When we were trying to settle on a place for this conspiracy, Lawrence sent me a quote from another review: "Vegetarians may want to shy away from this strongly meat-oriented menu." My response? "I am there, man."
I was somewhat disappointed that they didn't have cabrito (it was on the menu, but they were apparently out of it), and I thought the pork in the tacos al pastor was a little tough. I liked my pork chop dish, though, and the rice and beans were reasonably good (the former lacked the overwhelming tomato that some places tend to add to their rice). The hot sauce wasn't hot enough for Lawrence, but that's like saying "Another car bomb exploded in Iraq": wake me when there's news.
I'd have to say this is one of the better East Austin places we've found so far, in my humble opinion. I don't care much for their parking lot, though.
Yet another decent-but-unexceptional TexMex place. My spicy pork was neither spicy nor particularly generous, but was otherwise tasty and reasonably priced. Conversly, the tacos were good, but a little expensive for what you get (especially with the whole "50¢ extra for fixings" thing). That said, the food was nice and the service reasonably prompt.
This is the sort of place I'd probably stop by occasionally if it were in my neighborhood, but there's nothing here compelling enough to inspire me to drive over to East Austin to try it.
I found the Tea House kind of disappointing. The appetizers were reasonable, if standard Chinese fare. Instead of hot and sour soup, though, I decided to try the chicken and corn soup, which was thin and not very tasty: I was actually expecting something closer to the thick sort of creamy soup that certain places serve.
As for the main courses, the taste I had of Lawrence's duck was okay. My clay pot pork, on the other hand, had a kind of unpleasant bitter aftertaste: it was almost like they had put in too much powdered ginger, and the pork itself was tough and chewy.
Not horrible, but I wouldn't make a special drive to eat here.
I like it. The Tea House offers tasty Chinese and Vietnamese food at pretty decent prices. Even better, the Chinese food doesn't seem like the "obligatory Chinese to draw in the rubes who won't eat pho" afterthought it is at so many Austin restaurants which serve both. I liked my ginger duck (albeit not as much as the Incredible Duck with Wonderful Sauce at Pao's a fair bit, and the service was very attentive. I also like the interior decoration, which seemed much nicer than that at Java Grill, which used to occupy the same space. Before that it was Mama Mia's North; three incarnations ties it with Rainbow North/Mong Kok/T&S Seafood as the SDC restaurant space which has gone through the most incarnations.
Drawbacks: I think that the pu-pu platter is one of the least inspired versions of this dish I've had in Austin.
Right now I'd put The Tea House a notch or two behind Pao's and Tien Hong, but it's got promise. (I also noticed that they're now serving Dim Sum. I'd like to try that. )
There was a time when I really liked Artz. Part of that may have been working close by, so it was easy to get over there, but part of it was that I thought they had good barbecue and sauce. Also, I liked their flexibility in the matter of sides.
Well, they're still flexible about sides (you can get a baked potato instead of beans and slaw), and they still have that sauce with an interesting tang to it (celery seed?). But this time, the ribs seemed dry and tough, and the brisket rather tasteless. Both struck me as being sub-Rudy's grade. The chicken was pretty good, though, and the nachos weren't bad.
Superior to Poke-E-Joe's, I'd say, but not much else.
Since it had been eight years since our last visit, we thought it high time to give Artz another visit. I liked it better this time around.
The nachos were more than passable, despite using rather bland cheese. I had all three kinds of ribs, and each seemed pretty good. The beef ribs were better than average, while the country style and baby-back ribs, while flavorful, can't compete with the pork rib offerings at Kreuz Market, or Crosstown, or The Salt Lick. But for in-Austin ribs they're pretty good. Service was very good, and they kept my Diet Coke glass well refilled.
Alas, the Raspberry Peach Cobbler was fairly tasteless, easily among the least impressive desserts I've had in Austin.
Still, of all the BBQ joints the SDC has actually visited in south Austin, this one has to rank near the top.
I had some problems with Sambet's. The bathroom was one. The location was another. Then there was the minor detail that they had run out of both link boudin and andouille sausage by the time we got there. (Notice I specify "link": they had "boudin spread" about which more later.)
I was less impressed than Lawrence with their crab cakes, which I thought were slightly burnt (and did they put spinach in them? Not that I mind the mere presence, but there were big leaves of some green vegetable in them). Here's the thing, though: the "boudin sandwich" and the crawfish étouffée were absolutely wonderful.
The sandwich is a pretty simple idea: take boudin out of the casing (this is what Sambet's calls "boudin spread", which they were also willing to sell us in cups instead of the link boudin), put it on a toasted sandwich roll with some (provolone?) cheese (and some lettuce and tomato, if you're that kind of pervert), heat it in an oven, and serve. Like I said: simple and damn fine. The crawfish étouffée is dark and sublime, just the way I like it. And the guy behind the counter was very solicitous, even bringing out free samples of the (also good) chowder they were serving that night.
I love the food, but I'm not sure I'd go there for a sit-down dinner unless I was prepared for Burger King or McDonald's level of comfort. If it was on my way home, I'd stop and get stuff to go, and I get the feeling they do a healthy lunch business. Good for them.
It's easy to be put off by Sambet's appearance. A narrow storefront restaurant, with stained (or missing) acoustic tiles in the ceiling, and about a dozen cheap tables. (On the other hand, I consider the walls of hot sauce for sale a plus.) There's also the question of staffing: There were two staffers there when we came in, and right after we finished placing our order, one of them left for the night. (What is it with this Strip Center of the Damned (i.e., the one at the McNeil/Spicewood Springs/183 intersection)? With the partial exception of Camino Real, every place we've tried in this center has been deserted at 6 PM on a Saturday night.) To be fair, the single employee did a good job of keeping us content, even bringing us free samples of the few items we didn't manage to order between us.
Despite all that, the food turned out to be pretty darn good, and a heck of a deal for the price. The chicken and sausage gumbo was a very solid effort; not in the same league as Yoli's or JC's, but a cut above just about everything else. The crawfish étouffée was adequate, but not spicy enough (which caused me to go a bit overboard with the Dave's Insanity Sauce, much to my regret), and not in the same league as Ruby's. And my muffaletta was very good, despite being half preassembled and waiting in the fridge. (The latter may be the reason why the last one I had at Hoover's seemed better, though not as generously apportioned.) And I liked the bite I had of Dwight's crab cakes.
Despite this obviously being more of a lunch or grab-and-go joint, the food here is good enough to be worth seeking out. And if they expend into the space they're using for storage now, and swell up the joint a bit, it might even turn into a real restaurant.
See the logs for October of 2004.