I hate a Flash-front in website that forces me to wait ten seconds while it draws mock-calligraphy before taking me to the main page, then has a menu page that won’t load because I don’t have the right crappy plugin. A menu shouldn’t require any plugins.
You fail at web design.
By way of the Statesman’s “Food Matters” column, I’ve learned of a new website that sounds kind of interesting: Let’s Eat ATX!
It seems like a simple, but good, idea. From the Statesman‘s description:
I’d be willing to give this a try, but there’s one huge problem that makes the site totally useless for me: it requires you to sign in using Facebook. Since I refuse (for personal reasons) to set up a Facebook account, I can’t try it and give you a report. I would welcome comments from people who have tried it. And if anyone with Let’s Eat ATX is reading this: is the Facebook login requirement just a temporary thing? Have you considered other possibilities, like Google+? Or even just a normal login, not tied to any “social media” service?
Update: Site appears to be 404 as of June 2015. – LP]
Café Blue.
12921 Hill Country Blvd Suite D2-120, Bee Cave 78738 (Hill Country Galleria).
(512)366-5230
30.309895°N, 97.94278°W
WiFi: No.
Pepper grinder rating: 1.
Men’s room: 3.
Café Blue does exactly what I want a fish house to do: serve very good seafood at a price that doesn’t blow a hole in my wallet. I’ve noted elsewhere that they do a good Oysters Rockafeller (their spelling, not mine). I’m also partial to the blue crab and crawfish fondue (which probably needs to be split among at least four people), and the Thai style mussels. If I didn’t think it would have embarrassed my fellow diners, I would have plunged my face into the mussel bowl and drank the broth. Ah, well, that’s what bread is made for.
I haven’t tried any of the salads here. I prefer, instead, to get a bowl of their clam chowder, which is among the best clam chowders I have had in Austin.
As for main courses, I like the crab stuffed flounder, which is exactly what it says it is. A baked flounder, stuffed with crab, served with a simple butter sauce. I’ve also had, and enjoyed, the redfish Louisiane, and I’ve heard good things about the “Kick Ass Sea Bass” and (of all things) the “Fork and Knife Steak Sandwich”. The “Lime Creek Pie” is also excellent for dessert.
They also do a Sunday brunch, and really, you have to like folks who put “Eggs Benedict Arnold” on the menu. (I’ve had them. No, they do not turn on your stomach and try to sell it to the British).
The service is friendly and responsive, and oddly enough, they’ve always seemed to have room without being empty every time I’ve been there.
This is one of the better places in the Galleria I’ve tried so far.
A friend of the SDC (who shall remain nameless unless they want to out themselves in comments) sent along a link to Matthew Odam’s “Top 50 Restaurants” in the Statesman.
He also observed that every one of the places on my “Die in a Fire” list is on Odam’s list. To which I say, “Good for Odam”. Perhaps Vespaio treats Odam better than they treated me. (Though I doubt it, considering that they had a run-in with a previous Statesman critic.) Perhaps Odam doesn’t consider charging for iced tea refills in Texas a crime (in which case I’d question his credentials as a critic). Perhaps he likes waiting an hour to get a damn burger. Good for Odam.
For the record, I’ve eaten at 11 out of Odam’s 50. Not all of those were dining conspiracies, and a couple of places on Odam’s list I haven’t been to in several years. We’ve had discussions about eating at several other places on Odam’s list; we’ll probably do Congress and the Driskill Grill when we’re both feeling more flush than we are currently, for example.
The Pizza Bistro.
12001 Burnet Road @ Mopac
832-5550
30.40762°N, 97.713615°W
WiFi: Yes.
Pepper grinder rating: 1.
Men’s room: 2.5.
I won’t recap the history of how the Mangia on Gracy Farms and the one on Lake Austin turned into “The Pizza Bistro” (which I still think is a silly name): if you’re interested, that history is here. We debated whether we should do The Pizza Bistro this soon, but we figured they’ve been running a restaurant for a while now, even it was under a different name; surely, in this case, a month is sufficient.
How was it? Well, I liked it. It did seem that “The Pizza Bistro” was trying to be maybe a little more upscale than Mangia; the interior furnishings looked just a bit classier, and it seems they tried to class up the menu as well, with things like truffle fries. I was glad to see an expanded menu; not just sandwiches, but more appetizers, and you can even get a bowl of French Onion soup with your pizza.
And the pizza? It looks very much like Mangia’s, and tastes close to the same. I do think the crust and sauce are slightly sweeter, and the sauce is smoother than I remember Mangia’s being. I like it that way, but tastes may differ.
Will they make a run of it? Beats me, but if they don’t, I doubt it will be because of the quality of food; everything I had was quite good, and I’d be happy to go back. I’m curious about the brisket pizza…
Amaya’s Taco Village
5804 N IH-35
458-2531
30.319113°N, 97.70783°W
WiFi: Advertised, but not working.
Pepper grinder rating: 0.
Men’s room: 2.
I hate to say this, because I remember Amaya’s being good when it was in Capital Plaza. Sadly, I felt this was just generic and honestly not terribly good TexMex.
From Rob Balon’s website:
Thanks a whole hell of a lot, Rob, for not naming any place that actually serves any of these dishes.
(Cafe Blue does a good Oysters Rockefeller. I haven’t been to Gumbo’s in Round Rock since they moved, but I remember theirs being good as well. Actually, I’d dispute Balon’s assertion that Oysters Rock ever went out of style. As for his other dishes, I’d love to know who locally is serving those. Except for Weinerschnitzel, as I have a fair idea where to go for that.)
VooDoo BBQ & Grill
2601 S IH 35 Ste B100 (Round Rock, 78664)
238-7000
30.48367°N, 97.67246°W
WiFi: maybe. (They don’t have an open WiFi network, but you might be able to hit Home Depot’s WiFi across the parking lot, depending.)
Pepper grinder rating: 0.
Men’s room: 2.5.
Tyler Cowen argues that if you want good barbecue, you should look for it in towns of less than 50,000 people. I like Cowen’s work a lot: at some point, I still plan to write a longer review of An Economist Gets Lunch
But sometime you find an exception. Or, if not a total exception, at least someplace worth noting.
VooDoo BBQ isn’t going to replace Stiles Switch or any of the places in Lockhart or even the Salt Lick at the Dell Diamond in my affections. But they do very reasonable “New Orleans” style barbecue.
From what I can tell, “New Orleans” style means more chicken and pork, and less beef. I thought their brisket was actually pretty good, thin-sliced, moist, and tender. The sausage was just kind of generic, like too many other barbecue places, but they do very good pulled pork and jerked chicken. They have a pretty good selection of sauces, including a vinegar-based one that reminds me of North Carolina. And they have a good selection of sides, including mac and cheese and a really good sweet potato soufflé.
What this reminds me of, more than anything else, is the late lamented Captain Tom’s BBQ on North Lamar. It isn’t true Texas barbecue, but it is darn good. I’m glad it exists, and I’m glad it is close enough to my office that it makes a convenient stop on the way home.
Madam Mam’s.
2700 West Anderson Lane
371-9930
30.359732°N, 97.734795°W
WiFi: yes.
Pepper grinder rating: 0.
Men’s room: 2.5.
It is a well known fact that, for a long time, I ate at Thai Kitchen every Thursday night that it was physically possible for me to do so. In the past few years, though, the food at Thai Kitchen seems to have gone downhill, at least to me. I switched to this Madam Mam’s for a while, but lately I’ve gotten out of the Thai Thursday habit. I still go here, but sometimes weeks or a month pass between visits.
That said, Mam’s has what I believe to be the best Thai food in town (with the disclaimer that I have not made it to Sap’s yet). I’m partial to the thai spaghetti with squid, the NS14 noodle soup (if you have a cold, that will clear you right out), the pad thai, and the panang beef curry. The service is good (though not quite as overwhelming as Thai Kitchen used to be), and there’s plenty of parking (unlike the campus location). I do think they’re a little more expensive than I remember Thai Kitchen being, and there are some things I could do without (the tea menu, for example). But this would be my Thai choice, were I asked for one.
I’ve just started An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies
As it stands, food writers, commentators, and foodies are misled by three doctrines, useless in Nicaragua, useless at home, and misleading almost everywhere else:
- The best food is the most expensive. (Assume time is money and it follows that slow food is better.)
- Our largest source of cheap food – large agribusiness – is irredeemably bad.
- Consumers are not a trusted source of innovation; rather, they are to be constrained, nudged, taxed, and subjected to the will of others – chefs, food writers, cultural leaders, and, especially, political officeholders.
