The Pizza Cave Introduces Texas Chowder
Being a native New Englander I came to Austin with a hardwired set of preferences for my pizza joints of New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York. But then I found a new joint in Dripping Springs called The Pizza Cave. They have fantastic New York style pies, but unlike many of the East Coast places […]
Ronald Cheng’s Street to Reopen
There were very few local Asian restaurants in Austin that I enjoyed more than Street – Ronald Cheng’s homage to Japanese, Vietnamese, and Thai street foods. So when Ronald called yesterday to tell me he was reopening in the space below Chinatown Mopac that used to house the iconic Musashino I was totally buzzed. It […]
Why Austin’s Tex Mex Restaurants Are the Best in Texas
In my travels around Texas, I’ve tried many Mexican restaurants, including those that call themselves Tex Mex and I’ve come to the conclusion that Austin Tex Mex joints are at the pantheon of that particular cuisine. Why? Because in the many iterations of Tex Mex that exist, it all comes down to the core essentials: chili […]
Blasts From the Past: Rob’s TV Restaurant Reviews on KVUE and FOX 7
I never set out to do restaurant reviews. I had gotten my PhD at the University of Michigan to enable me to teach at the college level, first at UT Austin and then at California State Long Beach. While I very much enjoyed teaching, it soon became apparent that teaching courses in Broadcasting and Advertising […]
Take a Drive Down the Pizza Corridor
There’s a concentration of excellent owner-operated pizza places along the Highway 290 West between Austin and Dripping Springs that we’ve affectionately begun to call “The Pizza Corridor.” I’d enjoyed the pizza at these places many times yet it didn’t occur to me that they were all in reasonable proximity to each other along 290 West. […]
Long Time East Side Tex Mex Favorite Vivo Under New Ownership, Opens North in The LINC
For those who have been around Austin for awhile, you’ll probably remember Vivo, a classic Tex Mex spot on Manor Road adjacent to Hoover’s Cooking. They had amazingly original and tasty food, the highlight of which was their famous puffy tacos and tasty flautas. Their salsas were the best I’d tried and their tortilla soup and […]
Washington D.C. Steak Concept Medium Rare Scouting Locations in Austin
Austin has a well-deserved reputation for its stellar steakhouses. From III Forks to Perry’s and Steiner Ranch, not to mention Ruth’s Chris, Austin Land and Cattle, Eddie V’s, Bob’s Steak and Chops, Roaring Fork and many others, Austinites have many palate-pleasing locations at their disposal. So on first glance one would think that the idea of […]
Craving an American Style Gyro? Phoenicia Still Stands at the Top
I have long enjoyed the classic American style Gyro (pronounced yē-rō), the combination of lamb and beef cooked on a rotisserie and served in thin slices on fresh pita bread with tzatziki sauce, white onions, lettuce, and tomato. In Greece, gyros are stuffed exclusively with beef but in this case I opt for taste over […]
Rob’s Take on the Piadas at The Pizza Cave
When we first recently wrote about the introduction of Piadas to the menu of the mostly pizza and pasta centric The Pizza Cave on Highway 290 in Dripping Springs, I promised to let our readers know my first take on this Italian classic. Well, we tried them the other night with some friends and they […]
Wandering Through the Suburban Dining Gridlock of Fort Worth We Find a Real Owner-Operated Restaurant
Fort Worth, like any large Texas city, has an accommodating and bustling downtown area with genuinely good restaurants. But as a city spreads out (as has often happened in Texas with the availability of virtually endless amounts of land) a series of seemingly never ending subdivisions and sprawling apartment complexes gradually appear. To serve the dining needs of these […]
Rob’s First Tastes of Tumble 22
I first came across Tumble 22 when a neighbor brought me a box of their fried chicken. I’ve been waiting since then to give them a proper tasting. That moment arrived last week when I visited their store on Lake Austin Boulevard (at the former site of the Magnolia Café). They have a nice combination of […]
An Array of Piadas About to Roll Out at the Pizza Cave
If you haven’t tried a Piada, you’ve been missing out. The Pizza Cave on 290 West is about to change that with the introduction of its own take on this Italian classic. A piada is classic Italian artisanal flatbread usually filled with cheeses, vegetables, cold cuts, and other meats. It’s essentially a street food served […]
First Tastes at Le Vacher on Highway 290 in Dripping Springs
I first stopped in at the new French brasserie Le Vacher last week and took a quick glance at the menu. One dish immediately caught my eye: the duck confit. The last time I’d had duck confit was at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro in Las Vegas at The Venetian. Keller personally prepared the dish for […]
