since it is halloween today, I thought that I would give you a recipe that you could use some of that halloween candy in. enjoy!!
deep fried candy bars
when I read this original recipe from nigella lawson, she said we have all heard of deep-fried mars bars in the south. well I had not, so being a true Southern girl; I had to try them. so far, the only candy we have tried that does not work is three musketeers. the fresh pineapple goes great with this because it cuts the sweetness of the candy, but you can definitely serve this without it. also, we like to serve this with shots of rum, the combination of rum, coconut, and pineapple is a time-honored one.
oil for deep-frying
1 ripe pineapple, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup self-rising flour
about 1 cup club soda
8 fun-sized almond joy bars, or any fun-sized candy bar you want to try (the small cadbury cream eggs work as well)
1. heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer to maximum heat.
2. measure the flour into a bowl, and whisk in ¾ cup of the club soda to make the batter, adding the rest of the soda if the consistency is still too thick; you want this just thick enough to adhere easily. the best way to check is to turn a candy bar in it; if the batter sticks, it’s fine.
3. fry the batter-dipped candy bar in the hot oil for about 3 minutes until the batter is puffed and golden.
4. place on pieces of paper towel to absorb excess grease, then pile up on a plate to sit on the table alongside the cut-up pineapple.
31 October 2008
30 October 2008
eating in san antonio -- day 4
well, this is michael's last day as a guest blogger! hope you have enjoyed it!
This is our last day in San Antonio, so I suppose it is my last guest post for now.
I started off the day by strolling over to the Starbucks on the riverwalk, carrying with me the campechanas purchased yesterday from Mi Tierra. I got a decaf americano and sat out on the patio overlooking the river. Starbucks is not the greatest coffee on the planet. It seems as if all their coffee is over-roasted. That kills the flavor of the coffee. My favorite is the fresh roasted coffee I buy from Intelligentsia online and brew at home. Ok, back on point, Starbucks coffee is serviceable. The apple and pineapple campechanas were just as good as yesterday afternoon.
The riverwalk has some of the most aggressive birds around. Anytime you are eating outside along the river, you can expect to be surrounded by ducks, pigeons, and some other real small brown spotted bird. Those little guys are quick suckers. They swoop down from the trees, outmaneuver the fat ducks and pigeons, snatch the food, then retreat to their trees. The ducks and pigeons just gather around and stare at you as if to say, "you gonna finish that?"
I experienced the birds at breakfast and lunch.
Not really feeling like venturing out to find a new place to try for lunch, I decided to go back to Las Ramblas, the restaurant at the Contessa. The salad I had there yesterday was excellent. I was seated in their outdoor section. After perusing their menu, I was thinking this was a mistake because nothing really jumped out at me. The waitress came by and mentioned that in addition to the menu items, they also had a lunch buffet. I'm not a huge buffet fan, but I was curious, "what do you have on the buffet today?" She rattled off the buffet items, and I think my eyes got bigger with each dish she mentioned. I figured since I had plenty of time to kill and a book to read, I could make this a multi-course meal. There were several things on the menu that sounded good, so that is what I did. I stuck with the small salad plates so that I wouldn't get too much at one time, and I read a chapter of my book between each course.
First course was Apple Waldorf salad with maple dressing. This salad had green and red apples, walnuts, dried cherries, and a light, creamy maple dressing. It was a good way to start off lunch.
The second course was Paella Valenciana. Paella is a Spanish dish that originated on the southern coast of Spain. It is a rice and seafood dish flavored with saffron. This paella had mussels, shrimp, sausage, carrots, tomato, and peas. I love paella, and this was a pretty good rendition. It was a little skimpy on the seafood, but tasty nonetheless. I hope someday to be able to enjoy some paella in its natural habitat, sitting at an outdoor restaurant near the beach on the island of Majorca, Spain.
The next course was green beans and parmesan polenta. The green beans were just barely blanched and not seasoned very much. One of my peeves is vegetables that are overcooked and mushy, so these slightly crunchy green beans were refreshing. The polenta was smooth and flavorful. The somewhat bland green beans balanced out the strongly flavored polenta nicely.
For the meat course, I had a couple slices of the pork tenderloin with balsamic demi glaze. The pork was tender and juicy, and the basalmic glaze added sweetness and depth to the flavor of the pork.
Wanting some coffee to go with dessert, I asked the waitress if they served espresso drinks. She said yes, so I asked for a decaf americano. She looked at me and said, "A what?" I responded, "how about a decaf latte." Success, kinda.
Once the coffee arrived, I got a slice of chocolate meringue pie. The meringue was not as light as it could have been, and the crust was also a little heavy, but the chocolate tasted great -- smooth, cold, and not too sweet -- good stuff.
That concludes my notable dining experiences for the day. I did have a bag of italian flavored gardettos from a gas station south of Austin. If you ever get the opportunity -- pass. I guess that was dinner.
Overall, I really enjoyed our trip to San Antonio. I love a walkable downtown with nice hotels, plenty of attractions and dining. For me, the gold standard is the French Quarter, but San Antonio doesn't have to make any apologies.
Adios,
Michael
eating in san antonio -- day 3
my hubby mike is the guest blogger again today,
Yesterday was a good food day, and it would be difficult to match or beat.
After walking Caryn to the Westin next door for her morning meeting, I decided to ask the Westin concierge for a breakfast recommendation. His first suggestion was this deli around the corner called Schilo's. I said, "Yes, I'm a fan, ate there twice yesterday." His next suggestion was the Blanco Cafe. It is a Mexican place about 6 blocks that way. I'm thinking: do I want to walk 6 blocks for breakfast at a Mexican restaurant when I frequently eat the excellent $0.99 breakfast tacos from the restauant across the street from my office? The concierge continued to describe the restaurant, and when he mentioned fresh tortillas hot off the grill, I think I hit the door in a full sprint. Which direction was that again?
There is a side story here. When I was very young, the lady that kept me made fresh flour tortillas for me every day. I don't remember much about staying with her except sitting in her kitchen, watching her make the tortillas and eating them right when they had cooled off just enough. So, for my entire life the litmus test for an exceptional Mexican restaurant is whether they have great, fresh flour tortillas.
So, with that description from the concierge, how could I not go? I was not disappointed.
After perusing the menu, I settled on Machacado con huevo. For those not familiar, Machacado is dried brisket that is scrambled with eggs. The waitress asked if I would like it "a la mexicana," which would be with pico de gallo mixed in and likely very spicy. I passed and told her I would like it normal. "Oh yeah, can I have some extra flour tortillas?"
After a short wait, out came the Machacado. It was served with crispy fried potatoes, refried beans, and a good, spicy Salsa Verde on the side. I don't like refried beans, so I didn't try them, and the potatoes were good, but I only ate a couple because that is not what I came for. The Machacado was beefy and a little salty, which is how I like it. I've never had bad Machacado, and this was no exception, but in my book it is only a compliment to the most important part of the meal -- the tortillas.
So how were the tortillas, you ask? They were hot, soft, thick, and just a little crispy on the outside so that you know they just came off the grill. In a word -- wonderful. It was just what I was looking for. The waitress came and refilled my coffee about 5 times as I enjoyed my tortillas in a trance-like state.
After getting some work done at the hotel, I decided to take a look at the tapas menu in the bar downstairs. I had a rather big breakfast, and I knew that our dinner would also be filling, so I thought a smaller lunch would be good. The restaurant at the Hotel Contessa is called Las Ramblas, which is a Spanish style restaurant. After agonizing over several appetising choices, I settled on the frisee, pear, and manchego cheese salad. The salad also has candied walnuts, dried cherries, and is dressed with a sherry shallot vinagrette.
I ordered a Dos Equis to drink with the salad. The waitress tries to pull a Dos Equis and comes back, "all out of Dos Equis." I look again at the taps and decide on a Stella Artolis. The waitress tries to pull a Stella and says, "Sorry, no Stella either, would you like a Sam Adams or Shiner?" "Sam Adams," I respond, hoping they have some. I'm not sure how well a Shiner Bock would go with a salad. Thankfully, I didn't have to find out because they did have Sam Adams.
The salad had pear slices on the bottom with dried cherries on the pears. There was a huge mound of frisee with candied walnuts scattered on top and manchego cheese shredded over it all. The dressing was so light you could taste it but you couldn't see it. Just about perfect.
Growing up, my grandparents would send us the Harry and David fruit of the month thing for Christmas. I remember eating those pears that melt in your mouth and leave juice running down your chin. Well, these pears weren't as good as that, but I can't complain.
I could have used some more manchego cheese, but I happen to like manchego more than the average person. Overall, it was an excellent salad. I would have liked to have a Dos Equis with it rather than a beer as "hoppy" as Sam Adams.
After lunch I decided to go out and see the sights west of the hotel, having been east to the Alamo yesterday afternoon. I left hoping to see the San Fernando Cathedral and the Spanish Governor's Palace. The Cathedral was cool. It was started in 1738. The marker said it was the oldest cathedral in the US.
The Spanish Governor's palace was less palatial than I imagined. It is a one story adobe structure with three bedrooms, a small "ballroom," chapel, family room, kitchen and "chamber of law" room. The house did have large courtyards and gardens. I suppose in the 1700's this would have been a very large residence.
When Col. Travis fired a cannon at Santa Anna's quarters from the Alamo, Santa Anna raised a red flag over the San Fernando cathedral to indicate that no-one would be spared. The Battle of the Alamo weakened Santa Anna's army and held them up for 13 days while Sam Houston assembled the army that ultimately defeated Santa Anna's much larger army at the Battle of San Jacinto, which was the final battle in the war for Texas Independence in 1836. Ok enough history lesson, back to the food.
After cruising through the cathedral and the governor's palace, I realized that I still had about 2 hours to kill, so I decided to continue on to El Mercado. I walked through the Alameda art museum and coninued into El Mercado and saw Mi Tierra restaurant and panaderia (bakery). Caryn loves pan dulce, which is Mexican sweet bread. She has not been able to find decent pan dulce in Waco, so she is always on the lookout wherever we go. I picked up some pan dulce for Caryn, three campechanas for me and some dulce de leche. After texting Caryn about my find, I walked back to the Westin. Hanging out on a patio overlooking the riverwalk, I broke out the campechanas and tried one. A campechana is like a turnover made with a type of pastry dough. They are filled with various sweet fillings. I bought one pineapple, one apple, and one vanilla creme. I ate the vanilla creme campechana, and I am saving the other two for breakfast tomorrow. The campechans are dusted with sugar before they are baked, so the sugar carmelizes on top. So you get a flaky, crunchy, sweet bite with a smooth, creamy filling. It pretty much cures whatever ails you.
We had previously arranged to meet some old friends for dinner at PF Changs. We started off with drinks. I had sake and Caryn had a poolside. I'm not sure what all a poolside entails, but she seemed to think it was good.
We had barbecue spareribs for an appetizer. They had a sweet Chinese barbecue sauce and were cooked prefectly. Caryn ordered a grilled shrimp salad that had big shrimp and walnuts on a bed of mixed greens. It looked good. I had the Singapore Street Noodles. This is rice noodles with chicken and shrimp, cabbage and tomatoes with a curry sauce. This sounded better on the menu than it tasted in my mouth. I wasn't a fan of the texture of the rice noodles, a little too half-cooked for my taste. I could have used more chicken and less shrimp in the dish as well as a little more sweetness to balance out all that heat from the curry.
Don't get the impression that dinner was a bomb, though. We had great conversation and banana spring rolls for dessert. Banana spring rolls are just what they sound like -- 3 inch banana slices wrapped in spring roll wrappers and fried. It is served with ice cream, strawberries, and caramel sauce. It's why we keep going back to PF Changs.
I don't want you to think I am knocking the entree I had at PF Changs. As far as I can tell, the dish was prepared exactly as it should have been by the kitchen, it just did not suit my taste exactly. If you are not willing to try things you don't like, you will never find anything new that you do like.
So overall, another very good food day.
MB
Yesterday was a good food day, and it would be difficult to match or beat.
After walking Caryn to the Westin next door for her morning meeting, I decided to ask the Westin concierge for a breakfast recommendation. His first suggestion was this deli around the corner called Schilo's. I said, "Yes, I'm a fan, ate there twice yesterday." His next suggestion was the Blanco Cafe. It is a Mexican place about 6 blocks that way. I'm thinking: do I want to walk 6 blocks for breakfast at a Mexican restaurant when I frequently eat the excellent $0.99 breakfast tacos from the restauant across the street from my office? The concierge continued to describe the restaurant, and when he mentioned fresh tortillas hot off the grill, I think I hit the door in a full sprint. Which direction was that again?
There is a side story here. When I was very young, the lady that kept me made fresh flour tortillas for me every day. I don't remember much about staying with her except sitting in her kitchen, watching her make the tortillas and eating them right when they had cooled off just enough. So, for my entire life the litmus test for an exceptional Mexican restaurant is whether they have great, fresh flour tortillas.
So, with that description from the concierge, how could I not go? I was not disappointed.
After perusing the menu, I settled on Machacado con huevo. For those not familiar, Machacado is dried brisket that is scrambled with eggs. The waitress asked if I would like it "a la mexicana," which would be with pico de gallo mixed in and likely very spicy. I passed and told her I would like it normal. "Oh yeah, can I have some extra flour tortillas?"
After a short wait, out came the Machacado. It was served with crispy fried potatoes, refried beans, and a good, spicy Salsa Verde on the side. I don't like refried beans, so I didn't try them, and the potatoes were good, but I only ate a couple because that is not what I came for. The Machacado was beefy and a little salty, which is how I like it. I've never had bad Machacado, and this was no exception, but in my book it is only a compliment to the most important part of the meal -- the tortillas.
So how were the tortillas, you ask? They were hot, soft, thick, and just a little crispy on the outside so that you know they just came off the grill. In a word -- wonderful. It was just what I was looking for. The waitress came and refilled my coffee about 5 times as I enjoyed my tortillas in a trance-like state.
After getting some work done at the hotel, I decided to take a look at the tapas menu in the bar downstairs. I had a rather big breakfast, and I knew that our dinner would also be filling, so I thought a smaller lunch would be good. The restaurant at the Hotel Contessa is called Las Ramblas, which is a Spanish style restaurant. After agonizing over several appetising choices, I settled on the frisee, pear, and manchego cheese salad. The salad also has candied walnuts, dried cherries, and is dressed with a sherry shallot vinagrette.
I ordered a Dos Equis to drink with the salad. The waitress tries to pull a Dos Equis and comes back, "all out of Dos Equis." I look again at the taps and decide on a Stella Artolis. The waitress tries to pull a Stella and says, "Sorry, no Stella either, would you like a Sam Adams or Shiner?" "Sam Adams," I respond, hoping they have some. I'm not sure how well a Shiner Bock would go with a salad. Thankfully, I didn't have to find out because they did have Sam Adams.
The salad had pear slices on the bottom with dried cherries on the pears. There was a huge mound of frisee with candied walnuts scattered on top and manchego cheese shredded over it all. The dressing was so light you could taste it but you couldn't see it. Just about perfect.
Growing up, my grandparents would send us the Harry and David fruit of the month thing for Christmas. I remember eating those pears that melt in your mouth and leave juice running down your chin. Well, these pears weren't as good as that, but I can't complain.
I could have used some more manchego cheese, but I happen to like manchego more than the average person. Overall, it was an excellent salad. I would have liked to have a Dos Equis with it rather than a beer as "hoppy" as Sam Adams.
After lunch I decided to go out and see the sights west of the hotel, having been east to the Alamo yesterday afternoon. I left hoping to see the San Fernando Cathedral and the Spanish Governor's Palace. The Cathedral was cool. It was started in 1738. The marker said it was the oldest cathedral in the US.
The Spanish Governor's palace was less palatial than I imagined. It is a one story adobe structure with three bedrooms, a small "ballroom," chapel, family room, kitchen and "chamber of law" room. The house did have large courtyards and gardens. I suppose in the 1700's this would have been a very large residence.
When Col. Travis fired a cannon at Santa Anna's quarters from the Alamo, Santa Anna raised a red flag over the San Fernando cathedral to indicate that no-one would be spared. The Battle of the Alamo weakened Santa Anna's army and held them up for 13 days while Sam Houston assembled the army that ultimately defeated Santa Anna's much larger army at the Battle of San Jacinto, which was the final battle in the war for Texas Independence in 1836. Ok enough history lesson, back to the food.
After cruising through the cathedral and the governor's palace, I realized that I still had about 2 hours to kill, so I decided to continue on to El Mercado. I walked through the Alameda art museum and coninued into El Mercado and saw Mi Tierra restaurant and panaderia (bakery). Caryn loves pan dulce, which is Mexican sweet bread. She has not been able to find decent pan dulce in Waco, so she is always on the lookout wherever we go. I picked up some pan dulce for Caryn, three campechanas for me and some dulce de leche. After texting Caryn about my find, I walked back to the Westin. Hanging out on a patio overlooking the riverwalk, I broke out the campechanas and tried one. A campechana is like a turnover made with a type of pastry dough. They are filled with various sweet fillings. I bought one pineapple, one apple, and one vanilla creme. I ate the vanilla creme campechana, and I am saving the other two for breakfast tomorrow. The campechans are dusted with sugar before they are baked, so the sugar carmelizes on top. So you get a flaky, crunchy, sweet bite with a smooth, creamy filling. It pretty much cures whatever ails you.
We had previously arranged to meet some old friends for dinner at PF Changs. We started off with drinks. I had sake and Caryn had a poolside. I'm not sure what all a poolside entails, but she seemed to think it was good.
We had barbecue spareribs for an appetizer. They had a sweet Chinese barbecue sauce and were cooked prefectly. Caryn ordered a grilled shrimp salad that had big shrimp and walnuts on a bed of mixed greens. It looked good. I had the Singapore Street Noodles. This is rice noodles with chicken and shrimp, cabbage and tomatoes with a curry sauce. This sounded better on the menu than it tasted in my mouth. I wasn't a fan of the texture of the rice noodles, a little too half-cooked for my taste. I could have used more chicken and less shrimp in the dish as well as a little more sweetness to balance out all that heat from the curry.
Don't get the impression that dinner was a bomb, though. We had great conversation and banana spring rolls for dessert. Banana spring rolls are just what they sound like -- 3 inch banana slices wrapped in spring roll wrappers and fried. It is served with ice cream, strawberries, and caramel sauce. It's why we keep going back to PF Changs.
I don't want you to think I am knocking the entree I had at PF Changs. As far as I can tell, the dish was prepared exactly as it should have been by the kitchen, it just did not suit my taste exactly. If you are not willing to try things you don't like, you will never find anything new that you do like.
So overall, another very good food day.
MB
29 October 2008
eating in san antonio -- day 2
We're down in San Antonio, and Caryn says that since I am eating better than her (convention food) that I get to guest post.
When we checked into the Hotel Contessa yesterday (I highly recommend it), the bellhop mentioned that there was a good place around the corner called Schilo's deli. They have good breakfast and lunch, he says. So Caryn and I went there for breakfast this morning.
Schilo's is a German deli that has been around since 1917. I had potato pancakes and eggs. The potato pancakes were served with fresh applesauce. Potato pancakes are finely chopped potatoes, onions and other stuff made into a batter and grilled like a pancake. Imagine a dense, savory pancake. They are usually served with applesauce, sour cream, or ketchup. I haven't had them very many times, but these were definetly the best. I asked Caryn if she wanted a bite, and she informed me that she has had enough potato pancakes to last a lifetime. Grandma Berger used to always make potato pancakes, apparently.
Caryn had eggs, bacon, hash browns, and biscuits. Considering I love making -- and eating -- biscuits, I was curious to see what theirs would be like. When the waitress brought her biscuits to the table, I had biscuit envy. On the plate were two biscuits that were about 4 inches tall by 2.5 wide and deep. These are about twice as tall as my biscuits. I'm still wondering how they get that kind of rise and still had them cooked all the way through. Maybe lower temp for a longer time, and probably double acting baking powder, too? So, I had to try a bite of the biscuit. I would say that their biscuits had a more uniform consistency than mine and about the same density. Where mine win, in my opinion, is taste. My biscuits are much more buttery. These biscuits are are probably made with lard or vegetable shortening. I know that's the traditional way, but I like my biscuits made with butter, thank you.
One comment on their bacon: it was very meaty, perfectly cooked, not greasy, and just the right amount of saltiness. So often bacon is an afterthought, but really good bacon gets my attention.
I liked Schilo's so much for breakfast that I decided to come back for lunch. I saw a lot of intriguing German fare on the menu that I wanted to try. Also, they have Spaten on tap, which is probably my favorite German beer. (I know they probably would have been happy to serve me one for breakfast, but that is frowned upon in most cultures.)
When I came back for lunch, I had a difficult time deciding: polish neighbor, reuben, corned beef special, and on, and on, and on. I finally settled on the Kraut Dog with hot potato salad, a cup of split pea soup and the mandatory Spaten.
I wouldn't normally order split pea soup off the cuff, but I already knew this place was high quality. I also knew this soup was one of their specialties. This was confirmed by the fact that at every table around me, at least one person was enjoying either a cup or bowl of the soup. So, I joined the crowd and did not regret it. Once you get past the disturbing color (for those of us not too far removed from having small children), the soup is great. Theirs was very well seasoned and fulfilling. They serve the soup with a slice of fresh rye bread. Now, I am usually not a fan of rye bread -- at all. I thought to myself when she brought it out that I should have asked her for sourdough instead. I can't stand the bitter bite that most rye bread has. Apparently, I've just never had great fresh rye bread because this bread was awesome. I was enjoying my cup of soup and bread so much that I forgot there was more food on the way. I thought about asking for the check and leaving right then. I'm glad I didn't.
The Kraut Dog is a grilled frank split lengthwise served on a toasted sub roll, piled high with the best saurkraut I have ever had. Now, I like saurkraut, but I don't get to eat it very often. Also, I cannot say that I have ever truly had great kraut, until today. The hot potato salad was good, and it appeared pretty simple: Boiled potatoes, slightly mashed with smll pieces of crunchy celery and a little dill. There may be a secret ingredient or two that I am not aware of, but that is the gist of it. All of this was complimented nicely by the Spaten.
So, early evening we bummed a few free drinks off of the conference mixer at the Westin. "Scotch rocks, how about a double?" We made a pass through the hors d'ouvre line, which was tapas style and pretty good for hotel food. We hung around just long enough to say hi to one of Caryn's Rackspace reps and finish our food and drinks.
We walked on down to the other side of the riverwalk loop, where all the action is. We poked our head in Dick's Last Resort and decided to go to Joe's Crab Shack next door instead. I know what you're thinking, "tourist trap," and you would be right. But, they do have consistently good shrimp (bbq peel & eat for me and popcorn for Caryn), fruity drinks for my lady, and bananas foster crepes for dessert (don't knock them till you try them). For me, that food was worth the too loud music, terrible service, and obnoxious patrons -- as long as you know what you are getting yourself into.
That finished off a day of good eats for me. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings. . .
MB
When we checked into the Hotel Contessa yesterday (I highly recommend it), the bellhop mentioned that there was a good place around the corner called Schilo's deli. They have good breakfast and lunch, he says. So Caryn and I went there for breakfast this morning.
Schilo's is a German deli that has been around since 1917. I had potato pancakes and eggs. The potato pancakes were served with fresh applesauce. Potato pancakes are finely chopped potatoes, onions and other stuff made into a batter and grilled like a pancake. Imagine a dense, savory pancake. They are usually served with applesauce, sour cream, or ketchup. I haven't had them very many times, but these were definetly the best. I asked Caryn if she wanted a bite, and she informed me that she has had enough potato pancakes to last a lifetime. Grandma Berger used to always make potato pancakes, apparently.
Caryn had eggs, bacon, hash browns, and biscuits. Considering I love making -- and eating -- biscuits, I was curious to see what theirs would be like. When the waitress brought her biscuits to the table, I had biscuit envy. On the plate were two biscuits that were about 4 inches tall by 2.5 wide and deep. These are about twice as tall as my biscuits. I'm still wondering how they get that kind of rise and still had them cooked all the way through. Maybe lower temp for a longer time, and probably double acting baking powder, too? So, I had to try a bite of the biscuit. I would say that their biscuits had a more uniform consistency than mine and about the same density. Where mine win, in my opinion, is taste. My biscuits are much more buttery. These biscuits are are probably made with lard or vegetable shortening. I know that's the traditional way, but I like my biscuits made with butter, thank you.
One comment on their bacon: it was very meaty, perfectly cooked, not greasy, and just the right amount of saltiness. So often bacon is an afterthought, but really good bacon gets my attention.
I liked Schilo's so much for breakfast that I decided to come back for lunch. I saw a lot of intriguing German fare on the menu that I wanted to try. Also, they have Spaten on tap, which is probably my favorite German beer. (I know they probably would have been happy to serve me one for breakfast, but that is frowned upon in most cultures.)
When I came back for lunch, I had a difficult time deciding: polish neighbor, reuben, corned beef special, and on, and on, and on. I finally settled on the Kraut Dog with hot potato salad, a cup of split pea soup and the mandatory Spaten.
I wouldn't normally order split pea soup off the cuff, but I already knew this place was high quality. I also knew this soup was one of their specialties. This was confirmed by the fact that at every table around me, at least one person was enjoying either a cup or bowl of the soup. So, I joined the crowd and did not regret it. Once you get past the disturbing color (for those of us not too far removed from having small children), the soup is great. Theirs was very well seasoned and fulfilling. They serve the soup with a slice of fresh rye bread. Now, I am usually not a fan of rye bread -- at all. I thought to myself when she brought it out that I should have asked her for sourdough instead. I can't stand the bitter bite that most rye bread has. Apparently, I've just never had great fresh rye bread because this bread was awesome. I was enjoying my cup of soup and bread so much that I forgot there was more food on the way. I thought about asking for the check and leaving right then. I'm glad I didn't.
The Kraut Dog is a grilled frank split lengthwise served on a toasted sub roll, piled high with the best saurkraut I have ever had. Now, I like saurkraut, but I don't get to eat it very often. Also, I cannot say that I have ever truly had great kraut, until today. The hot potato salad was good, and it appeared pretty simple: Boiled potatoes, slightly mashed with smll pieces of crunchy celery and a little dill. There may be a secret ingredient or two that I am not aware of, but that is the gist of it. All of this was complimented nicely by the Spaten.
So, early evening we bummed a few free drinks off of the conference mixer at the Westin. "Scotch rocks, how about a double?" We made a pass through the hors d'ouvre line, which was tapas style and pretty good for hotel food. We hung around just long enough to say hi to one of Caryn's Rackspace reps and finish our food and drinks.
We walked on down to the other side of the riverwalk loop, where all the action is. We poked our head in Dick's Last Resort and decided to go to Joe's Crab Shack next door instead. I know what you're thinking, "tourist trap," and you would be right. But, they do have consistently good shrimp (bbq peel & eat for me and popcorn for Caryn), fruity drinks for my lady, and bananas foster crepes for dessert (don't knock them till you try them). For me, that food was worth the too loud music, terrible service, and obnoxious patrons -- as long as you know what you are getting yourself into.
That finished off a day of good eats for me. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings. . .
MB
27 October 2008
eating in san antonio -- day 1
one of the best parts of being married to a foodie is; traveling together and getting to eat food in different places and today was one of those days.
we went to whataburger for lunch which I know is not all that special or some may say not all that good, but for this southern girl, french fries with cream gravy and fried apple pies are a little piece of heaven.
for dinner, we tried out the republic of texas on the riverwalk. we were trying to decide what to eat and this restaurant was recommended to us by some friends who live here in san antonio. when we looked the restaurant up and saw that they had a blue cheese burger, we knew this was our place. we had really good margaritas and nachos to start us off and the burger was one of the best I've had. it wasn't as good as zax's in austin, but it was a close second. I would recommend trying out republic of texas if you are looking for a good place to eat in san antonio and if you are in austin, you HAVE to try zax's.
as we were walking back to the hotel, we noticed that there was a ben and jerry's shop close by, so we stopped by for a treat and it was really good. we need a ben and jerry's in waco!!
we went to whataburger for lunch which I know is not all that special or some may say not all that good, but for this southern girl, french fries with cream gravy and fried apple pies are a little piece of heaven.
for dinner, we tried out the republic of texas on the riverwalk. we were trying to decide what to eat and this restaurant was recommended to us by some friends who live here in san antonio. when we looked the restaurant up and saw that they had a blue cheese burger, we knew this was our place. we had really good margaritas and nachos to start us off and the burger was one of the best I've had. it wasn't as good as zax's in austin, but it was a close second. I would recommend trying out republic of texas if you are looking for a good place to eat in san antonio and if you are in austin, you HAVE to try zax's.
as we were walking back to the hotel, we noticed that there was a ben and jerry's shop close by, so we stopped by for a treat and it was really good. we need a ben and jerry's in waco!!
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