613 W. 6th St.
472-0822
Men's room rating: did not rate.
Dwight's comments:
Yes, I know it was a Friday.
It was also another Turkey City weekend for Lawrence, and since:
There are good reasons why The Hoffbrau is an Austin landmark: one reason, I think, is that it's the best cheap steak in town.
When they bring you the meat, hanging over the edge of your dinner plate, drenched with butter...well, if the sight doesn't set your mouth to watering, I pity your soul.
(And if the sight does set your mouth to watering, and you finish your steak, I suggest planning to eat at Mother's sometime during the next week as an act of atonement.)
I've never seen anyone else do potatos quite the way The Hoffbrau does, either: peeled, quartered, and deep-fried.
(I keep forgetting to avoid the salad, or perhaps that's my way of atoning for my sins: it, and the lack of air conditioning, are the only drawbacks.)
(And, in a curious twist, we had time before the Turkey City party, so...we did a spur-of-the-moment conspiracy at Thai Kitchen.)
258-4600
Men's room rating: did not rate.
Dwight's comments:
Yet another strip-mall storefront Chinese place: nice decor, food no better than average (and no worse than Buffet Palace).
Gateway Shopping Center, Research Boulevard. (right in front of CompUSA).
Men's room rating: did not rate. (I know, I'm slipping. I'll try to do better. For what it's worth, CompUSA has a men's room that rates around a 3.)
Dwight's comments:
Short shameful confession time: I've been reading Calvin Trillin's Alice, Let's Eat. (The shameful part comes from having to admit I've gone this long without finding this book, especially since it's the single funniest food book I've read.)
Point: Trillin and his wife, Alice (doh!) have a phrase they use to describe the sort of dishes served in pretentious "Continental" places (especially the ones in England): Stuff-Stuff with Heavy.
I've decided to run a competition for the Saturday Dining Conspiracy logs:
Come up with an equivalent phrase to describe the sort of places represented by Marie Callendar's and The Black-Eyed Pea: that sort of instutionialized "home-cooking" style of food.
The winner will get a prize yet to be determined (probably an invite to the next Dining Conspiracy, with my paying their meal tab. If you live outside of Austin, travel expenses will be your problem.), and immortality in the SDC Glossary page.
I'll accept entries by e-mail through September 30th.
Other than that, it was a good crowd (though we had to split into two tables): Don and Rosemary Webb, Andrew "P.C.? Me?" Wimsatt, Lawrence and myself, +Rich and Terri, and...the elusive Josh Sklar, returned briefly from Asia, and looking to come back for good.
(RoadRich didn't show up at the Dining Conspiracy, but Lawrence and I ran into him afterwards, browsing at CompUSA. So we took him back to our place and subjected him to Hercules and Worker and Parasite. We'll see if he speaks to us next week.)
5501 North Lamar
458-1792
Dwight's comments:
Looking at traffic on austin.food, you would get the impression that the most popular food in town isn't barbecue, or TexMex, but Vietnamese, and especially pho, the noodle soup.
You wouldn't be far off. I'm still amazed at how many storefront pho places there are in Austin, and new ones seem to be opening all the time.
Why the activity? I think because it's cheap, plentiful (you can fill up for about $5) and reasonably healthy food.
That said, and ignoring the Chronicle banner out front, I don't think Fortune Pho is quite as good as Pho Cong Ly. I still like Fortune, though: they have a good variety of non-pho dishes, unlike Pho Cong Ly. (I actually had one of the rice vermacelli dishes, but I've tried their pho before.)
The spring rolls ("spring rolls" in the case being shrimp, pork, sprouts and cilantro wrapped in rice paper, not cooked) also compare favorably.
The big flaw of Fortune Pho, and Pho Cong Ly, and most of the other Vietnamese places I've tried, is service: I'm not sure if it's a language or cultural barrier, but it seems hard to get drink refills or checks.
If you've got the time and the patience, try Fortune Pho (or pho after you've tried Pho Cong Ly or vermacelli dishes). I wouldn't suggest ordering "sweet and sour pork" or more conventional Chinese dishes.
2330 South Lamar
442-8283
Men's room rating: 2. (A bit small, and the confusing "dark alcove, door to the left" design looses it points.)
Dwight's comments:
I have no joke here: I just have to say "NITRO-BURNING RIDING MOWERS!!!!"
(When it asks for a username, type "cpunks". When it asks for a password, type "cpunks". And if you liked that, or can't get that page, try this.
With that out of the way: I'd been to Artz Rib House once before, and found it disappointing. But we kept hearing from notorious barbecue experts like Howard Waldrop that it was pretty good, so I agreed to give it another shot.
Shockingly (to me), not only did I like it much better this time, I liked it much better than Lawrence did.
Why? Well, they got extra bonus points right away for not making us wait until all the members of our party showed up.
Second, they didn't give me a hard time (or charge me extra) when I asked for a baked potato instead of cole slaw/beans/potato salad.
Third, the service was attentive: I was especially impressed when the waitress noticed Lawrence's Chronicle Hot Sauce Contest T-shirt and offered us some of the Artz (award-winning) habenero sauce.
Fourth, the three-meat combo plate was substantial enough for me: I had trouble finishing it and dessert. (Though I think $12 is a bit pricy.)
The food? My baby-back ribs were well-cooked and flavored: nice and tender. The smoked chicken was also pretty good, but I'm not sure I'd order the thick-cut pork ribs again: they seemed a bit dry by the time I got to them.
I'll go back to Artz, next time I crave baby-back ribs in South Austin.
Additional comments from Lawrence:
Though the quantities were indeed plentiful, I thought both beef and pork ribs were a tad dry (the Brisket was OK), and the BBQ sauce was pretty mediocre. Plus the bannana pudding wasn't as good as that at Ben's Long Branch. Interesting chicken nachos, however.
Oh, I also thought the habenero sauce was pretty medicore as well (try Melinda's EXXXXtra Reserve instead).
Send e-mail to Dwight Brown (stainles@bga.com).
Return to the main Saturday Dining Conspiracy page.
See the logs for September of 1996.
See the logs for July of 1996.