Yelp’s Top 100 Places To Eat Include Six from the Austin Area

Posted on March 1, 2014 by lawrenceperson

So Yelp has release a Top 100 Places to Eat in the U.S. list. Their ratings, being based on actual diners, are very different than high-end restaurant critics, and include six places around Austin:

  • 8. Franklin Barbecue, Austin, TX
  • 35. Turf N’ Surf Po Boy, Austin, TX
  • 85. Uchiko, Austin, TX
  • 86. Little Deli & Pizzeria, Austin, TX
  • 91. Taste of Ethiopia, Pflugerville, TX
  • 99. Uchi, Austin, TX

Quick thoughts:

  • Yeah, because it just wasn’t hard enough to get Franklin BBQ already.
  • Uchiko and Uchi are run by the same people.
  • I’m really happy to see Taste of Ethiopia on here. It’s a swell joint run by great people.

By comparison, only one place made the cut in Houston, and none in Dallas…

(Cross-posted to My blog.)

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Prima Pizza Pasta Relocating, Mi Pizza Taking the Space

Posted on February 6, 2014 by lawrenceperson

A double-dose of restaurant relocation news I don’t think has been reported anywhere else:

Prima Pizza Pasta has relocated from its location at Parmer and McNeil to a new location at Anderson Mill and 620 as of February 1st. (The news is so new they haven’t updated their website yet.)

Taking the old Prima space on Parmer (as well as their phone number) is a new restaurant called Mi Pizza, which seems to focus on custom-designed 11 inch pizzas cooked in 5 minutes for $6.99.

(News duped from my own blog.)

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Changing the face of dining.

Posted on February 1, 2014 by dwightbrown

We have a noodle truck at the office on Thursdays.

The Forbidden. Beef stewed for four hours in an Indonesian-style red curry. DFG Noodles, Austin, Texas.

The Forbidden. Beef stewed for four hours in an Indonesian-style red curry. DFG Noodles, Austin, Texas.

And it is pretty damn good.

And they take credit/debt cards. You’ve seen it before, haven’t you? iPad with a credit card swiper, pick your tip, sign, have your receipt emailed to you?

This observation isn’t original to me, and I’m not sure it is terribly profound, but: services like Square have revolutionized credit card processing. I remember the old days, when setting up a merchant account was hard to do, and you needed a phone line, and you needed bulky equipment, and the credit card processors charged enormous fees. Now? I’m kind of far from retail, so I’m not sure if Square has resulted in downward pressure on fees (though I suspect it has).

Someone I know who is in retail and takes credit cards reviewed an early draft of this post and provided this information: they pay 2.61% for credit card processing, but each month’s statement also contains a laundry list of “cryptic inexplicable fees” that they have to pay as well. Square claims to charge a flat 2.75% for swiped transactions (Visa, MC, AmEx, Discover) with no additional fees. (I say “claims” because I have not used Square and can’t verify that for myself.)

Square also claims to deliver your money in one to two business days, no matter what type of card it is. The retail person I know says that AmEx fees depend on how long you let AmEx keep your money: they let AmEx hold their money for 15 days, and pay between 2% and 3%.

But fees aside, anyone who has a bank account can take credit cards these days, and all you need is an iPhone or iPad (or a supported Android device, though frankly that looks a little painful). Little to no bulk, no landline, and the money goes into your linked bank account.

The big thing, as I see it, isn’t the merchant charges: it is the portability. Your credit card machine is your phone or tablet, and it fits in a trailer. Or in a pocket. And you don’t need anything else – you don’t even need a printer, you can just email receipts to your customers. (Okay, you might want a charging cable, depending on how good battery life is on your device. But other than that, nothing.)

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Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

January 4, 2014: Imperia

Posted on January 17, 2014 by lawrenceperson

Imperia
310 Colorado St. (Austin, 78701)
(512) 472-6770

Lawrence’s Comments:

We’d been hearing good things about Imperia for quite a while, so we thought they were a good choice for the first SDC of 2014.

It lived up to the hype.

Imperia serves up pan-Asian fusion cuisine that draws equally from Chinese, Japanese and Thai cuisines (and probably a few others as well) in an attractive, understated space in the warehouse district (or what used to be called the warehouse district; they keep changing names and I don’t think there are any warehouses left). There’s a bar, but it doesn’t seem overemphasized the way it does in other downtown establishments.

We started off with the pork belly steamed buns, which were delicious but definitely smaller than the steamed buns you get at the average dim sum restaurant. The calamari was very good, with a nicely light batter, but not enough to eclipse perennial champion The Clay Pit. For sushi, we picked something that stretched the definition:”The Hot Mess,” which the menu described as “Snow crab and shrimp atop a honey and avocado roll. Topped with Dynomite [sic] sauce and Kochijyan butter,” to which I can only add “what they said.” The individual portions were very tasty and came out in an escargot dish. (I also had two pieces of unagi, which were fine but undersized.)

For my entree I had “Kinoko to Suteki,” which is a very savory steak and mushroom dish; the portions could have been a bit bigger, but it was in-line with downtown Asian fusion expectations. I also like the portion of Pad-Thai Dwight and I spilt.

I can’t find an online listing for the dessert I had, which involved creme brulee, ice cream, caramel sauce and decadence. Service was pretty attentive.

We ended up getting several entrees and appetizers, so the bill was substantial: more than $150 for three people including tax and tip. You’d be hard-pressed to get an appetizer, meal and drink for under $20, but you could probably do it for around $30. Just keep in mind that you’re not paying for Chinese food, you’re paying for a downtown Asian fusion restaurant, and adjust your expectations accordingly. (The biggest difference between Imperia and the late, unlamented Austin location of Roy’s is value. Though we ended up spending about as much at both places, we didn’t feel like we were being ripped off, and we didn’t leave still hungry.)

Besides price, the biggest problem with Imperia is their location in the warehouse district downtown. Unless you want to use the valet parking, there’s a good chance you’ll have to park several blocks away (I found a metered space on Republic Square). But Imperia is well worth the hassle, either for special occasions or if you already live downtown.

(This review will also appear on my own blog.)

Posted in Chinese, Fine Dining, Japanese, Sushi, Thai | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Closing time.

Posted on January 10, 2014 by dwightbrown

A quick news roundup:

Encounter has closed. No, that wasn’t an Austin restaurant, so why does anyone care? Well, Encounter was also known as “the restaurant in the Theme building at the LA Airport”. Or you might know the “Theme building” better as “that kind of spider-like thing”:

Austin CultureMap has a somewhat interesting article on the Waterloo Ice House chain, tied to their recent closing of three locations. We actually had a family dinner at the Bee Caves location shortly before their closing, and I had breakfast with a friend at the 38th Street location a little before that.

The problem, as I see it, isn’t “company-owned” versus “independent”; the problem is that Waterloo doesn’t offer a compelling experience. The food is just average, and the breakfast I mentioned stretched out to more than an hour; not because the service was bad, but because it took forever for the food to come out of the kitchen. (And, to be honest, I’ve had more than one bad service experience at the Burnet Road location, too.)

Finally, French Quarter Grill in Round Rock is closed. We were planning to eat there this weekend, as I’d bought some Restaurant.com gift certificates. Some may recall that there was a Gumbo’s in that location for a long time, and that the Gumbo’s ostensibly moved because the rent went up and the building was historic (which precluded them from making alterations that might have justified the higher rent). French Quarter Grill moved in shortly after Gumbo’s moved out. And are they closing for the same reasons?

No. Apparently, they’re closing because the historic building has been acquired by the city, which plans to demolish it for a new bridge. That’s kind of a “say what?” moment.

(We’re going to the Parmer location of French Quarter instead. And they’ve said that they are going to honor the Restaurant.com certificate, even though it was specifically for the Round Rock location. That’s nice.)

Posted in American, Cajun, Closed | Leave a comment

“We’d never heard of a pizza place closed for New Year’s Eve before…”

Posted on January 1, 2014 by lawrenceperson

Prima Pizza Pasta, you disappointment me. Does it not occur to you that people like to order pizza for their New Year’s Eve gatherings?

I like them overall, but being closed for New Year’s Eve is pretty inexplicable…

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Goodbye, Goodnight.

Posted on October 17, 2013 by dwightbrown

A couple of friends of mine asked me out to dinner last night. After some discussion, we settled on The Goodnight. I thought this was a good choice: it is a spin-off venture of the people behind the Alamo Drafthouse, which I like, and we’ve been talking about trying it ever since it opened.

I got there a little early (as is my wont). The setup is pretty standard: on the left as you enter is the dining room passageway, with the standard “Please wait to be seated” sign. On the right is a desk with a computer, phone, and a young woman working both.

So I waited to be seated.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And then someone who worked there came out, looked at me, and asked me what I wanted.

I AM FUCKING STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO THE “PLEASE WAIT TO BE SEATED” SIGN. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I WANT, ASSHOLE?

(This happens to me every so often when I go out. I’ll walk up to the “Please wait to be seated” sign, and the staff looks at me like I have three heads or something. Yes, people do dine alone. It sets my teeth on edge when they do this.)

I politely explain that I am looking to be seated for dinner. The guy looks around a bit, and then tells me “She’ll help you” and disappears into the back.

“She” is the woman sitting at the desk, who has been on the phone and computer the entire time I’ve been waiting, and shows no sign of acknowledging my existence.

So I wait some more.

“She” finally gets off the phone and computer and comes over to where I am. Once again, we go through the same drill I went through with the previous gentleman: it was apparently inconceivable to her as well that I might actually want a table for myself and the two other people who were joining me.

But finally, I manage to convince her that I would like a table for my party of three, and she finds me one. Sandwiched between two noisy parties, when there are several unoccupied tables a little further down in the dining room, but at least it is a table.

Over the years, I’ve developed a rule. If I start a stopwatch running, and the staff hasn’t acknowledged my existence within five minutes, I walk out. I don’t demand drinks be on the table in five minutes: all I want is for someone to show some sign that they know I’m there, even if it is just “I’ll be with you in a minute, sir”.

At 5 minutes and 3 seconds, literally as I was pushing my chair back to leave, the waitress finally came over and asked if I’d like something to drink. I nursed an ice water for a bit, progressively getting more and more angry, and finally decided I’d had enough of this bullshit.

So I walked out, waited for my friends out in front of The Goodnight, and then we went over to Korea House. Say what you will about Korea House, but at least we were treated like valued customers there, and not like something someone had scraped off the bottom of their shoes.

Congratulations, Tim League and The Goodnight. You’ve managed to earn the coveted SDC “Die In A Fire” status, you’ve ensured I’m never going back to The Goodnight under any circumstances, and you’ve given me a great story that I can tell to as many people as possible.

Posted in American, DIAF, Gripes | 2 Comments

July 27, 2013: Prima Pizza Pasta

Posted on July 27, 2013 by lawrenceperson

Prima Pizza Pasta
6001 W Parmer Ln (the same corner as the HEB)
258-5700

Lawrence’s Comments

Once upon a time, this space was a CiCi’s pizza. And it closed. How hard can it be to make a profit at a pizza place when your primary ingredient is cardboard?

So I was somewhat skeptical when new pizza place went in there. Though situated at a semi-major intersection at Parmer and McNeil, it’s as far as you can get from the center’s anchor store (HEB) and still be in the same center. So how good could their chances be?

After more than a year: So far, so good. It really helps when you serve excellent pizza.

Things started off right with the garlic cheese bread, which was excellent; a fellow diner said it was better than that served at Reale’s, which is high praise indeed. Also good were the free rolls. (Alas, the calimari remains nothing to write home about.)

The pizza itself remains excellent, an exemplary example of the new York style soft thin-crust pizza; I’d have to compare it back-to-back with Reale’s to see which I prefer. In fact, I like the pizza so much that I frequently pick up a slice or two on Fridays. At some point I also want to try some of the non-pizza dishes, which have received a fair amount of praise from fellow diners. And the service from our waitress was also excellent, with many an preemptive soft-drink refill.

If you like pizza and live anywhere north, you should definitely make an effort to check out Prima. So far they seem to have remained undiscovered, and have plenty of uncrowded seating to enjoy some delicious Italian food.

Posted in Italian, Pizza | Tagged , | 1 Comment

May 25, 2013: Man Bites Dog

Posted on June 5, 2013 by lawrenceperson

Man Bites Dog
5222 Burnet Rd.
614-1330

Lawrence’s Comments

What you have here is a vending cart transformed into a small restaurant storefront. If you like hot dogs, they’ve got hot dogs (as well as corn dogs and a few appetizers).

And they do good hot dogs. The Hair of the Dog, wrapped in a fried egg and bacon, was quite tasty. And the pulled pork mac and cheese appetizer was pretty good as well.

The place is pretty crowded on a Saturday night. I’m surprised they were actually able to keep up as well as they did with only two people working. The ambiance is fast food functional, with a handful of games on hand for the entertainment of children of all ages. I got to teach Dwight’s niece and nephew that Connect 4 is indeed just another variant of Lawrence Always Wins. Unfortunately, they’re another place that uses that weird Maine softdrink dispenser setup, and their diet cola still sucks.

The biggest drawback to the place, at least as a regular candidate for my own patronage, is that dog dogs are pretty easy to fix. I can make a hot dog as good or better at home quicker and cheaper than I can get one here. And if I do feel like getting out of the house to eat, I’m probably not going to opt for hot dogs.

However, if you are down with the concept, Man Bites Dog executes on it pretty well.

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May 18, 2013: Naanfull

Posted on May 20, 2013 by lawrenceperson

Naanfull
1335 E Whitestone Blvd, Ste T-130 (Cedar Park, 78613)
528-5903

Lawrence’s Comments

The concept just doesn’t work for me.

I have no a priori objection to Indian fast food, but I haven’t met an installment of it I thought worked. The problems with Naanful:

  • This location isn’t particularly convenient for grab-and-go food. It’s tucked back pretty far in a shopping complex, with no drive-through.
  • It’s got the ambiance of a fast-food joint, but the prices aren’t notably cheaper than your average Indian restaurant.
  • We didn’t get our food much faster than we would have gotten it at an Indian place after ordering.
  • The appetizer menu is extremely limited.
  • I thought the samosas were bland.

That said, I thought my lamb vindaloo was fine, but could have used a bit more meat.

Honestly, the only reason I can see anyone going here (assuming you’re not lured by the siren song of big-screen Indian cricket) is because Indian choices in Cedar Park are extremely limited. But outside those narrow geographic constraints, there are plenty of better (and a few cheaper) Indian food choices.

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