Hub of Deliciousness

For those of you who don't know, Houston has some lovely weather, high humidity and a mild winter night means a nice pea soup fog will be drifting in most evenings, but it also means a decent time to sit outside and not sweat for once.

This was definitely the case one hazy night when we wandered up to Hubcap Grill on 19th Street in the Heights.  The Heights location is home to a great beer yard, perfect for lounging outside and sipping a few cold ones in between downing an amazing burger and fries.

Hubcap had me at hello the moment I saw their beer selection, that choice alone took about 5 times as long as deciding which of their amazing burgers to order.

My theme of the night for beers was to relive my days in Utah, enjoying a Squatters Hop Rising, a 9% double IPA full of bitterness and flavor.

I followed that up with a Wasatch Polygamy Porter, a rich dark ale from the same company, with a great motto of "Why have just one?" nothing like a little Utah humor on a beer label with the flavor to back it up.  As ironic as it may be to some, Utah has a great micro brewing culture that is pumping out some of my favorite beers that I like to indulge in anytime I visit my dad in Salt Lake.

Now on to the burger, I decided to go kinky with this one and selected the Cheeto-Burger, a patty topped with Cheetos and cheese sauce.  The flavors were crazy and the texture blew my mind, but the meat quality and the bun that seems to be made from a pillow makes me think that any combo picked from this broad menu is sure to please the taste buds.

Now do not come here looking for a veggie burger or a whole wheat bun, you come here looking for flavor and a kick ass product that does not end at the burgers.

Their fries are hand cut and ridiculous, and come in an untold number of varieties no matter what your taste may be.  We opted for the Stinky Fries, an aptly named dish of spuds topped off with malt vinegar and garlic.  The bitterness of the vinegar and the pungent garlic are great flavors on these thick cut fries, that seemed to match perfectly to my beer and burger.

Basically this place is perfect for burger lovers and beer lovers alike, and if you are like me and love both it might be just what you imagine heaven to be.

Keeping Austin Weird

Austin is a weird place, I do not really think there is any denying it.  There are few places in the world where you see old men wandering the streets in a bikini or such a wide variety of tattoos and piercings on just about every inch of skin imaginable.  Nonetheless, Austin does create some of the finest live music, beers, and food around so I will let them stay for the time being.

We stopped in at Casino El Camino one night, a place visited by none other than Diners, Drive Ins and Dives highlighting their unique menu and kinky decor.

Of course when in the Hill Country you have to drink the local water, so I was quenching my thirst that evening with one of my favorites, Fireman's 4 by Real Ale Brewing out of Blanco, Texas.  Fireman's is a crisp blonde ale that seems to go great with just about any food and even better on a hot Texas day.

We came here for the food though and the massive burger patties were calling out name from the moment we walked through the door.  The one weird aspect of Casino is the fact that all of the food orders are done at a tiny back kitchen window and you have to listen closely for your name to be called after a long wait.  Trust me it is worth every minute of waiting.

One of the burgers we went with was the Buffalo Burger, a massive patty topped with bleu cheese and buffalo sauce.  Full of all sorts of flavor from the spicy wing sauce to the creamy richness of the bleu cheese, but the real winner here was the patty, full of amazing beef flavor you just do not find patties like this too often.

Burger #2 was the Pitts Burger, piled high with sauteed mushrooms and onions, A-1 sauce, and provolone cheese.  Yet another masterpiece, and the toppings do a great job of accenting the meat rather than covering it up and hiding it.

Note:  I have been back here since this visit (sorry did not take any pics) but I got the Amarillo Burger, a burger piled up with roasted serrano peppers, pepper jack cheese, and a cilantro mayo.  This burger kicked my butt, serrano peppers are about 3-4 times hotter than a jalapeno, and no amount of beer could help me recover from the tears and inability to breathe, but it was still a damn good burger.

The greatness did not stop at the burgers though, we ordered up some of the Verde Chili Fries, their kick butt fries smothered in queso and a garlicky tomatillo salsa.  Basically these are some of the greatest fries I have had in my life because the toppings alone, plus it keeps you safe from any vampires you might bump into on 6th Street, and I am sure that they are there.

Judging A Book By Its Title

On a recent business trip down to Corpus Christi I left my meal choice up to a coworker that was much more familiar with the local fair, and that was definitely the choice to make.  We made our way down to The Executive Surf Club near the bay, upon hearing the name all I could think of was people dressed up in stuffy suits and over priced food, but this place was far from that.

As you can see, this place lacked anyone is stuffy attire and even included a gigantic fishing lure as a decoration.  The laid back dive bar would have fit perfectly on a beach somewhere rather than downtown Corpus which has no sand anywhere near it but hey beggars can’t be choosers.

For my choice in libations I decided to kick back with a XX Amber, and it arrived in a cold bottle that helped ease back a long day of driving and work. 

For food I decided to rock some seafood, I mean when you are within a stone’s throw of the Gulf it just seems right, and in this place I decided to trust the experts and get one of the house specials.  For that I settled on their version of fish and chips, panko breaded filets that were full of flavor and crunchification that was like a party in my mouth.  The real rock star of the dish was the tartar sauce, it was not your standard tartar sauce mind you, but a Creole tartar sauce that added a twist to the usual mayo and relish dip.

The twist in the meal was the side of battered fried, fries dipped in a batter and then fried up giving it an extra dose of healthiness.  I actually was not a big fan of them, the concept was interesting, but they just didn’t have enough flavor to make them anything special.  Good thing the fish was so awesome I was able to ignore the short comings of the fries.

California Dreaming

For those of you who do not know I spent a few years of my childhood growing up in the Bay Area of California.  Before you completely judge me please don’t forget that I was born in Texas and fortunately got out of California eventually, although I went to Missouri from there so not quite sure if that one was truly a saving grace.  Fortunately, I found my way back to Texas as time went on, but there are still some lingering memories of California foods, like Chinatown in San Francisco, clam chowder from Fisherman’s Wharf, and of course In-N-Out Burger.  The latter has finally seen the light and worked its way into the promise land by opening up a new location in Dallas.  Unfortunately, with the newness of the place it was still a circus even with it being a Monday night; the feeder road has cones everywhere directing you around the block even though it is on 75 right through the middle of Dallas, pure chaos.

These simple diners crank out some of the best burgers around, so good that even Tim Lincecum of the Giants has no problem stuffing 3,150 calories in his mouth at this place. I might have let you down by telling you this but I could not even come close to eating his meal so instead I will just share with you mine.

But first, a separate order of business.  Some of you may have noticed a mention of Kevin a time or two in some of the previous blog postings.  Just to give you some background information on him, he is my cousin, and he lives in Dallas, and he likes to eat too… Go figure.  Here is a picture for you to imbed in your mind for all future mentions of the word Kevin, and yes please imagine him in the hat no matter where we go or what he eats.

Now on to the main course, one of In-N-Out’s most famous features is their not-so-secret menu, a whole list of options that you will not find on the menu but will know about if you are in the know.  My research and associations with residents of the state of California have tipped me off about these over time so I felt obliged to live it up with these items.

As you can see this meal was hit on our way home from Kansas so there are three double burgers in that tray.  My mom rolled with a standard cheese burger, but Kevin and I rocked out the Animal Style Burger.  It is a burger with the spread (basically Thousand Island dressing similar to all secret sauces everywhere else it seems), cheese, grilled onions, and your standard burger toppings of lettuce, tomatoes, mustard, etc.  And to be honest it was nothing short of an amazing burger.

Of course no burger diner experience is complete with a basket of fries, and the other not-so-secret menu that I had to get my hands on was Animal Style Fries.  These were basically the same as the burger, piled high with cheese, grilled onions, and spread. We also had to get a regular basket of fries just to ensure that we had a control flavor, and that everyone was happy.  Unfortunately, the fries were not up to par but I know they can do better so of course I will give them a second chance to get them right the next time I find myself in the Big D.

This trip into the diner truly made our road trip that much better, few things good can happen during 12 hours in the car, but sure enough this was a great silver lining… even if we had to put up with Kevin while we enjoyed the burgers.