BigboyDan

Welcome to Austin, you'll fit right in with all the other Cali's that have moved here over the last twenty years. Over-all the restaurant food in the Bay Area is of a higher quality than that of Austin. But, you'll find many of the same raw food stuffs in the local markets. The best restaurant food in Austin is all based on the cheap. Cheap, cheap, cheap. Hope that you like BBQ. There is a vibrant oriental food scene in North Central Austin, tain't Chinatown, but... And, October and November are nice. Wait until next June, 98 degrees, 88 per cent humidity for four straight months. Heh, heh, heh...

Official Central Texas BBQ rankings (where I have eaten, of course): Luling City Market - Luling 4 1/2 Louie Mueller's - Taylor 4 1/2 Rudy Mikeska's - Taylor 4 1/2 Kreuz Market - Lockhart 4 1/2 John Mueller's - Austin (Eastside) 4 1/2 Black's Barbecue - Lockhart 4 1/2 Smitty's - Lockhart 4 1/2 Cooper's Old Time Pit BBQ - Llano 4 1/2 Crosstown BBQ - Elgin 4 House Park Bar-B-Q - Austin (Downtown) 4 Chisholm Trail BBQ - Lockhart 4 Meyer's Elgin Smokehouse - Elgin 4 Southside Market - Elgin 3/12 Ruby's - Austin (North Campus) 3 1/2 Sam's - Austin (Eastside) 3 1/2 Artz Rib House - Austin (Southside) 3 1/2 Gonzales Food Market - Gonzales 3 1/2 Cartwright's BBQ - Cedar Park 3 1/2 The Pit - Austin (Northwest) 3 1/2 Bert's - Austin (West Campus) 3 1/2 Railroad Bar-B-Q - Manchaca 3 1/2 Zimmerhanzel's Bar-B-Que - Smithville 3 1/2 Lewiss BBQ - Austin (Eastside) 3 1/2 Ben's Longbranch BBQ - Austin (Eastside) 3 1/2 Inmans Ranch House Bar-B-Q - Marble Falls 3 1/2 Fuschak's - San Marcos 3 1/2 Willie's BBQ - Austin (Eastside) 3 1/2 City Meat Market - Giddings 3 1/2 Branch Bar-B-Que - Austin (Northside) 3 Laird's BBQ & Catering - Llano 3 Sokkey's - Smithville 3 Chisholm Trail - Spicewood 3 Mann's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que - Austin (Northside) 3 Green Mesquite - Austin (Restaurant Row) 3 Crim's Central Texas Barbeque - Elgin 3 Southwest Market Barbecue - San Marcos 3 Oak Creek - Georgetown 3 Texas Rib Kings - Austin (Northside) 3 Iron Works - Austin (Downtown) 3 Buster's - Austin (Westside) 3 Salt Lick - Driftwood 3 County Line - Austin (Northwest) 3 Jim Bob's - Oak Hill 3 Dusty's - Manor 3 Donn's - Austin (Eastside) 3 Davila's Bar-B-Q - Seguin 3 Ray's BBQ - Austin (Eastside) 3 Benford's BBQ Stand - Hutto 3 Richard Jones - Austin (Southside) 3 Bbq World Headquarters - Austin (Northside) 3 Riley's Bar-B-Q - Blanco 3 Coupland's - Coupland 3 Rj Pitts Texas Road House - Austin (Southwest) 3 Jim Bob's Barbecue - Bee Cave 3 Dan's - Austin (Southside) 3 Frazier's BBQ and Grill - Hutto 3 Hamilton's Pit BBQ - Round Rock 3 Pok E Jos - Austin (Downtown) 3 Skull Creek BBQ - Wimberley 2 1/2 Ted & Garry's Bar-B-Q - Austin (Southside) 2 1/2 Dickey's Barbeque Pit - Round Rock 2 1/2 Vic's - Austin (Southside) 2 1/2 Texas Rib Kings Austin - (Northside) 2 1/2 Opie's Barbecue - Marble Falls 2 1/2 Stubbs' - Austin (Downtown) 2 Bill Miller - Austin (Northside) 2 Round Rock BBQ - Round Rock 2 Rudy's - Austin (Northwest) 2

That's good; especially since the Bill Miller, founder of the chain of the same name, died years-ago.

Sorry, Spelled: Suzis, http://www.suzischinagrill.com/shoalcreek.html

The best quality food choices in SA/Austin will always be those that include a casual atmophere. Excluding the obvious chains, Steak/Seafood, Tex-Mex and BBQ places: In Texas there is only ONE fine dining restaurant of national note: San Antonio's Le Reve. Other dressy-ish quality places are Biga, Silo, Paesano's, Las Canarias, Anaqua Grill, Boudro's, Liberty, and Crumpets. Also, interestingly, San Antonio has a great collection of long-standing traditional restaurants (dozens of local favorites) representing all kinds of cuisines. In Austin, dressy-ish quality places: Café at the Four Seasons Fonda San Miguel Driskill Grill Aquarelle Suzis' China Grill Jeffery's Vespaio Z'Tejas Uchi Starlite Shoreline Grill Hudson's on the Bend Castle Hill Wink ... and, Amy's Ice Cream Caveat: if you come to SA/Austin and do NOT eat at a local Tex-Mex or local BBQ joint you will have missed the best in the world of those cuisines. Edited for typos.

First of all there is a difference between "barbeque" and "real barbeque". If you don't already know the difference, well, your opinion on the subject doesn't really matter until you do - except, though, as to what you simply like. Note: barbeque NOT cooked in a pit is NOT real barbeque. Start from there...

"fennel"? BWAHAHAHA!! "...gives me hope that Central Texas sausage is not entirely hopeless." BWAHAHAHA!! Why don't you try some small-batch hand-made sausage, Kent? The Austin area has plenty of cooks doing it right; store example: Bert's. Yep, Bert's. Say, on Far West, stop in and try it. Ask the cook/server what he thinks of Elgin sausage, then be sure to ask how his sausage is made. Learn. Many others do the same...

Go absolutely - his resume is exceptional - so is his food.

...high-end/"nouvelle" Mexican chefs... If you had any idea how much of a contridiction in terms (and thought process) that term implies, you'd laugh yourself silly. All Mexican food north of Texas is shit. Daniel Aleman Austin

Bitch = a young female dear; biche = a young female deer; vs. chevreuil = a young male, cerf = an older male and daim = a buck, as in young buck. All kidding aside, biche is the nicest in my book. ← a young female dear BWHAHAHAHA!! Love inter-language puns.

The FOX formula is "wisecracks" (The Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle), etc. - but even by BBC standards Chef was fantastic. Those writers did really well with it; the Stilton Cheese episode was almost poetic.

Yes, they lost it in the soup, right? On the night a major food critic was visiting? ← Yes, the kitchen staff was to wear blue-coloerd "angioplasts" but as usual the First Aid kit was empty of them, hence the commis using one that he had in his car glovebox.

On Chef they lost a flesh-colored bandaid. And Rocco probably doesn't think of himself now as anything other than a fictional character.

"You put the Ho in hostess." Jack

It's who you know, not just what you know, in regards to setting up a stage. The only incentive a restaurant has to teach you anything is in return for your free labor. You have to think of your stage ONLY as a continuation of your culinary education. There are hundreds of applicants who wish to stage at a multi-starred French kitchen, so: why should the Sous chef pick you to work in his kitchen? That's the question that you should ask...

I'm reading; always intereseted in detailed foodie memories.

Moby, That is the kitchen from Jamin and he told me that was the kitchen that JR designed 20 sum years ago. They do not have a walk in because everything comes in fresh that day which I found cool. Molto E ← Cooking equipment aligned along a wall is called a battery which is manned by a brigade (with a cook at each "station"), the preferred system for hotels and larger kitchens with many cooks serving many dishes (Pierre Gagnaire stills use a brigade set-up, albeit a smaller one). The cooking suite (used almost exclusively in French kitchens), set in the middle of the kitchen, has always been popular in smaller French restaurants (Alain Chapel, for one) where there are fewer cooks, stations are easily accessed by all personnel. Almost all new French kitchens built now contain the suite.

BWAHAHAHA! You state such without a self-awared hint of irony.

A manditory service charge is not a gratuity. What, am I to get a set a level of service for a $100 tab will be less in quality than that of what I will receive for a tab of $200? Sucker born every minute...

Uhhh, a little too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Part of the greatness of barbeque (especially Central Texas brisket and hot link sausage) is due to all the trial and error that has gone before without knowing what's going on scientifically. Barbeque should remain an art. Every part of the country has its unique BBQ heritage based on so many connected factors due to its particular location, product availability, and cultural personality. Each piece of meat is different, the pit is different each day, the temperatue, the humidity, the mood of the pit master, all different each day. Even the process of eating BBQ, the choice of sides and drink, all different, all a result of decades of natural evolution. Picasso once said that he had no clue as to why he was a great painter, and as to why others thought the same... Dan, from Austin

"Inconsistency" is relative. The biggest problem with many diners who frequent multi-starred restaurants is that they want more than a meal - they want a transcendental experience for their euros. Almost by definition, transcendence comes rarely and is almost always a result of a priori conditions being met (experienced diners), or from something experienced for the first time (it can happen only once). When expectations are not met, dissapointment follows. What cracks me up, more than anything, is that one diner can experience something quite dissimilar to that of ten other diners eating the same meal at the same table... We always argue to the patron, "If it's good enough for the Prime Minister, who ate here three weeks-ago, it's good enough for you..."

So much for ingratiating himself with the fashionistas... Quote Elena: Elena claims his cooking is "simple," at least compared to the molecular gastronomy full of nitrogen-generated emulsions of someone like Spanish chef Ferran Adrian. "I wouldn't even know how to do it," he said. "Cooking should remain a simple act." July 2005 © AFP

Bigboy, your link contradicts your earlier recommendation. ← Yes, I know. I am not the author of the information on either site. Just having some fun with the thread starter as to there ever being a perfect way to cook an omelette. I've cooked thousands of omelettes, there is no perfect way; I'll cook them anyway that you want. Using the method in the first link, your omelette will taste more fried (some like it that way) than scrambled. I suscribe to the process described in the second link. Also, I cook my omelettes in a well-preheated fry pan and at a lower temperature than most, no more than medium heat; no hurry.

Try the eggs cold; doesn't really matter. Odd. Generally, I like thinner, but soft-textured omlettes, Frenchy-style. It's still a habit of many chefs to require new applicants to demonstrate omlette skills, I do (that, and/or perfectly cooked broccoli.)

You're welcome too.