April 27, 1996: La Madeleine.

Posted on April 27, 1996 by dwightbrown

Research Boulevard

Pepper grinder rating: 0.

Men’s room rating: 4. (The taped French lessons in the bathroom are an amusing touch, for a few minutes.)

Dwight’s comments:

“I am of the firm opinion that La Madelaine is hideously overpriced. And also exceedingly pretentious.” -Mike, responding to the original announcement.

I’m not sure I agree with the “pretentious”, but I did dislike La Madeleine intensely.

First of all, I hate cafeteria dining. (As a young child, I entertained dreams of making my first fortune, and using some of the spare money to buy up all the cafeteria chains and close them down for good.)

But La Madeleine doesn’t even impliment that concept well: you have to order certain items directly from the waitress at the front, but if you want anything like salad, soup, or drinks, you still have to stand in the cafeteria line.

This line, of course, bottlenecks at the salad (because each salad is made while you stand there: god forbid that they should make it and bring it to your table), so you wind up waiting in lines that stretch out the door.

And for what? Not terribly good food. I’ve had better french onion soups and ceaser salads elsewhere. (Ancho’s makes a very good onion soup.) The prices aren’t moderate (by the time you add up a soup, a decent sized salad, drinks, and a “main course” such as quiche.)

As far as I can tell, the cafeteria concept doesn’t result in any savings in staff. (We saw a large number of waitstaff, most of whom seemed to have nothing to do.) And, frankly, I don’t see any reason for the continued existance and popularity of this chain, other than as vindication of Mencken’s statement, “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

April 20, 1996: PooThai Restaurant.

Posted on April 20, 1996 by dwightbrown

200 Buttercup Creek Blvd
331-3810

Pepper grinder rating: 0.

Men’s room rating: 3.

Dwight’s comments:

PooThai is a pleasant enough place, with friendly waitstaff (although the guy who waited on when we first came in looked suspiciously sleepy and suspiciously Austrailian). The decor isn’t too bad, either: it’s better looking on the inside than Thai Kitchen’s south or central locations. (Internal evidence led us to believe it used to be a steakhouse.)

But the food…well, the pad thai noodles reminded me of the ones my mother used when she made beef stroganoff, and the dish itself seemed strange tasting: somewhat beefy, which is odd for a chicken dish. PooThai’s larb with chicken (chopped chicken, roasted rice, lime juice, onions and cilantro) is pretty good, though. Ann Anonymous Diner found the Thai Shrimp Curry a little too soup-like for his taste, I think.

Lawrence did his usual, “This dish can not be too hot for me” routine, and was disappointed (both with the dish, and that, with a name like “PooThai”, he couldn’t get the larb tigger or pad eeyore). The tom ka gai soup was also good, as were the steamed dumplings we had as an appetizer.

It was a very pleasant birthday dinner, with +Rich, Terri, and Ann’s Friend showing up (as well as Lawrence and Ann); though I found the food not quite up to Thai Kitchen standards, the company made up for it. Thanks, gang.

But would I go back? Well, PooThai is way out in Cedar Park, a long way off my usual routes. If I was in the area, though, I’d like to try their pud grapow squid and perhaps the other noodle dishes.

Posted in Closed, Thai | Leave a comment

April 13, 1996: Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

Posted on April 13, 1996 by dwightbrown

3010 Guadalupe
477-7884

Pepper grinder rating: 0/5. (Ruth’s Chris defines the standard for Class 5 pepper grinders. Unfortunately, our waitress on this visit didn’t see fit to offer us fresh ground pepper for our salads or steaks, so we had to watch the pepper grinder in action at other tables.)

Men’s room rating: 3. (It could have been slightly cleaner, but, other than that, perfectly acceptable.)

Dwight’s comments:

Lawrence and I have our birthdays in the same week in April. (His is the 14th, mine the 20th.) So, about this time every year, we indulge ourselves in the expense of Ruth’s Chris, so that we can remember we’re men, dammit, and we eat from the top of the food chain.

Usually, one or two other friends join us: this year, it was the notorious Andrew “Get Out Of Town Before Sunset” Wimsatt, late of the local highway department office and now a citizen of Fort Worth. This gave us a chance to wallow in political incorrectness, instead of reading the Wall Street Journal (thoughtfully provided for free to Ruth’s Chris patrons.)

Lawrence claims that his steak wasn’t actually the best he’s had here, but I didn’t notice any decline since last year with mine. A fillet (cooked at 1800 degrees F, served around 500 degrees F, or so the waiter’s spiel claims), a nice baked potato, some sauteed onions and mushrooms, a large Ceaser salad, and some good French bread later, I eased my chair back from the table, sighed…

…and ordered some of the chocolate mousse cheesecake and a glass of the Napolean VSOP ($13 a shot, and smooth, very smooth.)

All a meal like this needs afterwards is a good cigar. (And I don’t smoke, but I would have gladly walked over to the nearby cigar shop/newsstand and bought one.)

To hell with mad cow disease. To hell with health food. To hell with PETA (and, spekaing of PETA, Doug suggested this link. Thanks.) And to hell with the cost. This is living. And, after all, are we not men?

Posted in Steak | Leave a comment

April 6, 1996: T.G.I. Friday’s.

Posted on April 6, 1996 by dwightbrown

10000 Research
345-6410

Pepper grinder rating: 0.

Men’s room rating: 3. (When did they stop putting ice in the urinals? Wasn’t that a T.G.I. Friday’s trademark?)

Dwight’s comments:
A large menu of mostly undistinguished food, with decor by the BMTCRSC.

Much to their credit, the waitstaff dealt quite well with moving our unexpectedly large party (with Ann Anonymous Diner and Ann’s friend and RoadRich showing up at a conspiracy for once) to another table.

Unfortunately, the appetizers and main courses (such as my salmon with a Jack Daniel’s glaze) were excessively bland. (I was able to spice the fish up a bit with some Cajun mustard dipping sauce left from a shrimp appetizer, but why should I have had to?)

Really, what can you say about T.G.I. Friday’s that hasn’t been said about Bennigan’s or every other fern bar/fern food chain?

Additional comments from Lawrence:

For what it’s worth, I liked TGI Fridays a bit more than you. I liked the appetizers well enough, my burger was quite tasty, and they kept my bottomless glass of Dr Pepper well filled.

All in all, I think they did the Fern Bar thing pretty well–well enough that I’d have a hard time picking between them and Chili’s for the Fern Bar Championship (haven’t been to Bennigens in a while).

Additional comments from Ann Anonymous Diner:

Amazingly, I have nothing bad to say about Friday’s, except that I hate their TV commercials. I’ll point out that it is easier to eat healthy at Chili’s, however.

Posted in American, Closed | Leave a comment

March 30, 1996: Shields Restaurant.

Posted on March 30, 1996 by dwightbrown

5122 Bee Caves Road
328-9770

Pepper grinder rating: 0.

Men’s room rating: 3. (Average and large enough. The old cigarette ads on the wall are amusing for a few seconds, and I like places that put sections of the daily paper above the urinals. I’m still waiting to hear from Terri about the women’s room.)

Dwight’s comments:

We went to Shields expecting it to be a pizza place. Yes, they do serve pizza, but we reached the conclusion early on that it isn’t a pizza place: it’s a sports bar that serves pizza. (I counted three TV sets, all turned on, including one projection screen in the middle of the restaurant.)

The pizza is just okay: the style is very close to Milto’s deep dish pizzas, but Milto’s does a much better job, I think.

If you live out along Bee Caves, it wouldn’t be a bad place to take the children (there’s even an outdoor deck where noisy families can exile themselves), or a bad place to watch the sporting event du joir.

As a pizza place, though, Shields is not an essential stop on any dining tour of Austin.

Additional comments from +Rich:

Also, we weren’t terribly impressed by Shields pizza, it seemed overpriced, the crust was average and obviously the same thing they served as garlic bread. And while it wasn’t too bad while we were there, the atmosphere there has the potential to be absolutely testosterone laden. I like sports and that was still a bit high on video availability.

Additional comments from Ann Anonymous Diner:

No better for lunch than dinner. I work minutes away and NEVER go there. (Well, hardly ever.) They get points for actually showing both Formula 1 and Grand Prix motorcycle racing; seeing as almost nobody in this country watches either one. (Except for me, of course.)

Posted in Closed, Pizza, Sports Bar | Leave a comment

March 23, 1996: Gumbo’s.

Posted on March 23, 1996 by dwightbrown

14735 Bratton Lane
251-1606

Pepper grinder rating: 0.

Men’s room rating: 2. (Very nice, but loses a point for being undersized relative to the resteraunt’s seating capacity.)

Dwight’s comments:

If you look at my “Not a Top Ten List”, you’ll see I really like Gumbo’s. It’s the sort of place that does just about everything right: from service to food to the little things like change.

It’s also the sort of place you don’t want anyone else to know about: I’m afraid it’s already too late for that, though. They’ve expanded once since I’ve started going there, and the place is still just too small. If you go, especially on a Friday or Saturday night, be prepared for a 30 to 40 minute wait at least. (No reservations.)

I’m partial to the pasta dishes: I don’t care much for gumbo in general, but other people I’ve been with rave about that and the etoufee. (Gumbo’s don’t skimp on the portions, either.)

It’s nice to see this place making a go of it: now, if only they’d expand again…

Additional comments from Ann Anonymous Diner:

Both the crawfish and shrimp etoufees are great and very reasonably priced. (Go on a weekday night if you know what is good for you.)

Posted in Cajun, Closed | Leave a comment

March 16, 1996: Compadre’s Cafe & Cantina.

Posted on March 16, 1996 by dwightbrown

1817 S. Lamar
441-9789

Pepper grinder rating: 0.

Men’s room rating: 1. (Generally run down, but I didn’t see any obvious health hazards. The single toilet (yes, one) is positioned way too close to the wall for sitting comfort.)

Dwight’s comments:
Yet another in Austin’s long line of bland TexMex places, complete with not-very-hot hot sauce (but decent chips).

I had a completely undistinguished and tasteless chicken breast (stuffed with cheese and bacon). Lawrence took the chance to order the buffalo fajitas, and commented that they could have used more salt and flavoring (perhaps a marinade). The (beef) fajita nachos had the same problem, I thought.

I have yet to find any TexMex place I really like; but, if I want TexMex, Serrano’s is a more comfortable and less bland alternative. (I also feel pretty good about Curra’s Grill.)

(Editorial note, November 10, 1996: Compadre’s is now advertising that they’ve changed names (to “Cheyenne Cafe and Cantina”), but are still under the same management, with the same food. I haven’t been back, but, given that the new advertising seems to place a heavy emphasis on the the strength of their “Turbo Rita”, I see no reason to change my views.)

Posted in Mexican | Leave a comment

March 9, 1996: Catfish Parlor.

Posted on March 9, 1996 by dwightbrown

11910 Research
258-1853

Pepper grinder rating: 0.

Men’s room rating: 3.5. (Clean, with some nice touches. Lawrence particularly liked the “Please wait. Your hostess will seat you.” sign.)

Dwight’s comments:

It was one of those weeks, when we wanted to go somewhere and know exactly what we were getting, and how much of it we’d get. “Comfort food”, for want of a better description.

Catfish Parlor does a reasonable job of this, with good service and all-you-can-eat specials (Catfish all the time, popcorn shrimp Monday and Tuesday nights.). They have the sort of style I usually don’t like (fake homestyle, complete with decoration by the BMTCRSC, but it works for them: I think because they don’t take it too seriously.

It’s not fine dining by any standard (and I’m not really a big fan of catfish as a food), but if you want to go someplace predictable (and like a good loose child policy: “Unattended children will be seized and sold to the gypsies.”), or pick up dinner for the family on the way home, Catfish Parlor is worth a try.

Posted in American, Seafood | Leave a comment

March 2, 1996: Bertram’s Restaurant and Bar.

Posted on March 2, 1996 by dwightbrown

1601 Guadalupe
476-2743

Pepper grinder rating: 3. (Actually, a 2 pepper grinder, but they get an extra point for a good looking design.)

Men’s room rating: 3. (Clean, well lighted, but seems too small for the size of the restaurant. Extra points for the exposed ductwork, which makes it look like something out of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.)

Dwight’s comments:

This was recommended to us by my good friend and former partner, Heather Galyon. I don’t think we were as impressed by it as she is, though.

Bertram’s falls pretty squarely on the upscale side of the dining experience: about $40 per person with salads and appetizers, in addition to the main course. The steamed mussels (in a white wine and butter sauce) were an excellent appetizer, but I felt cheated by the black pepper Parmesan biscuits with crayfish sauce: biscuit would have been a more accurate description. My Caesar salad was competently executed, but I’ve had better ones elsewhere.

The main courses suffered from two basic problems we’ve been running into recently:

  • The French Problem. Or, “I enjoyed my main course. All three ounces of it.” Again, Lawrence and I (and our good friend, Andrew “Scarlet Letter” Wimsatt, who joined us for dinner) aren’t pigs. But high prices and small portion sizes are a sure turn-off for us.
  • We’ve also found that a lot of places seem to have given up marinades or spices on their various meat dishes. Instead, they serve the dishes with a sauce and let that carry the flavor of the dish. The problem is, that only works if the sauce is interesting. Neither the nicoise (a black olive) sauce on my roasted leg of lamb, or the cognac and green peppercorn sauce on Lawrence and Andrew’s beef tenderloin were that interesting.

Conversation after dinner:

“I think I’ll have the $7 cheesecake.”
“Excuse me? A $7 cheesecake?”
“Yes.”
“That’s cheese and cake, right? They don’t put bourbon or nothing in it?”
“Nope.”

I wouldn’t mind going back again, if someone else was paying (I wonder if they do corporate events.) or if I was trying to impress a date. However, given a choice, I’ll take Castle Hill Cafe over Bertram’s.

Posted in American, Fine Dining | Leave a comment

February 17, 1996: Pao’s Mandarin House (downtown) (Location Closed)

Posted on February 17, 1996 by dwightbrown

800 Brazos St.
482-8100
Pepper grinder rating: 0.

Dwight’s comments:

The Chinese food here is as good as any I’ve had in Austin, and the prices were surprisingly reasonable. I had been led to believe (from the location, and word on the street) that Pao’s was expensive; it looks like, with careful ordering of specials, you could get out for $10 or less on a weeknight (without drinks).
The service was excellent, approaching fawning. I think we were waited on by two different waiters at the same time, as well as the head waiter (owner? manager? Couldn’t tell for sure, but it seemed possible he was one or all of the above.) Discussing the differences between the HP48SX and HP48GX handheld computers with one of the waiters added a fittingly surreal touch to the dining experience.
I’d say Pao’s blows away China on the Avenue and Chinatown (which I think has gone downhill in the past couple of years), and gives Tien Hong (my gold standard) a run for the money. I also want to go back and try dim sum, to see how it compares to Shanghai (our standard for dim sum – no, we haven’t tried the Rainbow yet, and that’s next on my list.).
Editorial note: The phone book and the Austin WWW Restaurant Guides both show this as “Pao’s Mandrin House”. I’ve chosen to go with the spelling on their card.

(Added editorial note, revised May 26, 1997: We did try the North Rainbow for dim sum and dinner: the dim sum we thought was as good as Shanghai’s. However,
(1) Shanghai has changed names (several times now) and wasn’t serving dim sum the last time we checked.
(2) The North Rainbow closed and has been replaced by a place called Mong Kok: we haven’t tried dim sum there yet.)
Life is suffering. Pao’s remains consistant, though: I’ve been eating there about once every two weeks, and have yet to have a bad experience. And they have some good specials if you get there before 7.)

Posted in Chinese, Closed | Tagged , | Leave a comment