Previously visited: September 21, 1996.
5416 Parkcrest Drive
459-9960
Men's room rating: Not rated.
Dwight's comments:
Amazingly, since our last visit, Cafe Spiazzo has managed to remain:
The service remains excellent, and the kitchen continues to crank out neat stuff. (Several of us ordered a beef tenderloin dish: however, the kitchen ran out of the tenderloin. We choose to take them up on their offer to substitue a ribeye for the tenderloin, and I was quite happy with the result: a well-flavored and sauced piece of excellent and plentiful beef. Very satisfactory indeed.)
Quality dining, close to my home, and (I think) less expensive than many inferior places. This one's mine, do you hear me? MINE!
Lawrence's comments:
Cafe Spiazzo obviously aims to be an intimate (the tables are rather small), upscale Italian dining spot, and in this they've succeeded admirably. Though the prices are stiffer than Carrabbas or Reale's, the food is quite good and the service excellent. The ground pepper and Parmesan were a nice touch. The mussels were delicious and the portions almost generous enough (though still a distant second behind Carabbas), and the salad and bread were both good (ask them to bring out the garlic butter for the bread). For an entree I had chicken cooked in cream sauce with proscutio ham (a chalkboard special whose name eludes me) that was quite good (though the pasta that came with it was bland). The tenderloin that Dwight and Andrew "Jungle Boogie" Wimsatt had was very tasty, and I might opt for that the next time I'm there.
Previously visited: September 14, 1996.
Dwight's comments:
I have nothing new to say about the Salt Lick.
Lawrence's comments:
See my previous comments. Still, I thught the ribs were perhaps a little less choice than our last visit. I still think The Salt Lick has the best BBQ sauce I've tasted, but I think Kreuz Market in Lockhart has a better cooking process (and thus tenderer meat). Now if they'd only combine the two...
Previously visited: May 4, 1996.
8557 Research Blvd.
832-5595
Dwight's comments:
Going to Pho Cong Ly and not ordering pho is probably a mistake.
Why? Well, first of all, the choice of non-pho items is pretty limited: a couple of vermicelli dishes, and a couple of steamed rice dishes.
Second...maybe it was just my alien, non-Oriental taste buds, but I was really unimpressed with my dish (steamed rice with grilled pork chop). Perhaps it was the tomato surprise (the surprise being the tomato) that came with it. Perhaps it was the odd texture of the shredded pork (though the grilled pork chop was okay).
I'm still fond of the pho at Pho Cong Ly (and the spring rolls), but there's not a whole lot there for the diner who doesn't want soup.
Lawrence's comments:
The pho is good. The vermicelli is good. The spring rolls are good. The prices are cheap (you can easily fill up for $5). About the only drawback is the indifferent service (one waiter (possibly the owner's son) is probably too few for the entire restaurant on a Saturday night) and the very limited menu (if you want anything but pho, vermicelli, or one of the few rice dishes, you're out of luck). Still well worth a shot if you want good, cheap food (or the line at Kim Phung is out the door).
Previously visited: June 29, 1996.
614 East Oltorf
444-0012
Dwight's comments:
In the past year or so, Curra's has gone from "great" to merely "okay." Specifically, prices are higher and the service inconsistant.
The food? There's still plenty of good dishes (such as the shrimp margarita, or the snapper cooked in a banana leaf), but other dishes miss the mark. The pork tacos seem constantly salted to excess, and the shrimp in the shrimp tacos badly needs something: marinade, spices, anything other than plunking some shrimp in a tortilla.
Lawrence's comments:
This used to be one of my favorite TexMex places. Though they still have the best nachos in town (and make a pretty mean breakfast taco), they seem to have both raised prices and slipped in quality. My beef fajitas came out both lukewarm and underflavored, a bad combination. (And lets face it, cooking fajitas isn't exactly rocket science.)
The Holy Grail of Exceptional TexMex continues to elude us.
Return to the main Saturday Dining Conspiracy page.
See the logs for November of 1997.
See the logs for September of 1997.
October 11, 1997: Salt Lick.
October 18, 1997: Pho Cong Ly.
October 25, 1997: Curra's Grill.