I've eaten at Ay Chiwawa! a few times and liked it. This time, though, the kitchen and management seemed to be having an off night.
The smokey chipolte sauce was pretty good: too bad we were only able to get one bowl of that. The appetizers and entrees weren't all that impressive (suffering from an over-abundance of cheese: now, I like cheese, but I don't want my food drowned in it) and the service was dog slow, even when we were the only people there. I was also rather creeped out by two of the (apparent) managers discussing their problems with one of their employees: rather loudly, within earshot of everyone in the dining room. (Ever hear of an *office*, guys?)
I may give them another try: the prices are resonable, and they have an interesting idea. Sometimes, though, it seems the execution falls apart.
Once again, it seems we were the victims of unreasonable expectations.
After all, the word on austin.food was that Ay Chiwawa was the best thing since chicken fried steak, an interior Mexican food Mecca. In reality, they seemed to have about five "interior Mex" specialties, none of which seemed particularly appealing. In fact, it was hard to distinguish the food from that served at any other generic TexMex place.
The dinner got off to a rather inauspicious start. The first salsa they brought out had about as much bite as ketchup. I asked for some hotter stuff and they brought out a batch with a smoky chipolte flavor to it--better, though I'm more of habanero fan. More troubling, however, was that, despite us being the only people in the restaurant when we first came in, there was a huge gap between our drink order being filled and the waiter coming back to take our meal order--a gap in which several tables of diners which came in after us had their orders taken. There only seemed to be one waiter/manager/owner on the premises.
And once the food came? Nothing special. The appetizer sampler plate was singularly uninspiring (complete with nearly tasteless cheddar quesadillas), and my enchiladas rancheros were only slightly better. About the only advantage Ay Chiwawa has over the likes of Fonda San Miguel and Manuel's is reasonable prices (oddly enough, about the same as other TexMex places). An off night? Maybe. But nothing here makes me want to rush back.
To be fair, I was not in the best of moods when I arrived at Dixie's (having spent quite a bit of time fighting another I-35 closure). However, I'd visited Dixie's once before this, so I feel reasonably confident in my review.
And that is: overpriced mediocre "Cajun" crap.
Our waitress was pretty nice, though.
A Cajun food chain. Cheaper than Pappadeux's on the same strip of the I-35 feeder, but not quite as good. They do serve up decent entrees, a nice order of deep fried everything, and some enormous milkshakes, but the gumbo was unexciting. Service was good and the place wasn't too busy, perhaps because construction at the 290 and I-35 juncture made it nearly impossible to get to. There are also several non-seafood dishes like burgers for those with tikes in tow. Worth a visit.
We celebrated that great patriotic American event, the inauguration of President George W. Bush (motto: "At least my supporters can figure out a freaking ballot.") by eating French food. (And speaking of eating French food, here's a message for Alec Baldwin: We'll be keeping Kim, thank you very much. Don't let the door hit you in the butt on your way out of the country.) The food we had at Jean Luc's French Bistro was very good and very pricey.
For appetizers we started out with the shrimp and escargot. We only got three shrimp, but there were huge shrimp, maybe super duper jumbo shrimp. But at over $2 a shrimp they were still quite expensive, and would have been served by a sauce with more butter and garlic. The snails, which came out with their shells on, also could have used more garlic (and maybe a saltier butter). My Caesar salad (which I picked over asparagus, the daily vegetable, for a $2 substitution fee) was among the best I've had in town and quite artfully presented, with crisp full leaves of romaine lettuce laid out on a plate.
My entree, the duck, was excellent, and among the best duck I've had. The side fries were merely good. Service was attentive, and bread refills often, but the courses themselves came out quite slowly. It also would have been nice to receive my salad before the entree.
Of course, what would a French restaurant be without "The French Problem"? Though not as minuscule as those served at Zoot, for $28 the portions on the duck could have been a good bit more generous. Ditto for the $6 creme brulee. As good as the food was, I still can't see making a return trip here on my own dime. In this price range I think that both Ruth's Chris and Hudson's On the Bend offer you food as good or better than that served at Jean Luc's French Bistro and in more generous portions.
Now this is a find.
Located deep in the heart of East Austin, Gene's serves up New Orleans-style Po-Boys and various Cajun and down-home specials at very reasonable prices. This is very much a family run affair, with a friendly owner/chef and a very friendly waitress (I'm guessing Mrs. Gene, but didn't ask) who stops just the right side of over-friendly. I liked my Pastrami Po-Boy just fine, the fries were OK, and the banana pudding was some of the best I've had in Austin. The only drawback is that it is pretty small, and I'd like to see a few more New Orleans dishes on the menu.
How good is Gene's? Good enough that if they were in my area rather than east 11th street, I'd probably take them over Delaware or Thundercloud more times than not. Give 'em a try.
See the logs for February of 2001.