Boots in the Oven

Shuggie's. Oh, balls.

2009-07-10T19:19:00-05:00

So, I had planned to tell you guys about this delicious burger we discovered, from this trailer called Shuggie's down off of South 1st Street that also serves up a heckuva brunch every Sunday, and what happens?

They announce this morning that the place is closing. Well, actually, the announcement was that Shuggie himself had been killed in a drive-by shooting by Ronald McDonald and Jack (in the box), but I'll forgive them the levity this once. (Here's the link, though I don't know how long it will be active.)

We had some pictures languishing on our hard drive from a tasty brunch we ate about a month ago, so I'll show those off as an incentive for you guys to get to Shuggie's on Sunday - that's the last day they'll be serving!

First off, bring a pitcher of mimosas or your favorite brunch beverage - I don't think they have a liquor license.

We went with a group of 5, which meant we were able to order most of the menu, and enjoy it under spreading trees and umbrellas. I'd definitely suggest grabbing a few people who like to eat, since the food's fairly heavy and it's all worth trying!

Sigh. I'll miss this brunch, even though I only had it once (which might very well be part of the problem).

The Elvis Cristo is a good place to start, as well as a good way to get an idea of what kind of brunch we're talking about here. This ain't no prissy fruit salad and dainty pinky-out cuppa tea type brunch, no sir - this is a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich with strawberry preserves. A quarter of this did me just fine.

After your pre-brunch dessert, you can tuck into a plate of chicken and waffles, which I thought were well superior to Lucky J's offerings.

We also ordered some of their shrimp and grits, which seem to be extra well-liked. The small portion was just fine, because they were pretty rich, but I found them to be a little bland when we tried them. Salt helped, but didn't totally rescue the dish.

We also ordered their migas, which were really good - eggs and bacon and a passable cheese grit and some really, really good home fries. Pictures didn't do these homefries justice, so you don't get any, sorry.

How about some doughnut holes, instead?

And, because this brunch was our first visit to Shuggie's, we also tried their burger funtime known as the Rambler. It's topped with gouda, grilled onions, homemade BBQ sauce, and in a final finger thrown right up at your arteries, chicken fried bacon.

You heard me right.

And it was good. Especially split several ways, and with our mimosas alongside. I've always been one for savory breakfasts, so I see nothing wrong with a morning burger. As long as you keep it light for the rest of the day (or week, for this particular specimen).

So, that was our first introduction to Shuggie's, less than a month ago. We've been back a couple of times for their seriously good burgers, all soft buns and enormously wide, yet still thin patties. The ingredients seemed good, and the burgers were among some of the best we've enjoyed in town (take THAT, Phil's Icehouse!).

So when I found out this morning on Twitter that they were closing, I immediately threw Logan out of bed and told him to get ready, 'cause we were having a freaking burger for lunch.

I expected there'd be a huge line. I was wrong. Huh.

A makeshift memorial had been set up, and lingerie flapped in the breeze. For some reason.

It actually made me a little sad. Not for "Shuggie," but for the folks working at the place. Hopefully they'll get absorbed into the ever-growing Torchy's conglomerate. The memorial didn't help my mood.

I stared at the menu, realizing there were so many things we'd never ordered. The chili dog! The house-made veggie patty! Green chile cheese fries! So many burgers!

So I ordered their fried chicken sandwich, the Yard Bird, and a lemonade. Logan went for a classic cheeseburger and fries.

The Yard Bird wasn't bad, fried in a Lay's potato chips coating, with green chile mayo and otherwise normal burger toppings, but I can't help thinking that I missed my last chance to get a Shuggie's burger. Logan liked his cheeseburger, like he knew he would, and the fries were so good I finished the stupid basket. Sigh.

So, guys, you have two days to try this place out, if you haven't, or to go back one last time. Have a burger for me, please, since I was too dumb to order one today. Thanks, appreciate ya.

Otherwise, have a good weekend!

For now, Shuggie's can be found in the South Austin trailer park and eatery, at 1311 S. 1st street. Their website is the same as Torchy's.

Sweet Corn Pancakes

2009-07-09T23:09:25-05:00

Sweet, sweet, sweet corn. So delicious, so in season.

But you can only eat so much of it on the cob. Even if it’s grilled, spritzed with lime juice and served with chile and salt. At some point, it just calls out to be cooked up into something awesome.

The most recent recipe to catch my attention was this batch of fresh corn pancakes from Gourmet magazine. (Or more accurately, they caught Girlie’s attention and she got to thinking that it might be a good idea if I whipped up a batch for dinner. She’s so smart.)

Since we’re currently in a vegetable wonderland here in our Texas gardens, I figured that I could whip up a little meat-free feast to accompany the warm, buttery, lightly caramelized flap jacks. You know, like some roasted okra, tomato and goat cheese salad, and a tangy pan-fried eggplant mash. Mmmm… mash…

Anyway, check out this recipe. Not only does it rock for dinner, but you can have the leftovers for breakfast with thick drizzles of maple syrup and fat pats of butter. What? Not sayin’ you have to- just throwing it out there.

This is supposed to make 12 but I halved it and it worked quite nicely.

Fresh Corn Pancakes:

1 cup all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
4 ears corn
3/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Cut enough kernels from cobs to measure 2 cups. Using back of a knife, scrape pulp from cobs and transfer to a blender with milk and 1/2 cup corn.

Purée until smooth, then strain through a sieve into another medium bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Whisk in eggs, oil, and butter.

Add to flour mixture with remaining 1 1/2 cups corn and whisk until just combined. Heat a griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat until hot, then lightly brush with oil.

Working in batches, pour 1/3 cup batter per pancake onto griddle and cook until bubbles appear on surface and undersides are golden-brown, about 2 minutes. Flip with a spatula and cook until undersides are golden-brown, about 1 minute more. (Reduce heat if pancakes brown too quickly.) Lightly oil griddle between batches if necessary.

-Logan.

Chimayo: A Chile Pilgrimage

2009-07-06T15:20:49-05:00

Last weekend, on our last day in New Mexico, we drove north to a town known for its chiles, dirt, and heroin problem.

Chimayo is a short, beautiful drive from Santa Fe, and the prospect of one last chile-spiced lunch spurred us onwards. When we arrived, we could smell the area's famous chiles in the breeze - or perhaps that was just the chile stand in the parking lot?

Our first stop, after a quick walk through town, was a little restaurant called Leona's. It's pretty easy to find if you're on foot, nestled up against the side of the town's main attraction, the Santuario.

Ordering here is via a simple, cafeteria-style line, though the smells wafting from the kitchen make deciding what to eat a serious battle.

We overordered, of course. While waiting for our tray of food, I poked around the restaurant. Chile ristras hung over a mismatched collection of chairs and tables, which perched on an uneven stone floor.

Our food finally came, just as I was eyeing a particularly lovely ristra and thinking that it might be tasty on its own.

Here's our tray of insanity:

We tried two kinds of Leona's tamales. The green chile cheese & chicken was delicious, with that fresh green chile bite, but the pork and red chile was a little dry, though the filling was flavorful.

The carne adovada burrito was smooth, soft, and delicious. Shredded cheese melted into the spicy stewed pork, all wrapped up in a toasty flour tortilla that went wonderfully soft in the center, but never got soggy. The best burrito we had in our time in New Mexico.

I liked the red chile stew, with its pork meat and chunks of carrot and potato. Little cubes of raw onion gave the stew a nice punch, and the thin broth was surprisingly deeply flavored.

The capirotada was completely new to us. It's a bread pudding with raisins and sweetly caramelized sugar, but then there's cheddar cheese all over it too! Like cheddar cheese on an apple pie, the savory cuts through the sweet. Not my favorite, but oddly tasty.

Food culture down, it was time to check out the rest of Chimayo. An outdoor service was going on while we were there, and it was very well attended.

Chimayo's main attraction is the Santuario de Chimayo, site of a yearly Easter pilgrimage. The adobe structure, built in 1816, is imposing and beautiful.

There are lots of legends detailing why the Santuario is so holy (and you can see three of the most popular on the Wikipedia page), but the important thing to know here is that there's a small hole in the floor of a room just off the chapel. This hole is full of dirt that supposedly has wonderful curative powers, and believers use provided shovels to load up zip-loc bags toted from home.

A small room in front of the chapel overflows with the evidence of belief, from crutches to prosthetic legs to pictures of New Mexico police officers killed in the line of duty.

We walked briefly into the actual church, where people had their heads bowed in prayer underneath "NO PHOTOGRAPHY" signs. The church was cool and high-ceilinged, with whitewashed walls and New Mexican style stations of the cross.

After all the seriousness and holy this and revere that, I got a good laugh out of this bucket, sitting next to a very ordinary-looking sink. I think it would be a great setup for a terrible new buddy caper comedy: "No, you idiot, I keep the mop bucket in the KITCHEN!"

With time running short before we had to head to Albuquerque to catch our flight, we headed down Chimayo's little tourist strip. We bought sun-dried Chimayo chile powder, with its fruity heat, at this little store.

This family's bread products looked so delicious, we couldn't pass them up. One giant loaf of white bread and one thin baked prune tart, please! Money was passed back through the van to the front seat, where one of the sisters made change and returned the money through several pairs of hands to us.

You can tell that this is a tourist town. There were shops set up to sell the previously mentioned famous Chimayo chile, alongside blue cornmeal and pinon coffee and salsas, and there were stands selling beaded jewelry, and canvases painted by local artists lined the main thoroughfare. All to entice the visitors.

As you can see, most of the art has a religious theme.

I already wanted another burrito from Leona's, but it was time for us to go. Unbeknownst to us, we had almost 20 hours in front of us before we'd eventually make it back to Austin, and we'd have to spend a night in Denver as well. Perhaps we should have just stuck around for the dang burrito. I know I would have been a lot happier.

Leona's Restaurante. Next to el Santuario. 888.561.5569.

Rachel

Horseman's Haven

2009-07-05T15:58:41-05:00

What do you need after a raucous all night bachelor party? If you said grease, carbs and green chile you are totally right.

And an egg.

Serious chowing with friends.

God bless you Horseman’s Haven. Yup, this place was the only restaurant that made mine and Girlie’s absolutely must revisit list from our last trip to Santa Fe. Its straight up, no frills good food transcends its non-descript, hodgepodge pseudo-dive identity problem.

Shoved oddly behind a gas station, close to nothing in particular, this little unassuming diner has been churning out huge messy plates of deliciousness for locals and the college crowd for years.

The green chile cheeseburger laughs at your handheld attempts.

Even though they have recently renovated, you can’t shake the sense that the threadbare under layer is just behind the seams. Horse blankets still cover the vinyl benches, the odd assortment of pictures and nick-knacks hang unconcernedly at odd angles on the walls and the new karaoke machine is just as likely as not to have some crappy, falsetto, R&B song stuck on an endless loop.

But that’s not why you come to Horseman’s. No, you come to Horseman’s because they have the most fabulous green and red chile for miles. My god, I could eat them both with a spoon or a straw or a spoon and a straw. Or just pour them all over myself and do some kind of primeval chile dance.

It doesn’t particularly matter what you order. Everything is prepared well and seasoned as if the cooks actually taste the food as they go. And as our friend David says, “New Mexico has a knack for taking what would normally be food you eat with your hands and turning it into a soup.”

Horseman’s has certainly taken this to heart. Almost everything comes awash in a sea of chile and cheese. If it doesn’t, order a side of green and red and make it happen yourself.

Veiled in a mystery of queso.

The potatoes are a particularly fine vehicle to experience the dual chile combo. If (when, let’s be honest) we go back, I think I’ll just get a big order of them with a fried egg, some side tortillas and bowls of their delicious sauces and proceed to make a mess of myself.

A word of warning though- Horseman’s has what they call Level 2 green chile on the menu. It never just comes with anything- you specifically have to request it. You should probably have to sign a waiver.

In its natural habitat the Level 2 lulls you into a false sense of security before destroying you and your family.

This chile is not messing around. It is not your friend. The only reason to eat it is purely for the huge endorphin rush. Much like freebasing or fat lines of blow, you’ll feel good for a while but your body probably won’t be thanking you later.

After we finished up (just as the cursed karaoke machine finally changed tunes) we headed down to the Plaza where a cool vintage car show happened to be going on. As a bonus, these were some of the awesome vehicles we got to check out:

Notice the tequila-style radiator overflow.

Hoods up in praise to the Cathedral in the background.

I'll take this picnic please.

The cop you don't want pulling you over. Or maybe you totally do...

-Logan

Horseman's Haven

4354 Cerrillos Rd
Santa Fe, NM 87507
(505) 471-5420

Do People Seriously Go to School for This?

2009-07-02T08:15:52-05:00

As we were jogging our way through the Dallas airport a couple of days ago, I couldn't help being momentarily distracted by this freudian dining experience that appears to be a group effort by Auntie Anne's and Nathan's.

I'm glad two big companies were involved in producing this excellent ad specimen. I hate to think what might have happened if just one had been involved.

I swear I saw a woman cover her child's eyes as they went by.

Kickin' It in Santa Fe's Railyard Market

2009-06-30T12:44:44-05:00

We have successfully returned from New Mexico. Friends have been partied with and married off. Green chile, red chile and honeyed sopaipillas have been eaten in copious amounts. Gruet winery stock is most certainly up. But the 105°F thermometer readings tell me that we’re squarely back in Austin. Or possibly the sun.

The trip, as expected, was seriously awesome. So instead of letting my shoes melt to the sidewalk or seeing if I can remove my fingerprints by grabbing my steering wheel, I thought I’d tell you about some prime Santa Fe action.

So many smudge sticks. So Santa Fe.

One of the best parts of this adobe covered New Mexican town is its sweet farmers’ market. It has new digs in a recently built throwback industrial space called the Railyard. The overflow of June vendors put our December experience to shame.

Even though I love it, every time we travel and explore local markets, it kind of feels like I’m rifling through a neighbor’s drawers. I mean some stuff is familiar but they always have so many different and unusual things. (Not that I go through my neighbors’ drawers. Sheesh. They totally keep their doors locked.)

I loved all of the cherries that are in season. Most people had these tiny, tart, bright red, pie cherries.

But occasionally we came across some plump, sweet, Rainiers.

The bakers that set up shop are amazing. This olive and sage flower loaf almost came back with us.

The other varieties may not have been as showy but they sure were tasty as hell.

Speaking of which, the Railyard market excels at samples. You could have several full meals here just grazing at the stalls.

The problem is that all too often once you taste it you just can’t stop yourself from buying huge sacks of it. Or maybe that’s just me.

For instance, this pistachio farm (seriously impressive nuts by the way) makes a hot green chile pistachio brittle that made me tear up a little. Not from heat but from pure deliciousness. Only now I have to figure out what to do with 28 pounds of spicy brittle. Poor me.

This raspberry jam stall had out about a half dozen varieties with crazy flavors like raspberry-red chile-ginger. Rachel is still upset that the airlines have a weight limit on bags.

Yak rocky mountain oysters? Waste not want not I suppose...

My favorite samples were from the yak meat lady. That’s right. Yak meat. She had yak stew and yak stroganoff and both were delicious. She ships, so I have a feeling we’ll be having a yak party sometime in the near future. Feel free to send my all of your yak related ideas. I just love saying yak.

Yak.

Best sign ever.

Continuing with the odd animal theme, I was dying to try these adorable guinea eggs. We get duck, turkey, and goose around here but this was my first sighting of these little guys.

I also had never heard of tansy before and haven’t seen it in the Austin markets either. I’ll keep my eyes peeled though because apparently, in addition to repelling fleas it’s also good for preventing intestinal worms and is quite delicious in an omelet or muddled with sugar and served with whiskey. Truly amazing how one plant can address so many of my needs.

As we were leaving, I was impressed by this fund raising sign. Could there be a more perfect combination. From now on, instead of saying two things go together like peas and carrots, I’ll have a much more apt analogy.

-Logan

Santa Fe Farmers' Market

1607 Paseo De Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501-3723
(505) 983-4098

A Fridge Too Full.

2009-06-26T12:58:22-05:00

Have you ever wondered what it looks like the night before me and Rachel go out of town after we have totally failed to plan and bought way too much stuff at the farmers’ market? Of course you have.

Basically, it devolves into a veggie cooking frenzy; a fire sale where Everything. Must. Go.

It started with the very last of the trout from the previous epic fishing adventure. I steamed it en papillote, the easiest and possibly most delicious way to cook a whole fish. Just lay the little guy on a piece of foil that’s about 3 times its size. Pat him dry, give him a liberal sprinkling of salt inside and out, stuff the cavity with some sliced garlic, a couple lemon wedges, and a sprig of whatever herb you need to get rid of.

Top with some sliced onions, and a hearty pour of good olive oil. Fold the foil over and crimp it all around to make a nice little pouch. Throw it into a 425°F oven for about 20 minutes (depending on the size of the fish) and you’re in business. Once you get the general idea, you can substitute, really, an almost infinite number of vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices.

To give our sea friend something to swim through (and to get it the hell out of my fridge) I cooked up a mess of lamb’s quarters, roasted some baby squash, poached cherry tomatoes in garlic butter, and tossed some small, baked new potatoes with a light mustard vinaigrette. My oh my.

Sure it may be enough food for me, the wifey, both cats, and a small but hungry sun bear, but that’s never stopped me before. I’m pretty sure the bear didn’t like the squash though.

-L. Pants

Furikake Please.

2009-06-23T08:58:19-05:00

What’s the most recent obsession in the Boots household? Ponies? Designer drugs? The Jonas brothers? No, not this month. This month is all about furikake.

One producer proudly describes it as “crunchy powder rice topping,” as delicious as that sounds. At its base, it’s usually a mix of little nori strips and sesame seeds. The two are augmented by anything from dried Japanese mustard to carrot pellets to shaved bonito to any number of various vegetables, sea creatures and flavorants.

I’m rather partial to the crispy yolk bits and the salmon myself. The stuff is really good for spicing up stirfrys and leftovers. It’s kind of salty, kind of sweet, full of umami and bursting with different texture combinations. Sometimes I steam rice just as an excuse to eat it.

Oddly enough, we were introduced to furikake in Tuscany- a land almost completely devoid of any hint of the Orient. You could find sushi but it cost as much as a new Vespa and tasted only slightly better. Luckily for us, an adorable Japanese girl in Rachel’s language class smuggled some over from the homeland.

She must have liked us because she would bring over packets and we’d sit around our loft with the lights dimmed passing a bowl of rice and umeboshi plums, trying not to let the floorboards squeak lest we alert the pasta police.

Back in the states it’s much easier to come by. Any asian grocery around stocks at least a few varieties. Do check the ingredients though as some companies tend to get a little gung ho with the additives. At about 4 bucks a jar, I highly recommend adding it to your pantry collection. Or buying me some.

-Logan

Mom's Taste

2009-06-21T16:00:08-05:00

Whatever you call them – panchan, banchan, pantchan or just those countless tiny bowls of often unidentifiable tasties that cover the tables of all good Korean restaurants – we’ve stumbled on a place that does all the hard work for you so you can bust out an over the top Korean feast on the cheap, in the comfort of your own home. Naked bi bim bop anyone?

Mom’s Taste is a non-descript little door in the middle of an old school strip mall. With the exception of the miniscule two-word title, the whole front is marked only in Korean. The name is actually what drew me in as I was pretty sure that it wouldn’t have any affinity with my own mom’s penchant for cream of mushroom soup or powdered ranch dressing.

Walking in, you have two choices. On the left are dry goods- sesame oils, soy sauces, rices and such and on the right is a bank of coolers holding an entire cultural education at 38°F.

Row after row of varyingly sized little plastic tubs are filled with shoots, sprouts, roots, peppers, meats, fish and more squid than I thought possible. They’re pickled, candied, dried, fermented, fried and every combination thereof. All of it is made in house.

Some of the dishes are marked in English but a good portion remain enigmatically unnamed. Often it’s just as well though, since the translated ingredients tend to say things like codonopsis pilosula, and osmund. It’s not a store for the timid but with just of bit of moxie your efforts are well rewarded.

Mom’s Taste is run by the delightful Lee family. The husband and wife owners are fixtures at the store. While both are super friendly and eager to help, they really only speak Korean. On occasion, one or both of their sons are around and the two of them speak better English than I do. I use our encounters as opportunities to grill them on the day’s specials.

In addition to panchan they also carry a variety of soups and prepared meals. Recently, we picked up a miso-based snail, tofu and potato stew that was so delicious I may or may not have growled a little when my wife got to close to my bowl.

They’ve also started making their own dumplings. Gallon ziplock bags, hand labeled with magic marker, come stuffed with either kimchi or a mixed meat and scallion duo. The thin, toothsome wrappers are appealing wrinkled when cooked and the fillings are generous, moist and well seasoned.

On our last visit, Mrs. Lee was in the back surrounded by comically large mounds of cabbage and cucumbers. She was on a low stool, methodically working minced radish and red pepper paste between the leaves of the cabbages, sending them on their way from unassuming greens to addictively flavorful kimchi.

I would say you can’t go wrong with anything in the cases but some dishes like the lightly cured flatfish roe sacs or the caramel coated fish jerky definitely require a healthy amount of caution from most people, myself included.

I will, however, heartily recommend the sliced burdock root, the sweet potato shoots and the thin rectangles of fish cake as being a few of my many favorites. The good news is that you can try as much craziness as you want since almost all of the items are in the $2 to $6 range.

So get cracking people. We can’t let the Koreans keep all the good stuff for themselves.

Oh, and because it would be downright reckless of me to not mention alcohol, I have to say that all of your newly acquired munchies will go quite splendidly with an ice cold bottle of soju. Think of it as a Korean version of sake with a little kick.

Trust me. It’s good for you.

-Logan

Mom's Taste

6613 Airport Blvd
Austin, TX 78752-3601
(512) 420-0499

Taqueria La Canaria

2009-06-18T12:57:08-05:00

Yellow is the new awesome.

In the continuing theme of taco-truck-obsession I have recently discovered yet another little enclave of Mexican yumminess.

I actually pass this truck all the time on my way to work. I haven’t eaten there though since powerful forces hate me and don’t want me to be happy. Recently (and lucky for me), its siren song of bright color and bubbly hand painted menu items proved too much and I found myself timidly sidestepping up to the little window to see what might be delicious.

The menu offered no real surprises. It was a basic blend of tacos, tostadas, soups and gorditas with a few specials that are mainly to be found on the weekends. I figured I needed to make up for lost time so I decided to order some of everything. (Rachel was inside a nearby gas station buying drinks so her powers of logic and moderation held no sway.)

The two nice ladies inside the box were from Veracruz and Guerrero and spoke zero English. Not a problem. I just do what I always do in situations like this. I open my mouth to confidently order away in my best restaurant Mexican and inevitably end up spouting poor Italian and garbled pidgin. I have a keenly honed talent for making an ass out of myself.

Taking pity on me, the ladies dished up some of the finest street food that I’ve had in this town for a while.

We started with an adorable tostada filled with al pastor. The generous chunks of fresh avocado and fine smear of beans were a great texture contrast to the crispy corn disks. (I loved how the tostada wore an extra one on top like a tiny hat.) The al pastor was a bit chewy but I was pleasantly surprised by the deep savoriness.

Bistec and barbacoa were our taco choices and both were quite nice. The bistec was fairly run of the mill, but the finely shredded, gelatinously unctuous barbacoa really stood out. It may have erred on the greasy side, but that was its only shortcoming as far as I’m concerned.

The gorditas took a few minutes longer because our cooks had to hand make little masa rounds and then griddle them to order. When they were finally ready, the drool-worthy smell of the freshly toasted sweet corn dough announced their arrival.

The pockets were stuffed with the same accouterments as the tostada in addition to chicharrones for me and carne guisada de puerco for the lady. These are serious foodstuffs. The heft of each promised a filling conclusion to our encounter.

While I liked the flavor of the pork skin in mine, I find that La Canaria’s chewy, uncrisped version isn’t my favorite. The guisada was moist and tender, but to be honest I just kept picking away at the delightfully fresh corn wrapper.

With all of our dishes we got little tubs of red and green salsas. The red was mild with the light bitterness of dried chiles and just a hint of sweetness. The chunkier green was my favorite, offering a bit more heat, a nice vegetabliness and good vinegar tang.

Since our visit I’ve discovered that La Canaria is really known for its soups like sope de bistec and menudo. Having almost zero experience with Mexican street soup, I feel a little schooling may be in order soon.

-Logan

La Canaria

810 E 51st St at Airport Blvd (right next to Casey's Snowballs)

Austin, TX 78751