Fontenelle Time Warp
I have passed this restaurant a thousand times giving it no more thought than wondering why anyone would name an eatery after the soft spot on an infant’s head. The Fontenelle is nestled into a sad, neglected stretch of Montreal Road across from the old bingo hall amongst several empty for rent retail spaces with nothing more than an old, nostalgic sign rising off the roof to announce it. Passing right on by is standard for most people, I would guess — it certainly was for us. Recently the diner has cropped up in Ottawa Foodies, a website devoted to good food in Ottawa. It’s mentioned several times if you are looking for a good breakfast in the city.
How could I have neglected to visit this place, just walking distance from my house. especially when I really do not have a favorite breakfast spot? Looking for a diner? People direct you to Elgin Street Diner or Zaks, both which are passable, with lotsa food on the plate, with a hipster-faux-nostalgic vibe. I was almost insulted that the Elgin Street Diner was featured on “You Gotta Eat Here” recently. Really? That’s the best Ottawa has to offer for morning fare?
We have a lot of shopping to do for an impromptu Cinco de Mayo party on this first sunny Saturday in Ottawa in sometime. Rob and I decide it’s time to check out The Fontenelle.
Entering The Fontenelle brings me back to childhood, and this place dates back at least to the sixties. Velvet paintings of cabins in the woods, brick-a-brac, formica tables, green vinyl banquettes and swivel stools at the lunch counter greet you. No manufactured kitsch. Perched by the coffee machine is a politically incorrect dog made entirely of empty cigarette packs. I swear even the light streaming in the front window is from the mid-sixties. A friendly staffer, we later learn, is one of the family in this family-owned establishment, seats us and brings menus and coffee, included with breakfast. I’m sure if you sniff hard enough in just the right direction, you can detect the faint smell of bacon crisping in a pan, coffee perking and cigarette smoke, a scent many of us woke to in our busy yesteryear.
As we peruse menus, four middle-aged guys debate strenuously the merits of shopping carts with lockable wheels. I would guess they gather there at least every Saturday. Families with kids happily enjoy their meals, singles sit with The Sun, couples begin their day across coffee and the owner’s grand-kids hang out while grandad is in the kitchen cooking eggs. Saturday this week anyways, is not terribly busy but nicely occupied.
Oh yeah…where was I ? Breakfast! I ordered a breakfast club. White or whole wheat are my only options, which I appreciate. Some days you do not want to agonize over sourdough, multigrain, rye and so on. Coffee is decent and included with breakfast, unusual indeed. My plate arrives with my sandwich and a heaping helping of real honest to goodness home fries crisped up on a flat-top. Not deep fried “nuggets” diners call cafe potatoes or home fries. The breakfast comes unadorned by anemic winter fruit to be discarded. My club is on white bread, buttery good with fresh tomato, egg, perfectly crisped bacon, mayo, thick deli ham browned on the flattop and the piece de resistance…orange plastic cheese. Yes. Perfect. It melts and oozes just so and coats your mouth with cheesy goodness that reminds you that it’s not good for you.
Rob ordered smoked meat and two eggs, which came with well-buttered wheat toast and those same perfect flat-top home fries. The smoked meat was heated up on the flat-top, creating bits of caramelized deliciousness. His eggs were perfectly scrambled.
Classic ingredients and simple preparation, perfectly executed old-school. Honest food. My favorite kind of place. I hesitate to blog about this place. You will not find it on your own, likely — it is so un-hip it’s hip. Discovery will render it null and void.
Breakfast for two (which included a canned pop) $20.40 plus tip. We ordered the more “exotic” fare. A bacon and egg breakfast can be had for a song.
Papusas at Cabana
Our search for a quick, freshly made-to-order lunch found us at Cabana, a restaurant, specializing in papusas and other Salvadoran treats. I had been introduced to these hearty and addictive treats by a friend and co-worker who took me there after hearing that I’d prefer a unique casual meal over a high-end puffery every time. It was time for me to take Maureen to share in the delight.
The place is very friendly, family run operation with and adjacent Latin food shop called La Tiendita, where Maureen and I go to stock up on good corn tortillas, queso fresco, chili peppers and other Latin food staples.
We sat down and ordered three papusas each, one of each kind on the menu, cheese, pork and combination and a side dish of fried plantains, refried beans and crema, a rich variant of Creme Fraiche. The papusas came with a large jar of a lightly fermented cabbage slaw, reminiscent of Korean kimchi and a fresh tasting thin tomato salsa. Hot sauce was on the table. 3 papusas is too many. Two would be perfect, and is the minimum order size.
The papusas themselves are almost like doughy corn pancakes, stuffed with meat and cheese and delicious all by themselves, but with the gentle bite of the cabbage and the fresh tomato flavours of the salsa, they form the perfect combination of rich, salty, with just enough bite and tang to keep me going back for more. It’s a shock that these papusas and their condiments are $2.25 each. I dare say that I can’t think of a better food bargain in the city.
The menu at Cabana is full of authentic, home-cooked Salvadoran specialties and we may try some some day if we have the will to order anything but these amazing papusas when we go there.
Other Springtime Traditions
It never fails to amaze me how much energy is expended every April, by my frozen patch of planet, in a renewed quest to become lush with verdant life almost over night and certainly before my very eyes. Trees literally pop to life. Sap warms and begins begins to course through veins, buds swell, a bright green haze signals the advent of a new season and an electrical surge seems to pass through the earth to ignite us humans, causing us to smile, be a little giddy and drunk with sunshine, clean out closets and share large meals with loved ones.
Spring brings us Easter and Passover. Both traditions have deeply-rooted food experiences. Our families’ Christian traditions included glazed ham with pineapple rings, maraschino cherries, studded with cloves, potato scallop, or turkey and all the trimmings. And Family. And Chocolate. And Peeps. And those horrible, pure sugar pink and purple eggs, that peg the sugar index just below maple sugar candy, which we ate anyways. My teeth hurt just remembering.
Not sure what the other side ate. It did not include the “bunny” and that was enough for me to ignore it. Now as an adult, I don’t celebrate the religious end of things but instead, I love to appreciate the beginning of things, the rebirth of my garden, city and world, with friends, family and food. This year, since we can just go to the store and buy as many chocolate bunnies, eggs, and coloured cellophane grass as we please, Rob and I thought it might be interesting to experience some of the goodies that Passover has to offer. We are not being attentive to any religious dietary restrictions, as we are interested purely in the food experience. Chocolate bunnies will be present as my kids are still my kids at any age.
12 pm Easter Sunday: Noodle kugel is warm from the oven, and the brisket is going in for a long braise. Tzimmes (which as almost like a chutney) is simmering on the stove top, smelling oddly enough of Christmas, I think because of the cinnamon, nuts, dried fruit, vanilla and orange.
The brisket recipe is adapted from many found on the web, but mostly, I followed The Pioneer Woman’s excellent blog posting. It’s a 6-lb. brisket that’s been trimmed of excess fat and placed in a roasting pan. In a separate bowl, I mixed about 2 cups of ketchup, 1 cup of grape jelly (really!) and a packet of onion soup mix, which is then poured over both sides of the brisket. I cooked the brisket at 275 degrees F for 6 hours, turning it over and spooning the sauce on top halfway through. When it was done, I removed the brisket to a cutting board and cut it into 1/4 inch-or-so slices and poured the sauce into a large enough serving dish to hold both the sauce and brisket slices. I then transferred the slices to the sauce.
The meal was warming and delicious. The brisket and sauce was accompanied by the tzimmes, steamed green beans and smashed potatoes. We had the Kugel for dessert although Jewish friends have since told us that the kugel, despite it’s custardy sweetness is a side. A real Passover meal would likely have a choice of a couple flourless cakes for dessert. Of course, this certainly wasn’t meant to be authentic – we used butter where we shouldn’t have, for example – but it was wildly successful as a tasty exploration of another set of traditions.
Coq Au Reisling
This rustic yet elegant chicken, a meal in a bowl, satisfies in cold weather but is light enough for a spring meal. I usually serve this dish with parsleyed new potatoes which I prepare separately. Just boil and toss with a little butter and parsley, then add to the serving bowls. You can add any other vegetables that you like or have on hand such as carrots or small squashes. Serve with a crusty, rustic bread to soak up the broth, which is very flavourful and really the star of the show.
Coq au Reisling (Adapted from Jaime Oliver)
1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
750 ml Canadian Reisling
1 bouquet garni celery, bay leaf, sprig parsley, sprig thyme, tied with kitchen string
olive oil
4 ounces pancetta
8 ounces button mushrooms
12 small pickling or chipolini onions
1 tbsp flour
salt and pepper
parsleyed potatoes
1. Marinate the chicken in the wine with the bouquet garni in the fridge overnight, in a ziplock bag. Place it in a bowl in case it leaks. (It will leak)
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Heat oil in a dutch oven. Remove chicken from marinade (save it and garni) and season liberally with salt and pepper, add to pot and brown on both sides. Remove from pot and set aside. Add another glug of oil and add bacon to pot. Saute 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and onions and saute 5 more minutes.
4. Add flour to pot and stir. Return chicken to the pot, place on medium heat. Add wine and garni, bring to a boil, stirring. Cover and transfer to oven and cook for 45 minutes.
Click HERE for a printable version of this recipe.
Tonight, also inspired by Jaime Oliver, I am roasting some stone fruits (plums and nectarines), but any fruit will do. Toss with a little sugar (about 1/4 cup, adjust to how sour the fruit is), zest some orange peel (just the coloured part, the white pith is bitter), juice the orange, sprinkle in some vanilla extract, break two cinnamon sticks in half, toss in and add a good splash of bourbon, cognac, port, whatever you like and have on hand. I’m using Cavaldos. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Serve over ice cream or Greek yogurt and top with honey if desired.
The Dish: Amazing Tomato Sauce!
In the winter, we buy good canned tomatoes, in whole and crushed and sauce form because good, fresh tomatoes are nowhere to be found. Recently in a local gourmet store, we happened upon a small, stubby bottle of cherry tomato sauce, made in Italy by Agromonte. It looked just like the old stubby beer bottles and it even had a pop top.
We opened it several weeks later to make pizza and couldn’t believe how alive the sauce was with fresh cherry tomato flavour. It’s sweet, with a little acid and needed no dressing up at all. It made for amazing pizza sauce. Unfortunately, enough time had passed between buying this bottle and us using it, that we had forgotten where we bought it. We looked many places on our usual rounds and happened upon it at the Herb and Spice in Westboro on Wellington. I’m pretty sure that’s not where we got it originally, but we’re very happy to have found it again. We bought 6 bottles of the stuff and have since used it in simple spaghetti and pasta dishes with consistently terrific results.
A Margarita Missive
Maureen and I LOVE margaritas. But, that statement comes with a long list of qualifiers. We’re talking about REAL margaritas here. The real deal. The genuine article. Before I talk about what makes a great margarita, I feel it’s critical to point out what DOESN’T make a great margarita:
- Bar mix – sweet and sour, margarita mix, some fluorescent limey, sugary syrup.
- Blended Ice – leave it for the Slush Puppies
- A glass the size of your forearm.
Wrong, wrong and wrong.
A real margarita is strong, tart, refreshing and, well, MANLY. Just like a daiquiri (don’t believe me? Look it up). It’s one of the simplest cocktail recipes out there. I’m really not sure why so many bartenders are so game to screw it up.
Here is the recipe for the real-deal Margarita, courtesy of Wikipedia:
- 1 ounce tequila
- Dash of Triple Sec
- Juice of 1/2 lime or lemon
- Pour over ice, stir. Rub the rim of a stem glass with rind of lemon or lime, spin in salt—pour, and sip.
Got it? THAT’s a margarita. It comes in a small old-fashioned glass because there’s just not that much to it. It tastes of great tequila and fresh lime and just enough orange liqueur to take the edge of the bitterness of the lime and to provide a TOUCH of sweetness. It’s slightly paler than the colour of the pulp of the inside of a lime.
I can only imagine that a few of the party bars conspired to pervert the margarita as a party drink, to pad the volume with cheaper ingredients to justify higher prices. Of course, if most people ordered a margarita in a bar in Ottawa and a REAL margarita was put in front of them, they’d ask’ “What the hell is this?”, and I recognize that. It’s gotten to the point that many bartenders will argue that they make real margaritas, but when asked, “Does it have sweet and sour mix in it?”, they say “yes.” and when I make a face, they’ll say “…but not too much”, as valid a reply to this question as “Did you shoot the mailman?”
Funny story, and completely true: When traveling, we stopped at the hotel bar for a nightcap and asked the bartender to make us a couple of margaritas, but only if they had no sweet and sour mix in it. He proudly told us that they make their own mix, which was commendable but still wrong. I took a different approach and asked if he could make me one with an ounce of good tequila, a dash of Triple Sec and the juice of 1/2 a lime, on the rocks, no salt?
Oh, YES!
He told me that it would be awful and whipped one up and smugly presented it to me to prove his point. “You try this.” he said, implying that it was way off base. I took a sip and it was wonderful — and why wouldn’t it be? I told him so and he just looked confused. Then I read aloud the American Bartender’s Association recipe for a margarita, which was exactly what I asked him to make for me. He was humble and gracious and made one for Maureen and in fact, when we were about to leave he made us a “triple” margarita to bring up to our room to share on him.
Now, I don’t want to take away anyone’s favourite sugary, alien-fluorescent green faux margarita, but it has the same name. Can we fix that? Can we call it Maragit-ade?
I suppose I just have to keep doing what I’m doing now, which is to give bartenders the simple recipe to follow.
I really do have to go back to Guero’s in Austin where they know how to make real margaritas and the only variation is between ones with great tequila and ones with really great tequila.
Good-bye Austin!
It’s 28 degrees and sunny on our last day in Austin and we head to Walton’s Fancy and Staple for breakfast. Sandra Bullock, who lives in Austin, owns this establishment among other spots. Arriving and lucking into a parking spot right out front (there is a curious lack of traffic and an abundance of parking in downtown Austin), we are greeted by a very old-timey building with gold leaf signage.
Inside this elegantly restored historic building is a quaint granary, with rustic floors and tables, exposed brick walls and beamed ceilings. Small items like vintage style candies, baking cook books and coffee are for sale. The store boasts an in-house florist and a bakery with both unusual bakery items items like golden eggs (small nutmeg cake rolled in cinnamon and sugar) and traditional items like cream filled cupcakes, squares and whoopie pies.
The main part of the business is a soup-salad-sandwich and breakfast bar. The hand scrawled chalk board has enticing items under the breakfast section such as grilled shrimp and grits. Tempting, but oooh…it’s 10:30 and the lunch menu also looks very good. In the end I choose ham and cheese on a pretzel bun with a cup of onion soup, and Rob orders the pastrami with spicy potato salad. Walton’s uses organic local meat without injected preservatives and hormones.
I expected the usual run-of-the-mill deli ham but, no: the ham was thick sliced and oven roasted. Truly delicious paired with emmental Swiss cheese, crunchy leaf lettuce, dijon aioli on a soft, chewy, salted pretzel bun. The onion soup had great beefy depth and was very rich with cheese. A cup was enough. The sandwiches at Walton are substantial. Think about sharing if you want to order a side.
Rob’s Pastrami was very good: mild, well-made brisket pastrami with grainy mustard and Swiss on large pieces of grilled light rye bread. He did remove a bit of the mustard as it was over powering the meat, but once adjusted it was excellent. The potato salad was exceptional. Made creamy with a mustard-tinged mayo and kicked up with sliced jalapenos.
We also shared a golden egg out of curiosity. It was a light and delicious nutmeg cake concoction that, although baked not fried, rolled in butter and sugar, still manages to taste like a very cakey, yet refined doughnut.
Walton’s was the kind of shop you wish they had back home — great sandwiches and other preparations, perfect for breakfast and lunch, a lovely bakery and a keen eye on quality.
Our early afternoon was spent walking Austin’s historic 6th Street and taking pictures in the lovely February sun. Soon we were hankering for a margarita and headed back to our favorite watering hole, Guero’s. Seems like everyone else had the same idea and we could not get a seat outside. Not wanting to waste the precious sunshine, we drove around looking for a patio. Seems there is not a lot of patio action in Austin in February, despite it being 28 degrees. Eventually we settled on a craft brewery, Uncle Billy’s Brew and ‘Cue, only because it had a patio. It’s not worth mentioning other than the beer was just okay, the margs below average and the queso…well, lets stop there. Better things await.
After spending an hour or two blogging and posting photos, we headed to Driftwood, Texas, about a 30 minute drive. In about an hour the sun will set on our last day in Texas. We are headed to The Salt Lick BBQ, another iconic Texas joint noted for open pit BBQ. After a leisurely drive through hills and valleys, we come upon the massive parking lot of the Salt Lick and its many out buildings. This is an impressive organization. We park and head over the the Salt Lick cellar, a pretty little building residing beside a still napping vineyard, and surrounded by rail fencing entwined with thorny rose canes. The Salt Lick is BYOB but sells wine and beer in this separate business on site. We saw the more prepared among our species lugging coolers.
After purchasing the minimum 6 pack on ice (Shiner Light Blonde), we headed inside the main building which houses the open pit, some seating, the cash and the requisite sauce and T-shirt “store”. The Salt Lick is one of the only BBQ places that uses this open-pit style of smoking the meat, cooking it on a grill above a hot fire, constantly repositioning it to keep the temperature regulated. All of the meats they serve are cooked her at the same time. It’s quite a feast for the eyes to see this open pit in action.
We are quickly lead to the pleasant covered patio, with it’s warm, yellow Texas flagstone floor and lacquered wood tables and benches. The lighting is cheery and there are two trees growing through the canopy.
The staff is friendly and helpful. Our young waiter arrives and takes our order. We decide to eat family style which is all you can eat but brought to you by your server. Self serve is so wasteful. We were actually brought a perfect amount for us but our waiter was attentive if anything looked like it needed refilling.
We ordered moist brisket (choice of lean or moist), pork ribs, Texas link, beans, potato salad and coleslaw. Pickles, onion and white bread accompany the meal. Two creamy, tangy, mustard based sauces are provided, one sweet one with heat. They were unlike any other sauces we had tasted across the country The sauce is perfect for the meat, sweet how I like it but it allows the smokey flavours of the meat to come through.
The brisket is merely good. We were totally spoiled by the brisket at Kreuz. This mild brisket needed, and was rescued by the excellent Salt Lick BBQ Sauce sauce. The pork ribs are meaty and well smoked to the bone with a good, thick bark. The Texas link is juicy and delicious especially eaten with the wonderful, soft white bread provided and the pickle which is much like a half sour deli pickle. Sides are also pleasing here at Salt Lick. The tangy coleslaw is crunchy and well dressed. Beans are of the unsweet cowboy variety of which I’m not fond, but the potato salad was excellent, creamy with a mustard-vinegar dressing which must have been poured in when the taters were still steaming hot. The dressing permeates right through the spuds instead of being a gloppy mess of mayo sitting on top. Addictive.
We had to push it away as the promise of a blackberry cobbler demanded it. Salt Lick offers peach and blackberry cobblers for dessert. We chose blackberry. Ice cream? Of course. The warm cobbler, dark with rich berry flavour and sweet with excellent vanilla ice cream was a perfect end to a great Texas day, and our final day in Texas.
Food Truck Day
Today is food truck day! Our goal: to have all of our meals at Austin food trucks around the city. Food truck culture is well ensconced here and there are a large number of choices available to hungry meal seekers. Every type of food is represented, across enthnicities, styles, and trends, for breakfast, lunch and dinner and from the basic to the hautest of haute.
These aren’t your father’s chip wagons. In Austin and other cities, food trucks are a lower cost alternative for a chef with vision to open a food business and to get known, gain a following and to be self-sufficient. The overhead and start-up costs are considerably lower. The nature of the competition is different as well as access and ambiance are taken out of the equation. The focus is on the food.
Our first stop of the day was one of Austin’s original and very popular food truck businesses, Torchy’s Tacos. One of the deciding factors for choosing Torchy’s was that only a small fraction of the trucks are open earlier in the day. Most open around 11:30 for the lunch crowd.
Torchy’s had a large assortment of Tacos available. I chose breakfast variants, chorizo and egg and a migas taco (egg, onion, green pepper, cheese and crisp tortilla strips). Both came with mild red sauce and a green sauce with a green chile kick.
Maureen ordered a “Dirty Sanchez” (probably just so she could say she did) and a green chile pork carnitas taco. The Dirty Sanchez had egg, poblano pepper that was battered and deep fried and dressed with guacamole, escabeche carrots and cheese. The other was stuffed with lots of pork carnitas, green chile, cilantro , raw onion and soft queso cheese, with a mild herb creamy sauce.
Often tacos ordered this way can be quite small, and the idea is to order a few. These were not that kind. They were larger and full to the top with their fillings. All were delicious and were a great start to the day.
Our second stop was 400 feet down the road.
Gourdough’s specializes in big-ass doughnuts with exotic flavours. Among the 20 or so varieties that all look spectacular. After some major consternation we finally settle on one each. Ordinarily we might order more and have a taste of each, but these doughnuts were $4.50 each, signaling that they were substantial in size.
I originally asked for the “Flying Pig”, with Bacon and a maple syrup glaze. After all that work of whittling the offerings down to a single choice, I was told that they were out of bacon. So back to the menu board. My plan B choice was “Porkey’s”, a doughnut with cream cheese and jalapeño jelly topped with Canadian bacon.
Maureen choose a “Sarah’s Joy”, a doughnut with coconut cream filling, frosted with chocolate and covered with large, coarse coconut flakes. Doughnuts are fried to order so when they called our names, the just-topped donuts were warm and very fresh. And large. Very large — a little wider than a CD in diameter, with no hole.
First mine: The fresh yeasty dough, the cream cheese and the jalapeño jelly were perfect together, not needing the superfluous bacon as it didn’t add or take away from the experience. Although, “Superfluous Bacon” is a very good name for a rock band. Maureen’s, however, was hands-down too sweet. The coconut cream was quite sweet and chocolate icing killed any chance the doughnut had left to be enjoyed. A word to bakers: Chocolate icing obliterates all other flavours — it’s strong and sweet and is almost always paired with more delicate ingredients that can’t stand up to it. Even chocolate cake suffers for it.
All was not lost, however. These are big doughnuts, so I happily gave up half of mine.
Mid-afternoon we headed to our choice for a late lunch, called Fat Cactus, a truck that specialized in combining a couple of our favourite things: they made tacos and sandwiches using Navaho fry bread, a crispy, fluffy, rich flat bread (similar to a Beaver Tail for our Ottawa-based readers). But alas, they were sold out by the time we got there… That’s an important lesson to learn for food truck aficionados — get it while you can.
The good news was that we were across the street from one of the largest collections of food trucks in Austin along South Congress. We looked at the many offerings, ranging from Cajun/Creole, to cupcakes, sausages, shaved ice treats, assortments of food cooked and put in cones and the one we selected, Thai. Food trucks often have great names built on puns and ours was no exception. “Coat & Thai” served the full range of Thai and near-Thai specialties.
We ordered red curry, pineapple fried rice, spicy Thai chicken wings and crab rangoon. A few minutes later our number is up and we bring it back to one of the communal picnic tables in the area. Everything is hot, home-made and delicious.
The fried rice has a subtle heat and is full of plump shrimp, pineapple, cilantro and vegetables. The red curry is medium spicy with a cilantro backbeat and goes very well on rice. Our chicken wings have that sweet, spicy Thai chili sauce on them and are addictive. Lastly, the crab rangoon (crab and cream cheese in a dumpling and deep fried — not a Thai dish, but an American invention first served at Trader Vic’s as faux Polynesian food) was creamy, and cooked so it was still tender. Lovely.
We headed out at about 8PM for our dinner spot, G’raj Mahal, and Indian food truck that has stretched the boundary of what could still be called a food truck. It started out as a trailer and some tables, but while the trailer is still the kitchen, they’ve added some semi-permanent structures to provide shelter for the tables and now have a seating capacity of about 60 people across three areas, and recently added full table service with waitstaff. You can also BYOB and many tables were making a night out of good food, company and wine. It’s still outside, the kitchen is in a trailer and it had humble beginnings, so it’s a food truck.
The theme is Indian food and their specialty is Goan cuisine, known for its use of coconut milk, seafood and chilies. We order some naan bread, sag paneer (Indian cheese with pureed spinach in curried cream), dahl, tandoori shrimp, chicken malabar (sweet coconut in caramelized onion cream sauce), and Goan Coconut Curry (Shrimp with freshly grated coconut, simmered with chilies).
The food is made with the freshest ingredients and the chef shies away from the usual artificial colours and shortcuts used by many Indian restaurants. This is without a doubt, the best Indian food I have ever had. The spice level of the food that the chef designates as “spicy” is well within our comfort zone. The coconut dishes are terrific. Sweet, nutty, spicy and creamy all at once. The creamy and rich sag paneer was also a standout. As with all really good Indian food, it’s impossible to stop eating! It takes almost superhuman strength to resist that last piece of naan soaked in the coconut curry.
That’s it for Food Truck Day. The variety and quality are both outstanding. Great food cities like New York, San Francisco, Portland and Austin are seeing more and more food trucks emerge as a key force in the culinary evolution of the city. One will only hope that other cities (Ottawa: hint, hint!) will change their minds about the crippling regulations that they have stacked against these businesses and will ensure they are allowed to flourish. Cities can only be better for it.
Texas Mish-Mash
Today was a patchwork day. Maureen and I went to an old Austin favourite for Breakfast, took a drive to San Antonio for Lunch, and ate sports event concession food for dinner.
The day started with a trip to the Magnolia Cafe. it’s one of the most popular cafes in the hip SoCo (South Congress Avenue) district — a funky (overused term when describing things in Austin) 24-hour joint with an eclectic menu that described the cross-section of cultures here — cowboy favourites sit along side Mexican dishes. Diner food mingles with upscale eats.
Although the entire menu is available 24hrs a day, we were there for breakfast. Migas is a popular Tex-Mex breakfast item, scrambled eggs with onion, cheese, tortilla chips, served with tortillas and salsa and refried beans on the side. At Magnolia, there’s an option to order the “Love Migas” where the entire dish is cooked in garlic butter and serrano chilies. We opt for that, please!
The place is also celebrated for its plate-sized pancakes and we order one each — gingerbread for Maureen and I opt for the cornmeal pancake, continuing my love affair with all things corn.
Our breakfasts arrive and the aroma rises to make us want to roll around in the plate. The garlic, cheese, heat from the serranos are heaven when the eggs and beans and house-made chunky salsa are piled into a fresh, hot flour tortilla and eaten taco style. It makes for a creamy, eggy, spicy experience that’s totally unique to the Magnolia Cafe.
On to the pancakes: Maureen’s gingerbread pancake has the same rich hue of good gingerbread, but it has the soft and fluffy texture of a pancake, a real winning combo. My cornmeal pancake has great corn-cake flavour and a coarse texture from the cornmeal — great with butter and syrup.
We hit the road to check out some of the small towns (Gruene and New Braunfels) on the way to San Antonio to tour it’s famous Riverwalk — a peaceful, meandering canal through the heart of San Antonio. Constructed with a great deal of forethought and vision for the city, it’s overhung with Magnolia trees, filled with singing birds (important to us Canadians who have missed them for the last several months), and lined with plantings, fountains, cafes and shops. Some stretches of the canal reach into historic districts. Tour boats and water taxis move up river, some with bandoliers, and or microphoned tour guides.
After walking some distance, checking out the sights, we were heavily motivated to have a seat at a sidewalk cafe and enjoy the warmth of the sun (it had been overcast and a little chilly (for Texans – still t-shirt weather for Canadians) since we’ve arrived. We chose Ibiza, an eatery that specializes in Latin cuisine, with Mexico, Cuba, Spain and others well-represented on the menu. We order the Cubano sandwich, which has the traditional ham, roast pork, cheese, pickles and mustard in a toasted roll. Ibiza decided to fore-go the pressing of the sandwich and left the roll in it’s full-volume state. Mixed veggie chips accompanied the sandwich and we washed it all down with a couple Blue Moons. The roast pork was excellent and was definitely the star of the show. As well, the Cubano depends on the combination of salty ham and pork, the creaminess of the cheese and the sharpness of plain old yellow mustard and pickle to provide it’s iconic flavour profile. Even though the sandwiches weren’t pressed, these satisfied the yen.
We headed back to Austin via I-35 — as depressing a stretch of road as you’re likely to find. Chain restaurants, one after another on both sides of the roads for miles and miles, broken up by gas stations, low-end hotels, warehouses and the odd outlet mall were the only view. It reminded us yet again, why we have a strict no interstates, no chain restaurants rule on our road trips.
We had to get back to Austin because we had tickets to the season opener of TXRD all-womens’ Roller Derby. Austin is the epicentre of the resurgence of this sport, blending more actual sport and less Wrestlemania-style they do inject some light-hearted fun into their version of the sport. There are local rock bands playing in the breaks and punishment for minor penalties are assessed by spinning a wheel. Punishments involve the potential to give up points if a penalized player loses a contest, such as a pillow fight, arm-wrestling, a tug-of-war or a two lap track race. However game play is serious and highly athletic, and there’s plenty of bone-crushing contact between players to keep the audience on their feet. There’s a punk rock aesthetic to the whole roller derby scene in Austin that keeps it a great venue for watching people letting their freak flag fly. It was a great time.
Another thing we liked about it was the concession food. Sure, you could get pizza and hot dogs, but you could also get some highly inventive fare from Jackalope, a local eatery. In addition to items like a jalapeno Texas hot-link dipped in orange pancake batter and deep-fried as their take on a corn dog, they had one item that was too intriguing to not order: jicima and cabbage slaw with Cap’n Crunch and couscous crusted fried chicken with green chile ranch dressing on top all served in a bacon waffle cone. This was easy to hold, easy to eat and man, was it good. Sweet, savoury with a nice bite from the slaw and heat from the green chile ranch. The chicken was tender and juicy and Cap’n Crunch is an inspired choice as breading material for fried chicken… well, fried ANYTHING for that matter.
In case you were wondering, the Holy Rollers beat the Putas Del Fuego in a close 54-51 match with the Putas putting on a major comeback push that made it a nail biter. It was a great day across a couple cities. We ended the night with a major crash and slept in on Monday.
Austin Day 2: Kreuz Market
It’s raining in Austin again today so we plan to do a little driving and exploring. Sun is promised for tomorrow and so is the Texas Marathon. But today, brunch will be at 24 Diner. This hip eatery is busy on Saturday and parking is hard to obtain. Once inside the wait is 15 minutes. We are seated and order drinks and peruse the menu. The interior is not diner-like at all but more hipster/industrial.
The menu has all the diner classics but refined and many healthy non-dinerish options. I order the Pork Belly sandwich that is reminiscent of a bahn mi with cucumber, mint, serrano and pickled red onion. Sides are ordered separately and I was intrigued by the menu option: vegetable of the day. I expected the usual bland selection of broccoli, carrots, or cauliflower. Today’s veg was brussel sprouts sauteed in a skillet. Sign me up! I love sprouts. The sandwich was good, the baguette perfectly chewy and the pork belly surprisingly meaty. The mint, serrano and cucumber were not evident and that was a little disappointing. The sprouts were awesome! Charred and sweet.
Rob ordered a patty melt with fries. The melt came nontraditionally on sourdough, but it was perfectly toasted on the flat-top with the pre-requisite fried onions and swiss cheese, combining for a creamy, sweet, sharp foil for the burger. Rob’s a sucker for a patty melt.
After lunch we headed over to the nearby Whole Foods store, perchance to dream. This Austin location is the flagship store and well… as a someone who shops for food in Ottawa…completely depressing. The selection is amazing.
A little tired walking the aisles? Stop here and have a craft beer. *sigh*
Our daughter Hannah always requests meatloaf when asked for dinner suggestions.
Raising the candy apple to an art form. The choice of prepared foods is staggering.
Kreuz Market (pronounced “KRITES”) in Lockhart has been on Rob’s radar for some time. It is one of the oldest and most traditional examples of Texas BBQ. We spent the afternoon cruising around in the inclement weather stopping here and there for a picture. Lockhart is about 40 minutes south of Austin and is considered a bit of a Mecca for BBQ enthusiasts. On the way to Lockhart, Rob informs me that he is not certain I’m going to like Kreuz. Why? Well…its hunks of meat and no sauce, and no forks. But there are sides right? Hmmm…crackers and pickles…maybe potato salad. Okay, I’m pretty sure I already hate this place. I don’t care about its iconic status. Oh well, I’ll grit my teeth and take one for the team.
Kreuz is huge. The woodlot out back is the size of your average supermarket garden center. When entering you are oddly accosted by several of those rip-off “claw and capture a stuffed animal” vending machines. Advance warning, parents. Further in the line up to order begins. Selection is small – two varieties of sausage, brisket, beef and pork ribs, smoked ham special today. Ordering is done at a central counter where you pay as well.
The ordering room contains several large smokers and open fires with hot burning logs. The clerk takes your meat orders only. She calls it out directly to the aproned, blackened cutter immediately behind her who slices your brisket and ribs. She weighs it and the cashier rings it up. It is bundled haphazardly with several slices of white bread in several layers of butcher paper and handed still open to you.
At this point you continue to the next ordering phase in the main dining hall. Here you have a few limited choices for sides including sauerkraut, German potatoes (roasted and steamed), mac and cheese, coleslaw and several pickle selections.
From here you find space at a table and spread out your meal. Kreuz also does not provide forks. Plastic spoons and knives and fingers. That’s it. We ordered the brisket (fat), pork ribs, a sausage, mac and cheese, sauerkraut and bread and butter pickles.
Normally we don’t order the brisket because it is too dry and strong tasting. This brisket however was amazing, moist, tender, flavourful, pull apart delicious with a delicate smoke. It was truly fantastic and I would never hesitate to order it. Like no brisket I’ve ever had. The pork ribs were good, very peppery, tender. and had a nice rosy deep smoke ring. They however could have benefited from a sweet Memphis BBQ sauce. Blasphemy, I know. Texas is about the meat but I am about the sauce. The sausage was very unseasoned and dull – perhaps because we were expecting a spiced Texas hot link and it turned out to be German-style sausage. Again, sauce would have rescued it. We ate most of the meal wrapping the juicy brisket in white bread with the crunchy sweet pickles. Heaven.
The sides are fine. Coleslaw is crunchy, creamy and tasty. The mac and cheese is overcooked pasta in day-glo orange cheese sauce and is awful in that perfect, excellent way. The thick ridge cut bread and butter pickles are the perfect foil to the fatty meat. On the whole Kreuz was an awesome Texas BBQ experience and well worth going out of your way to try.
