Austin mom and pop restaurants

Rudy’s is a chain now, with franchises n’stuff. Can’t call it mom and pop.

Screw Wanfu. That’s for college students who live down south and have nowhere else to eat at 3 in the morning.

For some really really good chinese seafood, Go to T&S Seafood on North Lamar. Closes at 1am, and this is the place that other chefs go to eat when they close their restaurants for the night. You have to get Shrimp with Salt and Pepper at least once. The hostess always reminds me about their dimsum during weekend lunch time, but I keep forgetting to go.

And I won’t call Rudy’s good either. There is way too much deviation in the quality of the product. Sometimes you go and it’s pretty good brisket. Other times you go and just down right sucks.

Well, I left Austin in '96, so things have changed, I guess. Although Rudy’s was never really “good” back then, either. Just greasy!

You can still ask for your cut of brisket to be “Mucho Negro”, though.

My wife has corrected my recollection, and it was the Kerbey Lane Cafe where we had breakfast, not the Hickory Street Grill. Website: http://www.kerbeylanecafe.com/

Oh yeah. If nobody has mentioned the Kerbey Lane Cafe yet, it’s good.

If you’re up north, the 620 Cafe (on, uh, 620 just west of 35) has some good food. They are only open for breakfast and lunch.

Ah, Kerby Lane - had breakfast there last week for the first time. Was pretty good, the eggs benedict was decent but probably coulda had more ham on there. Was definitely not the best I ever had… will have to try out their normal breakfast dishes. Ate at the one on 360 and… well, near Spicewood.

— Alan

That’s the one on 183. 360 is 7 minutes away from there. I blame the booze!

I enjoy Kerbey lane, but it isn’t particularly special.

I always get the two confused.

— Alan

Remember though, Roger’s times are totally different that actual times. This is the guy that said he could get from Parmer and 620 (work) to way south Lamar (Phil’s Burgers) in 13 minutes. Even doing 85 in the Lexus on the 183, it took him another 10 minutes on top of his original estimate.

His clock in his Rav4 is on some time that does reflect any time zone. It’s like Angelina Jolie could get in his car and say “time is broken here”.

How is it that nobody has mentioned Tamale House? The best cheap breakfast tacos in the city.

Hyde Park Bar and Grill has good food and great batter-dipped fries. And right next door to it is Dolce Vita, with fantastic deserts and a great bar.

El Caribe has pretty good mexican food and amazing salsa - they’ve won the hot sauce festival before. It’s not much to look at and the service is iffy, but it’s also not expensive.

For top notch mexican food, there’s Fonda San Miguel, which truly is the best mexican food I’ve ever had. Also worth mentioning is Manuels, especially the tortilla soup. They also have half price appetizers during happy hour.

The best sandwich shop I’ve found is The Little Deli, off of Woodrow near Justin. It’s only open until 3pm also, when the owners run to pflugerville to open their italian restaurant for supper.

Sampaio is great for Brazilian food, and Havana for Cuban.

For vietnamese, Le Soleil is my favorite, and judging by the number of vietnamese families eating there, I’m not alone.

There’s a new Thai place on lamar, just south of Keonig (and across the street from El Caribe) called Titayas, which has been good in limited visits.

Unless you’re heir to the Hilton fortune, Fonda San Miguel is firmly out of the “mom and pop” category and in the “Fine Dining” category. It’s on par with Hudson on the Bend, Jeffrey’s, and the Cafe at the Four Seasons hotel.

http://www.diningoutwithrobbalon.com/alpha.html

Yeah those are like Truluck’s prices when you start getting into dining. I start to think I don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for my food experience from a “mom & pop”.

I mean, I liked the Truluck’s experience, especially with the company paying for it (cough), and I thought it was really cool seeing King Crab legs, flown in fresh from the Bering Straight (where the Deadliest Catch is currently filming crab boats catching King Crab), but that just goes way out there.

Do we really want to define a mom & pop place at such high prices? Or do we define it was merely a good food experience from something that’s not franchised out? (And I’m not even sure if that’s Truluck’s or not, just a recent example of a place I went to.) Definitely fine dining at any rate.

— Alan

I guess Fonda San Miguel is a copycat of the old La Fonda in Santa Fe?