Peached Tortilla - Moving Target, Austin, TX

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.  Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.  Then God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear." And so it happened.  Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it." And so it happened.

Then God helped Eric Silverstein create The Peached Tortilla, and God had to take more than the Sabbath Day off because it was so fucking delicious.  And what a handsome lad Eric is, too.

Whether you believe in God or not, believe in The Peached Tortilla.  Good eats, good employees...  So glad I found this place!

I follow them on Twitter, so I always know where they're gonna be.  I had tweeted to ask the first day I went, beforehand, where they would be for lunch that day.  When they tweeted back to me that they'd be in the Arboretum from noon until 2pm, I was all over it, intending to get there by noon.  Then, around 11:40, I got a tweet telling me, specifically, they were running late, but that they'd be at the Arboretum by 12:45.  That's class, folks.  Had he not tweeted that to me, I would have been there by noon wondering where on God's green earth they were.  Since the owner tweeted a warning to me, I knew not to show up until 12:45.  And the owner even knew who I was, based on my Twitter profile, when I showed up there.

First time I went, I got a bbq brisket tortilla (brisket, jalepeno slaw, and smoky roasted peach bbq sauce), and some Belgian fries with bacon Ranch dipping sauce.  Why is it that *I* can never think of putting bacon and Ranch together?  Seems like a natch, but I'm no culinary prodigy.  Thankfully for people like me, there ARE culinary prodigies who put these things together.

It wasn't the best brisket I've ever eaten, but it was still quite good, and the peach bbq sauce made my mouth beg for more, as did the bacon Ranch.  I couldn't eat all the fries, and that made me depressed for a few minutes.  But I felt better once it occurred to me that I could simply go back again and get more food some other day.


Since then, I've tried the catfish taco, on corn tortilla, and that has become my favorite item.  The crunchy cornmeal catfish... the cabbage, the creamy slaw, the spicy mayo... ohhhh, the foodgasm!  THE FOODGASM!  I'm going back again today for more, I tell you!

I now stalk Peached Tortilla.  When they're at the Arboretum, I'm there.  When they're at the Domain, I'm there.  They should come by my house, as I'm usually there, too.  I buy a brisket taco, a catfish taco, and a drink, and I slink away to hide and eat, carefully watching their activities, like a vice cop stalking a man propositioning a prostitute.

Okay, no, I don't stalk Peached Tortilla.  I've actually only been several times.  (Heh, yeah, ONLY several!)  But I plan to go back several MORE times to try a cornucopia of items.  I love the word "cornucopia".  I have a cornucopia of positive emotions when I try out Peached Tortilla's food.  And they always have a cornucopia of customers at their trailer.  And if I eat there often enough, I suspect I'll end up with a cornucopia of weight.

***********************************UPDATE****************************************

(Since I tried the banh mi slider on 7/6, I must write a quick update):

Eric Silverstein has written a love story, and it's called The Peached Tortilla. The main players of interest in this story are: 

 

Mr. Catfish Taco. He's a bit fishy, but don't let that stop you from getting to know him. 

 

Next, we have Sister Brisket Taco. She's corny, and a bit of a meat-head, but she's quite saucy for a nun. 

 

Finally, we have Miss Banh Mi Slider. She'll slide into your life and make you forget about all your problems. She may be a bit of a porker, but she's still sexy, and her kisses are quite delicious.

 

Pick up this love story and find out how these characters get along in their peachy world.  You won't be able to put it down.

Willie's Bar-B-Que and Burgers - 4505 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Austin, TX 78721

Boudin

Spicy brisket

So I ventured here with a gaggle of Google Places users a couple of weeks ago to get the lay of the land, and the food here was so good that I wanted to lay down and stay a while, as bad as my grammar just was.

The brisket had the most wonderful, spicy dry rub on it, but the meat was unfortunately a bit too fatty for my taste.  I mean, do you like chomping on chewiness??  I sure don't.  Though, I did have chewier, fattier brisket that day at other places, to be fair.  I suppose it's difficult to trim away every single solitary piece of naturally-occurring fat.  Despite the fat, I enjoyed what I chewed.

More importantly and deliciously about Willie's, though, is the boudin.  Boudin is white sausage with cajun spices and pork rice dressing.  I admit, I'm not much of a sausage fan, but the spices and pork rice dressing make this dish damn near as delicious as chocolate, in my book.  It was as spicy as all get out, and the texture of moist rice dressing in soft, warm sausage was a god-send.  I kept hoping the other people in my party would hate the boudin so that I could hog it all to myself.  But they didn't.  So then I started devising in my mind various covert missions to sneak as much boudin onto my plate as possible.  This was made significantly easier by the fact that I was sitting nearest the boudin platter, and that none of my friends seemed to mind that I wanted to stuff my face with the cajun stuffing.

So, will I go back to Willie's for more cajun boudin?  Uhhhh... is Mardi Gras a good excuse to get drunk??

Jersey Mike's Subs - 10001 Research Blvd, Austin, TX 78759

I admit it, the first time I went here a few years ago, I hated my sammich. The bread was waaaaay too soft, and the ingredients tasted off.

Well, the bread was still a bit too soft for my taste today, but the rest of the sammich sent my taste buds into orbit. That sammich really was outta this world. I got the club supreme, with mayo and lettuce. Almost got oil and vinegar on it, but decided against it at the last moment. But I now see that oil and vinegar would taste excellent on this sammy. Next time.  I still think Potbelly has the best subs in town, but Jersey Mike's will get some occasional biz from me.

It's a little expensive, though. A regular sammich with a regular drink cost me over $8.  Hey, Mike, your sammiches aren't THAT great.  At those prices, you'd have me thinking there's gold in the mayo.  So, the sammiches may be outta orbit, but so are the prices.

http://www.jerseymikes.com

G'Raj Mahal - 91 Red River, Austin, TX 78701

Finally got around to trying this place, and I've gotta say, G'Raj and Bombay Bistro are battling it out on my taste buds for bestest Indian food in town. The saag paneer is simply delicious. Great, creamy cubed cheese, fantastically tasty and healthy spinach, and even a nice spicy kick. Great with their rice and garlic naan. I absolutely fell in love with the food.  To the point that I would almost be willing to buy a house on Rainey St and deal with the constant influx of people, just so I could be close enough to get my fix on a regular basis.  

My taste buds can't decide between Bombay Bistro and G'Raj Mahal.  I think I need to stage a food war on my tongue.  I need to figure out some way to get food from both places (and ensure both stay hot enough in the meantime).  That'll be hard, considering how far away from each other they are.  But if I manage to pull it off, I can see how it would go:

Bombay Bistro comes out of the corner with a delicious belt to the left taste buds.  G'Raj Mahal, a south paw, fights back with a  tasty punch to the tongue...

My only complaint about G'Raj Mahal is the price. $11 I paid for maybe a cup/cup-and-a-half of the saag paneer. It's Indian food, not gold. Sheesh!

http://www.grajmahalaustin.com/

Crow's Burger Shop - 613 Waco Rd, Belton, TX, 76513

When you live in Belton, you have no idea what a good burger tastes like.  You probably haven't been to Austin and experienced burgers like Hut's, Fran's, Casino el Camino, or Nau's Enfield.  Though you haven't tried a decent burger, your nose is still high in the air as you negatively compare a McDonald's burger to a Crow's burger. 

My friend, Quani, and I were in Belton to see ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and we found several extremely positive Yelp reviews about Crow's, including two from personal friends of ours.  Either some of my friends have really bad taste in burgers, or the worst cook in the history of man was on duty that day.

Quani and I each got a cheeseburger and french fries, and Quani got a chocolate shake.  I suspect she thought the shake was the best part of her meal.  We're both food reviewers, and neither of us were happy with our food.

Service was pretty fantastic.  You order at the counter of this teeny shack, pay (they amazingly accept credit cards), and wait for your bag.  They even have a makeshift drive-thru.  They had no problem taking the tomato and mustard off my burger or adding mayo.  So we got our bags and ventured to one of about five shaded picnic tables in the muddy grass.
 
The main problem is the meat patty.  After all, the meat patty makes your burger.  If you've got poor-quality, badly-cooked meat on a bun, the bun and toppings won't act as much of a saving grace.  In Crow's case, the meat patty was paper thin.  Like, Wendy's thin.  Continuing with the paper theme, I'll say that the burger was so overcooked that we each could've gotten paper cuts on the edges of the incredibly thin meat patties (per Quani).  Once I tore off the incinerated pieces, the burger was just barely decent-tasting.  Very plain, and dry as fuck.  I like a little juiciness in my burger.  A little blood cascading down my wrists is even better, but if a place is unwilling to cook it medium rare, I'll take the juiciness.  The fries were fat fuckers with no skin, no crunch, little grease, and too little salt.  I'm not much of a fry person, but I prefer my fries to be thinner, greasier and crunchier.

Frankly, McDonald's is nearly on par with this place.  Actually, I would prefer McDonald's if I ever stop in Belton for a burger again.

360 Uno - 3801 N Capital of Texas Highway, Austin, TX 78746

So my friend and I decided to try this place out for brunch during Austin Restaurant Week.  Got the Frittata Prosciutto e Formaggi, which is a fluffy omelette with loads of mozzarella cheese mixed in, with prosciutto, atop a pizza crust.  When I brought the first slice to my face, my eyes bugged out and I nearly retched from the smell.  Saying it was awful would be putting it lightly.  It was deadly, as in you'd rather die than smell this again.  To give you some idea, it smelled like old, used cat litter.  Pulling my bravery out of storage, I took a careful bite... and I was wowed.  The taste was delectable.  The omelette was so incredibly fluffy, and the amount of creamy cheese in there made me glad I didn't give cheese up for Lent.  The prosciutto was decent, but I tired of it quickly, so I scraped a lot of it off.


Brunch also came with dessert and one of three mimosa drinks.  I got one called a Puccini, which is prosecco and OJ.  I should have remembered I'm not a prosecco fan, but I didn't.  I'll admit, the name spoke to me more than the ingredients did.  I wasn't happy with the drink, but I suffered through it.


Dessert was profiteroles, and they were the epitome of yumminess.  Delicious cream inside a pastry, covered with ooey-gooey chocolate.  Num.  Hit me again, waitress!  My pancreas hated me for eating that, but I didn't care.  Shut up, pancreas.


I looked over their gelato offerings and was disappointed.  Only six flavors they offer, and they're pretty standard ones: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, orange, peanut butter, and coffee.  Thankfully, other places in town offer more gelato flavors.