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Austin
Austin, TX 78756 (512) 454-2500 |
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So I went to El Mercado recently and it was alright. I had never been to this restaurant before, but the name was familiar from ads I had seen in the local alternative newspaper, so I decided to check it out for breakfast one Sunday morning.
When I got to the restaurant, it was less than half empty, which I don't know is good or not, but it was a Sunday morning so I was expecting more people (like the after-church crowd or something). Looking at their menu, I was not that impressed with their selection or variety, both of which were minimal. I ended up ordering some sort of breakfast quesadilla, which wasn't on the menu but was featured as a special dish on a chalkboard at the entrance of the restaurant. The quesadilla had egg and chorizo, which was alright, but it was basically just a grilled breakfast taco with a higher 'tortilla to egg' ratio. It was served with refried pinto beans, potatoes (fried or baked I don't know), and some sort of minimalist salad, which I guess were alright, but also just kind of bland. Overall, I was really underwhelmed by this restaurant. |
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Austin, TX 78745 (512) 899-8998 |
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So this is my second time coming to Fire Bowl Cafe. The first time I wasn't that impressed because I essentially just paid eight bucks for a giant bowl of noodles and vegetables and chicken, but that was a while ago. As I was in the area recently, I decided to try Fire Bowl Cafe again… and my opinion remains unchanged.
This time, I just got a big bowl of udon noodles with shrimp. Wanting to try something different than my previous, and formerly only, visit, I went with the 'Japanese Seafood Udon Soup', which has "shrimp, scallops, snow peas, carrots, green onions, sesame seeds and shiitake mushrooms in a savory Miso broth". From my experience, I wouldn't call their Miso broth "savory". I went with the Udon noodles because I had never had them before. I knew them to be fat, thick noodles, and they were, but they tasted bland to me with the texture of rubber, so I'm not in too much of a hurry to try them anytime soon. Overall, I think Fire Bowl Cafe is overrated and overpriced, except for their 'Crispy Crab Rangoons', "golden wontons stuffed with crab and cream cheese", which I could eat all day. |
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Austin, TX 78704 |
3/6/2008 |
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There’s a little place here in Austin called Flip Happy Crepes that’s run out of a trailer south of downtown, and it’s really really good. Flip Happy Crepes serves only crepes, but they serve a variety of them, both sweet and savory. Flip Happy Crepes operates out of a trailer, with an area in front for dining if you don’t mind eating outside. I’ve visited a couple of times a year or two ago (once when they were at a different location, this other location being in a parking lot in the back of some store), and I’ve since gone twice in a row recently.
When I decided to go back, I checked their website to see their hours and days of operation (they’re not open everyday, and they’re usually only open during lunch time hours). Their website said they opened at 10:30 am, so that’s when I went as I was hungry for a sweet breakfast crepe. When I got there, they weren’t open and the hours they had posted on their trailer said they didn’t open till 11 am, which almost made this a bad review. Almost. I waited in my car till they opened. I got a Nutella and Strawberry crepe to go, which was pretty awesome. I went back the next day for lunch, waited out side in near freezing temperature for a Moroccan Moroccan crepe (the special of the day, with chicken, vegetables, some feta cheese, and a spicy sauce), went home and ate it and it was awesome as well. I would eat out from Flip Happy Crepes everyday if I could, but it’s a couple of miles from my house and I’m not made of money, but I highly recommend the place to just about everyone. |
Breakfast
Lunch |
Austin, TX 78751 |
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Apparently, Flying Saucer is a chain of restaurants that are modeled after old English pubs and taverns. They have an impressive array of beers on tap, and even have some sort of promotion where if you try all of their beers, you get a plaque on their wall, but you have to cough up $20 (or a comparable amount) to be part of the promotion.
One good thing about the Flying Saucer is that all of their waitresses wear short skirts. The bad thing about the Flying Saucer is the unauthenticity of it all -- like other chain restaurants such as Chili's, Applebee's, Bennigan's, and TGI Friday's, this restaurant tries too hard to evoke a sense of causal atmosphere in a corporate setting. I never felt I was at a real English pub, but rather like I was at a theme park restaurant pretending to be an English pub. Despite all that, the best part of the Flying Saucer is their beer selection and their prices -- something is always on special, which is pretty cool. Food wise, it could be better. I was torn between getting their roast beef sandwich or their smoked salmon wrap. In the end, I went with the roast beef sandwich, which was good fortune on my part because one of my party ended up ordering the smoked salmon wrap and was severely disappointed. The only reason I went with the roast beef sandwich was because I could get potato salad as a side with it -- I really like good potato salad, but unfortunately, this was just mediocre potato salad. Overall, the place is pretty decent, despite being part of a chain fighting desperately to establish its own identity by branding itself with its own quirks like having their waitresses all wear short skirts (yea!) or putting golf tees instead of toothpicks in their sandwiches (yea?). In the end, the place would be better, but it could be a lot, lot worse. |
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Austin, TX 78751 (512) 451-5514 |
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Freebirds is on a list of places I will not take girls out on a date to -- I really don't want to see girls stuff their faces with burritos filled with meats, cheeses, rice and beans.
That said, Freebirds is a burrito place, where they serve burritos stuffed with meats, cheeses, rice and beans. Every time I go to Freebirds it's hit or miss. This last time was pretty good. I had a burrito with meat (dark meat chicken), cheeses (Monterrey Jack and Cheddar blend), rice (Mexican, although I would have gotten steamed rice if they had it), and beans (black). I also had cilantro, pico de gallo, and white onions thrown in, with guacamole at an additional cost. The burrito was good, I guess. But there's just something about throwing a bunch of stuff together, wrapping it up in a flour tortilla (spinach tortilla in my case) and stuffing it in your face that just doesn't sit well with me. The burrito is so stuffed that when you bite into it the food comes gushing out due to the pressure inside the burrito. I normally use a fork to eat out of the burrito's insides before proceeding to stuff my face with the actual burrito in order to avoid any overflow. I guess the proper analogy would be that a Freebirds' burrito is like a trough, everything you need in one container. Eat up. |
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Austin, TX 78751 (512) 451-5514 |
| Another trip to Freebirds. They're famous for their burritos. I think their burritos are overrated. I had a burrito. The burrito was alright. |
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