It Needs to be Said: Torchy’s Queso

What’s the point of naming a favorite queso? Can queso be bad? Unless you’re talking the shelf-stable stuff you find in jars at gas stations, queso is a safe bet (at least in Austin). Like pizza and french fries, even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.

But I need to just say this: I love the queso at Torchy’s.

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How to Put This? Justine’s

I have an unwritten rule about not writing negative things on this site. (I have broken it). The main reason I try to keep it positive is that negative reviews are a bore. We’ve all seen the seven-paragraph rants on Yelp that begin “We arrived at 7:43 pm…” Spare us, people. More importantly, we understand that the restaurant business is tough. And we love restaurants, so why make it harder for them? Seriously though, negative reviews are really boring.

Having said that, here are some photographs from a recent visit to Justines.

 

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The Real Deal: El Naranjo

We finally made it to one of Austin’s most celebrated food trucks: El Naranjo. This is a truck with some serious bona fides. Chef Iliana de la Vega first made a name for herself in Oaxaca with a restaurant of the same name. These days, she lives in Austin and teaches Latin American cuisine at the San Antonio campus of the Culinary Institute of America. Here she is showing epicurious how to make corn tortillas.

The truck is in East Austin on Rainey Street, in front of a house that will soon house de la Vega’s restaurant, which will also be called El Naranjo.

Shrimp tacos were the highlight. Here, de la Vega shows Texas Monthly’s Patricia Sharpe how they’re made. We thought we’d be able to get her mole, which is only served on Wednesdays, but they had temporarily stopped serving it due to light crowds. This only makes us more eager for the full-on restaurant to open.

Taquitos.

More tacos.

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Brunch: La Condesa

Breakfast is not one of the more beautiful meals. But it is my favorite one. We recently enjoyed a brunch at La Condesa with our friend Amanda, who was visiting from London. Amanda introduced me and Eliza. There’s hardly a lovelier way to begin the day.

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CFE Hits the Big Time; Vol. II

I just noticed that Eater NY used one of the photos from our Osteria Morini post.

Here it is again, in all its glory:

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