Sunday, February 27, 2011

Gas station breakfast.

(Top) Chilaquiles w/ huevos over-easy. (Bottom) J w/ coffee. © Ryan Schierling
Sometimes there's just nothing better than waking up slowly on a late February Sunday morning, sleepily pushing your way into the humid, overcast day and finding fresh and fiery familiarity at the back of a gas station/convenience store. You can sit at the bar that cradles the tiny open kitchen, or you can kick the back door and eat at the picnic tables, listening to the sound of the highway, drinking your coffee and enjoying the warming spring air. 


Señor Buddy's, off of Highway 290 outside of Austin, is now our favorite place for chilaquiles. 

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Hamburger Superior.

Top Notch trio. © Ryan Schierling
As much as I'd like to start this off with a quote from Richard Linklater's "Dazed and Confused," which prominently features Austin's Top Notch Hamburgers as backdrop for his classic film about the last day of school in 1976 in a small Texas town, I can't. In the movie, the restaurant isn't much more than a cool background. So I'm going to go with Jules in Pulp Fiction for this one, because it's pretty much true.

"My girlfriend's a vegetarian, so that pretty much makes me a vegetarian, but I do enjoy a tasty burger."

There was a dearth of good, solid burgers in Seattle. It was either local fast food chains (the beloved and cheap Dick's immediately springs to mind) with their thin, grey patties, or pubs (Two Bells Tavern), or specialty burger joints (Lunchbox Laboratory, who Food Network called the best burger in the state) with ridiculous and delicious over-the-top offerings. Don't get me wrong, when I'd had a few drinks I loved eating Dick's as much as the next guy – yeah, that one never gets old – and LL put me into food coma more than a few times, but there was nowhere to go for an honest middle-of-the-road burger that was fresh, consistent, well-made and delicious. Red Mill came close. Daly's came closer. But Daly's closed down, was probably bulldozed and is now condos-up, retail-down.

I can't tell you how excited I was after we'd arrived in Austin, to find out that Texas does not take hamburgers lightly. Even local/regional fast-food joints here kick the buns off of most burgers I've eaten in the rest of the country. The first thing you learn about Texas hamburgers is "all the way," which means mayonnaise, mustard, onion, pickle, tomato, lettuce. There is no secret sauce, there is no ketchup/catsup when you go all the way. I love that when you drive-thru at Sonic, they ask you if you want your burger mayo/mustard OR ketchup, as if the three could never peacefully coexist under the same bun. The second thing you learn about Texas hamburgers is fresh beef. There is no reason to eat a hamburger made from a frozen patty. Ever. EVER. Fresh beef is king in Texas, and the good burger joints serve fresh beef, even the fast food ones.

But as many fantastic burgers as there are in the Lone Star State, I've found that there really are only two significant variations. Is the beef patty on top? Or is it on the bottom?

For example, if you go to legendary All-American staple Sonic, the beef is on top of the "toppings." It goes like this: bottom bun, toppings, beef and cheese, top bun. If you go to legendary All-American staple Dairy Queen, the beef is under the toppings. It goes like this: bottom bun, beef and cheese, toppings, top bun.


(L) Char-broiled @ Top Notch. (R) #4, Longhorn Special. © Ryan Schierling
These are two very different burgers, and this dichotomy led me to question my faith when it came to hamburgers. I'd always been taught that the meat went underneath the toppings. It was just the way things were, and always had been, and always would be. I mean, when you grill at home, the burger goes on the bottom bun, right? Toppings are toppings, right?

Were the juices from the beef on top filtering down through the vegetation underneath, and then hitting my tongue in a more pleasing manner? Was it the mouth-feel of the beef dominance and then the lesser crisp/crunch underneath coming through that I liked? It was a hamburger after all, not a salad sandwich. I don't have all of the answers here. 

I explored other burger joints in Austin. Culver's, beef top. Dan's Hamburgers, beef top. P. Terry's, beef top. Hut's Hamburgers, beef top. Top Notch, beef top. EZ's, beef top. Mighty Fine, beef top. I'm starting to see a trend here, and a trend I think I support wholeheartedly. I mean, I think I like the hamburger superior better. No, no. I'm going to take a stand here. I prefer the beef on top, and the "toppings" underneath. There, I said it. I want the beef on top.

What's your take? Where should the meat go? On top? Or on the bottom? Because this is serious. 

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Rick Bayless = Jenny from the Block.

Soaked, stuffed, floured, fried. © Ryan Schierling
Most times, cooking is a harmonious collaboration of ingredients and effort.

Sometimes, cooking is a forestalling endeavor that ends in a three-way fistfight because there are too many questions asked, too many variables unknown. And a wise man once said "How much can you know about yourself, you've never been in a fight? I don't wanna die without any scars. So come on; hit me before I lose my nerve."

The best chile rellenos I've eaten were at a north-Seattle restaurant called The Chile Pepper. That said, getting good Mexican food in Seattle was like asking for fresh Copper River salmon in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Chile Pepper served what I know now to be a rehydrated ancho chile, stuffed with mostly-melty tangy cheese and pan-fried, topped with a.... eh... I don't remember. A spicy red sauce. Something. It was delicious in its novelty – every chile relleno I'd eaten to that point was a roasted Hatch or Anaheim green chile, stuffed with bland monterrey jack, fried in a heavy batter and left soggy on a plate with a sad wet beans and dry rice combo.

I have not eaten restaurant chile rellenos since we've been in Texas. There are far too many other options right now to try, things I've been waiting for, delicious authentic dishes to stuff into my craw.

But we were up north at Fiesta Supermarket on a lazy Thursday, and I found myself filling the basket with what seemed like randoms: ancho chiles, ripe plantains, fresh crema, queso panela, loads and loads of fresh jalapeños.

When I finally tried to figure out what to do with everything, I turned to the internet. Turns out, the chile rellenos I wanted to eat were a feisty brawl between three different recipes from three very different sources: Chiles Anchos Rellenos by Martha Stewart, Chiles Rellenos by Rick Bayless, and Chile Rellenos by Masa Assassin.

Martha Stewart has prison cred, a tiny pink teardrop tattooed under her left eye, and I used her street-hard method for softening the dried ancho chiles. Rick Bayless is a brilliant chef who has transformed and uplifted what the world sees as Mexican hoi polloi to hoi oligoi, but he still continues to celebrate the street (see Jenny from the Block).  I used Rick's wonderfully simple Quick-Cooked Tomato-Chile Sauce and his whipped egg batter from our much-used "Authentic Mexican"  cookbook. Masa Assassin provided the innards, a delicious ripe plantain filling with onion, garlic, queso panela and tomato.

Ancho chile relleno stuffed with plantain. © Ryan Schierling
The results were absolutely wonderful, better than The Chile Pepper in Seattle ever served us. But this was a first effort. And we still have to explore what Austin's chile rellenos have to offer.

So come on. Hit me, before I lose my nerve. 

Monday, February 14, 2011

"Love letters to barbecue" winners.

© Ryan Schierling
Congratulations to Kristi R. and Gary B., who penned the winning love letters to barbecue. They each will receive a $20 gift certificate to Franklin Barbecue to satiate their cheatin', eatin' hearts.

"...I yearn for your scent, your smell on my napkin is now gone and it brings me to tears. My dreams are filled with memories of our times spent together, but they are old memories; I want to make new ones with you..." -K.R.

"...you always evoke a sense of comfort, and can be used as an excuse to gather friends, get drunk and get fat... and even if and when I do lose my teeth, I hope to learn how to get really good at gumming the hell out of you..." -G.B.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

It's all hearts and roses.

Sugar cookies with rosewater icing. © Ryan Schierling
Grandma has been a rose gardener as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I recall walking through her well-tended garden in the summer and carefully bending my nose into the flowers of each and every variety. I remember noting how some smelled faintly sweet, or rich with the essence of strawberries, while others had a more sophisticated perfume.

My grandmother loves roses. My grandmother's birthday also just happens to be very close to Valentine's Day. A few years ago, after tasting a revelatory rosewater ice cream at a local Persian restaurant, I couldn't help but think it would be fun to make her a sweet treat with rosewater. Sugar cookies seemed like just the thing. I could give her roses and she could eat them too!

I love these cookies. They are soft, delicious, and the aroma that envelopes your senses as you eat them is just amazing. If chocolate is just not the answer this Valentine's Day, these are the perfect way to give hearts and roses to the ones you love.

They may be modestly classic recipes for cookies and icing simply adapted for the occasion, but these cookies are most definitely personal. They have become my cherished Valentine's Day tradition – roses for Grandma – hearts and flowers for the people I love.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

TGICFS.

Star Seeds Cafe - Austin, Texas. © Ryan Schierling
There's been a bit of a "Thank God It's Chicken-Fried Sunday" hiatus because we've had a lot going on over the last month, and just haven't had the opportunity to continue hunting for the be-all, end-all of breakfast CFS. I'm happy to report we were back on the trail Sunday morning, at Star Seeds Cafe.

The place is a loud, dimly-lit dive (expected), the service is tepid and imperious (nine of ten online reviewers agree), and the food is mostly passable (thankfully). The freshly-ground coffee and wheat toast – with what looked and tasted like homemade bread – were the highlights of the morning. With the majority of restaurants serving CFS only doing so for lunch and dinner, I'm having a harder time finding the breakfast offerings I'm looking for. Anyone in Austin got a favorite breakfast chicken-fried steak joint I should know about?

The coffee sustains
but you're going to have to
do better than this.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Pizza: Two proud toppings, one humble goal.

Jalapeño & pineapple pizza from Yaghi's Pizza. © Ryan Schierling
How do you dress your pizza?

On this weekend... Super Bowl Sunday, specifically... more pizza deliveries are made than on any other day of the year. The majority of these orders will no doubt be ubiquitous stand-bys such as pepperoni, or something ending in "-Lovers," but some will be personal or family favorites that are well off the standard list.

We have no plans to join the masses calling for pizza delivery on Sunday, but we do have an unusual front-runner around here. I think it may even be my very favorite.

Jalapeño and pineapple.

I won't lie. I was a little skeptical when Ryan first suggested this pie. The only pizza I had ever heard of having pineapple was the "Hawaiian-style" pizza, and my dis-inclination to eat Canadian bacon never took me down that road. Additionally – let's be honest – we're talking about tropical fruit on a pizza. Umm... hmm... what?! 

The truth is, some of the most outstanding favor combinations in the world are a devilish mix of sweet and spicy. He was right, of course, and I'm a loyal convert. Sharing this pizza with friends has now become a fun little mission – it's like watching my own initial reaction on someone else's face. What begins as a curiously-raised eyebrow turns weeks later into a random phone call or text message proclaiming how the jalapeño and pineapple pizza they just ate is making their world right again.

Now I am determined to share this 2-topping pizza with all of Austin. I mean really... the jalapeño is the official state pepper of Texas, and what better way to keep it weird?


What is your odd or interesting pizza favorite?  Oh, do share...

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