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

Breakfast tacos

I've been craving breakfast tacos ever since our trip to Austin. D. and I made a trip out to Pancho Villa, a Mexican supermarket a few blocks from us. Check out Michael's Pancho Villa post. We picked up fresh chorizo, fresh corn tortillas, and a tub of roasted tomato and pepper salsa.

D. put the tacos together and they were awesome. He decided to cook everything separately and pile them into the tortillas for a final heating, which turned out great. I'm not a big fan of breakfast burritos, but breakfast tacos pack the same flavors without having to eat a giant burrito first thing in the morning.

Breakfast Tacos

(recipe makes 6 tacos)

3/4 pound chorizo

6 soft corn tortillas (approximately 6 inches in diameter)

1/2 cup onion, diced

4-5 eggs, beaten

Sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Salsa

Cook the chorizo in a skillet and keep the ground meat from forming big chunks. Transfer chorizo to a bowl and return the pan to the stove. Cook the onion in the chorizo drippings, approximately 3-5 minutes, until soft. Transfer the onion to a separate bowl and return the pan to the stove. Cook the eggs in the chorizo/onion drippings, scrambling them as the eggs cook. Transfer the eggs to a separate bowl, then wipe the pan dry with paper towels, if necessary. Place the pan back over medium-low heat and put a tortilla in it. Add about 3 tablespoons chorizo, 3 tablespoons egg, 1 tablespoon onion, and 1 tablespoon cheese (amounts can be adjusted to taste) to one half of the tortilla and fold the other half gently. Toast taco until tortilla is very lightly crisped on both sides and the cheese is melted. Serve with salsa.

Coming soon: wrapping up the Austin trip and holiday eating.

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