Andy Sams Photography

Andy recently tip-toed to the edge of the photography industry. With a deep bend of his knees, he leapt up, curled his legs to his chest, wrapped his arms around them, and did a canonball into the deep end of the photography world. He started his own company- Andy Sams Photography! It's all the work that he (and I) dreamed it would be. But it's paying off. All this is an attempt at explaining the slow tide of posts on Austin by the Horns...as I'm now the blogger-in-chief of the Andy Sams Photography web log, I spend a lot more time on that. It does have the potential to help pay the bills, so I had to prioritize. We're also spending ample time keeping up the photography website and hope you'll cruise on over and check it out: www.andysams.com.

Thumbs up - Austin Bbgo...Thumbs down - Korea Garden

This post is about something lovely, but it must begin with a diss. Skip Korea Garden. They are dirty, stinkin’ liars who have to rely on past tales of the ‘sushi train’ to lure diners. after hearing that the train had been out of order, I called to verify that we’d be able to indulge in the silliest of sushi services. was told “yes, come on down, yes, it’s open on weeknights, yes, it’ll be going till 10pm but we are open now so come on over…” only to arrive and see the conveyor belt is now a shelf for knick knacks and hear the only woman working there deny that she’d been the one who misinformed me on the telephone. it’s not like we live up north, we drove 20+ minutes for that sushi experience. just on principle, we ended up eating somewhere else.
*rant over*

after debating on trying somewhere new, we settled for Austin Bbgo, the yummy place with the whacked out name (did they misread BBQ and didn't realize it until after their massive sign was made? is it an indecipherable effort to bolster their take-out business?). ambiance is non-existent in the strip mall spot, but it’s BYOB and consistently turns out some of the best Korean food I’ve had. they recently got a new menu (which has better English explanations) and new signage.

we ordered and quickly gobbled up some mandu dumplings while deciding on the max amount of food we could possibly hold. we selected 2 dishes, knowing the banchan would be plentiful.


on this night the little dishes were piled with kimchi, cucumber kimchi, spicy fish cake strips, jellyfish salad and mild egg custard (the only plate we didn’t lick clean. it was a texture thing for me, andy was down though.) our bibimbap was a plentiful mix of fluffy starch and crunchy veggies, of tame fried egg and spicy red pepper sauce. Textbook and delicious.

the kimchi pajeon was loaded with the fermented cabbage, pork chunks and green onions. it was thick enough to retain it’s spongy center while crisping up oh-so-nicely on the outside. I was really excited the next day to see that it re-heated better than I’d expected.

Austin Bbgo is not a first date kinda spot…more like an 'I know you’re down for a great food adventure even if there’s nothing to look at but each other’ kinda place. the people are friendly enough. but definitely go for the food.

6808 North Lamar Blvd # B-110

Straight from the state of Michoacán?

La Michoacana Meat Market is the largest independently owned, Hispanic grocery store in the US. Although it was started in Houston in 1986, the stores generously dot the city of Austin. My interest was first piqued because I noticed no matter what time of the day or night I passed one, it seemed to be flanked by tons of loiters.

On a Sunday exploration, between thrift store shopping and wildflower hunting, we decided to stop in for some fuel. We landed at one of the smaller locations, near Manchaca and Stassney, that was adequately crowded considering its square footage. After passing the bling corner where they ‘compramos oro’, we headed straight for the deli counter off to one side. All the signs and menus are written in that type of Spanish that uses reflectives and odd verb endings and obviously isn’t intended for college-level gringos. After trying to order at the counter, being waved off to the checkout line, finding the correct lane in which you could buy deli foods and returning to the ready-made food counter, we got a little nervous, fearing we wouldn’t be able to communicate what kind of carne we wanted; it appeared they didn’t have time to play language games. As I tentatively tried to request specific fillings, one cook took pity on us and called us to the end of the counter where we were able to talk meat.

For a whopping $5.50 we ended up with enough food to easily feed us both a hearty, might have to delay your actual dinner sort of snack.



The barbacoa gordita was stacked and sauced nicely. the tortilla halves were complementary bookends; the top thin and fried crisp, the bottom thicker with a bit of toothiness and grain to it. The barbacoa was plentiful, tender and not too fatty but lacked any salty highlights. the crema and key lime juice did their part to wet the mound of goodness. it was the kind of sandwich that leaves a small side salad on your plate to be devoured as a second course.

The carnitas taco was so excellent that we had eaten it all before realizing that neither of us had photographed it. The meat was flavorful and juicy, and accented well by green and red peppers that had been simmered along with the pork. With its sprinkling of onions and cilantro, it stole the show.

The Mexican drinks left something to be desired. Be sure to choose the ones that say ‘natural flavors’ to avoid that battery acid after taste.

La Michoacana also provided after lunch entertainment; weaving through the aisles we found tons of reasonably priced and well organized goodies. Although, we would go to a larger location next time for more real estate to explore. The meat counter revealed all sorts of cuts and bits that aren’t normally displayed in grocery stores. It’s stacked in lexan containers behind glass. In an attempt to order some loose chorizo I requested a half hour of book, but eventually got around to a decipherable medio libro.

The whole place is quite an adventure and the delicious food was a fitting reward for navigating some confusing protocol.


Ps. We found the wildflowers post-meal.
Pps. We didn't demolish the entire field by traipsing through it.

Japanese cause for celebration

Deep nostalgia about my time spent living in Japan creeps up often, but never more so than during early spring. It reminds me of Hanami, the cherry blossom festivals, and the days we spent camped out in the park admiring the delicate pink and white blossoms and partying with townspeople. It’s a magical sight, in March and April (depending on the year’s weather), when all the trees are in full bloom. Takada Park was minutes from my apartment and was home to an aged castle and one of the largest cherry blossom gatherings in the region. The sky would be awash in floating and fluttering petals and the land would turn to a sea of tarps topped with picnics, coolers of beer and revelers. For the entirety of the blooming spell, people would stop by the park on the way to work and stake out a coveted spot. You could leave a blanket and supplies unattended all day, no worries. After work, everyone would head straight to the park, party all night with any and everyone, straggle home late, and do it all again the next day.

In honor of the season, Andy and I decided to hit up the most izakaya like restaurant we know of in town, Ryu. We were excited about the prospect of Japanese bar food instead of the more usual fare of sushi and noodles that prevail in most towns. The menu nor the food disappointed.

We started on fresh palettes with a sampling of nigiri- hamachi, hotate, unagi, maguro that was all tender and resting atop tasty rice (bad rice is a show stopper for me…).

Aji tataki was the star of the evening. While tataki is sometimes construed as seared, it actually comes from the Japanese word tataku meaning to beat or hit. It refers to the chopping of the fish. This Aji was top-notch in taste and presentation. So much so, it warranted an iphone shot.

Small piles were positioned around the plate, each a different preparation. There were slices to be eaten as sashimi, chopped bits to be wrapped in accompanying shiso leaves and a dice mixed with ginger, scallions and sesame oil that was out of this world. Once finished, our waitress took the skewered carcass back to the kitchen, had it deep fried and chopped into sections. We ate the entire crispy, salty skeleton minus one eyeball and a tiny bit of head. Don’t grimace ‘till you’ve tried it.

We also sampled the seafood and vegetable tempura. The batter was spot on, but the pumpkin and sweet potato were sliced too thick and didn’t soften up adequately during fry time.

The nasu no shogayaki was perfectly reminiscent of the ginger-sauced sautéed eggplant we ate weekly in Japan.

Yakitori was a better-than-what-I’m-used-to representation of authentic Japanese chicken on a stick. But the cuts and pieces aren’t for the weak at heart; skinless, all-white breast meat was a minor player on the skewer.

I was excited by the willingness of our Japanese waitress to suffer patiently through my failing Japanese. She also took time to tell us about a recent trip to Japan that unfortunately had occurred a week before the cherry blossoms began to bloom.

I highly recommend checking out Ryu (which means dragon in Japanese) for the quality of the food and experience. One thing that was decidedly un-authentic is their lack of a beer and wine license. It’s BYOB until then or, if you luck out like we did, the bartender from a spot next door will stroll through with a few 6-packs tucked under her arm and hook you up, hoping that you’ll visit her for your ni-jikai (that’s Japanese for after party).

Ryu of Japan.11101 Burnet Road.(512) 973-9498

Tam Deli's lovely banh mi

andy and I spent an afternoon on the north end of Austin exploring. I’d heard tell of Tam Deli and darn near insisted we seek it out. That became much more of a hard sell after iphone lead us astray and we ended up on a dead-end, pot-hole ridden street surrounded by dilapidated trailers and stray dogs. luckily we doubled back and spotted it tucked away in a non-descript strip mall.

upon entering, we already knew what we were having pretty much. it was a nice surprise to see a rather lengthy menu of options that proved this wasn’t just a sandwich shop but more of an earnest Vietnamese café. we split 2 banh mi sammies, the lemongrass beef and the bbq pork, and couldn’t resist trying the shrimp and yam fritters.

the sandwiches were a bit smaller than I’m used, barely pushing 8 inches. but they definitely brought the goods. veggies did their crunchy, tangy trick…bread was crusty and chewy.



the juice and marinade from the lemongrass beef seeped into the bread and added a nice, moist complement to the asian mayo. hands down the bbq pork was the more perfect sandwich, which speaks to the quality of the meat considering all other ingredients were held constant. the texture was firm but not tough, the pieces were well chopped, in strips not logs, and the flavor was just charred enough.


although the fritters were unlike my great-grandma‘s hoe cakes and cornbread fritters in composition, I wasn’t disappointed. These non-pancakes were expertly fried; the crunchy nests of batter dotted with tiny chunks of yam and miniature shell-on shrimp.


the cheap and cheerful meal makes me lament it’s a bit of a haul to Tam Deli. but if that banh mi recipe from Bon Appetit that I stumbled upon tastes as awesome as it sounds, I won’t even have to leave the house for one…

Love Me a Banh Mi

been craving one of these vietnamese sandwiches for a while now. the urge was compunded by an article i read in the new york times dining & wine section which reviewed the best spots for these fresh and filling treats. unfortunately they were all in manhattan. luckily, austin has a contingency of its own banh mi vendors. i've heard great things about tam's deli, but it's a little ways north and never seems to be inside the acceptable radius for scoring food when i get a hankering. after a little internet research, i uncovered Lulu B's on the corner of s. lamar and oltorf. i would have missed this little white trailer nestled under some trees next to office depot had i not been scouting for it.
the menu is simple; sandwich or noodle bowl. the choices of meat are straightforward; pork or chicken that's grilled, bbq'ed or cooked with lemongrass. i ordered the chinese bbq pork sandwich and hunkered down by a tree, which also holds the menu, trying to escape the wind. After less than 5 minutes and $5 i was on my way.


this sandwich was really, really good. perfectly sauced and grilled pork, lightly charred with just enough crunchy, carmelized bits. not too fatty. the condiments were yum; pickled carrots, handful of cilantro, and cucumber sticks that were seeded and peeled with care. the footlong french-inspired bread was crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, with a swipe of good asian mayo (kewpie?). the sandwich was light on the daikon, a personal favorite, but heavy on flavor. i'll definitely be back for another of these treats that managed to tickle all my sweet, salty, sour and spicy taste buds.

good thing i studied CPR...

Oh no…this is horrible…
We need help…
Help….
It’s not looking good.
What’s the little guy’s name?
Austinbythehorns.
Austin…can you hear me?
(Quiet. Waiting)
No pulse.
I need a defib – stat.
Everybody stand back.
In 4, 3, 2, 1…
Thwump.
Checking for pulse.
Thwump.
I’ve got something…
It’s holding steady.
Dunt dun…dunt dun…dunt dun…
Not quite the end of the road for austinbythehorns yet…

Don't tell the police

We've finally gotten around to getting legal...mostly. Our snazzy Texas plates on our old and so-nearly-paid-off and new and sporty (respectively) cars...

how beautiful...

are the sunsets viewed from our over-sized living room window?

Piquant Ginger & Spice

andy and i took a little work trip over to Marble Falls, TX. truth be told, he was on the job and i was lounging and reading by the lake that robbed this little town of its namesake. when the Colorado River was dammed in 1951, the water level rose to cover the shelves of limestone that formed the water falls. also noteworthy is the fact that all the pink granite used to build the Texas Capitol building was mined from this city.after asking some locals for recommendations, we debated about which of the 2 ‘real’ restaurants we wanted to try. we chose well.


ginger & spice is a fairly new addition
to the town which is about 40 miles northeast of Austin. upon entering we immediately recognized its authenticity echoed in the staccato thai language being traded behind the long wooden bar that ran the length of one wall. our cute and somewhat awkward server greeted us with a mixture of trepidation and eagerness. after discerning that he was a reliable source (he’d moved to Marble Falls from Bangkok several months earlier to work at his family’s restaurant) and questioning him about several menu items, we settled on masaman curry and ginger beef.


the masaman was a thick stew of potatoes, peanuts and carrots in a coconut and curry spice blend broth. really tasty even though it lacked the layers of flavor that can elevate rich curries to a truly fabulous level.

the vegetables were as perfectly crisp as the meat was tender in the ginger beef. slivers of aromatic ginger were plentiful and could’ve run the risk of overpowering the thin gravy had we not been lovers of the tangy tuber.

our server’s uncle approached the table and plucked andy’s camera up explaining that he’s a photo-graffer. they talked about picture taking as i discussed travel with our waiter. the employees were constantly berating and joking with each other in a good natured, broken English kind of way and warmly invited us to join in the fun by explaining cultural tidbits and inside jokes.

andy snapped these shots as we had an after-dinner beer overlooking the water at river city grill. a nice view but none of the charm of the Thai restaurant.

we had a really great experience at ginger & spice. what the food was lacking in depth was more than compensated for by the warm personalities of the family who own the place. if you’re ever in Marble Falls, i recommend you stop in.

Magnolia's Cafe - Don't believe the hype

magnolia’s café was an utter disappointment. after it was profiled on the food network’s ’diners, drive-ins and dives’ and discovering that it was just a couple blocks down the road from our place, we decided to try brunch there. this was actually our second trip and we were hoping for an improvement over the rushed lunch we’d eaten there back in November on our scouting mission. after a bit of a wait (cannot believe people line up for this place), we were seated but given no menus or greeting until we flagged someone down, which was after a neighboring table that had been seated minutes after us already had drinks. we noticed that all the cute, sparkly cupcake paintings that hung on the wall months before were m.i.a. and unfortunately replaced by nothing. right away we were confronted with another table’s conversation about cold food that needed to be returned to the kitchen. we ordered water, which came with limes instead of lemons, that we would have rationed had we known it would be the only glass our server would deliver. the menu consists of standard sandwiches, lunch specials like meatloaf and fish, and some unique dishes like the magna cristo (a club sandwich on battered French toast style bread) and the mag mud nachos (a heap of avocado, queso, chips and beans). that table that had to send back cold food…yep, there they went again…eventually they just ordered something totally different.

i should have known better than to try my first migas (eggs scrambled with tomato, onion, pepper, cheddar, jack and tortilla chips) here. i can’t imagine how rough they would’ve been had i not paid the extra 25cents for a serrano and garlic LOVE butter upgrade. the veggies were really firm and crunchy, the eggs were watery, the cheese wasn’t melted and the whole thing was bland. it’s supposed to be served with tortillas, which took asking and waiting and asking and waiting to actually get my hands on.

same went for andy’s hot sauce, although he scored a little better on his meal. he had the house special omelet with home fries and an English muffin. the omelet was average but the home fries were crunchy and salty.

when i finally got up to corner our server and ask for the check, i refilled our drinks. the server realized how terrible the whole experience was, or maybe he was just lobbying for a decent tip which would not have been commensurate with the service, but he gave us a $5 ‘good patron‘ discount. still wasn’t enough to make up for the whole lousy experience. yeah, magnolia’s café, we’re sorry you’re open too.

toobin'

birthdays rule. especially when they involve 18-wheeler tire inner-tubes, lonestar tallboys and 6 hrs in the wilderness like this...

this adventure down the guadalupe (don't you dare mis-speak...it's pronounced guad-a-loop) was recorded on an old, waterproof disposable camera. so old that it actually accompanied ben and i on our rafting trip in costa rica. yikes...that was november of '07. no wonder the pics look ancient.

like water into wine…

i do love to cook but baking has never really taken up residence on my radar. don’t get me wrong, i’m quite fond of quiches and casseroles - i’m talking more about the sweet treats kinda baking, with sugar and cocoa, that you are required to consume with either coffee or milk to temper their sucrose content that i haven‘t ever gotten in to. but a couple of times recently i’ve put flour and sugar in pan and marveled at the miraculous results. it really is a mind-blowing event in culinary chemistry if you think about it. magic. like sawing an audience member in half…no, more like putting a dog into a box and pulling out a scantily clad woman. since i don’t understand the exact chemical reactions yet, i’m left in awe when these goods turn out puffy and delicious like they‘re supposed to. we recently had fresh, organic blueberries from the farmers’ market and andy had a hankering for muffins. unfortunately we didn’t have all of the ingredients called for in the recipe i‘d found, so i winged it. here’s how it happened…

preheat oven to 375°

grease the muffin pan

in a bowl, mix 1/3 c. sugar, 2 c. flour, ½ tsp. kosher salt, ½ tsp. baking soda and 1 tsp. baking powder

in a separate bowl, beat together 1 c. sour cream, 1 egg, 1 tbs. oil, 2 tbs. milk and 1 tsp. vanilla. make a divot in center of the flour mixture and pour the liquid mix into it

carefully fold it together, taking caution not to over mix, as i read that makes batter tough. better to be lumpy than tough.

then fold in blueberries

pour into muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes or until the ole’ clean toothpick trick works.

presto! bravo! if i do say so myself…

oh no... here goes our poor lil' blog... limpin' along...

andy's been so busy with work, which is a great thing. and now i've got a new job with these people. if you divide and multiply all that it equals less time for the blog. there's stuff in the pipe though... any minute now...

When in Texas, do as the Texans do and eat BBQ

austin restaurants seem to love austin food bloggers. so much so, they occasionally invite them to dinner. it’s really awesome that we’ve now become them. that's how andy, logan, rachel and i ended up at the county line, a bbq joint with locations in texas, oklahoma and new mexico.


honestly, after our first visit with andy's family during our texas scouting mission, we probably wouldn't have given it another try. on that trip i'd opted out of the all-you-can-eat madness, choosing a couple of meats, a salad and macaroni and cheese without being impressed. after inquiring about the mac and cheese, i was encouraged by the waitress to try their 'homemade' version. it was a dish of runny cheese sauce and noodles more akin to the stuff out of the box. the brisket and ribs were passable, the salad was fresh and the bread was springy and good. not exactly high marks in the categories that bbq restaurants typically aim for.

when the nice folks at the county line invited us back, we went hoping for the best, and hoping this talk about a tub full of shiner bock was true. the set-up was awesome. we were hosted at the county line location ‘on the lake’. looked more like a river to me…the narrow body of water lined the courtyard that was dotted with tables.

they made our menu options easy by laying out a spread. there were turkey and pork sandwiches, potato salad, pulled pork enchilada-thingys, baked beans and pickles from which to make a plate.

the sandwiches were dry and sent me looking for the bbq sauce that I had surely missed on the buffet.

the salad was a tasty take on the standard recipe and the beans were firm and pretty good. the pulled pork wrapped in tortillas, topped with all the tex-mex fixins, drizzled with a house-made spicy tomato and jalapeno sauce were the stars. I’m not even sure if these are a regular menu item; they definitely should be.

andy is a huge vanilla ice cream fan (how funny and plain jane huh? cute.) and said this fresh made version was rather icy and unmemorable.

the rumors had been true, ice cold texas-brewed shiner bock made an appearance along with wines produced locally by Fall Creek Vineyards which had a really nice representative on hand and a cute tag line, “where the sky fell in love with the earth and gave birth to wine.”

The drinks proved to be a great accompaniment to the view and we loitered and lingered on into the evening.

our soco neighborhood rocks

andy and i had an awesome date in our neighborhood the other night. started out at doc's motorworks, a slightly ramshackle eatery with some of the best outdoor seating, 20 or 30 tables snuggled together on a patio right on s. congress avenue. perfect people watching. monday night- we were kinda in luck...it was 2 for 1 burgers, but they weren't all that stellar. the patio more than made up for it. then we hit the continental club- a fabulously retro, old school country music, rockabilly, punk-y, red velvet curtains and miller high life having bar right up the street. it was crazy; i couldn't quit smiling. there were 70-year-old jimmy buffet look-a-likes and 20-yr-old hipster tattoed chicks doing the texas two step together. the dance floor was full all night to the sounds of dale watson on stage. he's a crazy ole country singer with a silver pompadour, and a voice that's a cross between merle haggard and johnny cash, who employs a stellar guitar player in his band. ah, sweet austin...

when life gives you limes...

we're water with lemon kinda people. thus we've noticed something rather interesting- there don't appear to be any cut up lemons in this whole town. we figure that's why every time we order, our server brings us water with lime and doesn't even bat his or her eye. it never occured to me that the only reason restaurants in south carolina have tubs of lemons is because of the copious amounts of sweet tea sold. here, where the hands-down winner of the drink popularity contest appears to be margaritas, they don't need no stinkin' lemons apparently.

we've come a long way baby...

one, of the 22 hours' worth, of moments that we spent on the road in that big ole truck...

Our place is getting there too. We're almost ready to start entertaining, don't you think?

insert hotdog weiner pun here

One of the first foodie events we accompanied boots in the oven to was this hotdog tasting party hosted by the friendliest local food writer, Addie Broyles. She was researching for an article she planned to write in Austin's newspaper. Simple in theory- a blind taste-test of 15 hotdogs.

Because we aren’t that Kobayashi kid of Nathan’s eating-competition fame, we chose to try niblets in round 1.

We jotted lots of greasy notes. Then came the vote, recorded on a midget chalkboard, where we unanimously separated the pleasantly oily, plump, crisp, flavorful weiners from the mealy, oddly uniform, limp dogs.

After narrowing it down, we threw the finalists back on the grill (along with the Hebrew National which lost on the flavor vote but was resurrected by Jewish lobbyists) and this time we tasted them dressed on a bun.

While the bread definitely toned down some of the saltiness and overpowering flavors in the various dogs, I still preferred the same hotdog from round 1…surprisingly, Andy and I were in agreement…even more surprising was the brand we chose-the HEB grocery store’s Texas Heritage Original Beef. The group of food bloggers voted again. Turned out that our taste buds weren’t too intoxicated by Tecate to pick the ‘weiner’ (c’mon, had to…).

Our fave tied for the overall number one with Nathan’s Famous Skinless Beef. No wonder that Kobayashi kid can eat so many…


Check out the professional’s recollection of the event in this newspaper story complete with cute pics: http://www.austin360.com/food_drink/content/food_drink/stories/2009/05/0520hotdogs.html