People who don't like Austin......because of the restaurants??? (San Antonio: theater, school)

[TexasHorseLady]

Monument Cafe is, indeed, excellent. Think homecooking made with Kobe beef kind of thing. If you haven't tried Azul Tequila, sounds like you might want to give it a try - both Tex-Mex and Interior Mexican.

Have you tried the Omeletry?

Food is, indeed, all bound up with memory and emotion. But there are places that I love that are newcomers on the scene, comparatively (most of them, in fact, given that I've been here a gnat's eyelash short of 40 years). They're building their own memories for me, but they snagged me because the food was excellent.

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by schoenfraun

Tell me this: Guero's is very popular. You're in for a long wait at Guero's. I've eaten there several times, maybe a dozen times with different friends, on weekends, weeknights, evening, lunchtime.... And the food is never better than mediocre. The last time we went there, on a weekday afternoon, the food was downright hideous. So why do people love it? I think it's the people watching component. Folks seem to like that. Or they want to be seen, and they see a big crowd, and think it must be good.

Bleh.

Are you kidding me? I miss Guero's terribly! The picadillo tacos, especially...

I think the restaurant scene is Austin is fabulous...I just wish I had been able to enjoy it more when I lived there. Unfortunately, I was a doctoral student then and I never had any money until I moved away. Now when I go back on weekends, I have to resist the urge to eat and eat and eat...

[schoenfraun]

I just came from dinner at a neighbor's house. Two pies from the Monument Cafe were served for dessert. Insane. The pies were insanely delicious!

We've got to get to the Monument Cafe. They told me that the restaurant is moving to a different location in town, though, so we'll have to get there before August 1. It looks great from the side of the road, I love the older building. I wonder what the new location will be like....

[TexasHorseLady]

It's moving down the road, near the square. As I understand it, they'll be adding a sort of farmer's market with locally grown produce and such (presumably from their suppliers). No word that I've heard on what they'll do with the old building, which I agree, is wonderful.

[Mike78613]

I would never leave Austin due to lack of restaurant or it's quality of food. I really enjoy the service and restaurants here.
To me, IMHO there is a huge selection to style foods to choose from.
Mexican / Tex-Mex / BBQ / Asian / Cajun / Seafood and Italian are all here and taste good in my books. I get some kick butt Pizza and Italian food from a wonderful restaurant out in Cedar Park. The owners are from Brooklyn, NY (Domenick's Pizzeria); YUMMY!!

[love roses]

All I can figure about the kolaches is you just haven't had a good one yet. Sugar? I don't really eat the fruity kind. I love the ones with sausage or ham in them. My BIL's grandmother is Czech and makes both kinds from scratch, and they taste way better than the kinds you can get in a store.

My suggestions would be: get a good cookbook. Texas highways is a good one. My sister gave us one for Christmas 2 yrs ago, and it has recipes from resturaunts all around Texas, some from NM and a few from home cooks. It has Asian, Mexican, Seafood, bbq...I'd also say bite the bullet and stop at the monument. You have to venture sometimes away from the Central Core of Austin to find things that are really good. Many people on here do, so I'd take their suggestions on places you can find in the entire region, not just downtown.

One thing we grew to love when we were living in Colorado was green chile. My husband would eat it on everything, just like the locals. We missed it moving back to Texas just like we missed Tex-Mex when we left Texas for Denver. I'm glad they started stocking them, although we get ours from H.E.B. We buy one bushel and sometimes it's funny how people stare at you like you're odd for buying a huge box of peppers, but they last all year. It was fun in Colorado buying them at farmers markets and parking lots from the single vendors with their roasters out. I always bought a Horchata while they were being roasted. (Like you say....food and memories )

[MJinAustin]

Originally Posted by schoenfraun

And kolaches...what is the deal with them? Why do people like them? Just a bunch of white flour, no texture, just taste like sugar, no flavor. And Round Rock donuts, those orange things, are grotesque. So there's a lot of much-loved local foods, I don't get at all.
When I was talking about this a few days ago in the office kitchen, one of my coworkers said, "Stop, you're hurting me! I love these places." So I think there is a great deal of sentimentality or emotion that goes with food that you know, really know. Food and memories. I don't have any memories here, I'm new, so my opinions come across as harsh, perhaps. I don't have any attachments to these places, I'm just talking about tastes, textures, presentations.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Emotion and sentimentality and memories are a very big part of the draw to these regional foods that "outsiders" think are awful or unworthly of accolades. Smell memory is very powerful.

When I was a child, my mother would take me (we lived in Tampa) to Krispy Kreme for a treat once in a while. We moved on - to Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Washington, Hawaii - all places that didn't have Krispy Kreme. I had long forgotten the name of the doughnut but remembered the smell years later. When I was an adult, I asked my mother many times about the doughnuts she'd take me to get when I was 4...all I could remember was that they came in a white box with green dots and the letters "K" "K" were the first of the name. Apparently, this was not enough to jog her memory and apparently Krispy Kreme did not have the same impact on her life. As a 4-year-old though, these were the best and most wonderful treat! I was SO thrilled when they built the Krispy Kreme on Research and it was only then that I put the puzzle pieces together and remembered my childhood fondly. My DH calls them "disgusting, lard-fried, sugar-coated pieces of white flour" but no matter what he says, when I smell them and eat them, I'm 4 again.

I'm sure everyone has something like that in their lives. I personally don't get the whole White Castle thing. I think the burgers are totally disgusting, but my father whose family lived on and off in the midwest loves them.

So to some people who grew up on RR Doughnuts or people of Czech descent whose grandmothers made kolaches...they may never change their minds about how great they think those foods are, even if they really aren't that great to an objective observer.

[twange]

Originally Posted by MJinAustin

I personally don't get the whole White Castle thing. I think the burgers are totally disgusting, but my father whose family lived on and off in the midwest loves them.

LOL. They are disgusting I'm originally from Ohio and have eaten plenty of late-night "slyders", especially in my college years when I didn't think too much about what I was putting into my gut...

Writing this is cracking me up though, thinking about some silly moments in my past. So, there you go: proof of taste memory!

[Mike78613]

Originally Posted by MJinAustin View Post
I personally don't get the whole White Castle thing.

Then you have to watch this:

[Irishtom29]

I've had Texas kolaches and they're more like sweet rolls than what you get at a Bohemian or Polish bakery in Chicago. If you're from Chicago you sure as Hell don't need to go to Texas for Bohemian food.