April 26, 2003: Baby Acapulco’s.

Posted on April 26, 2003 by dwightbrown

5610 N. I-35 (south of 290 on the west feeder)
302-1366
30.31606° N, 97.70821° W
Pepper grinder rating: 0.
Men’s room rating: 2.

Dwight’s comments:

This practically defines bad TexMex. Unimpressive fajitas, bad nachos, bland sauce: the queso flamedo is okay, though, and the service wasn’t horrible, but those are the only good things I can say: I left about half of my combo dinner on the plate because it was so awful. I suspect most of the customers are more interested in getting drunk than eating.

Lawrence’s comments:

Make no mistake: Baby Acapulco isn’t a restaurant, it’s a bar with a restaurant attached. And as a restaurant, it’s a pretty mediocre bar.
The food aspires to mediocrity, but doesn’t reach those mids. The fajita nachos were pretty close to the biggest nacho rip-off we’ve ever had (I think Jorge’s were worse): seven whole large chips, with melted American cheese. The salsa has a consistency close to ketchup. Likewise, the fajitas were undersized and not particularly tasty. To top it all off, service was iffy at best (we discussed tipping the water boy but not the waiter). And they forgot to bring out the extra chipolte sauce.
With Pappasitto’s, Amaya’s Taco Village, and a Taqueria Arandas all within a mile of this place, there’s no reason for anyone ever to eat here.

Posted in Closed, Mexican | Leave a comment

April 19, 2003: Imperial Asia.

Posted on April 19, 2003 by dwightbrown

825 E. Rundberg
834-9388
30.35654° N, 97.68732° W

Pepper grinder rating: 0.
Men’s room rating: 2.

Dwight’s comments:

This used to be a place called Golden China, which I kind of liked: it was one of the better strip mall cheap Chinese places in town. Then they reconfigured themselves into Imperial Asia, a Thai/Chinese combo, which is just plain weird.
One of the wait persons reminded me of my paternal grandmother, if she were 30 years younger and Asian. The male half of the duo had a habit of laughing maniacally and sycophanticly at just about everything we said: after a while, he was really starting to creep me out.
They also have sushi. Sort of: they have a sushi chef and a sushi bar, but you can’t order sushi by the piece, only in various combination trays, and the selection is extremely limited. However, there wasn’t anything wrong, as far as I could tell, with the actual sushi.
The Thai food is a mixed bag: I liked the soup and the pad thai just fine, but the panang was a little heavier on veggies and a little lighter on chicken and curry than I like.
This is eccentric enough to be interesting: I’d go back and try them again, if I’m in a mood to put up with that. It isn’t so good, though, that I’d recommend it to people who have a low threshold for odd.

Lawrence’s comments:

If you’ve often thought to yourself “Man, I’d really like to served Thai food and sushi by a cheerful gay Asian man with blond hair,” then Imperial Asia is here to answer your needs. We got waited on by the aforementioned, and the grandmotherly woman, and the anglo sushi chef as well. Except for briefly forgetting Chuck’s order, service was very attentive.
And the food? Both the calamari and the Tom Kai Guy were pretty good, and disappeared pretty quickly. Despite asking for it as hot and spicy as possible, yet again my beef panang was pretty wimpy, but otherwise adequate.
Except for a few pieces of Ye Ubiquitous California Roll I spooged off Dwight and Milton, I didn’t try any of the sushi. The presentation was OK, but the inability to order sushi by the piece rather than as part of a combination tray puts it pretty far down the sushi list. Pretty decent wasabi, though.
I do admit that I find the Thai/sushi combination puzzling, if only because Thailand is pretty far from Japan. (Also puzzling is that between this, Oishi, and Kimchi, North I-35 seems to be turning into something of a Discount Sushi Corridor.) And while they seem competent in each, the Thai food isn’t nearly as good as that at Thai Kitchen or even Thai Village, and the sushi can’t compete with Mikado or Umi Sushi. It also doesn’t help that they’re in a Strip Mall of the Damned. I wouldn’t mind visiting again, but I didn’t find anything here really compelling either.

Posted in Chinese, Closed | Leave a comment

April 12, 2003: Sullivan’s.

Posted on April 12, 2003 by dwightbrown

300 Colorado
495-6504
30.26604° N, 97.74509° W

Pepper grinder rating: 4.
Men’s room rating: 3.

Dwight’s comments:

Disappointing.
Aesthetically, there’s nothing wrong with Sullivan’s, except that the wood wood wood steakhouse look is starting to get tired. They have a pretty nice bar, but the extreme sports show on the TV (while fun to watch: especially the spectacular bicycle crash) didn’t really belong.
I thought it was kind of strange for our waiter to start out by pushing the stone crab claws. While I applaud steakhouses that offer some variety for those who don’t eat red meat, the server’s hard sell set the wrong tone.
One of my fellow diners (who had been to Sullivan’s several times in the past) commented that he had better steaks at Outback. I think that’s harsh, but accurate. My steak lacked the tenderness and flavor of those I’ve had at both Ruth’s Chris and Fleming’s: I finished about half of it and tossed the rest later.
I am glad that Sullivan’s does include a (decent) wedge salad in the price of the steak: I wish that more high-end steakhouses would do this. As for the sides, the au gratin potatos were competent, but pale in comparison to Fleming’s kicked-up version. I was unimpressed with the sauteed mushrooms and onions.
It is possible that Sullivan’s was having an off night. But since it also seemed to be prom night, I would expect them to be at their best (unless what they were interested in was hustling the rubes). I might consider a return trip, if I heard better things from people I trusted. But at these prices I’d only give them one more chance.

Lawrence’s comments:

It was time once again for our yearly Big Steak trip, and having sampled downtown’s other high end options (Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Fleming’s), we decided to try Sullivan’s. While it has its virtues, I have to rank it as the least interesting of the three.
As for ambiance, the restaurant is attractive, but doesn’t have the touch of elegance that elevates Fleming’s, nor the Serious Wood Tone look of Ruth’s Chris. Also, while the restroom is better designed than Ruth’s Chris, its overwhelming ordinariness (save for the nice, thick paper towels, which I do appreciate) pales in comparison to Fleming’s swanky water closet. For appetizers, we skipped the hideously overpriced crab claws (did they swipe this idea from Truluck’s?) and instead went for escargot, calamari, and a cajun crab cake. The escargot was very good and quite large, thought it could have used more garlic. The crab cake was also fairly tasty, and a much better deal than that offered at Mrs. B’s. The calamari was fine, but I’m afraid that The Clay Pit’s numinous offering has ruined merely competent calamari for us.
One virtue Sullivan’s has over its competitors is the inclusion of a wedge salad with your steak. Though smaller than the gargantuan field of greens Ruth’s Chris lays out, the price savings makes it worth the tradeoff. I also very much liked my side of hashbrowns (real hashbrowns, not that cubed potato crap lazy restaurants try to pass off as hashbrowns these days). And my porterhouse? Tasty enough, but still disappointing, being neither as generous nor “vertical” as that offered at Ruth’s Chris, nor as flavorful as either Ruth’s Chris or Fleming’s offerings. The creme brulee was very good, but the caramelized topping seemed just a touch thicker than I usually prefer it, leaving Ruth’s Chris the winner here as well.
Service was reasonably attentive but a bit “average” by high end steak house standards. The water refill busgirl managed to slop water on one of Andrew “Simple Minds and Severed Heads” Wimsatt’s fortunately empty side plates while refilling his glass, then walked blithely away. I also had to wait a bit longer than necessary for soft drink refills and ketchup for my hashbrowns. These lapses were small enough that I wouldn’t usually note them (except perhaps for the water; that was a bit odd), but it did provide an unwelcome contrast to the hyper-attentive service offered at other restaurants in this price range.
All in all, there’s nothing particularly wrong with Sullivan’s. While a bit more affordable (“affordable” being a relative term) than it’s swanky competitors, it seems to lack those special touches that elevate the fine dining experience. It lacks sizzle. At these prices, I expect sizzle.

Posted in Closed, Steak | 1 Comment

April 5, 2003: Juan in a Million.

Posted on April 5, 2003 by dwightbrown

2300 E. “Ceasar Chavez” (i.e. East 1st St.)
472-3872
30.35523° N, 97.71916° W

Pepper grinder rating: 0.
Men’s room rating: 1.5. (Guys, Lilliputian confines, a permanent wet floor sign, a missing top for your toilet tank, and a sink that’s outside both bathrooms do not endear you to me. Take a week’s vacation and get some contractors in to expand the thing. -Lawrence)

Dwight’s comments:

I have heard good things about Juan in a Million for breakfast, and I would be willing to give them another try for that. However, dinner seems like an afterthought, right down to the menus, which are actually the breakfast and lunch menus: there’s no actual dinner menu. Which is okay, because dinner ends up being priced like lunch. But it kind of isn’t okay, because you’re basically getting a lunch portion for dinner.
The other problem was that I didn’t think lunch/dinner (lupper?) was all that great: the chicken fajita plate wasn’t terribly spicy, or much of anything else. Enchiladas Y Mas does a similar plate, but better executed, I think.I did like that the owner came around to check on us: he seems like a pretty friendly guy. If he could just perk up the dinner menu some…

Lawrence’s comments:

I’ve liked the breakfast tacos I’ve had at Juan in a Million, so I was happy to see they were finally open for dinner. I also like the fact that they charge the same for dinner as for lunch. As for the food, well…
First of all, they got our nacho order wrong, and if there was any meat on the plate, it was so small compared to the beans it was mixed in with (i.e, the same beans I told them to leave off), it was all but undetectable. I’ve had worse nachos, but not this century, and I expect a hell of a lot better for $7.
Aside from that, however, everything else was pretty decent. There was less meat on my beef fajita plate than I like, but it was a decent quantity for a pretty low price, and they brought me extra onions and cut peppers (fresh jalapenos) on the side like I asked. And the extra egg and chorizo breakfast taco I had was good.
Service was generally acceptable, a little slow early on but better as the meal progressed. I did like the fact the owner came out to check on every table, a feature you usually see in Italian restaurants more than TexMex places.
Juan in a Million strikes me a only a sliver above the Austin TexMex average, but with the potential to be better. It’s still a much better place for breakfast tacos than dinner, but as long as you avoid the nachos you should be fine.

Posted in Mexican | Leave a comment

August 2, 1997: Thai Noodle House.

Posted on August 2, 1997 by dwightbrown

2602 Guadalupe
494-1011
Pepper grinder rating:0.
Men’s room rating:2.

Dwight’s comments:

Good steamed dumplings, and reasonable prices, but otherwise not outstanding Thai food from the people who brought you Satay.
Perhaps if they raised the prices a bit, they could afford some paint.
Within walking distance of campus: but do yourself a favor and walk the extra few blocks to the Guadalupe Thai Kitchen instead.

Lawrence’s comments:

Wouldn’t it be great if there were an excellent Thai restaurant within walking distance of UT campus?
There is. It’s called Thai Kitchen.
Thai Noodle House, on the other hand, pretty much sucks. The Tod Mun cakes were small and their taste merely adequate (Thai Garden and Thai Orchid both do a better job), and the dumplings were inferior to other Austin Thai offerings. The Tom Yum Guew I ordered as a plate (rather than a soup) had too many vegetables and not enough meat or noodles (not unlike a dish I once had at Korea House), wasn’t nearly spicy enough (despite my request and the dish’s designation as the hottest thing on the menu), and just wasn’t all that good. Plus the service was indifferent and (as with Thai Passion) they charged $1.25 for cans of soft drinks.
The food is reasonably cheap, but that’s about all that can be said for it. I’ve eaten better campus-area Asian meals from Saigon Eggroll Stand.
As far as I can tell (though it’s been years since I ate at Bangcock Cuisine), Thai Noodle House is at the very bottom of the Austin Thai food chain.

Posted in Thai | 1 Comment

March 29, 1997: Pappasito’s Cantina.

Posted on March 29, 1997 by dwightbrown

6513 N. IH-35
459-9214

Pepper grinder rating: 0.
Men’s room rating: 3.5. (Exceptionally clean, with lots of space.)

Dwight’s comments:

Good but expensive meat dishes. Excellent fajitas (both beef and chicken) and good pork ribs. However, I think it’s a little pricey (unless three or four people go for one of the fiesta platters.)
Serrano’s offers a much better value for the dining dollar, and has better hot sauce and chips to boot.

Lawrence’s comments:

When I opened up the menu at Pappasitos, I was somewhat shocked to see that a full plate of beef fajitas went for nearly $20. Are their fajitas really worth $20?
As much as I hate to admit it, the answer may be yes.
What Dwight, Andrew “dodging lawsuits between worshiping Satan” Wimsatt and I ended up getting was the “Loco” platter for $41.95, which include beef and chicken fajitas, BBQ pork ribs, and butterfly-cut “Diablo”shrimp. I think the fajitas may have been the best I’ve had (and certainly the best this year), with a tangy marinade that really enhanced the flavor. The pork ribs were so tender they fell off the bone. The shrimp were tasty as well, but I thought the chicken was just a tad dry, and not nearly as flavorful as the beef (though mine seemed to be a minority opinion on this point). Our waiter, Bryon, did a good job even though they seemed understaffed.
However, the $7-$10 nachos ARE a rip-off (and the hot sauce was bland).
The Loco platter is an excellent deal, but everything else there seems a bit pricey. My advice would be to visit in parties no smaller than four.

Posted in Mexican | Leave a comment

March 22, 1997: Mr. India Palace.

Posted on March 22, 1997 by dwightbrown

9120 N. I-35
835-4447

Pepper grinder rating: 0.
Men’s room rating: 1.5. (Typical fast food joint men’s room: which is what this used to be.)

Dwight’s comments:

After two trips, I’m willing to say this is every bit as good as Bombay Grill: we have a tie for “Best Indian Food In Austin.”
The tandoori dishes, in particular, seem well prepared, and the na’an has been excellent. (I especially recommend the house special na’an.)
If Mr. India Palace has a problem, it would be service: I can’t tell if they’re understaffed (although they were nearly deserted when we were there), or if it’s just the common failing of many non-Western dining establishments.
(For that matter, I’ve had service problems at Bombay Grill: and Taj Palace’s service has gone way downhill in the past two years.)
A friend also noted that his na’an seemed dry and hard: none of us had this problem, and we didn’t try his, so I’m puzzled by his complaint.
Mr. India Palace does have a $5.95 lunch buffet as well: if you’re close enough to take advantage, please consider giving it a try.
(Update 3/31/97: The chicken vindaloo, on the other hand, has a lot more tomato (in big chunks) than I like in mine. Be warned, if you’re like me, and stick to the tandoori meats, or perhaps the curries.)

Lawrence’s comments:

The first time I ate Indian food (at the now defunct Passage to India) I threw up. Since then, I’ve slowly come to realize that it was only that articular meal I hated rather than Indian food in general, and Mr. India Palace was a pleasant data point along that learning curve. The appetizers were tasty, and the various sampler grills (I got the tandoori curry sampler, while Dwight had the tandoori mixed grill) were quite good and had very generous portions. And at least one of my orders of na’an came steaming from the oven (and was large enough to encase a medium sized fish). The only drawbacks were somewhat indifferent service, despite the place being almost deserted. I got the impression our waitress/owner was also doing some (if not all) of the cooking in the kitchen. This is obviously a family-run restaurant, and I’d really like to see them make a go of it.

Posted in Closed, Indian | Leave a comment

March 15, 1997: Olive Garden.

Posted on March 15, 1997 by dwightbrown

8833 Burnet Road
459-0701

Pepper grinder rating: 0.
Men’s room rating: 3.

Dwight’s comments:

Indefensibly bland Italian food. Good breadsticks and decent salad. Average service.
Why do the Olive Gardens continue to be packed every damn night, when there are better choices available?

Lawrence’s comments:

Yes, it’s a chain, but we come here mainly for the excellent garlic breadsticks (the best “free bread” in town) and the salad. Though service started out iffy (our waitress ignored our first request for breadsticks),they quickly made up for it. While the appetizers were good (from Chili’s “Awsome Blossom”, to the Outback’s “Bloomin Onion” to the Olive Garden, fried, spicy onion shreads seem to be the appetizer of the 90s), I thought the “Tour of Italy” (lasagna, fettuccine Alfredo, and chicken parmigiana) were a good deal blander than usual. C’mon folks, this is Italian food. “Show me the garlic!” When it comes to entrees, Mama Mia’s does a much better job.

Posted in Italian | Leave a comment

March 8, 1997: Shaggy’s.

Posted on March 8, 1997 by dwightbrown

1600 South Congress
447-5375

Pepper grinder rating: 0.
Men’s room rating: 2.5.

Dwight’s comments:

I was prepared not to like Shaggy’s, based on the commentary on austin.food. However, I was pleasantly surprised once we started eating. The “Buffalo wings” (really jerked chicken wings) were as good as almost any I’ve had in town (except maybe Shady Grove’s) and certainly much better than the “jerk” wings at Plucker’s.
The various jerk entrees were also quite well done, though I think my jerked pork chops could have been larger for $8.95, and I wasn’t thrilled by the rice dish served as a side.
This wouldn’t be a bad lunch spot, or a bad place to hear live music over dinner (especially if your taste runs to reggae).
And I do hope you appreciate my sacrifice in not making a single Scooby Do joke during this review.

Lawrence’s comments:

Shaggy’s has a number of things to recommend it: pretty waitresses, suitably funky and colorful decor, Bob Marley on the stereo system, and good jerk chicken. The buffalo wings (actually hot jerk wings) are also a value for the big basket. However, though Shaggy’s does what they do pretty well (jerk chicken and pork), they don’t do enough. Their menu is entirely too limited, as there’s pretty much nothing else on the menu beyond the jerk permutations and the empanada-like beef dish. Come on, Mon, Jamacia is an island! Don’t you think a few seafood dishes might be in order? You’ve got the basics down, now it’s time to expand the menu.
Also, the Hot Bannana Empanada dessert (ala mode) was excellent!

Posted in Closed, Jamaican | Leave a comment

March 1, 1997: Thai Garden.

Posted on March 1, 1997 by dwightbrown

5517 Manchaca
326-5205

Pepper grinder rating: 0.
Men’s room rating: 2.

Dwight’s comments:

Okay, but not exceptional, Thai food. I wasn’t as blown away by the appetizers as my fellow diners, and the phat thai, while still very edible, tasted a little beefy. (This seems to be a common flaw, in my opinion, of lower-end Thai places.) The larb (I had the pork, +Rich the chicken) also didn’t seem quite as flavorful, and perhaps a little drier, than my standard.
The Tom Yum Goom soup was up to Thai Kitchen standards, though. Service was pretty good, and the prices relatively cheap.
Thai Garden’s biggest problem, I think, is the somewhat limited menu: there are certain “gold standard” dishes I use for testing that they didn’t do, and I wish they had a wider choice of appetizers.
Thai Garden is a place I wouldn’t drive miles out of the way to visit, but it is one I’d keep in mind if I spent a lot of time in the neighborhood.

Lawrence’s comments:

Though Thai Kitchen is still the reigning champion, I think Thai Garden gives it a good run for its money. The Tod Mun (fried, minced fish fritters) was perhaps the most tasty Thai appetizer I’ve ever had, and the Tom Yum Goom soup was good as well. The portions for my Neur Pud Grapow were generous, and my only complaint was that it didn’t come from the kitchen nearly as hot as a I had specified. However, since they brought out a hot condiments tray, this wasn’t a major problem. Definitely worth trying.
As far as I’m concerned, you can never have too many Thai restaurants.

Posted in Closed, Thai | Leave a comment