slowcoooked's Profile
Bheja Masala - Brains
I'm not sure on the species. Is a bit pricey. Can't imagine there's a huge demand for a good curried brain so I'm wondering about freshness.
salty sow
Soggy duck fat fried potatoes - no excuse for that. But is there a chance that their sow dishes are designed and executed better than fowl? I sure hope they find their sea legs.
Pork BBQ in Austin
Okay folks I tried Curly's on 29th near campus on Friday and must say I'm pretty impressed. I lived in eastern NC as a kid and know good eastern style NC pork (e.g. the style of Parker's on 301 in Wilson is my all-time favorite pork anyhow anywhere). Curly's is more than serviceable, it's really good. His sauce of vinegar and red pepper flakes is authentic and his pork is slightly smokey, tender, and moist. I think it's 11 bucks a pound and that'll make three or four nice sized sammies with cole slaw on board too. This isn't as good as Parker's, but it's the best / only NC style pork this town has to offer. It's also just as good reheated up in a pan with a smidgen of water / vinegar sauce the next day or two.
Bheja Masala - Brains
Okay who's had the masala brains at Spicy Monsoon? Anyone happy with this place?
Tarka
i love Bartlett's / Houston's for it's consistently solid food. The brussels are often dressed with a citrus anchovy sauce that for my tastes beat out La Condessa's wonderful sprouts. A great low carb meal is the fish o' the day and those sprouts. really great. I agree ieat, it's a nice scene on Anderson in our hood.
Reporting back from food trip in Austin
Thanks for the great report Oliviafoodie! I think many of us would agree with you that Uchiko is a favorite anytime anywhere. Next time consider crawling through our best taquerias and food trucks for an equally sublime experience for a tenth the cost.
Line at Franklin BBQ
I'd gladly announce on this board my Franklin trips and spot two folks first come first serve that couldn't wait - and would not take money for it. If people in line got uptight about helping two folks I'd have to politely tell them to pi$$ off. On her days off my wife spots me often.
Line at Franklin BBQ
nytexan and elpaninaro let us know what you think on a willing day of waiting early in line for some fatty crusty end brisket and pork ribs at Franklins. You'll be just as old after waiting in that line as you would be no matter what else you did that day, so who cares? take a book, a friend, a smartphone. not great excuses. check that out. report back. Hit John Mueller's and Stiles Switch's Beef Ribs, for shorter lines, report back.
RIP V
That just sucks it's a mile from me and I was just there buying foil trays last week. I had no idea.
Best Thing YOU Ever Ate, Austin
Crap, I meant the pastor and goat tacos. The carnitas are good but not crispy edged like a lot of places. More of the soft fatty and slimey variety. The pastor and goat though will slay you. Check out the big wall menu of smoothies, one of which is called "diabetes", hilarious !!!!
Best Thing YOU Ever Ate, Austin
I concur with most of the aforementioned bites, but must add the carnitas tacos and goat barbacoa tacos (barbacoa de chivo) on house made corn tortillas at La Fruta Feliz. On par with the best bites of anything in town. Do add the avocado jalapeno sauce. I also really love the carne guisada at Mi Madres. I'm usually bored by that dish, but theirs with cheddar is outstanding.
Lucky South Austinites: Asiana
Anyone else been lucky enough to have the Chicken Chettinad? Rich, brown curry laden with fennel seeds, poppy seeds, curry leaves, cumin, heat, coconut, tomato - the list is long and the result deeply flavorful. This might be, no is, the best chicken curry I've ever tasted. As ArkieInAustin mentioned, these guys are Tamil and this is a dish from Tamilnadu in the south. I had not had it anywhere else in all my travels. What a treat !!
Searching for Kobe beef to cook
Ironically, the fake Kobe beef industry was recently exposed by Larry Olmsted at Forbes and highlighted on NPR. Essentially the US Government doesn't recognize or protect beef trademarks like Kobe and Wagyu. The author claims that since no Kobe beef slaughter house in Japan is approved by the USDA for export to the US, that kobe beef is "not imported into the US at all".
The story: http://www.npr.org/2012/04/22/151153503/fake-food-thats-not-kobe-beef-youre-eating
Trader Joe's Coming - Seaholm
I get the TJ cynicism but admittedly miss a few items from my east coast days as a solid blend of value, convenience and taste. Some of the standouts for me are the tomato / red pepper soup (frozen), breaded eggplant cutlets, nicely skinny haricots vert, greek yogurt, ahi tuna steaks, feta / onion tarts, creme fraiche + ham tarts, DHEA eggs, rosemary marcona almonds. Just sayin' ..... also their pine nuts may be the cheapest going.... toasted or straight. We that have ever frequented probably need to list our favorites for newbies. Friends of mine rave over their frozen lamb racks, but I've not tried them.
Shirataki noodles?
Thanks NirvRush, I will check her recipes out. I don't think one can get these at a restaurant unfortunately. I saw a YouTube vid of a guy that figured out that a brief pulse in the microwave defunked them too, but I haven't tried that yet.
"Simple" Tacos
Hands down my vote for the best tacos in town has been inspired from Scrumtiouschef's championing of La Fruta Feliz on Manor just a block east of the intersection with Airport Rd. On his blog he calls this the best taqueria going in Austin right now. I agree wholeheartedly. The pastor and goat barbacoa (barbacoa de chive) are sublime. You hear the pitter patter of the ladies preparing your fresh homemade corn tortilla for the griddle. The pork chunks are well marinated and come out crispy on the outside but tender, and deep with achiote and slightly sweet. This is pastor at its best. The goat tacos are the best goat I've had anywhere, anyhow. 1.75 for nicely stuffed tacos.
I also second the vote for Taco More that's two blocks from my house - it's very good with a great salsa bar and high volume traffic. But I must lament - they don't make their own tortillas. I just don't understand why more places can't whip up tortillas themselves.
Shirataki noodles?
Anyone in town serve shirataki noodles? They're made from yam flour and have no carbs and are packed with soluble fiber. I found them at natural grocers (the shirataki tofu varieties). I'm trying to get ideas on successful recipes, they can be a touch funky if prepped wrong, apparently. I'm guessing this one will be a sleeper.
"Tiger" or "Rock" Shrimp in Austin???
It's simple really. The flavor profile of any sea creature is affected greatly by the local environment in which it lives and eats. Probably more than shrimp and crabs oysters drive this point home. The cucumbery Hama Hama's taste a whole lot different than gulf oysters. I love all of them. South Carolina shrimp taste different than gulf shrimp, I've found none I've loved more than theirs (maybe Maine pinks).
"Tiger" or "Rock" Shrimp in Austin???
I hear you ieat but having lived on the eastern shore of maryland there is a difference but you are right most dont know it
"Tiger" or "Rock" Shrimp in Austin???
South carolina creek shrimp are lovely and unmatched in the gulf. I feel the same about chesapeake crabs
Greek restaurant that bakes their own pita bread?
That question is easily broadened to ask is there any decent greek restaurants period? Unfortunately not really in this otherwise mostly fantastic food community. Although I have heard Sara's gets middle eastern fare done fairly well, my single experience was gristly.
Ladies' Luncheon/Tea
Suepatt i missed your brunch question but the Sunday brunch at both green pastures and four seasons are superb but not cheap. 40 - 50 per person but so very worth it for special occasions
Ladies' Luncheon/Tea
If you want Austin elegance at its best, for me it's either green pastures or four seasons. The new grand hotels (The W for example) may be options, I just haven't checked those out. But the W doesn't have a garden that I know of and the Season's garden is lakeside and pristine. If you had tea out there it would be quite memorable I'm sure.
Smoked beef rib the Switch or J. Mueller or else?
Yeah and your pics of the smoked ribs you made were beautiful !!! I hope they tasted as good as they looked.
Bundu Khan
My wife and I were debating hitting Asiana for the 4th time last sunday after eating there saturday (yep, deserving of consecutive hits) or trying Bundu Khan for the first time. We did Bundu. I really want to love the place if nothing more than for the friendliness of the folks there. They encouraged us to free tastes of the dishes on the buffet and even have those tiny paper salsa cups for doing so (though big buffet spoons require surgical precision to drop a dollop of dahl curry in the cup). We did the menu though. I got the lamb plate and she the falafel plate. The plates come with a greek salad with a serve yourself dressing bar with good if not a touch too sweet greek type dressing. The meat I was expecting was actual lamb but ended up with Kronos type lamb loaf. Good enough, but no different than Milto's. Forgettable fries come on the plates too. And the white sauce was red with what I assume was paprika and plenty garlicky. But no herbs or cucumber in it. The buffet items were uniformly tasty but many had the floating oil pools that warn of later wreckage. So it's promising I'd say. But dammit if they don't miss HARD on the common sense stuff. VENT !!!!! The place was filling up with fryer oil and griddle smoke as we ate and we overheard other tables complaining too. The bathroom was gross, and I nearly passed out from smoke inhalation. The dinnerware has to be the cheapest plastic you can find (tiny too) and to imagine eating a gyro with those tiny thin napkins? you'd need a hundred. I will go back at least once to see if they've ironed some stuff out.
Smoked beef rib the Switch or J. Mueller or else?
I love john's brisket and beef sausage and haven't tried yet his beef rib but love stiles switch's version. Any votes for the best beef rib in town?
