When Personal and Restaurant Information Become Relevant
I’ve had several people complain that it was pointless and redundant for me to announce that Sap and Mam, former owners of the acclaimed Madam Mam’s, had divorced. I mentioned this both on diningoutwithrobbalon.com and on my Facebook pages. Their point was: what has their personal business have to do with the restaurant world? In […]
What Goes Around Truly Comes Around at Trento
When my wife and I first tried Trento about a month and a half ago, I ran in to Nina Seely, an old friend who I’d not seen in years. She and her husband Frank are partners with Donnie Damuth in the restaurant. Nina is a neat woman with a great eye for fashion, evidenced […]
Judging the Proverbial Book by its Cover
I know a woman who will almost automatically veer away from a restaurant if it’s not draped in white linens with oak and mahogany trim and fitted with thick, plush leather chairs. Oh and lots of glass and chrome is nice too. She is not alone among river city diners. The only problem with that […]
Austin’s Legendary Restaurant Warriors Saddle Up for Yet Another Ride
You have to know Craig Gatewood. The long-time Austin restaurateur has helmed such placed as the Lakeview Café, the Dam View, Jake’s, El Dorado and many others. At 60, you would think he would want to think about hanging up his spurs and lighting out for the territories. Yet when I saw him today, he […]
Lay Off Paula Deen
OK. So she’s the queen of deliciously fattening southern cuisine. And Tony Bourdain is pissed at her: says she’s killing people by virtually handing them recipes for Type II Diabetes. Well here’s my take. I have Type II or Adult Onset Diabetes so i know just a bit about it. Paula Deen’s diabetes is her […]
The Year-Old McDonald’s Cheeseburger
This is truly a bizarre story that should alarm all of us who care about food. Seems that a California nutritionist bought a McDonald’s cheeseburger and then, as an experiment, let it sit out unwrapped and unrefrigerated for an entire YEAR! She wanted to see what would happen to it. And the really scary result […]
Restaurant Owners and their Foibles
Reviewing restaurants is a great deal of fun, and one gets to meet some very interesting and talented people. But sometimes I also come across situations that are flat-out funny or ironic, and I thought I’d share some with you. Romanian Logic I really used to enjoy the little Romanian place called Drakula that had […]
Once Again, For Those Who Haven’t Yet Heard the Explanation: Why We Do Things the Way We Do at Dining Out with Rob
Yes, I’ll admit that diningoutwithrobbalon.com is not your typical restaurant review website. And this seems to annoy some people who tend to visit websites where the content is exclusively user generated. The usual comments from them are almost predictable: 1. “He likes everything. Never says a bad word about any one.” 2. “He gets paid […]
Rob Begins Column in Horns Illustrated
Those of you (and there are many in the area) who are UT alums and receive the Horns Illustrated magazine will be seeing a new feature by yours truly on dining opportunities before and after the big game. I was frankly tickled that a sports magazine would want to have a dining out column. But […]
Five Things that Annoy the Hell Out of Rob
1. Waiters who can’t pronounce the items on the menu You’d be amazed at how often this happens. There’s no reason for it but I encounter it weekly. One egregious mispro is the continued insistence by the uninformed that bruschetta is pronounced “Brew-shetta” when the correct pronunciation is “Brew-sketta”. The ch in Italian takes a […]
Restaurants of Yore: How Quickly we Forget!
I was actually cleaning out my office the other day (a rare event for someone with ADHD) and I came across some memorabilia from the early part of the last decade. I was amazed at how many restaurants that I had either reviewed or was making tasting notes on had not survived the daily struggle […]
Dining and the Debt Ceiling
It would appear to the uninitiated that this bizarre governmental scenario regarding the debt ceiling is nothing more than political posturing: each side trying to score points by appearing to be more zealous about trimming our debt than the other. But the seasoned pros who cover the morons masquerading as our elected officials know the […]
The Balons Go Off with a Bang at Chinatown Downtown
Saturday night was a bittersweet night for me as a dad and a musician. The Balons played their last gig at Chinatown Downtown: my daughter and long-time singing partner Jenn is moving to Colorado with her husband John. We have been fortunate as parents to have had both our lovely daughters here with us in […]
The Balons Gorge in Conn and Mass
You’ve heard me go on ad infinutum ad nauseum about all the wonderful foods I remembered from my youth in Connecticut and Massachusetts. So last week we headed back to the ancestral digs to reconnect with family and of course, sample the local fare.The results, for the most part were quite rewarding, but there were […]
My How Austin Sports Bars Have Changed
A few years ago it would have been a cold day in hell before I could have dragged by wife to a local sports bar to eat, much less to eat and watch a game. But times and sports bars have changed. Have they ever. Two in particular that she enjoys (me included) are the […]
