Austin, TX

The Steeping Room @ The Domain
11410 Century Oaks Terrace - map
Austin, TX 78758
512-97STEEP (512-977-8337)
info@thesteepingroom.com

I’d been meaning to try The Steeping Room for a couple of months but never seemed to find the time. Luckily a friend invited me there for lunch. She lured me in with talk of scones and clotted cream. Most of you won’t know this but I lived at least a third of my life in England. Tea, scones and clotted cream are my idea of heaven. When my friend told me they had good scones and tea I believed her because she’s as big of a food snob as I am.

We’d both skipped breakfast that day so we opted for their Century Oaks Tea Service. For $19 you get two types of tea sandwiches, a scone, jam, spread, a cookie, a slice of cake, fruit and a pot of tea. Go hungry if you plan to eat that meal! We opted for the tea blend suggested by our waitress which contained some jasmine pearls. In general I’m a black tea kinda gal but I do love jasmine tea and the faint aroma of jasmine wafting up from my cup each time I took a sip was delightful. Normally I’m all about having my tea with milk and sugar but this tea was so lovely I didn’t even ask for milk. For the tea sandwiches I settled on the jasmine gravlax and the pork tenderloin. Both were delicious.

For my scone I stuck with a traditional currant scone and of course I chose the clotted cream for my spread. You can’t get more traditional than a current scone lathered in clotted cream and topped with strawberry jam. The first thing that made me happy about their scones is that they were the right shape. Round. Americans, for some reason, are typically enamored of making scones in pie-wedge shapes. In the twelve years I lived in England I don’t believe I ever saw a pie-wedge shaped scone. Yes, I am a scone snob. The next thing that made me happy was the consistency of the scone. It was perfect. Not too dry but not heavy. Spread thick with clotted cream and jam, it was just lovely. These scones tasted like home and I had a sudden longing to be back in England, sipping tea with my best mates and having a laugh.

The waitress was very nice and extremely helpful. She mentioned that their manager encouraged them to try doing their own blends and she was positively giddy about the experience. Lunch was wonderful. I liked it so much, in fact, that a week or so later when my mother came to town, I made time to take her there.

Like me, my mother spent several years living in England. This time we ordered one Century Oak Tea Service and one scone set and just shared. Even that was too much food for the two of us. Since mother is not a huge fan of salmon, we ordered the pork tenderloin and the Lapsang Souchong Chicken Salad. Neither of us were big fans of the chicken salad. We possibly should have known better. Have you ever had Lapsang Souchong tea? No? As a huge Agatha Christie fan, I always wanted to try this favoured tea of the famous detective, Hercule Poirot. So one day while staying at the London Thistle Hotel, I ordered a pot from room service. Oh dear. That was the most awful tea I’d ever tasted. Frankly, it tastes medicinal and not in a good way!

We ordered a savory rosemary scone but after the sandwiches and the current scone we were both too full to eat it. I took it home but sadly it disappeared into the vortex known as my refrigerator and by the time I remembered it, it was past redemption. Once again we got a helpful and knowledgeable waiter.

There are some of you who may think that $19 is too much to pay for the full tea service. It’s actually not a bad price. There are very few places that serve what we call a “cream tea” here in the US. If you do find it, it’s at places like the Driscoll or in some cities, at the Ritz. At those places a full tea service will run upwards of $35 for each person so $19 is not bad at all.

I’d encourage you to make a trip to The Steeping Room. It makes for a fun meal and it would be a great place to take your mother for a little Mother’s Day treat!

Bon Appétit!

Austin, Tx, Tea, Steeping, Room, Service, Cream, Scones, Sandwiches, Domain, Restaurants, Reviews

I’m the first to admit that I’m spoiled rotten. My sweeties gave me flowers and chocolates and a shiny new 8Gb pink iPod nano as well as a brand new iDog amp’d with two little winter outfits for my multitude of other iDogs. Yes, I’m a grown woman who collects iDogs. I have almost every color and I have American ones and Japanese ones. Red ones, blue ones, pink ones, spotted ones and tattooed ones. Hey, I’m a geek girl, we likes our toys!

I didn’t get dinner out tonight because I had a beading class. I’m still sort of surprised they didn’t arrange the class around Valentine’s Day but I enjoy the class and my sweetie didn’t mind. The weekend is ahead and the restaurants really do gouge you on Valentine’s Day, don’t they?

I take my beading classes at Blue Moon Glassworks in Austin. If you’ve ever wanted to take a beadmaking class, I’d highly recommend Blue Moon. Not only are they simply the nicest, friendliest and most helpful people on the planet but they also have a great workspace, they aren’t stingy with their supplies and offer excellent classes. My current class is with instructor, Ann Ricketts, who is a published beader who is well rounded and able to teach many different techniques.

My partner teases me that I only take the classes so I can play with the torch, to which I say, “Your point?” Well, duh, of course I like playing with the torch. The torch is cool!

They also teach classes in stained glass and glass fusion. The local “Fireflies” beadmaking club meets there once a month and quite often guest instructors give a demonstration. I’ve seen demonstrations by some incredible beaders. The kind of beaders whose classes I can’t begin to afford!

Tonight, being Valentine’s Day, we learned to make hollow heart beads. They are so cool and I hope the two I made turn out good. We learned to make regular hollow beads as well. I made two and I hope they came out as well as I think they did.

I can’t wait to see what we learn next week!

I hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day.

Blue Moon, Glassworks, Beading, Ann Ricketts, hollow heart bead, Austin, TX, beads, classes, Fireflies

I also made it out to see the new movie, Juno. Juno is the story of Juno McGuff (Ellen Page), a quirky, free-spirited, non-angsty sixteen year old who has sex once and ends up pregnant. Juno has a loving father, nice step-mom, adorable little sister and a few good friends. Here is a young woman who is nervous but not afraid to tell her parents about her situation. I like that she’s grown up in a family that she trusts enough to unburden herself to early on. For their part, Juno’s parents are not thrilled by the pregnancy but they love her and are supportive and respectful of her decisions. Juno knows that she’s both too young and incapable of raising a baby. She considers abortion but realizes she can’t go through with it so she sets about to find a family for her unborn child. This is a story about her journey and her relationships. The characters come across as flawed but human. It was nice to see Jason Bateman who is still pretty sexy. Michael Cera plays a shy, nerdy guy and Olivia Thirlby plays Juno’s best friend, Leah.

If you enjoy movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Superbad and About a Boy, there is a good chance you’ll like this movie, too.

Unfortunately the movie wasn’t playing at Alamo Drafthouse and I was forced to see it in TinselTown, a Cinemark theater. It was a good reminder of why I hate going to see movies anywhere outside of the Alamo. As usual we had to sit through a plethora of commercials. I don’t go to the movies to see commercials. Having to sit through commercials at the theater makes me angry. Previews don’t bother me. I was pleased to see previews for a couple of movies I hadn’t even heard were in the making, such as The Spiderwick Chronicles and Inkheart. Oddly enough I just read Inkheart a few months ago.

Movie, Review, Juno, Ellen Page, Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Olivia Thirlby

I made it out to see The Golden Compass last night at our local Alamo Drafthouse, the greatest theater ever! The movie was superbly done. I read the books a couple of years ago and I’ve been looking forward to the movie since I saw the first trailer. Nicole Kidman was the perfect choice for Mrs. Coulter. Kidman is brilliant at pulling off the multi-dimensional personality of Mrs. Coulter, shifting easily from charming to icy in seconds. I was happy to see Sam Elliott in the role of the tall Texan, Lee Scorsby, as he was the person I pictured in that role as I read the books. The scenery was exactly as I had imagined it and Iorek the bear, whose voice was given life and character by Shakespearian trained actor, Ian McClellan, was simply amazing. While there were a few scenes that were out of order (the fight between Iorek and the King Ragnar), and a few scenes that were rushed, overall I thought it was a great movie.

For those of you who are banning the movie because it’s “anti-God”, you should definitely read the wonderful article entitled “God in the Dust” written by Donna Freitas for The Boston Globe.

When did it become anti-Christian to question the Bible? Some of the world’s greatest scholars have been theologians. While the author, Phillip Pullman, is indeed an atheist, his books and this movie are more of a statement against those who seek to impose their will and ideals on others while suppressing than it is about attacking religion. The irony is that those Christians sending around emails telling you not to see the movie for various reasons are seeking to do just that. Are these people so insecure in their religion that they can’t handle a few questions?

In any event, it’s a movie whose theological ideas would be completely transparent to a child and would, instead, be magical.

Although I think the books this movie was based on (His Dark Materials) would make excellent reading for young teens, I’d agree with April over at “Life as a Christian Woman“, that the second and third books, at least, are probably too advanced in concept for very young readers.

Golden Compass, Movie, Review, Christians, Books, Phillip Pullman, His Dark Materials, Free Will, Theology, Nicole Kidman, Sam Elliott, Dakota Blue Richards, Iorek, Ian McClellan, Alamo Drafthouse

Last January my best friend started searching for an apartment here in Austin. In mid January we stopped by the office at Chez Moi and gathered some brochures on the apartment layouts. He liked the attached garages so on January 18th we returned and he fell in love with a 1-bedroom unit with wood flooring shown to us by a woman named, Pam. We went back to the main office and Pam looked up the availability of the apartment, gave us a copy of the floor layout and wrote down the apartment number on it. She informed us that the apartment would be available on March 17th. We thought that was a long time for an apartment to be vacant but when we questioned Pam she told us that the apartment needed work and that they would be replacing the linoleum. The time frame fit in well with his schedule so he accepted the date and thought nothing further of it and a couple of days later, on January 23rd, he gave Pam his deposit.

Fast forward to March 17th, his move-in date. Adam’s father came to town to assist his brother and me with the move. We stopped into the office that morning, paid the remaining rent and picked up his keys and garage door opener and headed back to his brothers house to get the truck loaded with his belongings.

When we returned to the complex with the truck, it was immediately apparent that we had the wrong apartment. The wrong garage door opened, there were no hardwood floors and the front door was in the wrong location! We went around the corner and discovered that the correct number for the apartment he’d chosen was not the same number Pam had written down on the layout she’d given us. Not being familiar with the apartments, we had never realized her mistake.

We left the truck loaded outside and went to the office and spoke to Pam about the situation. She said, “Do you want your money back and we’ll tear up the lease”? We looked at her dumbfounded.

(more…)

It was with great anticipation that I took my seat at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas for last nights National Poetry Slam Indy Finals. Sadly I’d missed all the qualifying rounds while I ate my way through Seattle’s seafood. We first stopped in at Thai Passion for an excellent meal. There was a bit of problem with the bill but I’ll get into that later when I review the restaurant. As we drove around looking for a place to park we spotted a poet talking to the window of a restaurant, obviously practicing and ironically standing under a poster advertising the event. We wished we’d had our camera.

Mayor Will Wynn stepped in once again to deliver the intro. He mentioned that Austin is the only city to host the Nationals two years in a row. Yay! Go, Austin!

This years warm-up poets were the 2004 NPS Indy winner, Janeen Livingston and the winner of both the 2005 and the 2006 Indy finals, Anis Mojgani. I had thought Anis was going to be in Paris so I was thrilled when his name was announced. He’d shaved off his facial hair and looked much younger than last year. Janeen was looking beautiful in a very “Dreamgirls” style dress. Her words about her mother’s illness and her life story sent tears streaming down my face. Anis spun his words as beautifully and insightfully as always, mesmerizing the crowd and leaving us wanting more. I wanted to capture his words on paper but at the same time I couldn’t pry my focus from his words for long enough to write.

And then it was time and the final poets were announced:

The poets drew numbers and the order was chosen. One by one they entered the stage, baring their souls for all to see and hear. They spoke of homelessness, heroes, destiny, politics, poverty and cancer and yes, even the muppets. They made me laugh and cry and shout out loud. I’m glad I wasn’t judging because it would have been a hard job!

When the dust settled only seven poets remained.

Once again the numbers were drawn and the order set. Danny Sherrard, a veteran of the Seattle youth slam scene was the clear winner, though Alvin Lau, with his story of his sisters wedding and Shannon Leigh with the story of her father were nipping at his heels in a tie for second.

With the second round finished and three more poets eliminated we were down to the final four.

1. Alvin Lau, Chicago MG
2. Danny Sherrard, Seattle
3. Shannon Leigh, Atlanta
4. Christopher Michael, Killeen TX

Shannon Leigh is a veteran slammer who cut her teeth as a youth in Austin’s slam scene at the tender age of 14. She has a distinct voice. A pretty woman whose words are not always pretty. The crowd loves her and she walks away with a score of 29.8. Finally, Christopher Michael walks on stage. His words this night have been largely focused on the war and his friends and family who’ve lost their limbs and their lives. Like Shannon and Alvin, I remember Michael from last year. His words are strong and he walks off the stage to wild applause and echoes of 10-10-10 floated through the air again. Yet another perfect score. Thus begins a bit of a scramble as the host figures out what to do with this tie situation. Something that will be fair and that will satisfy the audience.

Eventually they decide to draw numbers again and Danny and Michael face off for a tie-breaking final round. The judges are instructed to sit back and listen and in the end to pick a winner. The time for scoring is over. Christopher draws the first slot and he talks about the black man in history and his struggle to define his place in the world. It’s a brilliant piece and the audience loves it. Danny takes the stage and for the life of me I can’t recall exactly what he spoke of but I remember that it was moving and amazing and the crowd went wild.

The judges are told to take a minute to reflect and finally they are asked to vote. Two votes for Christopher and three for Danny, leaving Danny as the 2007 National Indy Champion. This makes the third year in a row that Seattle has taken the NPS Indy title.

We left exhilarated and exhausted and looking forward to tonights Team Finals. I’ll be posting about that tomorrow. The words have been spoken and they still sing in my ears.

National Poetry Slam 2007: Team Finals

Slam Poetry, Poetry Slam, National Poetry Slam, National Poetry Slam 2007, Spoken-Word, Poetry, Danny Sherrard, Shannon Leigh, Oz, Christopher Michael, Six is Nine, Michael Guinn, Ed Mabrey, Alvin Lau, Kealoha, Robbie Q. Telfer, Anis Mojgani, Janeen Livingston, Mayor Will Wynn, Austin

My MyNN Profile

When I think of Green Pastures, the word that comes to mind is genteel. Once the home of gifted storyteller and radio show host, John Henry Faulk, Green Pastures evokes images of the Old South. Nestled among some mighty big live oaks, you can almost picture Scarlet O’Hara sitting on the porch sipping lemonade. Built in 1894, Green Pastures began serving food some 60 years ago and has gained a reputation for fine dining. The restaurant features french-inspired cuisine, regional specialties and desserts to die for! The interior is equally as elegant with carved fireplaces, intimate settings, gracefully tailored curtains and antique furnishings. This is a place guaranteed to make an impression. This is a restaurant perfect for very special occasions. I rarely go more than once a year. The price is steep but well worth it.

On an average night you’ll dine in either the Burgundy Room or the Family Room but on busy nights, like New Years Eve, you’ll more likely be served in the Cotillion Room. Be sure to call ahead for reservations. Green Pastures also offers space for Wedding Ceremonies, Special Occasions, Wedding Receptions and Corporate Events.

Each time I’ve been to Green Pastures they’ve served an amuse bouche, a little palate teaser. Appetizers range from regional favourites like Texas Quail with Jalapeno Cornbread, Black Berry and Horseradish Marmalade to Tempura Maine Lobster Tail with Wasabi Butter and Jicama Slaw, each presented beautifully. The same applies to their entrees. Try their Texas Game Sampler for a real treat! Be sure you save room for dessert, though! While their desserts are fantastic, you might also want to do the European thing and go with their selection of Fine Cheeses. Try the cheese plate with a glass of port for a real treat!

Don’t miss their Sunday Brunch. This would be an ideal place to take your mother for Mother’s Day. Oh, and keep your eyes peeled for peacocks!

Green Pastures, Austin, Restaurant, Reviews, Peacocks, Brunch, John Henry Faulk

When I think of the Eastside Café in Austin, two words come to mind, fresh and unpretentious. Located east of I-35 off Manor Road, Eastside Café is situated inside a lovely old home. With small tables in an intimate setting, you almost feel as though you’re being served in someone’s home. In addition, they have a great little store next door, featuring herbs from their garden, cooking and gardening supplies. You can even grab a quick soup or salad while you’re there. Behind the main restaurant is another building which is used for busy days and to host parties.

You can’t get fresher veggies than these folks serve. Why? Because they grow their vegetables on site. The Eastside Café sits on an acre of land, one third of which is dedicated to a beautiful organic garden in which they grow vegetables, herbs and flowers which are then incorporated into their restaurant. Chef Ruth Carter has been whipping up tantalizing treats for some 9 years now. She’s even written two Eastside Café cookbooks.

There are daily veggie and starch specials dependent on the season and what is available in the garden. We chose to start our meal with two appetizers, the baked brie with apple chutney and the salmon curry dumplings with coconut curry sauce. The brie was warm and gooey and delicious but the salmon curry dumplings stole the show. We were so impressed that we had to figure out the recipe and recreate them at home. Mmmm….

We moved on to share the Mixed Field Green salad which had been tossed with a raspberry vinaigrette and warm, coated goat cheese. This salad served as a reminder of how much flavor has been lost in store bought vegetables. I wanted to burrow through this salad head first, it was so good.

For our main entrée, my dinner partner had the salmon ravioli while I had the beef tenderloin. The ravioli was lovely, with a wonderfully aromatic lemon cream sauce that just melted on your tongue. My beef tenderloin came with either a honey lime chipotle sauce or pepper-encrusted with a marsala cream sauce. I’m sure either would have been fabulous but on this occasion I chose the honey lime chipotle. I chose well. The sweet and tangy sauce was an excellent accompaniment to the perfectly cooked tenderloin.

Although I’m sure that all the desserts at Eastside Café are fantastic, my heart belongs to their Crostata. This cake appears as if it will be dry but it’s not. In fact it’s composed of layers of sweet crumb nut cake with an apricot almond custard center. I can’t even describe how yummy this dessert is so you’ll just have to try it for yourself. I’ve yet to find a recipe for this delightful dessert but my hunt continues.

Eastside Café’s menu includes choices sure to please everyone in your party, including vegetarians. If you’re looking for some place to impress your date or your boss or out of town visitors, this is your place! Be sure to call ahead for reservations, this is a popular restaurant!

Finally, I’d like to give a shout-out to Eastside Café owners Elaine Martin and Dorsey Barger for their philanthropic work. Each year they donate 30 gallons of their wonderful soup to the Empty Bowl Project to raise money and awareness to feed Austin’s homeless. This is a very cool project in which local artists contribute hand-made bowls. For a donation of $15, you get a beautiful hand-made bowl, soup from Eastside Café and a hunk of bread made by one of the many fine restaurants in Austin.

Austin, restaurant, review, Eastside Café

Last week I spoke about the upcoming National Poetry Slam. This week I’d like to tell you about a local band, the Asylum Street Spankers. How are these two things related?

The Asylum Street Spankers began in 1994 with the serendipitous meeting of Christina Marrs, Guy Forsyth and Wammo. Wammo is well known in the Austin slam poetry scene. He ought to be, he practically started the revolution! What happened when these three talented people got together? Music, baby!

Amazingly, Christina Marrs played no instruments when the band first started. She now plays five. Five! Not only that, but she writes songs, acts as the bands musical director and produces their shows. Can you say overachiever? Christina’s got it going on! The band is chock-a-block with talented musicians. Their instruments range from guitars to ukuleles to washboards and more.

Part soulful, part parody, part sexy, part controversial their music ranges from swing to blues to uproarious songs about beer and boogers. Whatever they’re singing it’s bound to be unexpected and delightful. It’s no wonder that one of my friends refers to them as “God’s favorite band”.

Here is a little sample of them at their finest (warning, may not be appropriate for work/children):

Yesterday was a gorgeous day for a drive in the Hill country and with visiting friends, an excellent opportunity to visit a local vineyard. We chose the Driftwood Vineyard for this excursion. The drive was about 30-40 minutes from downtown Austin and we found the vineyard with relative ease.

The wine tasting was held in a small portable that was fairly packed as we entered. The wait, however, was no more than 10 minutes. We thought they could use a bigger tasting room but we overheard that they were a bit short staffed and normally did the tastings out on their deck, which is a much larger area. They also have a larger building for weddings and other events.

Driftwood Vineyards is owned and operated by Gary and Kathy Elliott on land owned by Kathy’s family since 1951. The vineyard was planted a mere 9 years ago with their first grape crush just 5 years ago. Their first wine was bottled in 2003 and they opened to the public a month later. Not bad at all for a winery that already has several wine awards to its name!

The tasting menu allows you 6 selections of their wines for a mere $5. You can do your tasting individually or share with your friend/partner. Adam and I chose to share this time. Our selection:

1. 2006 Viognier (lovely bouquet)
2. 2004 Alamo Red
3. 2004 Lone Star Cab
4. Driftwood ‘06 Dry Rose
5. Driftwood ‘06 Sweet Blush
6. Wimberiey Valley Sangria (sweet but not cloying)

Our favourites were the Viognier and the Sangria.

We bought a bottle of each, along with some crackers and “cheese pops”. The cheese pops were goat cheese pyramids with lolipop sticks in them. We chose a curry coated one and an herb coated one. Both were good and we managed to drink the Sangria while sitting on the deck enjoying good conversation.

It was a fun day out and I’m definitely going to spend more time checking out the local vineyards.

Oh, and while you’re up there, you should definitely stop in at The Salt Lick, which many people consider to be the best BBQ in Austin. This is their original location and has been open since 1969. Get your fingers ready for licking!

Good morning, Austin. I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! My niece and her boyfriend were in town visiting and we took the opportunity to take them to dinner at the new Brazilian restaurant out in South Austin. Estancia Churrascaria is located on Highway 290 in Sunset Valley (next to the Holiday Inn Express). I’d made reservations for 7 o’clock, which did not appear in their book. That was not the first time I’d had problems with reservations at this restaurant. Fortunately, they managed to accommodate us and found us a table right away. I think I was giving off that “you’d better sort this out quickly or things will get ugly” vibe.
My first experience at a churrascaria was at Porcão Churrascaria in Miami, a restaurant that seared itself into my memory not only for it’s delectable meats but also for its beefy price tag!

A Churrascaria, for those who’ve never experienced one, is a Brazilian or Portuguese steakhouse, and a carnivore’s delight. Churrascaro is a style of cooking that is a form of slow roasting over open flames. Each diner is given a two-sided disk, one side red, the other green. Placing the green side up indicates you’re ready for meat, red side down signals the waiters to stop piling it on your plate. Waiters, dressed smartly as gauchos, parade through the restaurant with long skewers of meat cooked from rare to well done. Meats range from linguica (sausage) to picanha (house specialty sirloin) to bacon wrapped chicken to filet mignon to lamb and much, much more. Did I mention that it’s a meat lovers paradise?

Each table is generously set with side dishes of seasoned mashed potatoes, fried bananas and delectable little cheese rolls.

Estancia Churrascaria is relatively new to Austin, having just opened in March of this year (2007). They have already outgrown their location. Tables are so close together that it’s hard to get around and waiters and guests are constantly bumping into you, your table and each other. While the table behind us was up at the salad bar one of the waiters bumped it and sent a glass of wine flying across the table.

On the plus side, they have an excellent salad bar with such offerings as caprese salad, hearts of palm and artichokes all spectacularly and temptingly laid out.

Don’t let that fool you.

Same thing with those delectable little side dishes!

Rule Number 1:

Go with an appetite! Eat a light breakfast and a light lunch. Be aware that salad is cheaper and they’d rather you filled up on the green stuff.

Me? I’m not fooled. I skip the salad, although I am sorely tempted by the caprese salad. Mmmm…buffalo mozzarella.

Rule Number 2:

Never, ever, go without a reservation. I know people who’ve waited for well over an hour.

Rule Number 3:

Don’t fill up on beverages, salad or side dishes. My nieces boyfriend sucked down two colas with his salad and then complained as we were leaving that he was hungry and ready for more meat. Silly boy. If you leave this place hungry you should be shot.

Last but not least is dessert. I try to save a little room for dessert. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to share a dessert. On this particular excursion, my dinner partner and I shared the crème brulée. The crust was perfect and I must admit that they have some of the smoothest custard I’ve ever had and I’m no crème brulée dilettante.

While I am hearing some rumblings that Estancia Churrascaria is not as good as Fogo De Chao, I’d like to point out that Fogo De Chao is an established restaurant. It’s also a good $10 a head more expensive. Estancia Churrascaria is experiencing the birthing pains of any new venture and their doing it with mounting numbers of guests. Let’s give them a chance to establish themselves.

Fogo De Chao fans need not worry, however, as their website clearly indicates that they’ll be coming to Austin soon! I, for one, welcome the competition!

For those of you wishing to experience Estancia Churrascaria, you may want to go soon. Rumor is that their prices will increase soon.

One last thing, for the restaurant owners, please fix the toilet seats in the women’s bathroom before someone (probably me) slides off the broken seats, bonks their head on the wall and is found in a meaty coma on your pretty floor tiles!

[tags]Churrascaria, estancia, restaurant, review, austin, brazil, brazillian, meat, sausage, picahna[tags]

Last night I had to pick my car up from the shop. Since it was just 4 miles from Dirty Martin’s we decided to stop in and try out thier burgers. I’d been meaning to try them for ages but just hadn’t found the time.

Dirty Martin’s has been around since 1926. The building occupies a decent bit of real estate in the college district of downtown Austin. There is a huge billboard overhead indicating Dirty Martin’s is HERE with a large arrow pointing down at the restaurant.

Inside is an old fashioned lunch counter with a half dozen booths. Around back is a larger area with TVs.

I ordered a basic cheeseburger and my partner-in-crime ordered a bacon cheeseburger. We shared a basket of fries and a basket of jalapeño poppers that were still half priced for happy hour. I had a cherry coke which didn’t have enough cherry flavouring to taste cherry like at all.

The burgers arrived with that slick sheen of grease on the buns that I remember from childhood. The cheese was sliced, processed, american. The paper under the burgers coated in grease. I picked up the burger and grease ran out into the basket. The taste, again, reminded me of burgers when I was a kid. It was ok, but nothing to write home about.

The french fries were the kind I like; hand-cut with the skin still on. Unfortunately they were fat with grease, too.

The jalapeño poppers were ok but unremarkable.

Overall we found the adventure disappointing and see no reason to return.

If you’re a big fan of Dirty Martin’s I’d love to hear why you think they are so great.

Burgers, Austin, Austin’s Best Burgers, Dirty Martin’s, french fries