Thursday, March 27

LBJ Likes it Part II: El Patio

anything to get to the enchiladas...

The time has come for the 2nd installment of my 3 part series on LBJ's favorite mexican restaurants. This time: El Patio

El Patio has been cranking out South Texas style Tex-Mex for longer than most of you, our faithful readers, have been alive. Much like one of LBJ's other favorites, Matt's El Rancho, El Patio is the kind of joint that has become a family tradition for many Austinites. Folks whose parents brought them are now bringing their kids. This is made possible by the fact that the food hasn't changed much, if at all, since they opened their doors.

This kind of old fashioned Tex-Mex fare is not for everyone. It is not light. It is not especially veggie-friendly. It is not exotic. It is not fancy in any way. There are mountains of yellow american cheese and gallons of comino infused chili sauce involved. To many, these are bad things. To a lifelong lover of trad. Tex-Mex like your humble Cornbiter, they are not.

While I don't hit up the Tex-Mex joints that often compared to Jalisco style taquerias or taco trucks, when the mood hits, there is nothing else that will do the job.


To me, the ultimate expression of traditional Tex-Mex is the cheese enchilada plate. Tortillas filled with processed cheese completely aswim in rich chili con carne sauce and topped with another huge pile of cheese before the whole thing goes in to the oven to congeal into a lovely morass of love. HOT PLATE your waitperson says. Indeed.

El Patio serves up a rock solid example of the cheese enchilada plate. You are advised to come hungry and order modestly. If you get the three enchilada plate, you are going to leave very, very sorry. Easy on the gut is not what this food is about. It's taken me years of practice to make it out of El Patio without seriously regretting the amount of food I've eaten.

The tacos and chalupas are also delicious and beyond satisfying in their delivery of cheese and beef to your bod. The red table salsa is on the thin and mild side for my taste, but it does deliver the vinegary kick this kind of food requires. Your meal at El Patio always comes with a free dish of sherbert or a homemade praline. Try the praline. It's terrific.

The service at El Patio is amazing. It's the kind of place that has waiters who've been working there for decades. They are personable, swift, and generally very good at what they do.

In short, if you want a bite of food before you go to yoga or the dog park for a jog, do not go to El Patio. If you want get together with the family and luxuriate in the tradition and the chili and the cheese and the always full glass of iced tea, then bring it on.

El Patio - 3.75 stars - Cornbiter Deluxe
2938 Guadalupe St
Austin, TX 78705-3728
Phone: (512) 476-5955
Mon-Sat 11am-9:30pm

Tuesday, March 25

MCLOTA: Thanh Nhi


Thanh Nhi

This is part of our ongoing 'Man Cannot Live on Tacos Alone (MCLOTA)' series -

We decided to take a break from the taco lunches and head over to Thanh Nhi this afternoon. It took a lot of will power not to go to our standby joint, Tan My (formerly Tan Tan), for our Pho cravings, but we had to check this place out after hearing the internet rumblings about the tasty Banh Mi sandwiches. The restaurant is located (hidden) just south of Rundberg on Lamar in a huge strip mall on the west side of the street. When we walked in there were two obvious signs this was going to be an excellent meal 1) The smells were amazing 2) We were one of the only caucasian groups in the joint.



Grilled Pork Banh Mi

We knew we had to try the Banh Mi, so Cornbiter and I each ordered a small for an appetizer. I went for the Grilled Pork and Cornbiter took the waitress's suggestion and got the Pork Paste. They were both excellent. The bread was very fresh and flaky and it was filled with fresh veggies and herbs. The grilled pork was seasoned wonderfully and the bread was smeared with a pork pate that added a nice flavor to the sandwich. The pork paste was phenomenal. It was a mixture of pork and shrimp and was the perfect filling for this sandwich, highly recommended.


Pork Paste Banh Mi


For our main course we both went for the grilled pork and egg roll vermicelli bowl (#61). We both love this dish at Tan My, so we had to see how Thanh Nhi staked up. The answer is, quite well. The vermicelli was fresh and plentiful, loaded with fresh herbs and cucumbers and topped with a mountain of grilled pork and two huge egg rolls that were filled to the brim with meat. This dish is just as good, if not a tad bit better than Tan My, which is very impressive. Add this to the fact that they take credit cards, the service is super attentive and friendly and they have amazing Bahn Mi, and I think we have found our new Vietnamese hangout. Now get you ass over there! But not on Mondays, they're closed.

Thanh Nhi - 4.5 Stars - jarod
9200 N Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78753
(512) 834-1736

UPDATE: Jarod and I were so focused on the Banh Mi that we failed to order any springrolls on our first trip. IMHO the simple shrimp and pork spring roll is a powerful indicator as to how good a Vietnamese restaurant will be.

I returned to Than Nhi today because I couldn't get the thunderously good pork/eggroll vermicelli bowl out of my mind. I also took the opportunity to order some spring rolls. I am pleased to report that they are excellent. They are fresh, pliable, delicious and delightful.

Run, don't walk. - Cornbiter Deluxe

Friday, March 14

Torchy's Tacos - You Are Dead to Me

I've been a big fan of Torchy's Tacos since they first opened up on S. 1st St. At Taco Journalism, I've been the sole member of the staff to heartily endorse their uniquely "Damn Good Tacos". I've even written an (unposted) article to serve as a counter-point to our previous middling review. I talked about how delicious their tacos were; how their higher quality ingredients made all of the difference; how I thought of them as some kind of heaven-sent Taco Fusion joint. All of this history makes it tough for me to say this: Torchy's Tacos, you are dead to me.

I tried to go to Torchy's on 6th St today. I was not pleased. The 30 minute(!) wait for the 10 people in front of me to order was annoying. Finding out they were out of fried chicken (for the Trailer Park) and jalapeno sausage (for the Republican) only when I tried to order was also annoying. Having the counter lady tell me she needed me to pay in cash because she didn't know how to load paper into the credit card machine was the last straw though. If this was a single incident, I wouldn't be posting this rant. But this isn't the first unpleasantness I've experienced as their service has slid towards mediocrity. Long lines, slow service, and shortages of common ingredients (eggs, one time) have become the norm there.

I'm actually willing to cut regular taco stands some slack. They're offering cheap tacos out of a trailer. But Torchy's is offering expensive tacos out of a trailer and I expect better service for the extra $1-2 they charge per taco.

-- The Commish

UPDATE I: I just checked my bill and Torchy's charged me for the food anyways. Yes, they charged me using their 'non-working' credit card machine. Way to compound the incompetence guys.

Wednesday, March 12

Nuclear Tacos - Holy Crap!

Yeah, I said it! and tasted them too. Man, they totally blew me away and I consider myself a true fan of the "cah-li-ente!" foods! So I went to the SXSW Nuclear Taco Party on Monday because I love torture. So they're pretty basic tacos, kinda like going to Taco Hell but with a twist - Habanero puree for the flavor-they say, and an amazing amount of red savinas (Note: Jalapeños are about 5K-50K Scoville Units hot; Red Savinas are about 300-500K S.U. of hotness!) So yeah, one bite did do me in but I kept on going. The hotness engulfed my mouth, not so much like a jalapeño (bite gets you on the lips and tip of the tongue) or thai peppers (hits you in the back of the mouth) or chile de arbol which just makes you pissed off (at the food and the person who made you eat them) but in a whole new way! Man, I was lucky they were serving free beers. I was a trooper so I kept on going to my second juan. By the end, I was a little pissed off (at those nuclear taco making muthasuckas!) but all in all, I truly enjoyed the experience (yeah, I'm LOCO like dat!). I'll tell you this, it didn't make me dizzy or want to faint (only had that happened once a few years ago - warning stay away from Habanero Extract!) so that's a good thing. The Ice Cream Man totally helped too. I went back for seconds!


I hear they have ongoing Nuclear Taco Parties so ya'll should check them out, if you have the cajones!


Nuclear Tacos - 4 Estrellas!
El Mundo de Mando

The Tacos of SXSW, Part I

photo of fried avocado taco by benjamin lim

I would like to take this time to run down a quick list of the tacos I have eaten during the first half of SXSW 2008.

* Breakfast. Porfirio's. 1(potato-egg-cheese) 2(bacon-potato-cheese).

Absolutely Fantastic. Porfirio's is not technically downtown, but it was a short bikeride for me. The potatoes at Porfirio's are just cooked so perfectly, and the salsa is sooo delicious. They always take the time to put a bit of char on their standard store bought tortillas, which is the least you can do if you aren't making them on site.

* LATE night snack. Alamo downtown food window. 2(quajillo pepper beef guisada).

Disappointing. To begin with, the tortillas were so limp and lifeless, that they must have kissed the grill for less than a second, if at all. This is a major pet peeve of mine. The meat was over-spiced and over-fancified for my palate. I prefer my carne to be traditionally spiced with the taste of the meat itself shining through. Disclaimer: It was late and I was drunk, so I might have gotten the name of the tacos wrong, but there is no doubting how I felt about the way they tasted.

* Breakfast. Taco Shack. 2(fajita-egg).

Solid. While the tortillas could absolutely have been grilled better, they were warm enough, and the fajita meat was amazingly tender and delicious. I also really enjoy the salsa at Taco Shack. You could do a lot worse downtown than this.

* Lunch. Torchy's downtown window. 1(fried avocado) 1(green chile pork).

Quite good. While I generally prefer my tacos to be of a more authentic variety than those on offer at Torchy's, I have to admit that these tacos really hit the spot. The pork was especially juicy and delicious. I can recommend Torchy's for your downtown taco needs, especially if, unlike me, you are not a snob about gringoized tacos and you don't feel like riding your bike to Porfirio's.

* Dinner. Nuclear Taco Party @ SXSW Interactive 0(nuclear soft or crispy beef tacos)

I did not eat a Nuclear Taco this year. I've done it before, and once was enough. While I love spicy food, these things are simply punitive. They are an SXSW Interactive tradition though, so I certainly can't advise you against trying them once.

-Cornbiter Deluxe

Saturday, March 8

Argentina's Tofu Tacos (for all you veggie heads!)

I guess there is a first time for everything. Here I am writing about non-carne tacos! It doesn't help that my fiance is a veggie head and so Is her mom, Argentina. So after a hard days work on my yard, I came into our casita and saw something that looked ridiculously good!

Tortillitas y Tofu al Comal

That's homemade tortillas and some tofu square thingies. First thing I smelled was goodness. I couldn't figure out what it was but I didn't care. I had to have one of these tofu tacos! Little did I know the great taste came from a zany! combinacion de tofu (that's tofu in English!), peanut butter, una salsita y una chelita-Tecate. Crazy. It was so good I had to write about it and give y'all the recipe.....Oh wait a minute...this just in! Argentina is still working on perfecting the recipe so I can not reveal it today. Estay tuned.....


Argentina's Tofu Tacos - 5 Estrellas!

El Mundo de Mando