Chicken Fried Everything » Austin

Perfect at Perla’s

ben — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:21:36 +0000

How have I not posted this yet? A couple of months ago, I had a near perfect meal, featuring the holy trinity of sausage, egg, and oysters. When you think Austin, you don’t think seafood, but between Perla’s and Uchi we seem to have our bases covered.

Anthony Bourdain apparently visited Perla’s when he came to town a while back. I can’t say that Perla’s is on my go-to list for people visiting Austin, but maybe it should be.

Hidden Gem: House Pizzeria

ben — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:00:07 +0000

Every time I’m tempted to get upset about the de-Austinization of Austin (i.e., Second Street), I think about House Pizzeria, which is one of the most quintessentially Austin places around. Unassuming, unpretentious, and a little rough around the edges, it’s also some of the best pizza in town.

One of my favorite salads anywhere.

I keep wondering: How does no one know about this place? Why does no one talk about it? Well, okay maybe one guy talks about it. A co-worker of mine told me: “Get the one with the stilton.” I didn’t know what stilton was, but I went for it and I’m glad I did.

It Needs to be Said: Torchy’s Queso

ben — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:00:06 +0000

What’s the point of naming a favorite queso? Can queso be bad? Unless you’re talking the shelf-stable stuff you find in jars at gas stations, queso is a safe bet (at least in Austin). Like pizza and french fries, even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.

But I need to just say this: I love the queso at Torchy’s.

How to Put This? Justine’s

ben — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:00:18 +0000

I have an unwritten rule about not writing negative things on this site. (I have broken it). The main reason I try to keep it positive is that negative reviews are a bore. We’ve all seen the seven-paragraph rants on Yelp that begin “We arrived at 7:43 pm…” Spare us, people. More importantly, we understand that the restaurant business is tough. And we love restaurants, so why make it harder for them? Seriously though, negative reviews are really boring.

Having said that, here are some photographs from a recent visit to Justines.

The Real Deal: El Naranjo

ben — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:00:52 +0000

We finally made it to one of Austin’s most celebrated food trucks: El Naranjo. This is a truck with some serious bona fides. Chef Iliana de la Vega first made a name for herself in Oaxaca with a restaurant of the same name. These days, she lives in Austin and teaches Latin American cuisine at the San Antonio campus of the Culinary Institute of America. Here she is showing epicurious how to make corn tortillas.

The truck is in East Austin on Rainey Street, in front of a house that will soon house de la Vega’s restaurant, which will also be called El Naranjo.

Shrimp tacos were the highlight. Here, de la Vega shows Texas Monthly’s Patricia Sharpe how they’re made. We thought we’d be able to get her mole, which is only served on Wednesdays, but they had temporarily stopped serving it due to light crowds. This only makes us more eager for the full-on restaurant to open.

Taquitos.

More tacos.

Brunch: La Condesa

ben — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 04:07:50 +0000

Breakfast is not one of the more beautiful meals. But it is my favorite one. We recently enjoyed a brunch at La Condesa with our friend Amanda, who was visiting from London. Amanda introduced me and Eliza. There’s hardly a lovelier way to begin the day.

Taqueria Arandas #3

ben — Wed, 04 May 2011 12:17:39 +0000

Some days, you need some Taqueria Arandas. In our case, flautas and the torta milanesa.

Pork in the Parking Lot: Three Little Pigs

ben — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:36:04 +0000

Here at Chicken Fried Everything, we’re drawn to pig-themed restaurants like moths to a flame. So when we heard about a new food truck called Three Little Pigs, we dropped everything and followed our noses to the parking lot they share with East End Wines.

Behold the pork belly slider. This one features a maple soy glaze, sliced green apple, and fried onion with a side of sesame cole slaw. Pork belly sliders seem to be all the rage these days, but this one is special. It’s sweet and salty punch to the gut (which I mean in the best possible way), served on a perfectly toasted bun. It also happens to be a diet friendly food, provided you are on the I’ve-worked-my-ass-off-all-week-and-I’ll-eat-whatever-the-hell-I-please diet, which I am.

As you can see, it’s also pretty generously sized for a slider.

Next up was Asian Fried Chicken with sweet chile sauce, wasabi mayo, and sesame cole slaw. We consider ourselves to be connoisseurs of Asian fried chicken around here, and while this stuff didn’t have the characteristically crisp skin of Korean fried chicken, it was one of the better pieces of fried chicken I’ve had in a while. In fact, the fried chicken was so well executed, I kind of wished it didn’t have any sauce on it.

Cracklin’ meatloaf wrapped in bacon with cheese grits and collard greens. The collard greens not only won Eliza’s seal of approval, they were her favorite part of the meal.

Another Look at those Octopus Tostadas

ben — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:46:47 +0000

Happy Hour: Fonda San Miguel

ben — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 04:18:16 +0000

When I finally finished my month of work up in New York, I returned to Austin with Mexican on my mind. My craving for melty cheese took us to the place Texas Monthly deemed the “grand dame” of Texas Mexican restaurants: Fonda San Miguel.

Texas Mexican, by which we mean a Mexican restaurant located in Texas, is not to be confused with Tex-Mex. Not that there’s anything wrong with Tex-Mex, but you wouldn’t typically find heavenly fried oysters like this or octopus tostadas (above) at your typical Tex-Mex joint.

Even at the grand dame, though, they’re not above serving some melty cheese.

The real hero at Fonda San Miguel, though, is the homemade corn tortilla. It’s good to be back home.