Austin Restaurants – Page 2

Hopdoddy Review: Love at First Sting Burger

I have been going to Hopdoddy a lot lately because I love their vegan options and cocktails. That’s right, I go to a burger joint for their kale salad. IT HAS WATERMELON AND AVOCADO ON IT. Now the Impossible Burger, which is amazing, has given me just that much more reason to go.

We went a few weeks ago to try out their special burger, the Love at First Sting burger (click through for a picture). It’s so spicy, they require signing a waiver if you order it. Or, they say they do anyway. We did not sign a waiver. It comes with so many peppers, including two preparations of ghost peppers, that our server got tired listing all of them and just said, “it has a lot of stuff–too much.” Their specials are $5 during Happy Hour (yes, you heard me correctly), so we thought ‘why not?’.

In truth, I stuck with my kale, avocado, and watermelon salad. Jimmy was the only one brave enough to actually try the Love at First Sting burger. They give you a free mini milkshake with it to cool you off. He started off in good spirits.

Smiling man holding a tiny milkshake

It was an easy start.

Man eating a hamburger

Then things got serious. Sweat beads began to form.

Man choking on hamburger

Finishing with the milkshake.

Sweaty man drinking a tiny milkshake

Final thoughts? Despite his silly faces, it wasn’t actually that hot! It’s not as hot as hot chicken, for instance. Most of the heat came from the caramelized pepper topping, so if you got a big bite of that, it was spicy. Otherwise, it was just a mildly spicy burger, quite the let down for challenge seekers. Jimmy thought his milkshake was phenomenal though, and overall enjoyed his meal. I, as always, enjoyed my salad.

Busy Sisters Cakes in a Cup

I’ve been helping my friend beta taste a line of single-serving microwave cakes that she is making with her sister under the name Busy Sisters. Up until now, my favorite was the lemon, but she surprised me yesterday with a cookie and cream version that she made just for me. This concept is perfect for me because I will stay up late watching shows like Great British Bake Off and start to think that if I don’t immediately put a pastry in my mouth I will die. This has led to 11 p.m. trips to see where in Austin one can find nighttime tiramisu. The answer is “nowhere”. This lets me satisfy my pastry needs in under 2 minutes. I can’t wait until they start selling them commercially.

Farewell to Don Japanese food truck

I was planning on writing a review this week of my favorite food truck, Don Japanese. Sadly, last Wednesday I learned that they were permanently closing down by Friday. They didn’t give details as to why but their cryptic Facebook posts suggest that it’s because they are planning on opening a brick and mortar.

At first glance, they certainly seem successful enough to do it. Let’s take a look at the line:

That was three weeks ago. On their last week as a food truck, the line wrapped around the entire truck lot. This is a great example of what we call the Franklin Question: does it have a line because it’s popular, or is it popular because it has a line? The answer to that question could determine the future of their restaurant, when they no longer have this level of hype to sustain them.

The food truck had a lot of advantages. It was cheap–you could get a full meal for $5 and upgrading it with extras like avocado or tempura barely bumped up the price. The location was great for food at that price point. Notice all the booksacks in the line. Probably 95% of the customers are students. Will their physical location be close enough to west campus to take advantage of their existing fan base?

Other elements made it a perfect fit for West Campus. There’s a friendly and hot server, a quirky social media presence, and the opportunity for students to practice Japanese. On any given day, you can find several customers practicing their kanji on phone apps during the long wait, then ordering politely in Japanese once they get up to the window. This surely can’t be sustained in a brick and mortar where the owners can no longer wait on each customer. Alas, I will miss how they always knew what I wanted even if I barely visited once a week. I will also miss having my order tracked by playing cards–hopefully they can keep that in their new incarnation.

I’m only now getting to the most important part of it all–the food. A don bowl is rice with some protein and sauce on top, and who doesn’t like that combination? It appeals to everyone. To me, though, fried tofu, rice, and avocado is my Plationic ideal of a meal. I would eat there every day if it weren’t for the line. If I wanted to switch things up–but why would I?!–I could add an onsen egg, a korokke, or spicy sauce. I could take any friend there and know they would find something they like. Where in West Campus will I get my fried tofu and rice fix now (… well, besides Coco’s!)?

I’m excited to see what the Don guys achieve once “the phoenix rises from the ashes.”

Citizen Eatery

A vegetarian, semi-paleo restaurant doesn’t seem like the place to stop by for a nightcap, but Brentwood is a cocktail desert so we decided to try it out. They have a full but limited bar—curated would be a better term. One smokey Mezcal. No St. Germain but they do carry house-made elderflower liqueur. It’s a place where you must put your trust in the hands of the bartender.

Talking to the bartender at a place where no one is expected to sit at the bar is a tricky proposition. Will he welcome the companionship, or does he have this job precisely because it allows him to mix drinks in peace? In this case, it seemed to be the former. He was a pleasant guy to spend the evening with, giving us the history of various spirits, showing off his homemade habanero shrub, and performing magic tricks.

[aux_quote type=”pullquote-normal” text_align=”left” extra_classes=””]”What kind of wizardry is this!?” my friend asked.[/aux_quote]

[aux_quote type=”pullquote-normal” text_align=”left” extra_classes=””]”Dark wizardry,” he said. [/aux_quote]

It was a better time than I would have ever expected from a place that floats carrots, fat as a baby’s leg, in jars of water and calls it ‘decor’.

The drinks erred on the side of being too floral or sweet—maple syrup was a common ingredient—but impolitic amounts of whiskey made it worthwhile. The bartender has such a way with whiskey that his bestseller is The Imposter, which is not so much a drink as a fortune telling session that ends in you getting pleasantly buzzed. On the menu it is described as the “mystery whiskey concoction of the day”, but each is handcrafted for the drinker after a short quiz on personal tastes. It’s the kind of thing keeping their short cocktail menu from growing stale.

Farewell Citizen Eatery, we shall see you again.