Fried Pickles at Hole in the Wall

http://www.holeinthewallaustin.com/

2538 Guadalupe St
Austin, TX 78705
(512) 477-4747

A few weeks ago Jenn and I found ourselves near the UT campus with an hour and a half to kill, so we decided to spend it at the Hole in the Wall on Guadalupe. I haven’t been there since I was in college, and even then I wasn’t a regular. As an engineering major, my appearance was required at the north end of campus and my drinking time was mostly split between Posse and Crown and Anchor. This is why I didn’t even realized what a fantastic patio and drink prices they had.

After two beers at the beautiful price of $2 each, we found ourselves looking over the food menu, and that’s when I pointed out to Jenn that the menu contained… fried pickles. Being the fried pickle connoisseurs we are, we knew what we had to do.

We ordered and paid the $3 for the pickles and went out to the patio to enjoy the daylight. We had some massive confusion about where we were to pick up our salty fried treats and spent the next few minutes looking around quite bewildered. Eventually after asking about 4 people, we found the kitchen pick up area in the back.

The pickles were of the thinly sliced variety, as opposed to the spears you get at Pluckers and Katz’s. The concoction was a beautiful clumpy fried mess that came with a side of ranch dressing. Upon taking a bite, my tastebuds were overcome by the greasy goodness and extremely salty flavor. The salt complimented the beer and I could imagine the more inebriated one to be, the better the treat. We dubbed the concoction “Chicken Fried Pickles,” although this is a bit of a misnomer since the batter was more of a tempura style.

Jenn said it was the best $3 she had spent in a long time. And even though we were huge fans, we were unable to finish the basket between the two of us. At one point I had to push them away citing that I liked them but continual gorging would change that.

Bottom line: Do it with beer. Don’t do it alone. Ask for extra ranch.

Laura - Recommended.

Chuco's

900 W. 10th St.

Austin, Tx
(512) 476-TACO

http://www.chucostacos.com/

I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but I haven't always been the gallivanting single woman I first appear to be. Before there was Bachelor #s 1, 2, or 30 there was my ex. We met on E-Harmony of all places. We were both single and hating life in DFW. He was tall, smart and goofy. On the first date I knew we'd date seriously, by the third date he had met my parents, and after a month we had moved in together. But alas the "honeymoon" did not last. I moved to Austin to be closer to my family and he moved to Phoenix to be closer to his. We tried maintaining our long distance relationship for a while, despite the 2,000 mile separation, we managed to see each other twice a month. During the course of our relationship, I managed to make a dozen or so trips out to Phoenix. I went there enough to realize that 1) it is waaaay to fricken hot there and 2) no-one does anything fun there.

One other thing I discovered about Phoenix is that their Mexican food isn't Tex-Mex, or Monterrey, or even Baja style Mexican food, it's Sonoran style. Apparently in Sonoran style Mexican food they don't cover their food in salsas and greasy Tex-Mex style sauces. They focus on fresh ingredients available in the Yuma breadbasket to create simple Mexican yumminess. There was this little Mexican taquerilla in Tempe that we would frequent that had the best taquitos. Quality marinated pulled chicken wrapped in fresh corn tortillas, deep fried to a light golden color, then covered in the freshest, greenest guacamole you've ever seen. We'd order a huge place of those tasty taquitos and chow down.

I've tried a couple of the taquerias around Texas hoping to find taquitos of the same quality, but so far I've been disappointed. Tex-mex taquitos tend to be filled with stringy uninspiring chicken, wrapped in spongy tortillas, and deep fried until they're overcooked. The whole package tends to be rather unappealing.

Bachelor #4 and I were trolling around downtown one night and decided we wanted cheap Mexican food. We thought we'd try a little joint off Lamar that Laura had mentioned had good breakfast tacos. I thought why not. Chuco's is in a converted house that I believe used to be a really nice neo-european gourmet restaurant a few years ago. Its in the high rent district around Lamar and 6th which is why its surprising a low price taqueria has managed to survive where so many expensive restaurants have failed. The parking lot is tiny, but there were surprisingly few cars in the lot behind the restaurant. There were a surprisingly large number of people inside the restaurant indicating most of the folks who frequent this place are locals that walk or bike.

The counter to order is right by the front door and the volume of people coming and going make for a rather convoluted order process and an inevitable traffic jam. You order at the counter, get a number, then find a seat. The place is cute and has a clean feel; an old house with hardwood floors and white trim. After we ordered and sat down we waited what seemed like forever, but was probably close to 20 minutes. I was starting to get really antsy for my food. Who waits that long at a taqueria? Seriously!

Our order trickled out slowly starting with the house special, beef chucos. I ordered them as they're served, smothered in cheese and covered in some sort of watery tomato sauce. I wasn't all that impressed with the cheese and sauce, but the taquitos were top quality. They were the lightly golden fried delicious Sonoran style taquitos I'd get in Phoenix. The sauce, while it was tasty, was really watery and dripped everywhere making for a really messy eating experience. I'd avoid it next time. After we'd each had a few chucos our tacos came out. I ordered a chicken adobado which was spicy but rather uninspired. Bachelor #4's carne asada taco was really great though. Simple, but flavorful, the chicken had a nice texture and the taste of quality meat. They don't use Grade D chicken parts here.

After sucking down our chucos (sounds kind of dirty doesn't it), Bachelor #4 and I headed down the street to pick up a thank you present for my co-workers. I'd had a big deadline at work and wanted a special way to thank my co-workers who had helped, and what better way to say thank you that a big sugary, buttery Cinnabon. I haven't found a better purveyor of fat cinnamon roles here so if anyone can recommend one I'd appreciate it.

Bottom Line: Cute, convenient, quality Mexican taqueria, avoid the sauces

Mariah - 8

Torchy's Tacos

1207 S 1st St

Austin, TX‎

(512) 366-0537

511 E 6th St

Austin, TX‎

(512) 474-7000

520 West Ave

Austin, TX‎

(512) 789-2063

2809 S 1st St

Austin, TX
(512) 444-0300

http://torchystacos.com/

After having picked up Leslie and Joel’s wedding invitations from Café Java, I tried to get in touch with them so that I would no longer be responsible for them anymore. Leslie’s been working crazy insane hours (damn film industry) and Joel’s been busy planning the wedding and looking for work (he just moved back from Florida to be with the love of his life, so if anyone has work for someone with a doctorate in Endocrinology, let me know and I’ll pass on the info.) So when Leslie didn’t answer the phone, I gave Joel a ring. He had business to take care of downtown, so he offered to meet me. We picked Little Woodrow’s as the location for the swap.

After finding change for the meter, I perched myself up on the patio at Woodrow’s with a beer and attempted to get some work done while waiting. Soon enough, Joel arrived and joined me. We opened the box of invites to discover that they were only partially assembled and required some more work. He looked vaguely disappointed, so I offered my services to help stuff the envelopes in exchange for another cold beer. We chatted as we stuffed the envelopes and when we were done, we moved outside to finish our drinks. At this point we were on #3 or #4.

The sun was setting, and the alcohol was taking effect. At this point, we had been hanging out for a few hours and my stomach was starting to rumble, so we did what any intoxicated person on the west side of Sixth Street would logically do. We hit up Torchy’s.

Torchy’s is a small trailer attached to (but not a part of) Little Woodrow’s on West Sixth Street. I know they have other locations but this is the only one I’ve been to. When I first discovered Torchy’s, it came off of a tip from an old neighbor. Since then, I’ve suggested it numerous times when substantially sized groups of people have been out drinking. Everybody can get something they want, the tacos are of excellent quality, and the food is fairly inexpensive so even the brokest of your friends can afford it. Plus, it doesn’t interfere with the beer drinking. You can have a seat inside Woodrow’s and they’ll bring it right to you.

The people working there are a little bit rockabilly and really nice. The selection of tacos have names like “The Republican” (jalapeno sausage, shredded cheese, pico de gallo in a flour tortilla with poblano ranch), “The Democrat” (Shredded beef barbacoa and onions topped with fresh avocado, queso fresco, cilantro and a wedge of lime on corn tortilla with green sauce) and “Dirty Sanchez” (scrambled eggs with guacamole, fried poblano chili, escabeche carrots and shredded cheese on flour tortilla with poblano ranch). They have all sorts of sauces – the green and poblano ranch I mentioned before, plus, diablo, tomatilla, roja and chipotle.

You can also order chips and salsa, guacamole or green chili queso. The chips are thin and just mildly greasy in that oh so bad but oh so good kind of way. The salsa and the guacamole are tasty, but avoid the green chili queso. It has an odd consistency that just makes you wish you didn’t go there. It claims to contain guacamole, queso fresco, cilantro and diablo sauce, but the only ingredients I could decipher was some cheese-like substance, some splashes of hot sauce and a few flecks of cilantro.

This particular evening, Joel ordered The Republican, and I ordered the Fried Avocado Taco and the previously described queso. Although the queso fell flat, the chips remained enjoyable and my taco was a beautiful concoction of hand battered fried avocado, vegetarian refried beans, lettuce, pico and cheese on a corn tortilla that I smothered with poblano ranch. The mixture of avocado, beans and poblano ranch in my mouth was nothing but pure genius.

Joel raved about the sausage in his taco. For about 10 full minutes. I think he was feeling kindof worried about ordering something called “The Republican” and the implications that had on his character and felt the need to defend how delicious the sausage was. This led to a full blown political discussion that was followed by an assessment of the transitions in drunken Austin downtown street cuisine.

When we both arrived in Austin in the late 90’s we were heavily into the Roppolo’s pizza, but as our taste buds and the Austin scene matured, the choice became Torchy’s, hands down every time. I even ended up eating there on my birthday this year. And then had a phone malfunction that resulted in an accidental drunk dial to my grandma. Classy, I know. Hey – I only claimed that our taste buds had matured. I never said anything about the rest of us.

Bottom Line: Damn good tacos. It's hard to get a better meal for $3. Avoid the queso.

Laura - 9

Cafe Java

11900 Metric Blvd # K
Austin, TX 78758
(512) 339-7677

2051 Gattis School Rd # 120
Round Rock, TX 78664
(512) 238-0700

http://www.cafejava.info/

My good friends Leslie and Joel are getting married in July. After picking out the awesome bridesmaids dresses on Monday night, Leslie was about to head up to Pflugerville to pick up her invitations from her friend Sarah of the stationary company, Icing on the Paper. Seeing an opportunity to be a super bridesmaid, I volunteered to save her a trip and pick them up for her, as I would be heading up north the next day anyway.

I arranged to meet Kyle, Sarah’s husband on our lunch breaks. I let him pick the place and he chose Café Java. I had never been there before, so he gave me directions and told me it was in the Randall’s parking lot.

I pulled into a rock star parking spot in the front row and made my way inside. There were a good number of tables and they were about at 75% capacity. This was a good sign.

I found Kyle and sat in the booth next to him across from a corporate couple (i.e. husband and wife team from the same company) Kyle works with. They were very friendly and after the initial introductions and business dealings with Kyle, they began to extol the virtues of Café Java. As Wells Branch area residents, they were regulars. The wife was very excited to announce that the café serves breakfast all day long. This definitely scores big with me. Sometimes you just want breakfast at 2 in the afternoon… perhaps this is because you didn’t get up until 2 in the afternoon, but hey it happens.

I looked over the menu and was pleased by the amount of options included on it. I was even more pleased when I noticed that there were options for those with vegetarian diets. They had lots of different coffees, usual breakfast fare with pancakes, omelettes, migas, huevos rancheros and various meats with eggs, hashbrowns and toast. Oh, and also Corn Beef Hash (Mariah I know you appreciate that). The meals included burgers and sandwiches, soups and salads and tacos.

I debated between a grilled garden melt (like a patty melt with a garden burger), a veggie sandwich (white swiss-american cheese, sprouts, tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms, onions, cucumbers and ranch dressing on grilled whole grain bread) or the avocado grilled cheese. I’m a sucker for grilled cheese, but I’m even more of a sucker for avocado. In the end I ordered the veggie sandwich because I had my eye on the vegetable of the day as my side item. The vegetable of the day was spinach casserole, and I suspected that was going to be heavy with cream/and or cheese and I wanted to balance my meal out with the lighter sandwich option.

Kyle ordered a cheeseburger and was extremely disappointed when the waitress said they didn’t have fries (not just that day, but ever) and he settled for chips. The wife ordered the 1x1x1, which is one egg, one pancake, and one serving of bacon. The husband went with the chicken cheddar melt- a chicken breast smothered in cheddar cheese with lettuce and tomatoes on grilled hoagie.

I listened as the table discussed life in the suburbs (which highways are best to live next to, etc etc) and the wife pointed out that the café was very Austin. I stopped to think about this and look around the room. Yes, there were vegetarian options, yes there was local art, and it had a mildly funky feel to it. You wouldn’t confuse this place with IHOP or Denny’s. But the décor seemed very vanilla when compared to Magnolia or a few other places I’ve been. Granted, I hadn’t tried the food yet but it seemed more like a normal cute coffee shop/café to me. I’ve been to equally charming cafes in San Antonio, Houston, DFW, Tucson, Seattle.. and well yeah. Just about every major city. I think she could tell that I was thinking too hard so she threw in that the other location (the one on Metric near ACC campus) was more funky and that this was Round Rock afterall, and that the Round Rock answer to the Keep Austin Weird slogan was “Keep Round Rock Mildly Unusual.”

The food arrived and I was disappointed to find that the spinach casserole was littered with pieces of bacon. The waitress was very nice and offered me another side item choice. I went with potato salad (which by the way had egg in it for any of you vegans out there.) My sandwich was pleasing. The bread was grilled as promised and tasty, and not soaked in olive oil like the sandwiches at Caffe Panini. The vegetables were fresh and the cheese and ranch dressing brought just enough smoothness to the sandwich. The potato salad was pleasant as well, but not the spinach casserole I had been pining for.

The breakfast plate and cheeseburger looked a little bleak, but the chicken cheddar melt looked amazing - the colors from the vegetables were appetizing and the cheese melted across the chunks of chicken and bread oozed of tasty comfort. Kyle complained that the food was too healthy, but I have to argue with that. I think he was just jaded from the absence of French fries and that you can go unhealthy there if you wish.

We finished our meals and paid at the counter where I got a chance to examine all of the pastries. They looked delicious, but so did the rest of the dessert menu and sadly I was too full.

The cashier was a little bit weird and went into a rant on how she thought drinking water without ice was nasty. I thought that was odd commentary on my ordering habits. (I order it that way because I chipped my front teeth as a kid and despite having them fixed, I now have very cold sensitive teeth.)

I was asked by my dining partners if I enjoyed my lunch. I responded that I did and that after seeing the chicken cheddar melt, I will definitely try the garden patty melt for sure next time.

And yes, there will be a next time. It’s nice to have a place like this in far north Austin.

Update: So I went back and ordered the soup and sandwich - not the garden patty melt as I had promised. I chose the grilled cheese and avocado sandwich and the tomato basil soup. The grilled cheese was not what i expected. Instead of a super cheesey flattened sandwich like your mom used to make, it turned out to be just a sandwich on toasted bread. But, I must say, it was good, and much healthier for me. In addition to two slices of cheese and half of an avocado, it had sprouts and tomato. When combined with the soup, it was just the perfect amount of lunch. The only thing that bothered me was that the waitress came by to snatch my plate away while I still had my mouth full. When I told her no she couldn't have it, she gave me an odd expression and looked at my empty plate. At that point I had to mutter through a full mouth that I was on my last bite. Maybe it's just me, but I need the sense of security of the plate until the end. Also, I tend to save the best bite for the last, and sadly i had to swallow it up really quick so that I could defend my plate. There's something odd (and not Keep Austin Weird weird) about their waitstaff...

Bottom Line: A charming café that doesn’t rock the boat in north Austin with a good range of options and all day breakfast.

Laura - 7.5

Juan in a Million

2300 E Cesar Chavez Street
Austin, TX 78702
(512) 472-3872

http://www.juaninamillion.com/

Being a single woman, I find myself out late some weekends consuming a little too much and having a little too much fun. When you wake up the next morning, slightly hung over, in last night’s eyeliner, smelling of stale alcohol and cigarettes, with a furry feeling in your mouth, all you can do is take a hot shower and have a big hearty breakfast. When I lived in Illinois, after a late night, we’d go for corned beef hash with a side of bacon and sausage. You can never have too much meat and salt on Sunday morning. But when I moved to Texas, I discovered a wonderful, and previously undiscovered gem that most of the rest of the country has never experienced, Mexican Breakfast (cue the angelic music). I’m not talking breakfast tacos, or crappy juevos rancheros, I’m talking migas, eggs smothered in queso, chiles, refried beans, pan fried potatoes.. Sorry.. I’m drooling just thinking about it.

I’ve popped around town eating Mexican Breakfast at various taquerrias or other Latin eating establishments, but since I’ve moved back, I’ve discovered and become a regular Sunday morning patron of Juan in a Million. Now, Juan’s is way out on the east side of town. So if you’re scared by the colorful neighborhoods, you might want to stick with other places closer to downtown, but for the adventurous, Juan is a diamond in the rough. There’s a small parking lot, but I usually park in the street. Don’t worry, its broad daylight, you’re precious Death Cab for Cutie CDs will be fine. The outside of the building isn’t much to speak of, in fact, the inside of the building isn’t much to speak of either. There’s an indoor dining area, a side dining area, a huge covered patio, and a third indoor dining area attached to the other side of the patio. In other words, there is a ton of seating, and every time I’ve been there, I’ve had to wait. This place is always packed. I usually opt for the patio if it looks like I can edge someone out of a table, but the inside’s not bad either.

Now onto the food. The migas are good. Typical fluffy eggs, tomatoes, onions and tortilla strips with some cheese. It comes with a side of decent beans and potatoes. Not the best I’ve ever had, but when you’re hung over, they taste FABULOUS. I’ve also had the "DON JUAN" - El Taco Grande. It’s a huuuuge breakfast taco with eggs, potatoes, cheese, and bacon wrapped in a perfectly toasted tortilla. When covered in sour cream and guacamole the Don Juan becomes a filling and tasty way to start off the day. One will do you, unless you’ve got a huge appetite, then I’d suggest 2. But what keeps me coming back to Juan, is the Con Queso Breakfast. To me, this is the quintessential Mexican breakfast. Two scrambled eggs covered in queso with a side of carne guisada (don’t tell me what’s in it, I don’t want to know), and the same decent beans and potatoes. I don’t know what it is about the Con Queso breakfast that continues to lure me in. The queso, carne guisada, beans, and potatoes all taken separately are all decent but nothing special. Combined together, their harmonic frequencies of goodness combine together to make one super powered, hang-over curing breakfast that is hard to pass up.

Laura's note: I agree, a great Mexican Breakfast. Definitely a hangover cure for someone who doesn't have much planned for the rest of the day - you will be so full and heavy you won't feel like moving very much after the experience. The margaritas are ok, not spectacular. The location is not nearly as bad as Mariah made it out to be. Oh yeah, and they've expanded in the past couple of years and have a patio. But still, on Saturday and Sunday early afternoons you might be waiting quite a while with a load of UT students and Austinites who also participated in general weekend debauchery and are in "the know." If you aren't into waiting in lines or debauchery, try them out on a weeknight. They do casual lunch/dinner as well as breakfast. Laura - 8.5

Bottom Line: Awesome Mexican Breakfast

Mariah - 10 (In honor of Murphy - You rock!)

Baby Greens

2316 S 1st St

Austin, TX 78704

512-462-1697

http://www.ilovesalads.com/

Some of you may not know this about me, but I’m a belly dancer (and no I WON’T do a private show for you, so don’t bother asking). I’ve been dancing for about 6 years now and was even in a troupe in Fort Worth. We did Gypsy style belly dancing, complete with crazy costumes, skirts, coins, bells, scarves; the whole 9 yards. We performed at local festivals, other dance shows, and even at the State Fair every year. It was awesome and is probably the ONE thing I miss about Fort Worth. But when I moved to Austin I couldn’t find anyone teaching Gypsy style belly dancing, so I decided to try the next best thing, Tribal Fusion style belly dancing. Tribal Fusion dancing involves lots of crazy costumes but the dancing has a more intensity than the vibrant energy of Gypsy.

Anyway, my new teacher is on south Lamar and when I’m done with class at 8:30, I am usually starving. Usually I head home and forage through my fridge for a snack, but this week I was heading out to Christine and Tess’s to do some eyebrow grooming (Tess is a fabulous aesthetician, I’ll gladly recommend her to anyone). So I drove down Oltorf intending to get one of those Fresco tacos at Taco Smell (I know it sacrilege, but I think they’re kind of tasty) when a fabulous idea popped into my head, why not try Baby Greens! The notion of healthy fast food fascinates me and I’ve been meaning to try this place for ages, but they never seem open. Every time I drive by they always look dark and uninviting, so I keep on driving. But this time my stomach was grumbling and I was feeling rather proud of myself for the good work-out I’d just gotten, and wanted to continue the healthy streak I had going that day.

I drove by slowly to ascertain whether they were open. Again, I felt daunted, the place was dark and there weren’t any cars in the lot. BUT there was large neon sign in the window that said Open. So I cautiously crept into the drive thru thinking maybe those crazy hippies had forgotten to turn the sign off. When a pulled up to the intercom a friendly voice spoke up “Can I help you?” Apparently they WERE open! The menu wasn’t very large, there are really only 6 major salad options to choose from: cobb, greek, caesar, southwest, spinach, and something called Sharon’s. You can choose any of these salads with meat or without AND you can choose to have them as a salad or a wrap. Whatever salad/wrap you choose, you get a further choice of 10 or so dressings to go with it. I went with a chicken cobb wrap with blue cheese vinaigrette dressing. I was already salivating as I drove up to the pick up window. The friendly hippie greeted me again and took my $6 (seriously, it was only $6). I sat at the window for slightly longer than I would at Taco Smell before my wrap was handed to me.

The wrap was tightly packed in white paper and the dressing was in a separate plastic container. Since I was driving, I figured I’d dig into the sandwich as-is to avoid a dressing mess. From the first bite, I was in love. All of the veggies were fresh and crisp. The romaine and cucumbers had a substantial crunch, the carrots slivers were still firm and shapely, and the avocado was creamy and still tasted green! The chicken and bacon was not at all overwhelming and the whole wrap was flecked with the pungent hit of blue cheese. These meaty “extras” in no way detracted from the real star of the sandwich, those fresh veggies. The whole sandwich together was so creamy, fresh and perfect that I didn’t even feel the need to add the fattening dressing. I did decide, for the sake of you readers, to try the dressing, just so I could review it (of course). It had a slightly over-mayonnaisey taste, but was overall very pleasant. It wasn’t very greasy and had a subtle blue cheese flavor. It didn’t particularly add or detract from the wrap, so I decided to finish it without; who needs those extra calories??

Overall: Awesome wraps and salads with fresh greens

Mariah: 9

Laura's note: After Mariah's glowing recommendation, I decided to try the place myself. I love the idea of actually having a healthy option when it comes to getting something on the go.

When I first arrived, the hipster working the drive through acted really annoyed with me. I couldn't figure out quite how the whole thing worked fast enough for him. After he snottily explained that the left top portion of the menu listed choices for tortilla types, I debated in my head just driving off. But cooler heads prevailed and I explained to him that it was my first time at Baby Greens, and he seemed to soften considerably. I hurried up with my choices and ordered Sharon's veggie in a tomato basil tortilla with green goddess dressing. Sharon's veggie contains romaine lettuce, baby spinach, pecans, avocado, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers and red onions. I received my order quickly (and for about $5) and drove home.

In the safety of my own house I decided to dig in to the wrap. My first thoughts were awful as all I got was a large mouthful of tortilla, as you do in the first bite of most wraps. However, as I peeled some of the tortilla away, I was left with a very delicious vegetable treat. The pecans were a bit difficult as they seemed to shake loose and fall out every time I picked up my dinner, but such is the nature of the wrap, and I do not fault Baby Greens for this. The avocado was evident but not plentiful, and served as a suitable creamy fusion device for the rest of the vegetables. The green goddess dressing was creamy as well and complimented the ensemble. I finished every bite and then went back and sopped up the remaining dressing with the tortilla.

Overall: A very tasty healthy meal for a great price, but don't be fooled, you will be treated as a fast food customer.

Laura ~ 8

Brooklyn Pie Co.

2711 La Frontera Blvd. Ste. 330
Round Rock, TX 78681
512-255-1414

8127 Mesa Dr.
Suite B-202
Austin, TX 78759
512-346-1414

http://www.brooklynpie.com/

My friend Natalia recently moved to Brooklyn. I asked her how the pizza was and the response I got went like this:

“Actually, I live above a Mediterranean cafe (good hummus and falafel) that has a delicious lamb pizza. The cafe also makes the apartment smell of garlic at times, when we open the window and they happen to be cooking outside in the back. But hey, that's how it goes.”

So yeah, you know where else you can get lamb on your pizza? Brooklyn Pie Company.

They make a really awesome pie. The crust is thin but not cracker crispy and if you order by the slice, the slices are huge! Like an entire 4th of an 18 inch pizza. The cheese they use is yummy, but if you don’t like mozzarella, you have 7 other cheeses to choose from, including goat cheese, le gruyere and Gorgonzola. You also have a whole lot of toppings to select from. The topping selection ranges from the normal pepperoni, sausage, extra cheese, mushrooms, onions, black olives blah blah blah boring Pizza Hut toppings, to the really interesting stuff like fresh minced garlic, portabella, broccoli, zucchini, bean sprout, artichoke hearts, chorizo, and baby clams.

My favorite topping is spinach. I think the green on top of the cheese and bread tricks my brain into thinking what I’m eating is healthy and makes me not feel guilty. Anyway, the spinach is fresh. The only wilting is what’s caused by the natural heat of the pizza. Trust me, it really works. Although one time I actually got asked by another customer why I had lettuce on my pizza. What can I say? Round Rock- not exactly the culinary or cultural epicenter of the universe.

They also have good salads (including Caprese and Greek) and desserts (think Baklava) and really decent prices. A slice of pizza and a drink will run you about $6.

The staff is cool. They are always nice, and I think that the size of the establishment probably has something to do with this. It’s tiny… exactly like I imagine a pizza place in Brooklyn to be, well you know except that it’s in a small strip. And I say imagine because I’ve never been to Brooklyn.

There are high tables and stools if you want to eat in. Or you can sit on the picnic benches outside if you prefer. People often get pizzas to go or for delivery too if that’s your thing. And if you go alone, they stock Austin Chronicle, so you can plan your weekend out over your lunch break.

Overall: Really good pizza for super decent price. Try the spinach.

Laura ~ 9.5

Caffé Panini

Caffé Panini
1105 S Mays Street
Round Rock, TX 78664

http://www.caffepaninitx.com/

My coworkers were all headed to Whataburger, so my work friend Joel (not to be confused with Joel of Kenobi fame or Galaxy Café Joel) suggested we head to Caffé Panini instead. Caffé Panini is a sandwich shop in Round Rock that insists on spelling café with two f’s. I was grateful to try a new place, so I quickly agreed. We made the short drive from our cube farm down to Mays Street in Round Rock and found ourselves parking in a small ugly strip.

We walked into the restaurant, and I was pleasantly surprised by the stylish and up-to-date non frou-frou interior. There were couches at the front of the shop and rows of tables that lined the square simple space all the way to an ordering counter in the back. A look at the website promises patio seating in the future, but I think in the future I might prefer avoiding the strip mall atmosphere by sitting indoors.

The lunch and dinner menu is small. It contains 9 appetizing paninis, a few specialty coffees, Italian sodas, (iced tea and regular sodas of course), pastries, white chocolate bread pudding and brownies. For breakfast you get the option of an egg poblano panini or a sausage kolache. All lunch and dinner sandwiches are served with either pasta or bistro chips. The soup of the day was Broccoli Cheese.

I chose the Veggie Panini. It contained portabella, artichoke, sun dried tomatoes, sweet balsamic onions and swiss cheese. I decided on chips instead of pasta since the pasta was littered with pepperoni bits. Joel had the Trio (Turkey, ham, bacon, tomato, provolone with dijon mayo) and he went all out with the pasta.

The staff was friendly and cute. The food was quick and a girl walked around asking if everyone was alright. This was hilarious to me because every request Joel made was rejected, but yet the girl felt it seem necessary to help us in some way.

Cute Staff Member: Is everything OK today? Could I get you anything else?
Joel: Well, I could use some Tabasco sauce.
Cute Staff Member: I’m sorry we don’t have any Tabasco sauce but I think we might have some Louisiana Hot Sauce.
Joel: OK, sure, that’s fine.
Cute Staff Member leaves and returns 2 minutes later: I’m sorry we don’t have any Louisiana Hot Sauce, but perhaps I could get you some banana peppers.
Joel: OK, sure, that’s fine.
Cute Staff Member leaves and returns 2 minutes later: I’m sorry we don’t have any banana peppers, but perhaps I could refill your drink?

And so on and so forth.

My sandwich was tasty, but please do not be fooled by the word “veggie.” It was in no way healthy. The bread was soaked in oil (exactly what was making it taste so damn good) and the vegetables were smothered in cheese. The artichoke and sundried tomatoes were very tangy, and immediately dominated my taste buds. The bread became the necessary taste bud escape. The chips were plain old chips and can only be described as salty and crispy.

We tried not to talk too much about work as we finished our sandwiches. Joel seemed to like his sandwich, but I didn’t see him touch the pasta.

Overall: A decent sandwich shop in Round Rock that doesn’t look suburban on the inside and has a really friendly staff. A lot better than Schlotzsky’s, but with a much smaller menu.

Laura ~ 7 (It was a 7.5 but I rethought the menu size)

Hai KY

1931 E Oltorf St # B

Austin, TX 78741
(512) 693-2464


A co-worker (Kevin) and I decided to try a different Pho restaurant than Phở 888, on Oltorf. I had read a few reviews before deciding on the place so and based on the reviews, the place was worth a try.

Typically, Vietnamese restaurants that have Phở or Mi on their sign, specialize in soup. So, you shouldn't expect to see Banh Mi, Clay Pot, Bo luc lac, or any other Vietnamese dish on the menu. Typically, when I have Vietnamese, I have Phở, which is why I chose Hai KY. Phở and Mi were on the sign so, I would be judging them on my typical meal at a Phở restaurant: Spring Rolls, Phở Dàc Biêt, and Cà phê sữa đá.

Ok, Hai KY is a pretty small place and I could see that it's popularity outstrips it's seating. We ended up sitting at a bar facing the window, so I had to turn and face Kevin when I wasn't slurping noodles. We shared the bar with 3 other people but, many of the customers were sharing tables with strangers. This is typical for a Phở restaurant. The wait staff was quick and courteous, seating us quickly, getting our orders quickly, serving the appetizer quickly and leaving us just enough time to finish them before the main course was delivered. They even delivered the bill early so people with short lunch breaks (like me and Kevin) could rush back to their jobs.

On to the meal. The Spring Rolls had the right ingredients (pork, shrimp, noodles), were not rubbery or chewy, and the taste was completely obscured by one of the most peanut-y tasting peanut sauces I've ever had. It was so good, I had a few spoonfulls when the Spring Rolls ran out. I should have had a bite without dipping it in the sauce.

It takes a while for the coffee to drain out of the drip filter so I usually drink the Cà phê sữa đá after the meal so, I'll get back to this.

The soup stock (which is really the heart of Phở) was not that great, sadly. Since this was Phở Dàc Biêt, I expected to see a mountain of eye round, and flank steak, tripe and soft tendon, but, there wasn't really much to go around. There wasn't much in the way of noodles either. The bulk of the solids were white onions, green onions, and cilantro. It was worth about the price I paid for it (under $6). By comparison, though, most Phở kitchens give you much more for the price.

Towards the end of the meal, the Cà phê sữa đá was ready (as predicted), so I mixed it all up, and poured it over the ice. I've never had a bad glass of Cà phê sữa đá... until today. It tasted bad. I still can't place exactly what the problem was. Could it be the water was too hot, or the grains too old or was it that the condensed milk was expired? I ended up leaving half a glass, which never happens.

I'll reserve my final judgement until I visit them again, since it could have been an off day. Until then:

Eric - 4.5

Cafe Mundi

1704 E Fifth St

Austin, TX 78702
Phone: (512) 236-8634

http://www.cafemundi.com/

Saturday morning the boyfriend and I went out in search of some breakfast. After flipping through a book of Austin restaurants that Mariah gave me for my birthday for recommendations, we were eager to try Azul on the east side. So we got in the car and drove over to East Cesar Chavez to find a cute but empty little building with a fun patio and a sign in the window announcing that the establishment was closed- for good. What a shame, it looked fun.

We consulted the book for other east side places - we were already there afterall- and chose Cafe Mundi on East Fifth Street. I started driving north towards East Fifth, and was a little bit curious when i turned down a narrow road bordered by a graffitied railroad track. As I drove down the street, I started to notice people wandering around outside. Something was definately going on.

We parked at the Cafe Mundi sign and got out of the car. We then realized that there was a bike fair in the area between the cafe and a hair salon and that the place was crawling with granola biking hipsters.

We made our way through the terrifically landscaped garden full of banana trees and flowers and into the actual cafe itself. The menu was limited for a restaurant, but extensive enough for the coffee shop vibe we were getting from the place. We scanned through the sandwiches, migas, bagels, coffee and beer selections and ordered a double latte, a plate of migas, and a lox bagel plate from a severely spastic barista. I repeated my order three times to her upon her request, and tossed in a fourth confirmation at the end- just to make sure.

Lach was feeling a bit queezy, so he went outside to find a table while I continued to deal with the barista. The latte was delicious. We drank it outside while soaking up the sun in the calming beautiful garden that reminded us of our recent trip to Mexico and began people watching. Trust me- there was some interesting people watching to be had. The 50-something massage therapist wearing a grateful dead shirt, dreadlocked ladies intensely focused on notebooks, a Canadian couple with one of those daddy over the shoulder slings for their newborn and the yuppie friend that accompanied them. Girls that looked very normal, save a streak of purple hair, or prominant tattoo. And bikes all around.

Our food arrived, and well. Damn. Lach's lox plate looked so much better than my migas and corn chips. They were out of bagels so they substituted foccacia bread for his plate to accompany the lox, cucumbers, cream cheese, tomatoes, olives and capers. He ate every bite, save a few cucumbers and olives that I stole. My migas were edible, but mildly stiff and uninspiring.

We got a second coffee to go (Hey, we split the first one, so really that's just one a piece!) and left feeling just a little too corporate for the place. I loved the atmosphere- I was just afraid someone was going to ask us what we did for a living!

Overall: beautiful garden, hipster atmosphere, great as a coffee shop but wouldn't come here for a meal. Avoid the migas.

Laura ~ 8.5 as a coffee shop, 6 as a restaurant.

Juarez Mexican Bakery

1701 S Mays St Ste P
Round Rock, TX 78664
(512) 255-6262

In response to a request for more variety in our reviews, I decided to include my lunchtime experience today. My coworkers were going to Juarez Mexican Bakery. I weighed my options in a flash of an instant, envisioning a small guacamole and tortillas, and decided to tag along. Hell, I’d even offer to drive. It was my turn after all and a little bit of socializing would be good for me.

Mexican bakeries bring back memories of my hometown. There was a little Mexican bakery in the corner of a convenience store just down the street from my high school. We piled everyone into my 1986 Dodge Ram Charger with the gun rack and pop up roof to sneak away at lunchtime or during class. Arriving at the store, we promptly piled out and headed to the back of the store, passing bottles of soda and snacks written in Spanish. We would each order our individual burritos for about $1.50 each, occasionally adding a pastry for fifty cents or so, and take our grease soaked bags outside to the picnic tables to join our other socially deviant classmates.

Perhaps this nostalgia holds Juarez to an unachievable standard. Or maybe my past experiences lead me to expect my Mexican bakeries to contain a different level of divey-ness - just a little more grime (although I did google Juarez and note that on their last inspection they received 10 demerits.) Regardless, I always seem to find the establishment mildly disappointing.

While Juarez is not in the back of a convenience store, it is in a strip mall. In fact it is in that same stripmall that the horrific Gino’s resides in. When you enter there are rows of desserts and various pastries surrounding a counter where two cash registers are positioned. Some of the pastries looked really tasty and there were cakes that I would really have liked to try. Fortunately to my waist line, I just don’t have a big sweet tooth.

A sign on the register says no credit cards on bills less than $5. Shoot! I forgot my cash back in the office. Oh well, I’ll just have to get more than a small order of guacamole to snack on.

In the past, I’ve spoken to the staff at Juarez and they have been accommodating to my no-meat eating requirements. I usually go for off-menu vegetarian tacos with guacamole, rice, and beans. I’ve been promised that the beans do not contain animal lard, but my intestines this afternoon would argue against that. Depending on who is working the cash register, the price on this item varies.

After you order, you move to the left to pick up average corn chips and decent salsa and fill your drink.

The interior of the bakery is average for what you would expect. Not particularly nice, but clean and suitable. A flatscreen tv rests on the wall and was showing CNN on mute with closed captioning for those actually paying attention.

The food came out fairly quickly. My veggie tacos were filled with mushrooms, onions, guacamole, bell peppers and cheese. There were lettuce and tomatoes, refried beans and Spanish rice. All very tasty, but nothing special.

Mike across from me ordered the carne guisada and said it was really good. To me it looked like my mom’s beef tips in gravy. (No offense, Ma!) All the other dishes at the table looked generically cheesy.

Overall: Average Tex-Mex food for average prices in a strip mall in Round Rock. Bakery products look promising.

Laura - 5

Gino's Italian Restaurant

1701 S Mays St Ste B
Round Rock, TX 78664
Phone: (512) 218-9922

Hi, Laura here.

This being my first post, I feel the need to begin with a little background information. I work in Round Rock. Not quite known for the culinary center of Texas, but I spend a lot of time in the RR, so consequently I eat a lot of meals here. Some places my coworkers drag me to, some places I venture to on my own. Hopefully during the course of this blog, I can detail the good, the bad and the ugly for you.

Let's begin with a little Italian restaurant called Gino's.

First of all, Gino's is in a really fugly strip mall. I've learned not to judge a restaurant by it's location. Afterall, one of my favorite restaurants (Wink) is in a strip, so the outside appearance can be overcome.

Upon arrival, we were seated immediately. The interior is average suburban American/Italian restaurant. Nothing special, but they dress it up with candles and such to make it pleasant enough. The table was greeted with bread and garlic dipping oil. The bread was so-so, but the garlic dipping oil was great. Sadly, this oil was the highlight of my meal.

I ordered the eggplant parmigiana. It was $7.50. Not a bad price, if it had turned out alright. First I received a salad. It was ok, nothing special. Just some lettuce and onion and tomato. It seemed more of a token effort than anything.

Unfortunately, after a long wait, they brought me chicken parmigiana instead of eggplant. Easy mistake to make, and the mistake was corrected quickly enough. However, the eggplant I received was extremely limp and to be honest, kind of disgusting. It did not seem like there was any kind of thought put into it's preparation. Instead, it seemed as thought they slopped some overcooked eggplant onto a plate, added some cheese, and added a HUGE heaping of marinara over it. The spaghetti was overcooked as well. And they made up for it's inadequacy with marinara too.

Not the worst dining experience I've ever had, but I honestly believe if this restaurant was not in extremely close proximity to Dell it would be long gone. If I can possibly steer my coworkers away, I won't be returning.

Laura - 3

Cosi

5207 Brodie Lane, Suite 120
Sunset Valley, Tx
Phone: 512-899-9500

I’m going to write a quick review about a chain restaurant that’s new to Austin, Cosi (there’s an accent on the i and it’s pronounced cozy). Well, their website says they’re a chain, but I’ve never heard of them before. It just opened a month ago on the south side of town at the new shopping center by Brodie and 290. I have to admit that for a chain, I LOVE their food. Its my guilty secret, but I probably eat there at least once a week for lunch. The atmosphere is ok. It is a chain restaurant in a strip mall. There are several nice booths, but I hardly ever eat in. They serve mostly sandwiches, a few pizzas, and breakfast (though I haven’t gotten their breakfast yet).

What I have to rave about is their bread. It is seriously awesome. They have a “rustic white” and an “Etruscan wheat” (supposedly an ancient recipe handed down, whatever), and both are equally good. They are cooked in a wood oven right in the restaurant (really, you can watch). The white is a thick, crispy, yet chewy, slightly salty flatbread even the pickiest eater would love. The Etruscan wheat, though is my favorite. Its every bit as wonderful as the white, but it is definitely whole grain. You can even see bit of grain in the bread. I could make a meal of the bread alone. It is that good. The other thing I love there is the turkey. We’re not talking sliced, processed deli turkey. We’re talking large juicy, delicious chunks of fresh turkey breast. The toasted turkey and cheddar sandwich has become my usual there.

Their sandwiches are excellent. I haven’t had a bad one yet. They sometimes sound a little off (a Chicken Masala Indian sandwich? Huh?) but they always taste excellent. The Turkey Delight sandwich (without the cheese) is a healthy and filling way to eat lunch. The Chicken Masala, though odd, is probably one of the best sandwiches on the menu. The Asian Chicken is always very good and healthy with large lovely pieces of chicken tossed in an Asian vinaigrette. Probably my favorite, though it is not the healthiest is the turkey, bacon, cheddar melt. It is truly orgasmic. Fresh chunks of turkey, bits of smoky bacon, a thick cheddar cheese, and toped off with a rich tangy honey mustard. Yum.

They even have dessert. Smores! I know, how can they have smores, you ask? Well they bring out a mound of fluffy marshmallows, a bar of hershey’s, a stack of graham crackers, and a sterno “pu-pu” platter-style burner. I got the smores the first time I went to cosi. I was having a bad day and wanted an easy dinner (that I didn’t have to make). The hominess of the smores instantly attracted me. I had to have them (smores and rice crispy treats are a particular weakness of mine). Cosi had literally just opened the week before and they didn’t quite have the kinks worked out. I ordered the smores with my sandwich and the boy behind the counter asked if I went the smores now or after my meal. I opted for after my meal. I had a lovely meatball flatbread sandwich, but I was interrupted not once, but twice by the pimply faced boy asking if I wanted my smores yet. Didn’t he see I was still eating?? When I was finally finished, I expected said pimply faced boy to come running out with my smores, but I waited and waited, and he never appeared. I guess he got sick of me yelling at him (did I mention I’d had a bad day?). When I did finally track him down, he brought those smores out on the double.

They arrived in a cute little tray with the little sterno cauldron in the middle. The graham crackers were neatly stacked, the marshmallows (which I think might have been homemade – not packaged) were heartily mounded on one side of the tray, and a big bar of hershey’s was next to the marshmallows. I wanted to dig in and get my smores on, but it had been years since I’d actually had a smore and I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to make them. I applied my highly honed engineering mind to the problem and eventually decided that I needed to place a graham cracker on the sterno grill, and put a marshmallow on top of the graham cracker. That way the graham cracker would get all toasty and the marshmallow would get warm enough to melt. I did this with one and it turned out suitably well. I even managed to flip the graham cracker once with my fingers before putting a marshmallow on. Though I do remember thinking to myself “man, this is really dangerous! I almost burned my finger trying to flip that graham cracker”. But, the ooey gooey rewards of a tasty smore had me hooked. So I tried it again. I put a graham cracker on the sterno grill, after a minute I quickly tried grabbing it with my fingers to flip it. Only, the graham cracker had gotten stuck to the grill. I was really confused! How the hell were you supposed to cook these bastards? I tried flicking the graham cracker off the grill, but by this point it was thoroughly fused the grill. It quickly turned a black sooty color and starting to smoke.. a lot.. Then the graham cracker burst into a poof of flame. People all over the restaurant were looking and pointing at the little fire I had created at my table.

At this point, I realized I needed professional help. I ran up to the counter and was greeted by a pimply faced teenager. “Can I help you?” he asked, his post-pubescent voice cracking. I told him I thought my smores had caught on fire. He stared at my blankly then realized I was asking him to put the fire out. He looked around the counter and grabbed the only two utensils lying around - a paper napkin and a plastic knife I didn’t think either one of those would be very useful in a fire, but – hey - it’s his problem. When he saw the burning graham cracker I on my table, he quickly abandoned the knife and napkin, grabbed the tray of smores and walked off. I started to wonder if this happened often, if this was just a fluke, or whether I had done something seriously wrong.

The pimply faced boy returned a few minutes later with his manager. They had brought a whole new tray of smores for me! But this time I was really leery of the burning napalm smores. How was I supposed to avoid harming myself? That’s when the manager produced two wooden skewers that had been missing from the last tray. It all clicked into place. I was supposed to use these skewers to roast the marshmallows over the grill.. I got it! I guess I’ve lived in the suburbs too long and had forgotten that there is an integral piece of hardware one needs in order to make smores. I happily used the skewers this time and made myself a whole batch of wonderful gooey smores. Next time I won’t forget the skewers….

Authors Note: I am sad to announce that Cosi has closed its Doors after only 9 months of business. I'll miss their flat bread. Sniffle.

Mariah - 9.5