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Recommendations: Some of Rob's favorite dishes
 Posted 7/6/2009 10:06:00 AM
The Lobster Tacos at Iron Cactus. I am one who usually wants my lobster with drawn butter period! But when I tasted the lobster tacos at the Iron Cactus at the Hill Country Galleria, I was knocked out. The flavor is amazing.
The Shrimp Mojo de Ajo at Verdes on Hamilton Pool Road. If you like shrimp, and you want something that will quite literally melt in your mouth, the Mojo de Ajo at Verdes will make you a believer.
The Carnitas at Los Pinos on Hudson Bend Rd. Lost Pinos is this little gem of a restaurant that serves the most interesting and tasty carnitas I’ve ever tried. Chef Margarito Maldanado is at the helm here and he is good!!!!!
The Dragon Rib at Imperia on Colorado at 4th. Wow! Chef Joe Tellus has coaxed more flavor out of a short rib than may be humanly possible. I can’t ...
Those ubiquitous food bloggers
Posted 3/17/2009 12:00:00 AM
Every time one turns around these days, there seems to be a new blogger site for those who are compelled to write about everything from politics to service industries to yes, food. People ask me why I don’t have a place on www.diningoutwithrobbalon.com for bloggers who want to share their opinion with the Central Texas foodies. The answer is simple and yet at the same time somewhat complex.
I have no axe to grind neither with these sites nor with those who write on them. It’s a free country. But I must admit that some of the stuff I have read on user-review websites contain some of the most bird-brained vitriol and uninformed commentary that it has been my displeasure to have seen in print. Some of the commentary is actually quite good: literate, useful, and mercifully brief.
But that’s the problem. There’s no way to weed out those who ...
Restaurant Commercials that Greatly Annoy Me
Posted 2/19/2009 12:00:00 AM
Where can I even start on this?
My current favorite is Domino’s Pizza’s CEO saying how their grilled sandwich is better than Subway’s. This is the latest in the refined art of the “CEO sale” approach. Are you kidding me? Both sandwiches are mediocre at best. That’s the equivalent of saying that vegemite is better than haggis. Ycch.
Speaking of Subway’s endless commercials with Jared, the hopeless formerly fat nerd who supposedly lost 200+ pounds walking to Subway and eating the same sandwich every day for two years, they border on the ridiculous. If you ask me, Jared probably had gastric by-pass surgery and then tried to suggest that he lost all that weight eating Subway food. Yeah right! I mean, come on. Have you tried his favorite sandwich? And now they’re going to add everyone’s favorite bong-using 8 gold medal winner Michael Phelps into the ad mix. I can’t ...
Joe’s Bakery On a Roll
Posted 1/22/2009 12:00:00 AM
In my humble opinion, there’s no better place in the city for Huevos Rancheros or a steaming bowl of Menudo than Joe’s Bakery on E. 7th street. The place hums like a beehive full of happy diners every weekend from 7am-3pm. And it’s almost as crowded on weekedays. Recession? What recession. There’s no evidence of it at Joe’s.
The key to great Huevos Rancheros is the ranchera sauce. And Joe’s has the best. I get Huevos over easy with their amazing flour-battered bacon and sumptuous frijoles along with fresh tortillas. I ladle a little egg, some bacon, and some beans onto a portion of a warm tortilla and voila! You have a taste explosion. There’s no other way I can describe it.
Joe’s dates back to the 1930’s and is one of Austin’s oldest food businesses. It began, quite literally, as a bakery and gradually evolved into a restaurant.
They’ve ...
Surge of New Local Restaurant Openings: Do They Know Something Everyone Else Doesn’t?
Posted 12/1/2008 4:00:00 PM
The national economy is in the doldrums. That’s a given. The stock market is like an out-of-control roller coaster, careening wildly up and down from day to day. Doesn’t seem like the kind of environment that would make people want to risk a substantial amount of money on one of the riskiest propositions of all: a new restaurant.
Yet that is just what’s been happening in central Texas. We are awash in a sea of new openings. And many of these openings are not little taco joints: they are fine dining emporia with big-ticket build outs.
In just the past month, we’ve seen the opening of the gorgeously redone Paggi House on Riverside at N. Lamar. They spared no expense to make this one of the most elegant dining experiences in the city. And with Shane Stark at the helm, the Paggi is going to shine. Likewise the opening of ...
Don’t let perceptions of our economy turn you into a “former restaurant patron”.
Posted 11/10/2008 12:00:00 AM
One of the biggest downers in the past month has been to listen to the doom and gloom on the news and cable news networks. Every rise and fall [and mostly falls lately] of the markets is reported in breathless animation. And typically, that kind of news creates a self-fulfilling prophecy: people tend to get into a hunker-down mode where discretionary spending is reduced. And that affects something we all love and the reason you all visit this website: dining out. So before we all go out and commit symbolic hari-kari, let’s stop and look at a few of the positives about Austin. Many of the people who have kind of put dining out on freeze are reacting more emotionally than pragmatically.
First, we are one of the best-positioned cities in the country to withstand a recession. Businesses are still growing, entrepreneurship is strong, and the work force is loyal ...
Rob stops watching political coverage
Posted 11/4/2008 12:00:00 AM
I feel like I am inside the middle of a bad daytime soap opera. Clearly these things I see happening can’t be real and yet I feel helpless to remove myself from this quagmire. The writers obviously don’t understand: they keep coming up with scripts that are mind bogglingly inane. It started with Sarah Palin’s responses to Charles Gibson when asked about the Bush Doctorine.
“What part are you talkin’ about Charlie?” she asked.
And then continued with Joe the Plumber and John McCains’s comment that Joe was his “role model” and that should he win, McCain would be taking Joe the Plumber with him to Washington. You bet Big Mac! And what exactly would Joe’s role be? Secretary of Pipes and Faucets? I gave serious thought at that point to changing the name of my URL to www.robthefoodcritic.com. I mean, surely McCain could use a secretary of restaurant criticism?...
One more analysis of the candidates: their favorite meals.
Posted 10/10/2008 9:12:00 AM
As you know, this blog is primarily about food but it also transcends food matters as the demands of current events dictate.
We’ve analyzed John McCain, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama and Joe Biden from virtually every angle. So why not go beyond their records and their claims, and take a look at what they like to eat.
McCain’s favorite meal is reported to be deep-fried turkey cooked in peanut oil. He’s also partial to pizza with pepperoni and onions. John likes to suggest that he is the king of straight talk. Apparently he is also in the running for being the champion of blasé meals. For a guy with 13 houses, you might think he’d install a gourmet kitchen in one of them: but apparently not. Suggestion though: make sure to keep those oil-filled turkey fryers outside. Not long ago, a guy out in Bastrop burned his house to the ...
A Tale of Two Malls
Posted 9/19/2008 12:00:00 AM
The two most recent mall openings in Austin have taken an extremely different approach with regard to restaurants.
The Domain at Braker and Mopac hit the ground running with a stable of nationally recognized high-end restaurants. McCormick and Schmick’s, North, Joe DiMaggio’s, Kona Grill and Jaspers’s and California Pizza Kitchen all opened within a few months of the mall’s opening. I could not help but reflect on the synergy that this provided for the Domain and its upscale shoppers. Thus far, the stars of the show in my opinion are the upbeat Italian-themed North, Jasper’s [from Dallas] and the uber-fresh seafood emporium McCormick’s and Schmick’s. Joe DiMaggio’s still has a way to go as does Kona Grill. And unfortunately, Oakville Grocery has closed. As far as California Pizza kitchen goes, well, you know my feelings about pizzas with chicken, sprouts, avocado and pineapples. But all in all, I think the ...
Sarah Palin fires chef. Bad move.
Posted 9/9/2008 10:28:00 AM
Pretty bold move from the McCain folks to select a complete unknown for the VP spot. But this feisty NRA poster woman showed at the convention that she could deliver a speech from the teleprompter as well as anyone: arguably far better than McCain himself.
That being said, there are a number of things about this woman that alarm me. While painting a picture of herself as a champion of the people and an astute manager of municipalities and states, the facts speak otherwise. She was an enthusiastic pursuer of “earmarks” and she left her small town of 9,000 in debt when she retired as Mayor. She claimed to turn her back on the “bridge to nowhere” when in fact she was initially for the project. She actually tried to ban books in one of the school libraries and she referred to the war in Iraq as a “task from ...
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