Salt Lick: Restaurant Review

The hype for this BBQ place was insane. Everyone I talked to in Austin always raved about the place, not to mention it was freakin on the Travel Channel as one of the must-visit restaurants. I was going in with crazy high expectations.

The drive there was pretty considerable (roughly 30 min from Austin) and this place was in the cornfield boonies out in nowheresville. Seriously for a good 15 minutes we saw nothing but barns and corn. We were starting to doubt our directions when all of a sudden we hit a wall of burning wood smell. All of us were giddy trying to find the restaurant cuz we figured it had to be close by, but nope, we drove for another couple miles until we finally came upon Salt Lick.

When we walked in the door, all the glorious smells of burning meat combined with the great musty smell of burning wood just sweeps over you and you can't help but get excited. That's before you see the source of it all: a giant open pit where giant slabs of all the meat are slowly cooking and roasting right before your eyes. It was one of most beautiful sights I've ever seen in my life (I'm not even joking). The wave of joy and excitement that came over me was almost overwhelming, and I could tell the other guys were feeling the same way.

GIANT DOWNER ALERT: The place only accepts cash, which sucked for me because I only had $10 or so on me, which means I couldn't get the sampler of all the meats. I ended up splitting a full rack of ribs and 1/4 lb of brisket (complete with sides of cole slaw, beans, and potato salad) with Yeoh. After we ordered, the food came out very quickly, which was a giant plus in my book, and the food looked amazing.

Now with ribs, you know it's cooked well when you can take a bite and the meat just slides right off the bone. I took a bite, and the bone was pristine where my mouth went. That tender. The sauce was sweet and tangy and had that awesome smoke flavor infused in it. Something that I love about Salt Lick is the fact that their food comes slathered in sauce. I LOVE wet BBQ. When it's just dry rub seasoning, the meat just starts tasting disgusting, but the sauce here only served to enhance all the great aspects of the meat. Man. Just thinking about it a couple weeks later still makes me drool.

The brisket was just as good as the ribs. They provided an extra bowl of their mango bbq sauce, which was really cool because I loved that sauce. I remembered seeing Andrew Zimmern from his show on Travel Channel making a brisket sandwich with their homemade bread and brisket, so I tried it too. Instant winner. The bread was thick and hearty and soaked up the sauce while the texture of the brisket combined to make a party in my mouth.

Even the sides were great. Cole slaw and beans are pretty low on my list of foods (if I had the choice I won't eat it) but I figured I should at least try it to get the full Salt Lick experience. Dang. I was glad I tried it. The cole slaw was not soggy, but crisp and tart and full of flavor. The beans were pretty good, although I'm not too good at distinguishing good vs bad beans, but they tasted pretty good. Potato salad was great. It was definitely not the normal style with heavy sauces, but it was very subtle and focused more on the potato itself.

As we were eating, the table next to us had ordered desserts and they looked so good we all decided we had to try it as well. (When in Rome...) We ended up trying the peach and berry cobbler with vanilla icecream. Crumbly crust. Good. Sweet pieces of fruit. Good. Warm pie/ cold ice cream. Good.

Only thing to watch out for are the random charges they get you with. The waitress asked us if we wanted jalapenos, we said sure, thinking it was complimentary... it wasn't. +$.50. The ice cream on the pie... +$1.

Final Verdict: Go. Immediately.

Mellow Mushroom: Restaurant Review

You might be thinking to yourself, "Dang, there doesn't seem to be a restaurant that Tim's reviewed that he hasn't liked!" Well, you would be correct in that assessment, but this review will be the first that is not a glowing recommendation. (which says a lot about the quality of eateries in Austin, or my ability to choose good restaurants)

First of all, Mellow Mushroom is another quirky-looking restaurant that focuses primarily on pizzas. It resides on "The Drag", which is a hotspot for all the restaurants on UT campus. Location-wise, this place is clutch. Unfortunately, that's pretty much it.

The menu looked pretty promising, with some unique-looking pizza combinations, and if anything, it seemed like the Austin version of California Pizza Kitchen. I ended up deciding to try The Philosopher (steak, portabello mushroom, artichoke, provolone, feta and mozzarella cheese, with an oil and garlic base).

First strike against this place: it took over 1 hour for us to get our food. Granted, we had roughly 10 people ordering 4-5 pies, but still... that's ridiculous. My stomach was in the process of digesting itself by the time the food had arrived. When our Philosopher was delivered to our table, it looked like it would be good, even though it was a thin crust pizza (and I'm not a fan).

First bite... the dough was tough to bite apart and the meat was overcooked and tough. Blegh. So disappointing. In theory, the ingredients sounded like it would go amazing together, but in reality, the oil just made things kinda messy and the pizza ended up being baked too long cuz the toppings were really dried out.

I got to try someone else's Mighty Meat, which is pretty standard at most pizza places, and it tasted OK, not anything special. Once again, the crust was just too chewy for my taste. Ambience and comfortability were OK, it was pretty trippy decor, but not overwhelmingly so.

Final Verdict: Don't come here.

Torchy's Taco: Restaurant Review

Just from looking at the sign, you know you're in for a quirky experience when eating at Torchy's Taco. It's one of the smaller places; with only 5-6 tables in the entire place, but it still draws a crowd at all hours of the day. I've gone early morning on the weekend and around dinner time on a week day and the lines are out the door. Thankfully, the line moves really quickly since the menu is pretty condensed into two major categories: tacos and miscellaneous.

Of course, the draw is the creative variety of freshly prepared tacos, but I think the experience of waiting with the small crowd of eager eaters is also part of the appeal. It's got a very hippy/edgy feel to it, and the staff all rock tattoos and wear those artsy thick black frames. So very stereotypical but it fits for the place.

But enough about the setup, what about the tacos? Well, they are delicious. I had the Brushfire Taco (pictured below) that had Jamaican jerk chicken, grilled jalapenos, mango, sour cream, and cilantro served on a flour tortilla with Diablo sauce. If you check out their menu, it is simple, yet every taco has some kind of twist that you just wouldn't think of that makes it so special. Even their presentation added to the eating experience, which was a complete shock to me considering the slightly ghetto layout, but the tacos looked gorgeous when they were set out on the counter for pickup.

The only thing that I can think of as a "con", is the price tag on each taco. One taco will run in the neighborhood of $3-$4, which isn't bad considering the quality of the ingredients, but it is definitely something that would cut down on how many times I would eat there.

Whenever first time visitors come to Austin, this is one of the places that they are introduced to, and they always leave satisfied that they got to try it.

Verdict: Highly recommend.

Restaurant Review: Magnolia Cafe

I've been here three times already and it's fast becoming one of my favorite breakfast spots. Right when you pull up, the first thing you'll notice is the huge crowd that is always in front of the place. While this isn't an accurate gauge of how good a place is, Magnolia draws out consistent packed restaurants every time I've been there.

Once you're able to get seated, the first thing you'll notice is the unique decor. It's a combo of Davy Crockett era log cabin with tinges of hippy accents. It's kinda weird to describe, but it somehow works. There is also a constant gentle murmur of conversations and various restaurant-y sounds (dishes being stacked, food sizzling, etc) that makes it really comfortable to chill and talk.

Food here is a high quality version of Denny's. Obviously, the place is a cafe, so there are a lot of similarities, but they have a great selection of unique items as well as weekly specials handwritten on the walls. When I went last week, I tried their Texas Benedict and we split their famous Mag Mud.

The Mag Mud is served with a large bowl and freshly made crispy chips that get replenished whenever it gets eaten up. What's in the Mag Mud? There's a base of black beans at the bottom and a hearty layer of mildly spicy queso on top. In the center is a scoop of avocado and a spread of pico de gallo along the side. Typically people mix it all up into a lumpy mud-like mixture. Upon first inspection, the dip looks pretty disgusting, but after your first bite, you're guaranteed to be hooked on it. Typically one order of Mag Mud is too much for 4 people (I would recommend for 5-6) so it is well worth the price.

My order of Texas Benedict was a twist on my favorite Eggs Benedict. Instead of hollandaise sauce, they used a sauce with a light spicy kick and a more tart flavor that made it taste like a totally different dish. The food was served pipping hot and each bite was flavorful and very comforting as good breakfast food should make you feel. The potatoes had a light dusting of seasoning and had that crispy outer layer with the soft crumbly inner goodness that all good potatoes are made like. What surprised me the most though, was actually the oranges. Usually when you get fruit at restaurants they taste pretty disgusting. Sometimes you'll be surprised with a palatable serving of fruit, but more times than not, the fruit seems to be an afterthought. Not here. When I took the first bite, I was blown away by how sweet it was. The juices pretty much rocked my world, and I'm not even that big of a fruit person.

When I combine the comfortable ambiance of the restaurant with the great tasting food along with the great service, it is easy to see why so many people make the trip out to Magnolia even though parking is such a hassle. Even having to wait 30-45 minutes to get seated seems so inconsequential when you get the total fooding experience with your friends.

Definitely a Highly Recommend from me.

Round Rock Donut Review

I had planned to do a quick review of all the local restaurants I tried in Austin, but definitely failed for the first 10 or so new places I've tried because I kept forgetting to bring my camera. I wanted to be able to provide pictures to go along with my critiques, so I held off. Hopefully as I go back to the good ones, I'll be able to provide more in depth reviews. But I digress from RRD...

Round Rock Donuts is approximately 20 minutes away from Austin and is home to the famous "Texas Donut" shown on the Travel Channel's Man vs. Food; which coincidentally was what prompted us to visit this place. The shop opened in 1929, and the decor and feel of the place holds true to its humble origins. As we pulled in around 9:45am, the first thing we noticed was the gigantic line of people coming out the door as well as a giant line of cars wrapping around the block waiting in the drive-thru. Simply amazing! It was a good thing it was a rainy day, so a lot of people ended up leaving the line when it started drizzling, so we were able to get inside fairly quickly.

On the inside, the display of mouth-watering gut busters made our knees wobbly and our stomachs growl. Their freshly fried donuts, eclairs, various baked bread items, and of course the reason we drove out here: the Texas Donut. This beast is approximately 15 inches in diameter and they use a bucket to cut out the mold from the dough. The line moved incredibly quickly considering they only had one counter for both drive-thru and walk-in orders. Service was incredible. Hands down, the workers were one of the friendliest and helpful workers I've ever interacted with in my life. Everyone worked quickly and accurately, and were very patient with first-timers like us.

After debating, I decided on ordering 2 Texas donuts (one original glaze and one chocolate glaze), a cherry bismark, a Pigs n Blanket (just cuz I love'em), and 6 regular glazed donuts for the road. When I got the boxes of goods, I could feel the heat radiating from the bottom of the boxes because they were that fresh. Unfortunately it was raining so we couldn't eat outside, so we ran back into Jorgy's car and popped open the Texas donuts.

Texas Donut/ Donut- heavenly. I'm sure many of you will doubt how incredible a donut can possibly taste, but let me be completely honest with you; the feeling you get from the first bite of a pipping hot Texas donut is mind blowing. Dunkin Donuts and even Krispy Kreme don't hold a freakin candle to this beast. The texture is soft, yet firm, and the special orange glaze adds an extra level of crisp to the bite. Once the donut hits your tongue the flavors all kinda blow up at once. The dough just breaks down and the glaze oozes all over and the flavor is straight up INTENSE. For $5.50, a group of 4 hungry 20+ year old guys couldn't finish one Texas Donut.

Pig n Blanket- Disappointing. First of all, there was way too much bread in relation to the amount of hotdog. I should have expected it since it just looked like a roll of bread in the display. After 2 bites I got my first taste of the tiniest little hotdog I'd ever seen. Bread didn't taste fresh and the hotdog was unsatisfying.

Cherry Bismark- TBD

Overall, I loved the place. The simple homestyle aesthetics combined with the friendly staff only serve to enhance the quality of their product. The only warning would be to stick with what they're known for (donuts), since their other baked goods don't seem to have the same high standards.

Final verdict: Highly recommend to everyone.