go and get one of my own.

Olivia
I met a friend at Olivia for brunch, and realized I hadn't been there in over two years, which is a crying shame, especially since they're in my neighborhood. I had the MacDaddy, the upscale take on an egg breakfast sandwich, this with crispy pork belly, scrambled eggs, and mustard glaze. The glaze was a bit sweet, but otherwise, a very tasty dish. My friend had the bison burger, which was huge!

Ikea
What does one eat when one visits Ikea? The Swedish meatballs of course! This was my first time trying their famous meatballs, and I have to say, I am sort of on the fence about them. Something was a bit strange about their texture, but I can't put my finger on it.... not dense, not gummy....over-processed? I liked the lingonberry sauce a lot, and the little flag is a great touch. And I would guess a Texas Ikea store is one of a very few worldwide that offers hot sauce as a condiment.

Local Yokel
Over at the Moontower Saloon, there are three trailers in residence, but on a recent Tuesday, the Local Yokel was the only one open. There were three items on the menu: bratwurst, quesadilla, and cheesesteak. I had the beef fajita quesadilla with caramelized onions and their housemade jalapeno sauce. I think they're pressing them, rather than grilling, because this was one of the best, crispest quesadillas I've ever had! Great flavor, and again, super-crispy, and perfect with beer. Thankful the weather is starting to cool down -- time to visit more trailers!

So this will give you something to chew on for awhile! What have you eaten lately?

The Weekend

It really was such a lovely weekend, I feel compelled to share, even though I've written about all these eateries before!

Saturday started off with lunch at Hopdoddy. I had the Greek burger, a lovely lamb patty, cooked medium rare, with a nice topping of feta. Their french fries aren't too shabby either. And what really pushed the whole meal over the edge is their caramel + sea salt milk shake. O.M.G.

That evening, was Lobster Fest at Asti, in celebration of their 11th anniversary. Two dear friends are the mother and aunt of Executive Chef Jason Donoho, and along with some other food-loving friends, we ate very well.

It started with stuffed mushroom caps, with a light goat cheese and just a touch of truffle oil.

A roasted ruby and golden beet salad with fresh chevre and pickled onions.

Caprese salad. While it may seem cliche, it really is the perfect summer bounty. And that moz was amazing.

Pizza bianca, with prosciutto and another perfect little amount of truffle oil. I do not like heavy amounts of truffle; both of these applications were sheer perfection.

And NOW, we finally get to the lobster. They prepared it two ways: in a corn risotto (the plate in back) and a fra diavolo (spaghetti with tomato sauce and toasted breadcrumbs). Both were great, but I particularly loved the risotto. 

Dessert --  tiramisu, with an almond brittle sprinkled on top, and a watermelon granita -- so light and refreshing!

Our waitress, Claudia, was fantastic, and she also recommended the La Bambina rose wine we had with dinner, after our prosecco starters. Cin, cin to the food, wine, and company!

I was expecting Sunday to be a quiet day,  and probably just do stuff around the house. Well, friends called a little after 11am, wondering if I wanted a ticket to the Davis Cup tennis match at the Erwin Center that started at 2 pm. Um, YEAH!!! Davis Cup is the tournament of countries, as opposed to individual players, like Wimbledon. This round has been the US versus Spain, and the first team to win three matches advances to the next round. Spain was up 2-1 after Friday and Saturday; this match was David Ferrer (ranked 6th in the world, so not too shabby) and Mardy Fish (ranked 8th).

It was a LONG 4 set match, with Ferrer winning after almost 4 1/2 hours, 7-5, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-5 (5).  I hadn't been to the Erwin Center in years, and was almost immediately reminded how uncomfortable the seats are because of their narrowness! But it was a fun, raucous crowd, and a great event for Austin to play host to. Former US great Jim Courier was the team coach, and had Fish won, Andy Roddick would have been able to play on his home court, but it was not meant to be.

Both guys played great, but Ferrer was able to capitalize more when it counted.

After the match, we went to Hoover's for dinner. While I somehow missed on their menu that the meatloaf was covered in tomato sauce, it was still very tasty. The gravy on the mashed potatoes was certainly made with bacon fat!

And thus concluded the weekend excitement, and now, yes, Mom, on to some meals with vegetables! :)

Hopdoddy

I was warned. Or shall we say advised.

A friend who went to Hopdoddy last week (and thus spurred on my going last night) told me about their method of ordering. Basically, you order at the counter. However, as you are waiting in line to order, a friendly hostess/server comes along, asks how many are in your party, and finds a table for you. You're told what your table number is, and in turn, you tell that to your order taker. You order, get your drinks and condiments, and find your table. Then the server finds you and your table with your food. As three of us were approaching the order taker, we were told there were no tables at the moment, but we were next up. Within a couple minutes, we reached the order taker, and the waitress had secured us a table.

I guess it's not all that different, but it's nice to know they won't let your food get cold as you're waiting for a table to clear. 

Very clean lines, and a very effective use of space (the old Cissi's Market on the SoCo strip). High booths line the right-hand perimeter, and high tables in the middle and on the left. A couple "regular" height tables are to the right of the main door. The booths would be difficult for kids or a mobility-impaired or elderly person to navigate. We were in one of the booths, and at one point, my shoe came off my foot, and it was a bit of struggle to fish for it on the floor with my short legs. Great pictures of local music legends line the walls.

Anyway, the food. They have a number of burger options from basic burger, to ahi tuna to lamb to veggie, etc; there seems to be something for everyone! And, they bake their own bread, cut their own potatoes, and even make their own ice cream. 

Two of us split the classic burger with an add on of bacon and cheese; our third member got the Terlingua burger, complete with chili con carne, Fritos, and cheddar. Our order taker immediately asked if we wanted them to pre-cut our burger in half. We got an order of chili cheese fries and a Mexican vanilla milkshake. Once we picked our condiments and found our table, our milkshake was already there, split into two cups, and we hadn't even asked for it to be split; very thoughtful! It was heavenly! OMG! Real vanilla beans were used -- you can see the specks from the seeds, and it was a very thick, incredibly creamy, tasty shake. A good sign of things to come!

The burgers arrive on small metal trays (quarter sheet trays). A nice soft challah-style toasted bun, filled with meat and the fixin's. They don't ask you how you want your burger cooked, so this was cooked more than I like it (medium rare), but still good. The fries were extra crisp, and well-seasoned, though perhaps a bit heavy on the salt, and I am the one who puts salt on everything. We still ate practically every last one though! Overall, I'd say the shake and fries were phenomenal, and the burger was good, but didn't blow me away. Will try the lamb burger next time.

Hopdoddy was hopping on a Tuesday night at 7:45. It is a bit loud in there, and the booth tables are wide, so I sort of had to lean in to hear all of what my friend's were saying. Oh, and the name Hopdoddy. Another beer + animal named establishment (see Barley Swine post). Hop(s), obviously for beer, and doddy is the nickname of the Aberdeen cow in Scotland. Hop to it, for beer and burgers!