Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Salvador's has honest Mexican food with their own special tastes

Steph and I ate at Salvador's, in Broken Arrow, OK, on a late Friday afternoon.  We were greeted with a smile and took a table in the bar area.  Just a few minutes later the waiter brought our menus and took our drink order.  The menu had your standard Mexican and TexMex offerings but I had the impression it was geared more towards Mexican flavors.

I picked the combination platter which is four of a list of tacos, enchiladas, tamales, etc. with rice and beans.  Two beef tacos and two cheese enchiladas with chili sauce.  Steph tried the tamale plate which was three tamales with rice and beans.

While we waited we snacked on the fresh corn chips and salsa.  The chips were thin and crispy, certainly fresh, and the salsa was fresh.  A little on the hot side for this gringo but very tasty.  An honest mixture of stewed tomato puree, onions, a little cilantro and diced up jalapenos.  I enjoyed it.

The food came out a little later hot from the oven.  The cheese enchiladas had plenty of queso blanco inside and even enough outside to string up as I tried to take my first bite.  The chili sauce was unique but I liked it.  It wasn't your run of the mill sauce.  I thought it was a bit like a mole rather than just throwing some chili powder into a pot.  There was definitely a chili flavor mixed in but it had more depth to it and I even noticed a bit of sweetness among the savory.  My tacos were served in fresh shells and filled with plenty of beef.  These too had a rather unique flavor which I enjoyed but I can't say it was my favorite of all time.  The meat was a little dry perhaps.  It could have been the time of day. They were topped with fresh lettuce, slices of tomato and grated queso fresco.

Steph's tamales were very tasty.  Plenty of pork inside with just enough masa.  Not like those corn dough things they serve at some of the chains.  She also had the chili sauce over them and thought it was a little spicy for her.  She described the experience and a little heat building with each bite.  Still, she ate until she was full so she enjoyed those spicy bites.

We ended the dinner with flan.  This was some good flan.  The custard was perfectly creamy without a sign of scrambled eggs anywhere and the caramel sauce was the perfect compliment to the richness of it all.

The service was excellent as we never went without our drinks full and the waiter certainly gave us an excellent experience.  In the end I found the restaurant to be pleasant, the staff warm and friendly, the food had a unique flavor which makes it stand out as different and since we left happy I'd say they did everything right.

Salvador's Mexican on Urbanspoon

Monday, December 5, 2011

Taking a break for the holidaze...

Looks like I'll be taking a break for the holidaze.  I'll get back to it in 2012.  Ho Ho Ho!!!  And I hope everyone has a wonderful time with family and friends.  Those are the people that make life worth it...

Friday, December 2, 2011

Russell's Bakery was better at Little Deli

Steph and I were out running around on a Saturday when I got a wild hair to have something sweet.  I was in the area of Little Deli so I thought we'd just head that way and get a slice of Italian creme cake or maybe some cheesecake.  We'd eaten there a week or so before so the desserts were still on my mind.  Steph suggested we go to the source instead so we headed back west to Russell's Bakery at the corner of Hancock Drive and Balcones Drive.  The funny lady at Little Deli told us they get their baked goods from Russell's.  They were almost packed but we found a parking spot and went inside.  The staff was generally nice though they had a bit of roughness in their voices.  I couldn't tell if they were just not used to the crowd or if they didn't want to have a crowd in the first place.  I was hoping for the first.  We waited a bit while we looked over the case of all sort of cakes and cookies, buns and scones.  My mouth is watering thinking about the idea of all that sweet, sweet goodness.

Steph ordered a double chocolate brownie and a caramel latte.  She liked the coffee but the brownie left her unhappy.  It was dry and "chewy but not in a good way."  Plus I remember her saying "they call this double chocolate?"  I took a bite and agreed that it wasn't the rich, decadent offering we had at Little Deli.  I had a latte and a slice of Chocolate Espresso Supreme cake.  It wasn't very rich either but at least it wasn't dry.  At best it was OK.

I'm really sad that we had this experience after so loving the cake at Little Deli.  We thought we were in for a treat but instead we left like a kid that just broke his new toy.

Have a great weekend and treat yourself for the holidays!

Russell's Bakery & Coffee Bar on Urbanspoon

Thursday, December 1, 2011

JMueller BBQ is good and moist but watch out for the bees

This was another of our Saturday excursions so we headed down to 1st Street to find the JMueller BBQ trailer.  I drove past it the first time but we saw it coming back up the street.  It's just north of Monroe on the west side of 1st Street.  It was before noon but they already had a good crowd.  Most of the tables were full and there was a line several deep the entire time we were there.  Needless to say they have the attention of Austin.  The wait wasn't long, in fact it would have been short aside from "that guy" ordering a couple people in front of us.  You know the one, can't make up his mind, has to call someone on the phone after he's at the window.  The one you might consider kicking in the shin if you thought it would do any good.  By the way, kicking someone in the shin to speed them up doesn't work.  Don't do it. Just trust me on this.  While we were waiting in line it was kind of funny to listen to the people in front and behind us.  The guy in front was a skinny jeans hipster on his phone trying to convince his buddy that he'd like bbq.  The girls behind us were trying to work off a hangover and couldn't wait to get some food in their bellies.  We all suffered together as we waited for our friend to decide what he wanted.  And then it was our turn.

Steph and I went a little crazy on the meats so we had plenty to bring home.  A little brisket, a sausage, a beef rib, potato salad, coleslaw, beans.  We tried it all.  And they start you out with a nice hunk of brisket while you order.  And a big cup of their sauce.  Once you get everything ordered you move around to the back of the trailer to pay and get some drinks.  We had a couple Mexi-Cokes.  Now to find a table and get down to enjoying some bbq.

The brisket was fatty and moist and had a good smoke ring on it.  The sausage was also just fatty enough but still full of flavor and ground just enough to leave some texture.  The beef rib was excellent.  Steph had never tried a beef rib, she's a baby back girl, so she was very happy to have tried something new.

I liked the sauce.  It's that thin, vinegar and tomato kind with a nice spice and full of sweet onions.  It really let the meat do the talking but still added some background to the dish as a whole.

The sides were somewhat unique I'd say.  The potato salad was pretty standard but the coleslaw was definitely spiced up with some kind of chipotle mayo thing.  I liked it but it but didn't finish it.  Perhaps that was merely due to the mountain of meat before us.  Steph liked the beans.  They were just spicy enough and had those same sweet onions in them.  And if you wanted more heat they also had three or four different types of hot sauce.  The standard red kind, the sport peppers in vinegar kind and a couple others that looked to be homemade peppers in vinegar concoctions.  I didn't try any of them but I plan to the next time I'm there and feel the need for a little heat.

Overall this was a wonderful experience.  Plenty of bbq, a nice day, good times.  Life is good.

Oh, I forgot to mention the bees.  As I was eating I went to take a drink from my bottle of Coke and almost swallowed a bee that had crawled down to get a drink.  Just "bee" careful if you're allergic, or don't want to drink a bee.

JMueller BBQ on Urbanspoon