Love Life, Hate Kittens

[pictures via yelp]

Noble Pig is the perfect balance of a gourmet eatery in an unpretentious (may I add.. even ironic) setting. Luxe meets local. Specialty ingredients meets household favorites. It’s the perfect “Austin” establishment. 

Nestled in a non-descript strip mall, the popular sandwich shop shares a parking lot with apartment hunters and Chevron customers alike. You would never imagine that next to the gas station corn dogs stands a chef doling out seared beef tongue or deviled eggs with garlic mayo. What makes Noble Pig special is that each component of your meal is carefully crafted and homemade. Yup, they make everything in-house from the fluffy bread to the mustard down to the pickles. 

My current favorite is the seared beef tongue sandwich. Seasoned with chilies and braised for hours, the beef tongue is delectably paired with tender red peppers and whole roasted green onions. The aforementioned bread is so fluffy that you’d think it’d melt or get soggy but it holds the sandwich perfectly. 

The sides are worth mentioning as well. I always hated potato salads cuz a) it’s fattening and b) it’s usually bland. But Noble Pig seems to cross out point b, their potato salad is lightly salted, each bite bursting with subtle spices and herbs and not mayo-y. You’ll still get fat but whatevs. The homemade potato chips are good and the side of pickles cuts into the rich sandwich nicely.

If you love the beef tongue, make sure you come back for the awesome duck pastrami and also their signature Noble Pig sandwich! 

It’s clear that Noble Pig has a very loyal fan base with a steady stream of customers. Luckily there always seems to be one or two tables available even during weekday lunch hour (NB probably seats about 35 at most and I’m being generous.) Currently they are only opened for breakfast and lunch but host monthly dinners. Make sure you sign up for their mailing list!

Noble Pig
11815 620 N
Ste 4
Austin, TX 78750
(512) 382-6248
www.noblepigaustin.com

It’s just not worth the effort. I mean, it’s super, super tasty and it’s easy and it makes for great leftovers but somewhere in the back of my mind I was thinking, I can go pay 6.95 right now, be happy and I don’t even have to clean up. 

But if you’re into DIY’ing, here you go ^_^

Ingredients
Handful of bamboo shoots
10-15 basil leaves
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro for garnish
1-2 medium carrots, chopped in bite size pieces
10 whole cloves of garlic 
1 medium sweet onion
1 lb of lean beef, sliced
5 tbsp of Thai red chili paste
14oz can of coconut milk
Salt/Pepper 

Jasmine rice

Method
1. Season meat and veggies with salt and pepper. Set meat aside. 
2. Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a large skillet on medium. Saute onions, carrots, garlic for 6 minutes to get a good char. 
3. Reduce heat and cover. Cook for 15 minutes.
4. In the meantime, heat another pan to med high. Do a quick saute of the meat for 2 minutes just to brown it. Do not overcook.  
5. Dump meat into your veggie skillet. Mix your thai red curry paste into your saute and stir fry for 1 minute until everything is well coated.
6. Pour in coconut milk. Heat until boiled then turn heat to med-low.
7. Throw in basil leaves and cilantro and bamboo shoots. Simmer until sauce thickens (about 15-20 minutes)
8. Pour over rice and enjoy! 

Or you can skip steps 1-7, call for Thai takeout and drink a beer or 4 in the meantime. Equally satisfying. 

I never really liked pizza. Why you ask. Pizza is so delicious. It has cheese, meat and carbs. It’s like the holy trifecta. 

Truthfully, I’m pretty sure my adverse reaction comes from going to Pizza Hut on a career day field trip when I was in elementary school. I grew up in Torrance.. so yes, 1 out of 6 people will probably end up being a ‘pie artist’ and/or work at Northropp Grumman. Or smoke meth.

Anyways, we toured the grand pizza hut kitchen, learned how to make dough, wash veggies and strategically arrange cheese and pepperoni. It was the most traumatizing day of my life. 

Luckily pizza turned gourmet over the past couple years and I was able to get over my prejudices (against pizza, not Torrance.) How can you not with delicious ingredients like pancetta, soft egg, truffles, jamon and whatever Serious Pie serving up? Drenched in dark wood and high booths (equipped with purse hooks), Serious Pie is the cutest pizzeria with a nice menu of 6-8 gourmet pizza choices, salads and a good sized wine list. Between 4 people, we got two pizzas - the sweet fennel sausage, roasted peppers, and provolone pizza and the chanterelle, crimini mushrooms and truffle cheese.

It was divine. You could smell the truffles on the pizza from a mile away and the mushrooms added just the right amount of juice to the pie. They make their sausage in-house and each bite had a huge burst of rich flavor. Their crust is perfectly light, in fact, it was so light that it is so easy to hoover piece after piece. If you’re wondering, two pizzas with 8 square pieces in each is not enough for four people. Get a third. Get the clam one with pancetta and report back. 

Please.

Serious Pie
316 Virginia St
Seattle, WA 98121 
(206) 838-7388
http://tomdouglas.com/index.php?page=serious-pie 

Everyone has their own way of making steak (myself included) and it’s hard to teach a old dog new tricks especially when you already have a tried and true method. For the longest time, I’ve been sticking with the pan-sear / finish in the oven combo and a tip from David Chang’s Momofuku pan-roasted ribeye recipe really put my steaks over the top. 

This recipe gives a nice marbled rib eye such a fantastic crust yet it cooks so evenly. I wish I was a better photographer (I don’t have the patience) because this steak was the best medium rare/leaning toward rare I’ve ever made. It’s was way more red in real life. 

So below is an adaptation of the recipe (here’s the original) based on the ingredients I had in my fridge. I’m lazy. I am the queen of improvising. 

Ingredients

2 bone-in rib eyes (1 - 1 1/2 inch thick)
Kosher salt
3 tbsp of butter
Freshly ground peppercorn
Thyme (I used the dried thyme in bottles rather than fresh sprigs)
3 tbsp of minced garlic
3/4 of sweet onion (he uses shallots. i had half an onion leftover. whatevs)
Truffle salt
Egg (lol. cuz i didn’t have any other sides. so i topped it with an egg. this is not even relevant.) 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400
2. Heat a 12 inch cast iron pan or oven proof skillet over high heat (make sure pan is really dry). While the pan is heating, season both sides of steak liberally with salt and pepper. Feel free to go a bit hard, it helps form the crust. 
3. Make sure the pan is hot enough, you should see a bit of smoking and you wouldn’t be able to hold your hand over the pan for more than a few seconds.
3a. Open doors and windows or ramp your AC.
4. Sear steak on each side for 90 seconds. Do not touch or move at all no matter how tempting or how bad its smoking. Sear side opposite bone for another 30 seconds.
5. Place steak on roasting pan in oven for 6-7 minutes for medium rare.
6. Carefully take steak out of oven and back on skillet on low. Add thyme, butter and garlic to the pan.
7. Tip pan at an angle and pour melted butter mixture all over your steak consistently for 2 minutes.
8. Remove steak from pan and let rest for 10 minutes. This is important!  
9. And if you’re a weirdo like me, cook your egg while your steak is resting. Enjoy :D 

I don’t know if you noticed (of course you haven’t noticed. no one notices. i suck at it) but I’ve been trying to go no/low carb for a while now. I’ve seen my friends do no carb with awesome results with a cheat day every week. Like dropping 10-15 lbs. My problem is that I have ‘cheat days’ every FRAKING day. I get cravings for pho and I succumb like “oh cheat day!” and then the next day I want chicken nuggets (my kryptonite. oh btw did you notice that Mcdonald’s introduced 4 new dipping sauces? yes, I’m a loser). Anyways, point is I have no discipline for diets. Anorexia, I’m sorry I ever doubted you. 

Great. I lost my train of thought. I have no idea where I was going with this. I think the point is doing Hot Pot at home is fantastic because it’s all just meat and veggies and I like to make the broth super spicy so it limits my eating.

I used to use the Hot Pot broth base from Lee Kum Kee and it’s fantastic. However, after discovering Little Hot Pot in Hacienda Heights I have been converted.

Note: I noticed not all 99 Ranch Markets carry this, only the one in HH. :( However since I moved to TX, that’s a non-issue since there are no 99 Ranchs or anything asian anyway. I resorted to buying things from a freaking site called Asian Food Grocer. Yes. I’m complaining.

The package includes 4 baggies separately containing: dried chili peppers and star anise, hot oil, soup base, and dried fermented soy beans. You toss the entire mixture with 6 cups of water (more or less depending if you want to dilute it. It’s really really spicy) and 6 cloves of garlic (buy the pre-peeled to save time) and a bunch of chopped green onion. Boil.

Pour soup into your hot pot, dip meat and veggies. Rinse, repeat. Here’s a short list of what I usually buy:

- Fish balls, beef balls, shrimp balls, basically all balls.
- Imitation crab.
- Mushrooms - any and all. They soak up great flavor.
- Thin sliced beef (brisket at Korean markets is good)
- Thin sliced pork belly
- Dumplings if I’m skipping rice (partial cheat day)
- Napa cabbage
- Fried tofu. I find that the regular tofu breaks apart too easily. The ones with skin hold up so well.
- Shrimp if I’m not feeling lazy. 
- BEER. Spicy food + Beer = Best Ever. (Fuck, I had two beers. Cheat day, I supposed :-/) 

Oh, if you’re wondering. I own the Zojirushi electric hot pot/skillet/steamer (not sure if this is the exact one but just make sure its deep enough). Bought it on Amazon and I like it just fine. 

Btw. this was all for 2 people. I cannot stop my inner fattie.

If it’s anything I love about Sundays, it’s breakfast foods and drinking. OK, mainly the drinking but come one, icy cold mimosas and bloody marys? Bacon, runny eggs and overload of carbs is just the icing on the cake. 

And now, we even elevated Sunday brunches to a whole new level. B discovered these great 5oz bacon wrapped filets for under 10 bucks. How can we ever go back to black forest ham? BLACK FOREST HAM? It’s practically peasants food. 

The hardest part about making a multi part breakfast is definitely the timing. I’d make everything in this order: 

Bacon -20 minutes
Steak (medium rare) - 10 minutes
Poached eggs - 10 minutes 
Grits - 7 minutes
Hollandaise - 5 minutes
English muffins - 3 minutes 

Bacon wrapped steak benedicts (serves 2)

Ingredients

Hollandaise Sauce
You can use packaged sauce (Knorr brand is good) however, sauce from scratch is super easy as well.
2 large egg yolks
1 tbsp of lemon juice
Dash of salt, paprika, pepper
4 tbsp of butter

4 slices of thick cut bacon 
2 english muffins
2 5 oz bacon wrapped filets

Grits
1/2 cup of grits
Dash of salt
3 cups of water 

Process

1. Place bacon on foil covered tray evenly spaced. Do not preheat oven. Stick pan in oven and set to 375 degrees and bake for 20 minutes. 

2. Buy an egg poacher. Yes, the one you see on infomercials. It’s the best 40 dollars you can ever spend. All you have to do is oil the little tray, plop your eggs in and click on. No more swirling eggs with a dash of vinegar hoping the whites don’t separate too much.

2. Heat skillet to med high. Sear filet 3 minutes per side. Sear also 1 min per side to crisp the bacon. Remove from heat to rest. Slice horizontally in half. 

3. Boil 3 cups of water and salt. Slowly pour in your grits and bring to boil again. Lower heat to low and cover. Stir occasionally to prevent clumping. Simmer for 7 minutes and remove from heat.

4. Melt butter on low. Do not burn. Mix egg yolk, lemon and salt in blender on low pulse. Slowly pour in hot butter while continuously blending. Blend for 1 minute until thickening. 

5. Toast your muffins. Slice. 

6. By this time, all of your breakfast components should be done and ready to be pieced together <3. Start with your English muffin half, top each half with a slice of steak. Place a poached egg on top. Top generously with hollandaise. 

7. Server with bacon and grits. And tons of mimosas <3 Drink, eat, nap. 

The perfect Sunday. 

OK. I hated bbq.

Yes. It’s blasphemous. Especially for a girl living in Austin.

But come on, I love meat. Rare meat. Bloody meat. Not meat that’s been cooking for hours smothered in mystery sauce. Yes, I am prejudice toward bbq. I just assume all bbq meat is old, overcooked meat covered with equally unappetizing sauce presumably to hide how old and overcooked it is. 

This is all still very valid by the way (Ironworks). But not at Franklin’s. Never at Franklin’s. 

With our friend in town, I decided that I am allowed to have a cheat day (who am I kidding. I’ve been having a cheat year. but you know what they say.. when in texas..) and load up on the best brisket in town. 

Franklin’s started out as a popular food trailer who sold out at 11:30am. Every morning. What time do they open you ask? 11am. That’s how good it is. People line up around corners like crack fiends drinking their mexican cokes and sweet teas in the sweltering heat. Recently they converted to a brick and mortar with real seating and guess what.. it still sells out at noon and now you have to stalk tables for a seat. Shake off your hangover and get your ass in line now.

Ask for the fatty brisket. Go hard or go home. The lean just doesn’t cut it. The fatty brisket lives up to its name. Juicy, tender, slightly pink. Nice salty crust. Good flavor, literally melt in your mouth meat. No sauce needed. You can feel your thighs expanding. The pork ribs are messy, juicy, moist, any other adjective that could also double in a porno. Order more, the leftovers are great the next day (wrap in foil, slow heat @ 250. You’re welcome)

Sides are nothing to write home about but who needs sides when you can get meat with a side of meat. 

Franklin’s

900 E 11th St
Austin, TX 78702
(512) 653-1187 

Or in my case, denim shorts since I hate jeans. Why do I hate jeans you ask? I don’t like wearing pants. And this is really an entirely different topic all together that I’ll have to explore. /awkward

But roasted garlic.. ahhhh. Roasted garlic is the easiest, most versatile side dish that you can ever make. It goes with everything! You can pop the entire clove out and eat it right out of the skin - it’s not overly garlicky at all, it’s soft, subtle, nutty, creamy, mild. Really delicious. You can use it as a spread on crusty french bread, melt it in mashed potatos, spread it on pizza, top it on steaks, mix it with melted butter and use as a sauce base for seafood, etc. 

Did I mention it’s easy? 

Ingredients:

Whole garlic heads

Olive Oil 

Salt/Pepper 

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

2. Peel away all of the skin on the garlic until you expose the individual cloves. Cut 1/4 inch off the top. 

3. Place the garlic head in a cupcake tray. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. 

4. Cover the top with foil. 

5. Bake for 45 minutes. You don’t have to check it or anything. You’re free to cook the rest of your meal which in my case was delicious flank steak. 

What can I say. I’m domesticated.

Side story, speaking of domesticated, let me tell you how bad that shit is. One night came home from a night of dinner and shots, I was completely smashed. In my drunken stupor, I fumbled around the kitchen and saw thawed chicken in the fridge and decided, you know what sounds good? COOKING CHICKEN. So I freaking season the chicken, pounded it, and managed to even bust out the grill press at 2AM and made the most delicious chicken ever. And tried to force feed everyone else into eating it and yes, it was the most delicious chicken ever. 

Claypot rice (煲仔飯) is my number one most favorite thing to eat in the winter. Warm savory rice, chinese sausage, mushrooms… lasts for days and you can just put the lid back on and toss the entire thing in your fridge. If I was a college kid, I’d make this all the time. 

So I know you’re wondering, how does one go about making clay pot rice? magnets, how do they work? It’s actually ridiculously easy. But if you are breaking in your claypot* for the first time, please soak the entire thing in cold water for at least a day or in my case, I always feel that 3 hours more than qualifies as a day. Who has the patience? But the point of this is that if you place the unsoaked clay pot on heat, it might crack and break :( 

Do not use soap. Claypots are porous. When you wash, use water and scrub and because of this don’t make anything like curry or strong flavoring foods your first go round. The smell/flavor will permeate all of your later claypot adventures. 

*Note: If you’re white, I know what you’re thinking, “Hey! I saw claypots at Sur la Table!” No, just buy one from your local 99 Ranch Market or an asian market. It’s in the last aisles next to all the other cookery and incense. It’s 12 bucks. 

So on to the actual cooking! I adapted this from Hung on Top Chef and you can use a regular saucepan if you don’t have a claypot but claypot is definitely more impressive. I use both because I don’t have full faith in my claypotting skills and I think a regular saucer works just fine and faster.

Ingredients:

1 cup of rice (short grain or medium grain works)

1/2 pound of shiitake mushrooms (you can use less or more depending on how much you like shrooms and if you’re adding chicken, then use less)

2 green onions, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon of Lee Kum Kee Sweet Soy Sauce (it’s specifically made for claypot rice and will say so on the bottle)

1 tsp of regular soy sauce (i bought this ‘mushroom soy sauce’ that was pretty good as well)

4 chinese sausages sliced in bit sized pieces

1 huge tablespoon of garlic

1 table spoon of ginger, sliced in thin strips

1 1/4 cup of water

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

Directions

1. Presoak your rice/Rinse until water runs clear.

2. Mix mushrooms and sausage with a little bit of the sweet soy sauce and regular soy sauce. Just eyeball it and don’t go overboard. You just want the shrooms to absorb some flavor prior to cooking. Use pepper if you’d like.

3. Heat sesame oil in a pan (like something you’d heat up soup in or at least something with raised sides), add ginger and garlic after oil is heated. Fry until fragrant but don’t let the garlic burn or it turns bitter. 

4. Add mushrooms and chinese sausage. Mix well for a couple minutes.

5. Add the rice to your mushroom/sausage mixture and mix until the rice is coated with all the delicious flavor.

6. Add the sweet soy sauce and regular soy sauce and cook for another couple minutes. 

7. Add in your water and turn the heat to low and cover for 10 minutes.

7a. At this point if you’re using a claypot, put it on low in another burner.

8. After 10 minutes most of the water should be absorbed, you can keep this on low and do a taste test and see if the rice is cooked. If you’re in a hurry, you can eat now. 

9. If you’re not in a hurry and would like the flavors to intensify, then transfer the entire rice mixture into the hot pot, cover and keep it on low. Stir every 15 minutes until you are ready to eat. 

Note: I know the picture looks like its drenched in soy because its so dark but the sweet soy sauce actually doesn’t really provide any saltiness. Hence why you need the regular soy as a back up.

B made a lovely vegetarian breakfast for me this morning. I poached the egg though cuz I’m a freaking egg poaching wizard. But he made the eggplant patty on portobella. Maybe he thinks I’m fat. And yes, that IS a cranberry vodka.

What? I didn’t have champagne.

Kekeke. Bulbous shaft.

So I went bathing suit shopping today hoping to get a new suit to go to the lake tomorrow. Yes, lake. Bathing suit shopping is the worst. Trying to find one with minimal tanlines without being completely naked and doesn’t scream whore. 

This has nothing to do with mushrooms except for the fact that we spend so much time at this newly discovered store called Con Olio that the bathing suit place was closed by the time we were done :-/ Who closes at freaking 6PM on a Saturday. 

However, Con’ Olio was an amazing find today. Just when I’ve came to terms that I will have to go to Seattle to get my truffle oil needs, we find this lovely little olive oil store that carries an insane variety of infused oils. Garlic oil, rosemary, truffle, blood orange, persian lime, you name it. We tasted a couple and decided to go with porcini oil and their 18 year dark balsamic vinegar (yes. it’s aged. like um. scotch.) It was so smooth that you can drink it like a port! WTF.

And I was way too excited to cook tonight as a result. I know, I’m getting domesticated and old and way too aroused about oil. 

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I. HATE. UNPACKING. ARGHXX#$%.

Not only do I want it done quickly but I am super neurotic about it. Moving with me is not an enjoyable experience. I get insane. Like shutup. Don’t talk to me and let me wash dishes at remarkable speed. The sooner I get done, the sooner I’ll be back to normal. 

You know what makes it better? Veuve and roasted duck.

+

The apartment is quite lovely although I often forget that we live on the first floor and I hate wearing clothes. :-/ 

The concept is brilliant. The 6. 6 sandwiches, 6 pizzas, 6 entrees and so on. As with any limited menu, it’s a great way for a restaurant to focus and make the best food possible. One of the few non fast food places on the Westside that is open all day (including the dreaded 3-5 ghost hour), I’ve been here twice in the past week for a late lunch.

The decor is very much like Nook meets Bar Food. Lots of wood, airy, a communal table in the middle with smaller tables surrounding. It’s strictly a wine/beer bar. Menu is upscale home food.

The burger is huge. Juicy and the bread holds well. I was sorta surprised by the blue cheese. Not always a blue cheese fan but it wasn’t too overpowering. The roasted chicken sandwich was delicious and moist. I know moist chicken doesn’t conjure up the sexiest images but trust me. It was tender, charred in the right places, flavorful, and just freaking orally gratifying. Yes, you just offered to show me oral gratification in your head. I can read minds.

I also had the prosciutto, kennebec, potato, sunny side up egg, parmesan pizza on the next occasion and it was horribly bland. I know, for a pizza with a shit load of ingredients they happen to forget salt. Lame. I would stick with the sandwiches.  

I’d definitely come back here for lunch and happy hour and I’m sure my sister would have a field day here because we’re highly immature and will giggle over 666 throughout the entire meal. I mean, not that we hate Jesus or anything. Actually, I’ll retract that statement. I have no beef with him but I distinctly remember my sister saying she’ll never go back to In-N-Out because it had bible scriptures on the fries. LOLz.

The Six

10668 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 837-6662 thesixrestaurant.com

[foie biscuit pic via ben g. @ yelp]

I hate myself for not coming here sooner but come on…. LA is over-saturated with new ‘hot spots’. Between yelp, food bloggers, and hypebeast/foodie culture, “must eat” restaurants are a dime a dozen. As Heidi Klum would say, one day you’re in, next day you’re out. And besides 2009 turned into a year where we went out nearly every other night and we considered a 150 dollar dinner to be a ‘reasonable/casual’ pricepoint for dinner. Yes, I AM what’s wrong with America. 

So back to Animal. Bad dismissal on my part. Definitely my favorite place of 2010 so far. Whether it be a night with friends, a first date, a place to take your parents. It’s perfect. Small, dark, intimate..loud enough to be lively but quiet enough where you don’t have to yell. 
 
Our waiter recommended that we get 5-6 small plates or go 4 apps/one main. More variety = better. 6 plates it is. 

1) Grilled crab legs in tabasco butter + baby kale, pecorino, lemon, smashed croutons - I love crab but always felt that it was too much work for little reward. Animal cuts to the chase. Huge, meaty crab legs…sweet and succulent with the butter. Huge portion. Hell, in fact we joked that we should cancel the rest of the meal and just get the crab legs. A million of them. The kale was a nice complement.. the croutons added a nice texture.
2) Foie gras, biscuit, maple sausage gravy + marrow bone, chimichurri, caramelized onion - wtf @ maple sausage gravy. It was mind blowing. I felt like I was eating willy wonka bubblegum where I could taste each distinct item/flavor in each bite. Sweet but salty and meaty. Mmm. Not to mention the huge piece of foie. The bone marrow was good too. I wish had more toast points or bread to soak up the chimichurri.
3) Quail fry, grits, chard, slab bacon, maple jus + rabbit loin with parsnip, pear mostarda and Benton’s bacon - The quail fry was a classier version of my favorite fatty indulgence (chicken + grits. mmm). The rabbit was pretty good. Tasted like chicken wrapped in bacon. lulz.

Although I was plenty full, we ordered tres leches and champagne for dessert. Which sums up everything indulgent that I love about LA. I wish I could start a company called champagne and cake. I have no idea what I’d sell but it would be fucking fabulous.

Animal

435 N Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90048

(323) 782-9225

www.animalrestaurant.com

I’ve never been quite sentimental. Places, people are places and people. The new place and people will replace the old place and people and so on. You know when people say the best way to get over someone is to get under someone? Yea, I do that with LIFE. /emo Before you figure out that sentence made zero sense, let’s move on to the point. I didn’t expect taking a trip to Austin would send me into a whirlwind of panic. Over FOOD.

The next person that tells me Austin has great BBQ. I will cut them. I meant, real food. Where would I go for pho? for uni pasta? for normalcy? Will I gain a million pounds from eating fried mayo balls and ribs? Kill me now.

Luckily, I’m dating someone who also hates bbq and willing to take on the challenge of giving me a slice of LA in Austin. Here’s a couple asian places I tried on my recent trip. You can trust me cuz I’m chinese. Yes, I just pulled the “I’m authentic” card. What bitches. 

Pho Saigon / Pho Van - Tried two pho places in Austin. Both were pretty good. The broth was hearty, the egg rolls were hella big, and they didn’t skimp on meat. In fact, I dare to say? Westminster approved! Says the girl who eats at Pho Show on the Westside you say. Touche. (Pho Van, 8557 Research Blvd, Austin, TX 78758 / Pho Saigon, 10901 N Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 7875)

Din Ho BBQ- Cantonese. Surprisingly good. From roasted duck to sizzling platter of black pepper beef, everything had tons of flavor and they have an extensive menu. It’s like a cleaner and better Sam Woo. The country style noodles was lacking in beef but the flavors tasted decent. They don’t load everything up with tons of sauce to feed into the ‘american’ taste. (Din Ho, 8557 Research Blvd, Austin, TX 78758)

Coco’s Cafe - same as any Tapioca Express out in LA. Boba, milk tea, taiwanese menu. This seems like a good lunch option for folks in the area. Niu ro mien, fried tofu, fried squid, eel rice.. all less than 7 bucks. Yes, asian girls work there. (Coco’s Cafe (next to Din Ho), 8557 Research Blvd, Austin, TX 78758) 

We went into a couple asian supermarkets but I felt that they were a bit lacking. It’s big but it still feels like a pricier, dirtier 99 Ranch. I’m hoping to find something similar to Mitsuwa or at least a Nijiya for my japanese needs.  

All in all, I guess Austin isn’t too bad. It is home to Tom Ford, Benjamin McKenzie and my favorite TV show of all time (Friday Night Lights.) So god, if you’re listening, build me a Uwajimaya and I’m completely sold.

xoxo.