Archive for February, 2012

No Comments

The best of Austin’s cheap eats


2012
02.28

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Restaurants | No Comments »

While most of the tastiest and cheapest eats in Austin are undoubtedly found right in my own kitchen, once in a while even the most dedicated of shoestring budgeteers has to venture forth in search of sustenance slung by a stranger. Whether you’re looking for tacos, treats or the truly bizarre, Austin has a variety of inexpensive restaurants and food trucks that cater to the budget lifestyle.

Here are just a few of my favorites from around town, along with links to our more detailed write-ups.

  • Ice cream at Amy’s Ice Cream – Celebrity Intern and I will argue about this one all day, because he loves his Häagen-Dazs (and I can’t lie, so do I), but Amy’s definitely gives our supermarket fave a run for its money, especially when someone says “Vanilla is vanilla, what’s so special about—MMMMMM!” after tasting their Mexican Vanilla; their seasonal specials and rotating daily offerings will keep you coming back for more
  • Beanitos chips and Texas-Texas salsa (available at H-E-B, Whole Foods and Central Market) – a tasty, healthy alternative to corn chips, all made locally!
  • Iced mocha at Epoch Coffee – the best iced mocha in Austin really hits the spot on a 105-degree day
  • Fresh Plus Grocery – this place is so mom-and-pop that they don’t yet have a website, but their prices on upscale food items like gourmet cheeses, wines and beer plus amazingly fresh and beautiful fruits and veggies make stopping at any of their three locations (Hyde Park, Clarksville and a brand-new Allandale store) a delicious adventure for the home chef on a budget
  • Hot chocolate at Caffé Medici – it’s on the pricy side, but it’s well worth it for the smoothest, creamiest hot chocolate in town (the secret is a homemade chocolate sauce, which the barista is on pain of death never to reveal to nosey food bloggers like me)
  • Salgadinhos at Rio’s Brazilian – I still don’t know how to properly pronounce these dealios, but they’re savory stuffed pastries kind of like a Hot Pocket but about a billion times tastier
  • Pho at Saigon Kitchen – choose from fatty or lean meat, or get a crazy mixture of both and build your own soup sensation
  • Breakfast tacos at Taco Cabana – because they’re cheap, I love their green salsa, and you can get $1 off pretty much every time you go if you fill out the survey at the bottom of your reciept, plus they’re near my house and convenience is sometimes king
  • Tacos at La Tapatia – the trip up north is worth it, as these tacos are always tender and delicious (and while you’re in the neighborhood, there’s a Half Price Books across the street worth hitting for some inexpensive reading materials)

Additional cheap eats to seek out, via Erin McReynolds, editor of Fearless Critic Austin:

Recommendations for $5 or less treats via Crystal Esquivel, author of The Food Lover’s Guide to Austin:

And Twitter recommendations from some of our followers!

  • Hill Country Pierogis (@ATXPierogiTruck)
  • Bits & Druthers – “best fish and chips in town” (@bitsanddruthers)
  • Tom’s Tabooley Thai Salad (via @aneelee)
  • Pho Saigon “large bowl of pho” (via @bearpatrol)
  • Torchy’s Tacos (via @mikegalante)
  • “Soy milk and fried dough at Asia Café only on Saturday mornings, pork bone ramen at Komé for lunch only” (via @pwang)
  • Hopfields – “French-style street food” (via @jen_stamps)

So tell us, what’s YOUR favorite cheap eatery in town?

1 Comment

Dear Austin: Get a clue


2012
02.25

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Events | 1 Comment »

Dear Austin,

You have no clue. You seriously have no idea the GENIUS that is going on in other cities. I say this as a world traveller, as someone who has formerly lived in such cosmopolitan cities as Chicago, New York and Montreal.

You are clueless. And you’d better get up to speed, lest your reputation as a “world class” city be yanked unceremoniously from under your feet.

"Montreal Nuit Blanche light spheres" (photo by Flickr user John Walker)

It’s February, which in the rest of the world means ICE, SNOW and HORRIBLE WINTER WEATHER. Yeah, sure, we hit a brutal 52 degrees today, and I lit a fire in my fireplace in joy. But my point is this: the rest of the world CELEBRATES their bad weather. Here, we view it as reason to hibernate.

This is an incorrect approach.

Take, for instance, the brilliant concept of Nuit Blanche. A European idea, the “White Night” is a day set aside where normal work hours are extended deep into the night, where museums and other cultural institutions are open 24 hours, allowing normal folks to turn their usual wake-sleep routines upside down and embrace artistic deviance for one day of the year.

Inspired by the 24-hour daylight suffered by our most northern counterparts (i.e. Russians, Norweigians, etc.), the “White Nights” are a chance to invert time, to celebrate oddity, to embrace artistic dalliances, to do things we wouldn’t normally do at the hours we usually cling to Morpheus in dreamland. In Montreal, all the museums are open, there are parties in the street (or in specially constructed domes), ice is sculpted into beautiful forms and slides to toboggan down, the winter Ferris wheel is turning, fireworks are blasting off, and hot (or alcoholic) beverages are kept flowing all night long.

It’s a chance to run wild and free. There’s fine dining, salsa dancing, jazz and blues music in the streets, art shows, circus freaks, and free activities galore. It’s a chance to break out of the workaday habit. It’s a chance to hang out with friends, and embrace the frigid night as only warm-blooded humans can.

Austin: You have no idea. You’ve never been beset with truly cold weather, so you don’t know what it means to celebrate in the midst of the cruellest month. February, the Ice Age. February, the heart-stopper.

You say you’re “weird,” but you have no concept of the truly bizarre. You should learn from your northern brethren, Austin. Where are your cold-month festivities? Where are your parties during this period of northern hibernation? Where are your creative, artistic sensibilities?

SXSW doesn’t count.

Get a fucking clue.

Sincerely,
Laura

No Comments

Super Bowl… lentils?


2012
02.05

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Recipes | No Comments »

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and I am cooking lentils.

“What the hell?!” you are probably saying, “Why are you doing that?!”

Because lentils are cheap (69 cents a bag), healthy and delicious!

Also, it’s fucking freezing today in Austin (it’s 49 degrees as I type this, and I’m bundled in layers like I’m back in Montreal), so any excuse to fire up the stove is a good one.

The lentils aren’t actually for this evening’s festivities (which actually include NOT watching the game, since we don’t own a TV and hate football), but for tomorrow’s breakfast of champions. Celebrity Intern and I discovered a tasty, cheap breakfast that we’ve been savoring for the past few weeks, which he claims is based on a French country-style tradition, and I thought I’d share the recipe.

So first, the lentils. Unlike beans, lentils are kick-ass because they don’t need to be pre-soaked. Brilliant! Grab a cup of ‘em, sort through to make sure there aren’t any weird rocks or gross shrivelled ones in your batch, and then give them a quick rinse. Once you’re done with that, chuck ‘em in a pot with a 2 to 1 ratio of water to lentils, basically the same way you’d cook rice. We make ours in broth (chicken, usually, although you could go veggie or beef, depending on your tastes) to bump up the flavor.

Then, all you have to do is bring the pot to a boil and simmer those babies for about 20-30 minutes.

Once your lentils are al dente, you can either eat ‘em straight off the stove or save them in a container for the following day (hence my pre-cooking them today).

The recipe for our French-style Lentil Bowls is as follows:

INGREDIENTS

  • cooked lentils (about 1/4 c. per bowl)
  • eggs (1 or 2 per person, depending on how hungry you are)
  • breakfast sausage (let’s say a medium-sized patty per person)
  • baby spinach (a few handfuls ought to do it)

MAKE IT

  1. Put your pre-cooked lentils into individual bowls for each person. If you’ve got ‘em straight out of the refrigerator, nuke ‘em for about 30 seconds to warm them up.
  2. Cook your breakfast sausage patties to perfection, i.e. browning ‘em on both sides. This should take maybe 15 minutes tops. Set ‘em aside to cool down while you make the eggs. While the eggs are cooking you can cut up your sausage into bite-sized pieces and distribute into the bowls.
  3. Cook your eggs over easy (this is why I have Celebrity Intern in the kitchen; I am terrible at flipping my eggs without breaking the yolks!), and layer ‘em over your lentils and sausage.
  4. Wilt that spinach in your skillet. This goes pretty quick, maybe 1 minute max. Add the results to your bowls.
  5. Serve hot, with sriracha hot sauce if you’re feeling adventurous.

Sounds weird, looks a bit like dog food in a bowl (hence the lack of photos), but tastes delicious. And did I mention it’s good for you?

Check out Closet Cooking’s Sausage on Lentils and Greens or Serious Eats’ French Lentils with Sausage, Wilted Arugula & Dijon Mustard recipes for pix if you don’t believe me.

What’s your favorite lentil recipe?