Lawrence was in Houston visiting his folks.
It is refreshing to note that some things near campus don't change. Milto's is one of them: they've been turning out quality pizza for the twenty years I've lived in Austin. I've reached the point now where I think I actually slightly prefer the Lone Star Deep Dish special to any of Mangia's deep dish offerings (but these are, admittedly, two different types of pies).
I still like the Lone Star Deep Dish special (and it's a much better value here than the gyros), and the salad and roll combination. I'm still less than thrilled by the parking situation, and the drink selection. This is a great "walk to from campus" place, but for those with a car I'd have to recommend either location of Mangia's instead.
(Atkin's Update: If anyone reading these logs actually has an interest in the progress of my diet, I've gone from an extended adherence to Induction, the most restrictive phase of the diet, to letting myself have some "bad" carbs one meal a week at the SDC, which seems to settle my digestive system more, hence the pizza. (I'm still pretty much completely off sugared soft drinks.) For the record, I am still losing weight (from a peak of around 243 to 215 after last Saturday's bike ride), albeit slowly and with a firm commitment to five days of exercise a week. More importantly, as long as I stay on the diet, I don't gain weight, which is an improvement in and of itself.)
Yeah, I still like it. They do a pretty good fried fish platter. And now they've got a larger seating area. I don't get over as often as I'd like, so I haven't had a chance to try any of the Poboys, but Gene's makes me feel okay.
The last time we visited, I found that Gene served up some excellent PoBoys. For this visit, I found that Gene also does some very good fried chicken, and the banana pudding is still the best in town. For the record, I think I like chicken at Popeye's just a touch better, mainly due to the batter, but Gene's also has about a zillion times more atmosphere than they do, and still wipes the floor with anyone else's chicken. And speaking of atmosphere, they've solved the biggest problem we noticed from our last trip in that they've expanded into the space next door, easily tripling their seating space.
If you haven't visited Gene's, you really owe yourself a trip, and I look forward to working my way through the menu on subsequent trips. Just be sure to mind the early closing hours.
Disappointing this time around. The fried pork chunks I had as my main dish weren't very good, and the appetizers seemed off as well. Sorry, but the whole experience seemed to be lacking.
I still like Habana, and the service was good, but the pork steak I had this time around didn't seem as tasty as the bite I had of Dwight's during our last visit, and the portions seemed a bit smaller. This is not enough to make me write it off, but it does merit concern, and I'd like to see bigger portions and a wider dessert selection in the future.
See the logs for August of 2003.