Store-Bought Super Bowl for Two

Between a long and difficult week, an ear infection that leaves me feeling like I'm perpetually riding the spinning teacups at Disneyland, and a last-ditch attempt to plan a party the day before the game meant that a Super Bowl party didn't coalesce at our place. So, D. and I bought snacks for two and settled in to cheer on the Steelers while I hoped the room might steady itself.

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Austin: Home Stretch

We did a lot of good eating in Austin and this wraps up the rest of it. On the way to downtown from the Austin airport, we spotted Casa Colombia. We headed there for dinner and I ordered the Bandeja Paisa.

Highlights of the dish were the rice, the plantains, and the fried yuca (which was a substitution for beans... delicious). The egg tasted bizarrely like dish detergent. The arepa, a cornmeal patty, was so hard that it was inedible, as was the chicharron (top of plate). The steak paillard was tasty, but tough due to overcooking. We also had to wait an hour for our food and the mediocrity of my entree was somewhat infuriating. On top of that, our server was unbelievably pushy with the upselling. While very nice, she just would. not. back. off. Gah... talk about ruining the mojo of a meal.

There were some saving graces in the food: D.'s bistec criollo was delicious, as the criollo (spicy garlic sauce) was really flavorful on top of a similarly dried-out steak paillard. The plato vegetariano was also very tasty with the criollo. Arepas were much better with filling (cheese, potato, etc.). Winner of the night was the aborrajado, plantains stuffed with mozzarella.

Wandering downtown on a Sunday morning looking for breakfast, we happened upon Cafe Crepe.

I was a fan of the flavors... great eggy flavor from the crepe itself, the smoked salmon, and the garlic/dill/cheese of the Boursin. We saw the crepes being made en masse and being stacked in preparation for filling, which was disheartening and led to a too-chewy crepe. Also, $8 for this? Yikes. Service was excellent and the outdoor tables were perfect for great company on a sunny morning in Austin.

After breakfast, I needed to visit a drugstore, but the closest one was closed, so the Garmin pointed us to Nau's Enfield Drug. It's an old school drugstore with a soda fountain. Yay! Naturally, we had to stop for shakes, malts, and sundaes.

The shake was ridiculously cheap at roughly $2. It was also very good, made with Texas' Blue Bell ice cream.

The pulled pork tacos at Chupacabra would have been the perfect meal to have with the extensive beer selection, with the cool jicama slaw and the tasty pulled pork. However, stale tortillas and a gut-searingly hot habanero sour cream upset the balance of flavors. I don't mind spicy, but this was just hot and needed to be used sparingly or served on the side.

Airport food tends to be very meh, but Austin's airport had lots of choices and many turned out to be decent. Quite pricey, of course, but quite tasty. J.L. and D. liked the Waterloo Ice House, while C.B., M.T. and I enjoyed sandwiches from The Salt Lick. It was great how the airport's food courts had mainly local establishments. Even the coffee was Austin Java vs. the ubiquitous Starbucks.

My pulled-pork sandwich was quite lovely. The pork itself wasn't anything to write home about, but the sauce was really tasty and the bread was a super-fresh egg bread. I picked a vinegar slaw as my side, which was very fresh and nicely balanced. Tart enough to be a good slaw without being completely overwhelming. Afterwards, I had to have the Oreo Speedwagon (coffee ice cream mashed with Oreos and chocolate chunks, topped with hot fudge) from Amy's Ice Cream.

Our Austin trip was delightful and I hope we return soon. Goals for the next trip: sampling Austin's myriad of food carts and exploring SoCo (South Congress).

Casa Colombia 

1614 East 7th Street

Austin, TX 78702

Cafe Crepe

200 San Jacinto Boulevard

Austin, TX 78701

Nau's Enfield Drug

1115 West Lynn Street

Austin, TX 78703

Chupacabra Restaurant & Cantina

400 E 6th Street

Austin, TX 78701

Lockhart, Texas: BBQ and Hats

I'm really excited about Caprica. After Battlestar ended, there was a void left in my life.

What? You don't want to read about my neverending love for Battlestar? You'd rather read about lots of grilled meat? And hats?

Alrighty... back to Texas we go.

I'm a Southern California girl, so I have no idea what makes proper BBQ. Dry rub, wet rub, smoke rings, blah blah blah. It's quite foreign to me. The only type of BBQ I've experienced is Santa Maria style BBQ, but that's hard to find south of California's central coast. There are BBQ joints around here, but I'm told that building codes prohibit proper smoking and grilling, ergo they are not authentic BBQ joints.

Needless to say, I wanted to try some Texan BBQ. The denizens of Chowhound's Austin thread were divided over which joint was best, but they were unanimous in one thing: the best BBQ in Austin was not in Austin.

We decided to travel to Lockhart, which was about a half-hour drive from Austin. Smitty's Market was like a cathedral of meat.

Walking into the market, there was a cavernous brick hall lined with benches. Little did we know that those benches will fill with people, clutching butcher-paper bundles filled with deliciousness.

 

We found the back of the line and I looked down to find a literal fire at my feet. This was going to be good. Inside those brick tanks is meat. Lots of it.

The menu was a little hard to figure out, at first. The rings were sausages, and hot meant cooked. Cold meant uncooked, I think. A box was 25 sausages. Fat was brisket, Lean was shoulder, and the rib, chop, and prime rib were pretty self-explanatory. D. and I bought a hot ring and a pound of Fat (brisket).

When they were piling our order on the butcher paper, the cashier asked, "Bread and crackers?" Sure, why not? Saltines and plain white sandwich bread were unexpected, but they went really well with the meat. After the meat is purchased, we moved from the bricked smoking area to a cafeteria, where we could order drinks, sides, and dessert.

Our friend J.L. wanted to visit Texas Hatters and it was a really fun stop. The owners and staff were really accommodating to our roaming around their store and explained a lot about how their hats were made and the materials used.

The hats, ranging from classic cowboy hats to awesome bowlers and fedoras, were gorgeous.

I would have loved to buy one, but I apparently don't look very good in a cowboy hat. Oh, well.

Smitty's Market

208 South Commerce Street
Lockhart, TX 78644

Texas Hatters

911 South Commerce Street

Lockhart, TX 78644

Jeong Won Korean BBQ

***Within an hour of this posting, we made another visit to Jeong Won and the quality has gone considerably downhill from our previous visits. Before today, our most recent visit was three weeks ago. Since the change is quite sudden, I feel it is worth noting. The panchan and the quality of the meat are not the same. I strongly suspect some of the meat was kept past its prime. Portions have gone from small to downright skimpy.***

When I started working with my personal trainer, she asked me what I usually ate for lunch. I had to sheepishly admit that I occasionally indulge in outings to all-you-can-eat restaurants with my carnivorous, all-male company.

Trainer: "Well, first off, stop eating with the men."

In terms of metabolism, this makes perfect sense. I'm a woman, smaller in stature, and formerly more sedentary. There's absolutely no need to consume as many calories as an average-sized male and it would only mean more excess weight for me. On the other hand, I really didn't want to be the one who begged off an eating contest in favor of a salad. Hey, dignity's (or is that machismo?) important.

Anyway, Jeong Won Korean BBQ is new to the Convoy St. area of San Diego. Since its opening, it's become a company favorite. For about $18 (including tax and tip) per person, one could eat as much meat as possible from a menu of 10 dishes. Six of the dishes are marinated or unmarinated pork, beef, or chicken. Cow's stomach, squid, shrimp, and pork belly made up the rest.

Speaking of pork belly, some of you out in the great interweb might have noticed that Garrett and I know each other offline. That's because he's part of the crew that my trainer doesn't want me to dine with. Pork belly's his favorite.

Pork belly, better known as very thick slices of bacon. Anyone want to guess Garrett's cholesterol count?

The panchan is extensive and replenished often. It's one of the better panchan sets I've seen in San Diego. Service is excellent and they keep our motley crew watered and fed.

Meat on the grill. Mmmm... picture's a bit blurry because of steam and smoke. The portions are not large, allowing plenty of mixing and matching. For six of us, we can easily go through the menu once with two or three extra dishes.

There's no way I'd turn this down in favor of something healthier. Apologies to my trainer.

Jeong Won Korean BBQ
4690 Convoy St. #104
San Diego, CA 92111

Buga Korean BBQ

Last Thursday, we were in the mood for Korean. We debated a return to Noodle Town, but word on the interweb had Buga winning in the panchan wars. Noodle Town's panchan was pretty weak, so we decided to give Buga a try.

Our server had some pretty strong opinions about an item we wanted to order: spicy pork bulgogi. So strong, in fact, that she kept insisting that we can't handle the spiciness. After a few minutes of back-and-forth (she was adamant that we couldn't eat it, we kept protesting that we were fine with it), she put it on our tab. Then, she tells us we can't grill it at our table because of the smoke generated by the chili sauce. Fine. In order to grill the regular bulgogi (beef) at the table, we had to order a second "grill-able" dish. She recommended marinaded ribeye. It's basically more bulgogi, just a different cut of beef.

Our panchan arrived:

To the far left is chopped lettuce with a drizzle of sesame oil and a sprinkling of chili powder. Around the grill, counter-clockwise, the smallest plates were: seaweed, bean sprouts, spicy fish jerky, potato/apple salad (behind teacup), kimchee, spinach, slices of cucumber, and what looked like cubes of spicy daikon.

Each of us received plates of dduk, or rice noodle wrappers (right next to chopsticks), and thin slivers of daikon (not in photo). Our two beef dishes arrived first. The entire plate classic bulgogi was immediately placed on the grill. I wasn't a fan, because I usually like to divide the grill in half and have a different meat on each half.

Thin slices of beef that were slightly fatty. Good quality beef and it grilled up nicely. There wasn't much room for the other dish and this one cooked very quickly.

Our marinated ribeye was cut into ridiculously small chunks. Uncooked, the largest were about 2 inches by 1 inch and the smaller ones a little bigger than 1 x 1 inch.

Maybe it was for wrapping purposes, but once grilled, many of the pieces were the size of a Starburst. They were also a little tough because they cooked so quickly.

Our spicy pork bulgogi arrived. Despite the server's many protests, it wasn't spicy. At all.

We're not sure what happened, but we suspect the server took it upon herself to request a watered-down version from the kitchen. That kind of BS makes me mad. Serve it to us as it's supposed to be. If we couldn't handle it, that's our problem. She'd warned us and that should be enough.

We felt like a non-meat dish, so we went with a very simple noodle. Out of the 6 noodle dishes on their menu, this was the only one that was hot. D. wasn't in the mood for cold buckwheat noodles. It was called "banquet noodle" and was a soft rice noodle served in a basic broth with some vegetables and sliced egg. Not bad. As a stand-alone dish, this would have been a satisfying and simple lunch.

Not the worst visit, but not the best.

Noodle Town

Chief very generously treated us to dinner on Friday night. I haven't really had a lot of Korean BBQ in San Diego, largely because it can be quite expensive and it's hard to risk that kind of money on a bad meal. Noodle Town was definitely had plenty of bang for all the bucks. Fantastic staff. Friendly and extremely attentive, it definitely added to the convivial mood at the table.

The restaurant itself doesn't have grills, but 4 months ago, they added a BBQ patio. It seems you have to ask to be seated at the patio. In fact, it's not readily obvious that there is one, as the patio's fence is covered with bamboo fencing, blocking the view from the parking lot. It's accessed by a side door behind the cash register that splits off into the patio and the kitchen.

Each round table, about 4 feet in diameter and less than 3 feet high, is ringed with backless stools. Quite crowded and vaguely uncomfortable after a while, because you eat dinner hunched over the table. Definitely not a place for weak backs or low-rise jeans.

The panchan consisted of kimchee, seaweed, pickled daikon/carrots, and marinated onions.

The dipping sauces were oil, reddish thick chili sauce, and soy sauce with slices of chilis.

Chief also ordered tofu steamed in a cast-iron bowl (excellent) and octopus braised in a spicy broth (a bit too chewy, but very good). The octopus was devoured before I could photograph it, but here's a spoonful of the tofu.

The meat is incredibly good. We started with thick slices of black pork belly (left side of plate), which had tender layers of meat in between the rich layers of fat. Once grilled, the fat was smooth and delicious. On the same plate as the belly were strips off fatty beef. I'm not sure about the cut, but they were long and thin slices with a thick strip of fat in the middle (right side).

Next came slices of beef tongue (top of pile). Thinly, but not too thinly, sliced, they had a bit of resistance to the bite and were extremely flavorful. Thick slices of skirt steak and ribeye came next (front, on the bottom). Lean cuts, but they didn't toughen up when grilled. We went for seconds of the pork belly and tongue.

I should note that none of the cuts were marinated. At most, there was a tiny drizzle of oil to keep the meat from sticking to the grill. Every dish came with a thick slice of onion, which they used to season the grill before plopping the meat on it.

Rice is ordered separately, which were large bowls. Good thing, because I like lots of rice. All of the meat dishes were piled on a small side table. Chief ordered a small bottle of Korean vodka. It tastes antiseptic (I admit to being a bit of a lightweight) and is an excellent start to an evening of copious meat and chili consumption for those who can handle it.

Be Back BBQ

Note: Be Back BBQ has closed.


(from November 30)

We went to this tiny rib joint on Adams Avenue for dinner on a rainy Friday night. Quite honestly, I liked everything except my ribs. Great service, great flexibility in the menu (you can order lunch dishes for dinner), and good prices.



I ordered the lunch portion of the pork ribs, which include three ribs and one side. I found four ribs, which was a nice surprise.



The cole slaw was quite good. My take on cole slaw is that it should be "classic". I generally dislike attempts to dress up cole slaw or use atypical ingredients/spices. Be Back does their cole slaw the old-fashioned way, keeping the cabbage crisp and the sauce tangy.

What I didn't like about my ribs was that they were extremely tough. The meat fell off the bones, as it should, but it was cooked to a jerky-like consistency. I had a painful issue with my gums after a particularly hard piece wedged itself between my teeth. No joke. However, the sauce was good, so had the ribs not been so dried out, it would have been a great dish.

D. ordered the rib dinner with mac 'n' cheese and potato salad. Both sides were pretty good. His ribs weren't dried out at all and he mentioned that they were nice and tender. I must have had a bad batch or something.



The owner very kindly comped us free slices of sweet potato pie. This was my favorite part of the meal. The custard was chilled and not too sweet. I liked it a lot. It was very similar to pumpkin pie, but the custard was thicker and it wasn't as cloyingly spicy as pumpkin pie fillings tend to be.



Definitely worth a return visit. I think I will order the chicken next time, as D.D. had it and it, too, fell off the bone. Just the way I like it.