At least half a dozen vendors were selling farm fresh \ free range eggs so we decided to test them out and do a direct comparison against the conventional factory farm grown eggs that we all have been eating for years.

Peter’s Photographic Comparison and Comments

The farm fresh \ free range eggs are typically brown to green in color, while conventional eggs are pure white. This has to do with the particular breed of chicken that laid the egg.

A cracked farm fresh egg (top) with a cracked conventional egg (bottom).
The yolk of the farm fresh eggs is much thicker and darker in color than the conventional farm egg. Additionally, the egg white of a farm fresh egg is much clearer than the conventional egg, which has a neon yellow yolk and a translucent yellow egg white. The color and consistency of the yolk and egg are largely due to the chicken’s diet.

A fried farm fresh egg (left) with a cracked conventional egg (right).
The fried farm fresh egg is darker in color and has a more robust, earthy flavor. Conventional eggs, which I have been eating for years, unexpectedly tasted much lighter in flavor when eating the two side by side. The texture of the farm fresh egg is a bit more firm as well.

In Austin, the going price for a dozen farm fresh eggs is $4 vs about $1.50 for conventional eggs.

Jon’s Additional Testing and Opinion:
In my extensive search for a restaurant in Austin that can cook an egg perfectly, I’ve determined that very few places can really cook an over easy egg. I’m not sure why this is, perhaps kitchens are focused on cooking the more complicated breakfast dishes that the poor egg is often neglected and left to fry too long on the flat griddle.

I cooked the eggs, over easy of course, side by side in the same large skillet. As soon as I cracked the eggs from the farmer’s market, the difference was visibly apparent. The yolk was a neon orange color looked like a thick gel, while the conventional egg seemed perfectly liquid yellow…almost too perfect. After flipping them over I plated them and gave them a quick sprinkle of kosher salt. The egg whites were slightly different in texture, the farm fresh eggs having little more going on. The real difference was in the yolks. When I broke the yolk of the conventional egg, it ran across the plate and tasted like…well an egg yolk. When I broke the egg of the farmer’s market egg, it oozed out onto the plate and tasted amazing! It had a rich flavor that simply could not be found in conventional eggs.

I’m sold, $4 dollars is a bargain.

Do you eat farm fresh eggs? What do you think about them? Let us know in the comments section!

Happy Tasting,
Jon

The Tastingbuds were honored to attend the grand opening luncheon of Maggiano’s Little Italy on Monday, March 1st at it’s new location in the upscale Domain. While it is new to Austin, many of you may already be acquainted with Maggiano’s – there are more than 40 locations throughout the US.

I grew up in Atlanta, home one of the older Maggiano’s… where everyone knows it as a nice, Italian inspired restaurant that is a safe go-to place to take a date or to celebrate a special occasion.

How does the Austin location stack up, and how do we think Maggiano’s will fare in the already crowded Austin Restaurant scene?

Here’s the lowdown:
At the luncheon, we got to sample about 12 Italian inspired dishes (pictured below in the gallery). Overall, the food was quite solid and flavorful – there was an emphasis on using the freshest ingredients and almost everything was made from scratch. Of the food, the sea bass and tomato caprese were my favorites – I also enjoyed the calamari for the nice, tangy tartar sauce that accompanied it. To me, he desserts were the standout of the meal – the tirimisu, chocolate cake, and apple torte were all excellent.

Maggiano’s isn’t the most authentic Italian place around, but they aren’t really trying to be. They are more of an Italian inspired restaurant and their emphasis is more on dining experience and service. Speaking of service, the head chef was very accommodating on our visit. He personally came to our table and honored special requests for any food allergies and was well prepared to create vegetarian or gluten free versions of dishes on the menu. We were reassured that this was a regular occurrence and special requests are handled readily.

Will Maggiano’s do well in the Domain (where there are already 2 high end Italian restaurants)? We think so. The biggest thing that stood out for us was the fact that Maggiano’s is HUGE (18000 sq ft according to their rep) and the interior is more reminiscent of a nice older hotel than a restaurant. They have a couple of very nice hotel ballroom sized banquet spaces, and I have a feeling Maggiano’s will be a strong player in the Austin large corporate event / wedding market. Since they aren’t necessarily playing in the same space as other Italian restaurants, they should do just fine.

Overall, we were pleased with Maggiano’s. Even though it is a chain restaurant, the food is very good and they do care about fresh ingredients and try to buy local where they can. They also have a strong focus on customer service. While prices are moderate to expensive, you do get what you pay for. If you would like to check out Maggiano’s yourself, it’s across from Dillard’s in the Domain.

Happy Tasting!
Peter

Last September, Peter and I attended the Franklin BBQ preview party (see Backyard Eats post). The tasty bbq and fun, backyard atmosphere won us over immediately. Since they had their grand opening in December, we decided to return to see how things were going.

We arrived well before noon, and several of the picnic tables were already occupied with an early lunch crowd. The menu is perfectly simple: sandwiches, sides a la carte, and for heftier appetites, plates with your choice of meat, a side, and bread. Drinks include Sweet Leaf Tea, soft drinks and bottled water stored in a very cool vintage ice box.

I opted for the brisket sandwich, a potato salad side, and an ice-cold Topo Chico. For about $10 I got a full meal – a steal for a high quality lunch. The sandwich was heavy with thick slices of moist, flavorful brisket, and the espresso infused bbq sauce was the perfect complement.

Peter got the pulled pork sandwich, the pork is delicious as we mentioned in our previous post.

Next time he wants to try the Tipsy Texan Sandwich (half chopped beef, half sausage) – named after none other than the Tipsy Texan himself, David Allen (who happened to be at Franklin BBQ the same day we were).

As we ate, the lunch-time line continued to grow, and owner Aaron Franklin was behind the counter furiously working to keep up with customer orders. Once the rush was over, I got to chat with Aaron for a few minutes. He said business is booming, especially during lunch, and he usually sells out of everything by closing time at 4pm. Get there early if you want to pick up some plates for dinner!

Check their website for hours and directions: http://www.franklinbarbecue.com/

Many of you got to check out Franklin BBQ on the recent Trailer Tour – Let us know what you thought about it in the comments!

Happy tasting,
Kristina + Peter

Hawaii is known for being a tropical paradise with amazing beaches and beautiful natural surroundings. However, a Hawaiian vacation is also known for holding tourists upside down by the ankles and shaking all the money their pockets. The main issue is that stores and restaurants in touristy areas charge sky high prices for necessities such as food – which is a bummer for foodies like us.

Everyone knows that once you leave the touristy areas you can get some reasonably priced grub, but most people don’t know how the locals manage to keep expenses in check. Here are 6 tasty, unique, and inexpensive local options we discovered in Hawaii that will help you have fun and save money at the same time.

1. Poke

Poke, the Hawaiian twist on Sashimi, consists of small, fresh (usually raw) bite sized pieces of fish that come seasoned in many tasty ways. The most popular type of poke is yellowfin tuna seasoned with soy sauce (shoyu), garlic, green onions, and sesame oil.

However, there are a lot of different varieties – kimchi poke was very popular, poke with crushed and toasted kukui nuts seemed to be a locals only sort of thing, dried fish jerky w/ shoyu was at many places we visited, and there were various fish and seaweed types of poke as well. In addition to the standard tuna, options such as marlin, octopus, mussels, and crab are also available.

Poke can be found at supermarkets, seafood restaurants, and specialty stores. It costs about 9 dollars per pound and I bet you that 1/3 a pound is more than enough for the average person. Any sushi eater will love Poke… think of it as very fresh, preseasoned sashimi at a significant discount.

2. Musubi

Musubi are great little packets of rice that are usually wrapped in seaweed. The are about the size of my fist and you can eat them with your hands, so they are perfect for lunch on the go. Musubi are an import from Japan, where these flavored rice balls are known as Onigiri. Of course, as with most Hawaiian food, the locals have taken the original and adopted it to local tastes. The most popular flavor of musubi in Hawaii is the Spam based one (the Spam is usually grilled and sometimes teriyakied) with the korean style BBQ chicken flavor following a close second.

There are also more traditional Onigiri specialty shops in Hawaii – such as the excellent Manabu’s on Oahu. This place served up some amazing healthy and nutritious gourmet Onigiri at rock bottom prices. In addition to the standard Spam musubi, they serve up favorites such as spicy tuna, curry pilaf, and fish roe versions as well. Where Manabu’s shines though is in it’s healthy musubi – They use all natural ingredients like a 10 grain blend, Konbu and wakame seaweed, and shiso leaves to flavor their vegetarian / macrobiotic line of musubi.

Best of all, Musubi are super cheap and they ubiquitous around the island. They can be found at supermarkets, convenience stores, and specialty onigiri shops for about $1.50 to $3.00 depending on the size. Two large or 3 small musubi are more than enough for a quick lunch.

3. Loco Moco

With a name that means “mucus crazy ” in Spanish, you wouldn’t think this Hawaiian original is very appetizing, but it is surprisingly delicious. Loco Moco has 4 basic ingredients: fried eggs, a hamburger patty, rice, and gravy… not good for you but definitely delicious. Rice goes surprisingly well with hamburger and the gravy brings the whole dish together and adds some great flavor to the rice.

Legend has it that some poor students invented loco moco one day at a local grill when they didn’t have enough money to buy a real menu item. Apparently their friends also started ordering the dish and loco moco quickly spread throughout the islands once the word was out.

There are many varieties of Loco Moco (some use fried rice instead of steamed rice or a meat other than a hamburger patty) but I stick to the tried and true original. The Loco Moco pictured above is from L & L’s and is served with macaroni salad, which is a ubiquitous side dish in Hawaii.

*** UPDATE *** – forgot to mention that the loco moco is pretty huge and will fill you up. In fact, I just saw a version of the loco moco featured on Man v. Food!

4. Malasadas

If you are on the island of Oahu – GO TO LEONARD’S BAKERY. They have the most amazing malasadas, which are fresh, Portuguese style fried donuts without the hole. They are much softer and fluffier than donuts though because they are a bit thicker.

Malasadas come powdered with sugar with optional flavored cream and custard fillings. Apart from the original, my favorite flavors were the custard and coconut (haupia) filled malasadas. Many others I know like the Li Hing (dried plum powder) flavor as well.

Leonard’s is an extremely popular spot so be prepared to wait up to 10 minutes to place an order and bring some friends, because it’s much cheaper to buy malasadas by the dozen. Best of all, the price of a single malasada is about 80 cents so you can eat to your heart’s content without spending a lot.

5. Fruit from the Farmer’s Market

There are great little Farmer’s markets all over Hawaii that provide fresh, local produce. There are all sorts of delicious fruits year round, and many of these are surprisingly cheap.

When I went to the Hilo Farmer’s Market in November, the going price for good sized organic star fruits was 3 for $1.00, and papayas were 5 for $1.00. This fruit isn’t the stuff you are used to eating stateside either… these are vine ripened fruits picked just a day or two before… making a whole world of difference when it comes to taste.

Between 5 people we ate 30 papayas in 5 days…. and no we did not get tired of papaya, the fruit in Hawaii is that good!

6. SPAM

Yes all of the rumors about Hawaiians eating a lot of SPAM are more than true. Just take a look at this photo of the SPAM aisle at the local grocery store. Who knew that there were at least 7 different varieties of SPAM? Also, for some reason SPAM seems to be the cheapest thing in the whole store… 2.19 for a can? You can’t even get half a loaf of bread for that much in Hawaii.

If you had any more doubt about the popularity of SPAM, McDonalds serves a special Hawaii market only SPAM breakfast (with eggs and rice) for $3.84. And get this, instead of ketchup, they give you 2 packets of soy sauce on the side.

I have to admit that I tried SPAM one other time in my life (when I was camping as a boy), so I was a bit apprehensive about eating SPAM while in Hawaii. After my trip though, I have to report that SPAM is pretty delicious if prepared correctly. I had it grilled, grilled with terriyaki sauce, with eggs and rice, in a bowl of noodles, wrapped in sushi… all of the options were pretty darn good.

I think I’ll keep SPAM as a Hawaii only thing though because for some reason everything tastes better on vacation, and I just don’t think it would be the same back home. Also, I’m pretty sure that SPAM is pretty terrible for you and the mystery meat aspect will prevent me from eating it on a regular basis.

That said, I highly recommend trying SPAM at least once while in Hawaii both for the novelty value and to keep costs down.

Honorable Mention – POG

While it’s not a food, when in Hawaii you should seek out POG, a drink made of passion fruit, orange, and guava juices. It’s delicious, it’s local, it’s cheap, and you can’t get it stateside.

Happy Tasting, I hope this post helps you save money while discovering local treats on your trip to Hawaii!
-Peter

Photos by Peter Tsai Photography

Here’s a fun and delicious ingredient that you might not have encountered before, Okinawan Sweet Potatoes, AKA Hawaiian purple potatoes. They are known for their distinct purple color and unique earthy taste, and I think they are way better than a regular sweet potato.

I discovered this culinary delight on my recent trip to Hawaii and have been hooked ever since. Because it was so delicious in all of the forms I tried, I had to experiment with this ingredient once I got home and I decided to make something from it for Thanksgiving.

First things first, here’s how they use the potato in Hawaii:

In a purple potato mash at a touristy restaurant on Waikiki Beach, Tiki’s. I believe they made these with butter, milk, salt, and pepper. It was served it with Laulau Pork (the kind you get at a Luau). This was my introduction to the product and it was delicious.

Okinawan Sweet Potatoes deep fried and salted in chip form (shout out to my brother’s stunt hand for holding and my dad for providing the background) – we ate 2 very large baskets of this, and I had this dish a couple more times on the trip. Possibly the best chips I have ever had, and the flavor is all natural.

If you are wondering if these potatoes are the same as taro (because they are purple too), the answer is an astounding NO. These are way better! Okinawan Sweet Potatoes are more flavorful, deeper in color, and not nearly as tough.

So where do you find Okinawan Sweet Potatoes in Austin? Whole Foods doesn’t have them and HEB certainly doesn’t carry them. After some searching and making calls, I managed to find them at the Hong Kong Supermarket for $2.29 a pound and at Central Market North for 2.99 a pound. I heard a rumor that most Korean markets carry them, but I didn’t actually investigate. The potatoes at Central Market seemed a bit easier to peel because I think they hand pick the longer, more slender ones from the crop, which lend themselves to quicker peeling.

I have been making mashed potatoes for the last couple of years for Thanksgiving, so when I got home, I searched the internet for a good Okinawan sweet potato mash recipe. The first one I tried was Sony’s Okinawa Sweet Potato Recipe – I don’t know how I felt about the mixing of garlic with the sweet coconut milk in that dish, but when I added Massaman Curry on top of the dish to give it a little kick, which tasted like heaven.

The second time around, I adapted the above recipe for Thanksgiving. I wanted to take advantage of the Potato’s natural sweetness, and I wanted to make the dish more of a dessert, so I used a whole can of coconut milk this time and added a lot of cinnamon powder. The dish was a big hit at Thanksgiving, and it was so easy to make. Also, it is good either hot or cold and the purple color of the dish really makes it stand out.

Without any further ado, here is the very simple recipe for Peter’s Purple Potatoes.

Peter’s Purple Potatoes

Ingredients List – Serves 12? people

Preparation steps

Happy Tasting!
-Peter

Congrats to Seth Mazow for pulling off another victory in the Hands on an Eggplant Sandwich competition at local favorite, Home Slice Pizza. This year’s time on a sub was approx 31 hours – but the payoff was great… a year of free pizza. If you don’t know what the heck we are talking about, check out Seth’s website Year of the Pizza, or read the Tastingbuds interview with Seth here.

• The final 3 – Seth can feel victory

• The final 3 – still time for joking around

• The final 3 – Interested passer-bys and sleeping on a sub

• Cute Eggplant Sign

• Turkey Treats by Kaetlan

As the Tasting Bud who claims not to cook, I surprised everyone last Thanksgiving when I volunteered to bring a side dish to the feast. We were expecting more than 30 family members and friends, so I had to come up with something good. I thought about three of the essential food groups: carbs, cheese, and bacon. You really can’t go wrong with that combination, so I opted to make macaroni and cheese. I can, however, tell you a little about my process.

• Butternut Squash Bake by Kristina

I had never made it before, so I scoured the internet looking for a recipe. I looked at about a million recipes, and in the end, created my own recipe for macaroni & cheese made with four cheeses and topped with bacon. It was a heart-wrenching process, which resulted in one tossed out batch of cheese sauce, two oven burns, and a myriad new phrases comprised of colorful expletives. The dish was a hit, and only a small serving survived the Thanksgiving feeding frenzy.

Before I recount my Thanksgiving Day task, I have to thank my lovely sister-in-law, Sondra, for helping me avoid the grocery store headache altogether. She went ahead and picked up everything I needed while she was purchasing her Thanksgiving Day necessities. And yes, I did reimburse her.

I had never worked with butternut squash before, but luckily, my mom was on hand Wednesday night to help me peel and cube the gourds. The next morning, I looked over the recipe as I drank coffee and thought, “Ok, this is easy. Time for laundry.” I put the squash (tossed in olive oil and lightly salted) to roast in the oven, and then I took a couple of loads of laundry down to the laundry room. This really was a rare exhibit of domesticity on my part. After a quick shower, I checked on my squash, which was happily roasting away.

I prepared the next few steps of the recipe and went back downstairs to put my laundry to dry. When I came back to my kitchen, the squash was ready and it was time to put the whole thing together. The next 20 minutes went by in a blur of scallions, butter, cheese, and bread crumbs.

The completed dish was finally in the oven to finish baking, and I stood back to assess the damage. My tiny apartment kitchen had random bits of parsley scattered about. I had managed to get mascarpone on the stove, floor, and wall. I even found some bread crumbs on the vent hood. I’m not sure how they got there. Oh, and I successfully sliced open a finger while dicing scallions.

• Thanksgiving Feast by Tasting Buds

The result was a tasty dish that did not survive Thanksgiving 2009 – not even a bread crumb – so I would call it a great success. More importantly, I learned a very important lesson: always, always prep before you start cooking. Don’t wait until you need to sauté the scallions before dicing them. Don’t try to chop parsley while you’re trying not to burn butter. And definitely don’t get distracted by an email notification while wielding a very sharp knife.

Will I ever regress back to my bag o’ salad? Maybe someday. In the meantime, I’ve discovered that I actually like cooking, so you may see the occasional recipe posted in the future by this Tasting Bud.

Happy holidays!
Kristina

Before getting to the good stuff, we should mention that Louie’s 106 will be serving up the same menu through November 25th for a set price of $35. All in all, an amazing deal at a restaurant that has been doing it right in Austin for more than 20 years. If you are interested in going, by all means check out the full Louie’s 106 Flavors of Austin menu here and stop on by while you can. Also, Flavors of Austin is an ongoing event that highlights a different Austin restaurant every week, so if you miss this particular meal, there will be opportunities for great stuff in the future as well.

Here’s the good stuff:

Our meal started off with a choice of a house or Caesar salad – while good, this was just a preview of things to come. Courses 2-4 were the real standouts.

2nd course – Sambal & Honey Marinated Sea Bass with Basil Risotto, Orange Ginger Coulis, and Sauteed Vegetables

The fish was full of flavor on it’s own and was perfectly light and flaky. The orange coulis sauce was rich and creamy with a hint of ginger, but it did not overpower the fish when the two were mixed together. This might have been my favorite course as sea bass has a special place in my heart… haha. This dish was also big hit with everyone else at our table and it was mentioned that the Sea Bass course would be enough for a meal and that it would be hard to top.

3rd Course option 1 – Beef Tournado “Rossini” with Foie Gras and Black Truffle Demiglace

Kristina got the Beef Tournado, which was a beautiful, tender medium-rare and topped with a slice of seared Foie Gras. She said she would have been happy with just the buttery and decadent fois gras, but the dish as a whole was superb.

3rd Course option 2 – Roasted Rack of Lamb With Black Truffle Demiglace

My perfectly cooked rack of lamb was sitting on a delicious bed of scalloped potatoes and sauteed spinach. The meat itself was of a very high quality and very flavorful – gamey but not overpowering. There was a nice sear on the outside and the black truffle demiglace went well with the meat. Very refined.

4th Course – Lemon Goat Cheesecake With Port and Rosemary Poached Pear

This dish was another highlight of the meal for me, as the flavors were bit unexpected but still great. First of all, the words Goat and cake aren’t seen next to each other very often… and I wasn’t sure if they ever should. Secondly, one would expect that the pungent taste of goat cheese would be a bit too heavy for a dessert. This version of goat cheesecake was very light, and when paired with the poached pear and mint on the plate, the whole thing came together beautifully. The gamey taste of the goat cheese just melted away, leaving only a bit of the distinct goat cheese flavor – overall a very nice, new take on cheesecake. We all enjoyed it a lot.

Thanks to Louie’s 106 for setting this up and we look forward to more Flavors of Austin events!
-Peter

Austin has been experiencing somewhat of a restaurant Renaissance lately, with a new establishment opening seemingly every week. Our take on this? The bar is consistently being raised on the Austin restaurant scene and it’s great to have the option of a wide variety of cuisines in town.

One of the perks of food blogging is getting invited by various new restaurants around town to sample great food that the owners put so much hard work into making. On our radar over the past month or so were 2 new restaurants – one serving up healthy American fare in the Arboretum, and another food truck serving Asian food right downtown.

Zoes Kitchen

Zoes Kitchen is a chain restaurant that serves up healthy, quality, “quick casual” American fare in a slightly upscale environment. While the food is pretty standard, their claim to fame is using fresh ingredients that are prepared every morning just like mom used to (in fact the former CEO’s mother Zoe was is the founder and the namesake of restaurant). The chain has been on a quick expansion path throughout the Southeastern United States – apparently capitalizing on the movement to more healthy fresh foods.

How does it stack up? The food is good, service seemed to be pretty fast, and the menu definitely seems much healthier than most quick serve or fast food restaurants around town. Of the 10 or so items I got to try at their opening party, the shrimp kabobs and the spinach wrap ups were the biggest standouts. I would definitely recommend those to anyone. I heard the other kabobs were great as well, unfortunately, I did not get to try them.

The sandwiches though are more plain but well executed. I enjoyed the egg salad and chicken salad sandwiches. The hummus was also pretty good if a bit different. It seemed to me that the Zoes recipe calls for less olive oil but more spices than other places, sticking to their healthy philosophy.

Overall, I would call Zoes very solid if a little bit unexciting. The environment is nice and is great for families and soccer moms (who I think the gffrestaurant is targeting). It would be a great place to go to for lunch if you work / live in the Arboretum area for a quick healthy meal. I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here though (being a single guy who lives down south!).

Me So Hungry

With the explosion of food trucks around Austin lately you would think that we have seen it all, but there seems to be a distinct lack of Asian food being served up from mobile restuarants. There’s only 2 that I know of, so I was pretty excited to hear about a new place near me. This particular restaurant serves up a unique fusion of Asian food so it’s a welcome change to try something new.

The Banh Mi at Me So Hungry doesn’t stick strictly to the standard recipes seen in Vietnamese cuisine. Me So Hungry’s version of Banh Mi sandwiches were described to me as a bit of a fusion between Vietnamese and Cuban sandwiches – the meat is Chinese BBQ pork, but it’s paired nicely with a very nice mayo cilantro sauce. The result is something a bit new but very tasty. I’ve been to a couple of events catered by Me So Hungry, and these by far are the biggest hit – be forewarned though, it should be noted that the sandwiches come with raw Jalapeno slices inside them, so if you don’t like spicy, you need to ask for them on the side (I’ve seen spice adverse people run for the ice machine after mistakenly eating a whole raw jalapeno in these sandwiches too)

The other signature dish at Me So Hungry, Pad Lao, is a bit of fusion as well. Pad Lao is similar to Pad Thai but not quite – it has some queues from other Asian styles of cooking as well. I’ve ordered this a couple of times for myself and friends and the feedback has been good all around. Again, the food is served pretty spicy so if you can’t handle the heat, you’ll need to request a less spicy version.

I’ve also tried the traditional spring rolls, but I think the unique fusion of Cuban and Asian food or of different asian styles is where they shine. Stick to that and you should do just fine. The truck is located right in front of the Tinest Bar in Texas (fire twirling on Wednesday nights!) very close to the Whole Foods downtown.

The only drawbacks are the schedule of Me So Hungry and the lack of seating. They are currently open only nights from Wed-Sat to serve the crowd at the Tiniest Bar from 8pm-?, but they and they will start serving lunch soon as well. I would check out the official website for more details. I would recommend them for catering or for to go service, but it’s definitely a quick dinner, not a place to sit and chat w/ friends over dinner.

Every year, the organizers of the Austin City Limits Music Festival are faced with the huge challenge of feeding tens of thousands of people a day during the 3 day long festival at Zilker Park. Things have not always run so smoothly – I distinctly remember waiting for 2 hours in line at the very first Austin City Limits Festival at one of only 2 food booths for a plain hot dog and a bottle of water in the 95 degree heat.

My what a long way the festival has come! The 2009 ACL food court boasted dozens of food vendors and there were another dozen beverage tents scattered around the park – most all of them with little to no wait. With so many options, it was difficult to choose where to eat every day. No worries though, I’ll give you the lowdown on what I had this year at ACL so you can make an informed decision next year.

Walking back and forth across Zilker Park sure does make a guy hungry, and skating through 3 inches of soupy, smelly mud strangely left me starving as well. You can probably tell what day I had each item on based on the condition of the ACL lawn.

Day 3 = mud pit… haha. Here’s what I had:

$8 – Aquarelle Shrimp Po Boy – a well balanced sandwich – the main ingredient actually tasted like shrimp (vs deep fried batter) and the texture of the shrimp was awesome, not overcooked at all. Fresh cabbage and carrots complimented the shrimp very well. Some friends thought that Aquarelle went a little heavy on the mayo based sauce to counteract the thick bread, but I thought it was fine – I would get this again for sure – The only drawback was that it was a little pricey.

$8 – Aquarelle Steak Frite Sandwich – contained well marinated thinly sliced beef with Fries and fresh Parmesan cheese on top. The first couple of bites were very good but afterward I felt that the sandwich was bit salty – I couldn’t taste anything about halfway through my meal and had to take a bit of a break. I’m guessing the meat was heavily seasoned to counteract the thick bread. The fries were very tasty with the Parmesan on top. I might get it again… probably would have been better with a beer to wash away the salt – the price is high though.

$5 – Jezabel Pork Skewer + Veggie Skewer Combo – Pork skewer was very tasty and well spiced – Veggie skewer had well seasoned potatoes, mushrooms, red peppers, and onions. This meal was an awesome value for the money, the 2 skewers filled me up and I got some veggies for the day. All of the food was flavored well but not over salted. I would definitely get this again.

$6 – Wahoo’s Fish Burrito – awesome, it’s spicy to add flavor but there’s not too much heat. Despite having a ton of ingredients in the burrito, each component has a reason for being there and the flavor combinations work well. The burrito was pretty large too so it kept me full for a while. I would definitely get this again – The only downside is it’s available at Wahoo’s year round (so it’s not a special ACL only treat). I guess that’s good for me when it’s not ACL though, I’m actually considering going there for lunch.

$7 – Thistle Cafe Steak Wrap - eh…. it was disappointing. Although it tasted OK, the ingredients tasted like standard grocery store iceberg lettuce and cafeteria American cheese with decent marinated beef. When it tastes like I could easily make the same meal with one arm tied behind my back and I am paying good money for it, it’s a major culinary buzz kill. A big PASS on this next time.

$6 – Boomerangs Guinness Beef Pie – very savory meat if a little salty but it had a wonderful, flaky, buttery crust. It is a bit dense and rich, but it tasted really good when it was cold and rainy out. You can buy this year round at Boomerangs on the drag so I would probably get it again if I was in the mood for it, but wouldn’t go out of my way to get it at ACL.

Beer tip – regular 12 ounce beer cans run $5 but double sized 24 ounce cans cost only $8 – The options are Bud Light, Lone Star, and Heineken – all cost the same. The best value and the best tasting beer here is definitely the 24 ounce Heineken. I would get this again next year – just be careful… the lines at the restrooms are a bit scary!

Thanks and happy tasting!
Peter

See you at ACL 2010!

Photos by Peter Tsai Photography ]]> http://thetastingbuds.com/2009/10/austin-city-limits-food-mini-roundup/feed/ 1