We hope you have been enjoyed our posts about the local eateries, bakeries, restaurants and shops around Austin.
Savorish Issue 1
If you want to purchase a copy of our magazine.....
By LASA EZINE
44 pages, published 13 DEC 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Farewell!
We hope you have been enjoyed our posts about the local eateries, bakeries, restaurants and shops around Austin.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Dessert Review
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Longing for Summer (and Bahama Freeze Snow Cones)
Yes, it's a trailer in the middle of a parking lot. Yes, it's still super good. |
The snow cones at Bahama Freeze are AMAZING. I have developed a 3-fold reason for this utter deliciousness.
Bahama Freeze snow cones are pretty much heaven in Styrofoam cup. |
- The shaved ice: Most snow cones have really coarse chunks of hard ice. At this lovely trailer, though, the ice is very finely shaved, making it amazingly enjoyable.
- The flavors: They have, I kid you not, 144 different flavors. Sure, there is cherry and bubble gum, but they also have tiger’s blood, root beer float and cappuccino, among others.
- The extra stuff: You can add things like cream, and sour flavoring. Also, the bubble gum snow cones all come with a free gumball. (Fun Fact: I once saw a guy put chili pepper powder on his snow cone.....)
Definitely visit Bahama Freeze over the summer to get relief from a particularly sweltering day.
Photo credit to James Y. (yelp)
Russel's Bakery: A Restaurant For Everyone
They really do cater to everyone. It is the perfect place to meet some friends for a casual lunch, grab a coffee on the way to work, or even have a business discussion. Upon entering, you will note the age difference, from children getting a treat after school, to stay-at-home moms conversing over a lengthy lunch, and even older people reading as they enjoy a drink. But how does Russel's manage to do this? Simple, they have an easily accessible location, great food, and a wonderful atmosphere. It is near an elementary school, so they catch a number of joggers and parents stopping by after dropping off or picking up their kids. They have free WiFi, so college students will stop in to study, and business reps. can get internet on their laptops. They have medium lighting with window wall on one side, which provides enough natural light to read by and a view.
Pumpkin Bisque Soup |
So Much Oreo
3/4-1 packages of cream cheese, allow it to soften
1 package of white almond bark
Stuff to do:
Put the Oreos into a food processor and crush. Don't worry if your machine begins to sound like it's dying. Put aside half of a cup and dump the rest into a big mixing bowl.
Freeze for 1-2 hours before dipping in melted chocolate. We stuck toothpicks into each cake ball before dipping it in melted chocolate. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a little electric melting pot. After having a little trouble with the microwaving (apparently it is possible to burn white chocolate with a microwave), I've learned that only heating a small amount of chocolate at a time is best, as it will not harden while you are dipping.
As you finish dipping, put each beautiful (yay), dipped Oreo cake ball on a aluminum foil lined pan, preventing any sticking to the pan. Sprinkle each Oreo cake ball with the little Oreo mixture that you set aside earlier. And there you have it. They look delicious. And they are.
Final Reflection
I did not particularly like the writing process. I felt that it was very limiting and constrictive, having to write for a magazine. This was unavoidable, but I have never seen any form of an interview in a food magazine except with chefs and restaurant owners (and we couldn't all do that). Thus, I had to make something up. I was pretty bored with the topic, and I didn't have much of a choice.
Also, I did not like the way the projects were graded. I think that I was a little too much to expect everyone to edit their pieces once or twice to get a good grade, and the minor details that we would later add to the A Master. I am not talking about adherence to the style sheet, like body copy and leading, but things like the folio. I had to spend an hour or so in class making fixing these so they matched the one that would go on the A Master. That was a bit of a pain.
Also, as far as the writing itself, we were required to use interesting verbs. I understand that we should be required to vary the words we use, however it made my writing sound extremely contrived. I think that in the future, it would be good to require verb variation so that it isn't repetitive, while letting students choose when to use descriptive language. As you said, journalistic writing is concise writing.
I did, however, very much enjoy the design aspect of the course. I was not particularly good when it came to design (especially at the start of the semester), however our designer was very helpful. I think it was a great idea to have designers come in and critique the layouts. Not only did he help me improve what didn't work with my pieces, he helped me avoid similar mistakes in the future. Yet, aside from his help, I got to experiment with new ideas. In this way, the design part of the course is fundamentally sound, because we were allowed to discover our own style of design--something that really appeared in the individuality of peoples' spreads.
The other thing I liked about the course was the introduction to Photoshop and InDesign. It was helpful in the creation of our layouts (I'm not sure we could have done them without the intro) and I was introduced to new aspects of the programs. I had used both of them before, and yet I still learned a lot. The main thing was that no matter how much experience students had going in, they all ended up at a point where they were confident with their abilities. Such was the course as a whole: both in the journalistic writing aspect, and in design.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Thanksgiving Splurge: Hershey Bar Pie
Hershey Bar Pie |
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tiff's Treats: Cookie Delivery
Barbecue the Chinese Way
Friday, November 18, 2011
Tokyo Steakhouse and Sushi Bar: Feature Lead and Nut Graph
“If you are going to do something, love it, and do your best.”
Such words Mr. Charles Pan must have followed to mold and shape his Toyko Steakhouse restaurant in Round Rock into the popular teppan-yaki restaurant it is today. A popular stop for authentic Japanese cuisine and entertaining chefs, the environment created inside of the restaurant is not only welcoming, but bustling with energy. With rows and rows of fresh, high-quality seafood and dips set out on the marble counter top at the sushi bar, and the roar of the grills on which trained chefs prepare food, it is apparent that quality is all that the restaurant is about. “I hire the best workers. There are dishwashers, and then there are fast dishwashers. There are chefs, and the there are certified, authentic, skilled chefs. We believe in quality. Yes, quality.”
Mr. Pan had taken over the Tokyo Steakhouse restaurant after his sister, the previous owner, moved to San Antonio. He had graduated from Hai Yang college in China with a major in marine biology, which some may find suitable that he followed a career in the sushi business. “Study hard and follow your dreams. Grow well and do something you love. That way you’ll never feel like you’re working hard and you’ll only grow to love it more.”
Thanks
Lily
Beet's Cafe Lead and Nut Graph
When one walks into the sunlit, cheerful Beet’s Cafe - boasting of “amazingly good” raw and vegan food - they are often greeted by a cheerful woman with curly brown hair. Many don’t realize that the woman serving them is the cafe’s owner, Sylvia Heisey. Sylvia is so well-suited to the restaurant industry that is hard to believe she was a businesswoman in the corporate sector only a few years ago. After traveling all to much for work, Heisey decided she was done. The traveling was so exhausting that she was forced to quit her job to take care of herself. It was during this healing process that Heisey discovered the raw food diet. “The aches and pains in my knees went away, my allergies went away, I lost weight- those 10 pound I could never lose- I was able to sleep at night, my skin cleared.. there’s just so many different benefits!” she said.Upon realizing the miracles that this diet could work, she knew she just had to share it with the Austin community. Flash forward a couple of years and we can see the result: Beet’s Living Foods Cafe.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Foreign and Domestic: Can't Get Enough
Smoked Quail |
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Tino's Greek Cafe
Photo creds to Robyn Lee (flickr) |
From the exterior, the cafe may look like one of those run-down places with sticky tables and horrible food. Allow me to dispel that myth- their food is really good. Basically, they have two different types of meat- chicken or gyro- on which they build all the different dishes. (At the south Austin location, they cook the meat on these huge spits behind the counter so you can see it roasting. And then they cut off chunks of it with these huge knives....)
If you wish, you can get a plate of chicken or gyro meat (marinated with “secret spices”...no wonder it’s so good!) with pita bread. For vegetarians, they have falafels, which are equally tasty. Even so, I recommend getting a wrap. This has the meat/falafel wrapped up in pita bread along with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cumcumbers and Tzadziki sauce. Speaking of which, Tzadziki sauce (I have NO idea how that is pronounced)is a signature part of Greek food. Basically, it is comprised of yogurt, cumcumbers, garlic and other herbs. The Tzadziki at Tino’s is amazing. It's actually extremely easy to make- try out this recipe.
Tino’s has quite a few locations around Austin... check it out one day!
Vietnamese Pudding
Madam Mam's
Madam Mam's location in The Village.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Bombay Bistro: Contemporary Indian Cuisine
Murgh Malai Kabob.... excuse me while I go drool in a corner |
The first thing they bring out is papad, which is a thin, crispy (but not sweet) wafer, that you dip in various chutneys (sauces). Serving papad and chutney at an Indian restaurant is equivalent to tortilla chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant.
- Bombay Bistro’s murgh malai kabob (basically, chicken kabobs) are AMAZING. This is my absolute favorite dish to order there. The chicken is very soft and the marination and seasoning is sublime.
- Try the Lahsuni paneer tikka. Paneer is basically cottage cheese, and in this dish, it is seasoned with garlic, pepper and other spices. Again, it is super tasty.
- Get some sort of breads. I love naans the best. (Get a butter naan if you don’t mind doing that to your body.)
Photo credits to She Who Shall Not Be Named (flickr).
Tokyo Steakhouse: Sushi Bar
Teppanyaki is a type of Japanese cooking done on any iron plate ("teppan" means "iron plate"), with any ingredients. Here, we can sometimes pull off the cooking on a griddle, though in Japan it is done in a special electric frying pan, also called teppanyaki. Opened in 2006, Tokyo Steakhouse and Sushi Bar brings authentic teppanyaki cuisine to Austin, along with a variety of different types of sushi. For the sushi rice, they use a Japanese specialty based on boiled rice with sweetened rice vinegar, a mixture called sushi meshi. There is a wide selection of sushi at the Tokyo Steakhouse and Sushi Bar, including nigiri sushi, which are thin slices of raw fish seasoned with wasabi and wrapped around with sushi meshi, hosomaki, which are thin sushi rolls, and futomaki, thick sushi rolls.
A Teaching in Tofu
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Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Review of Sushi Zushi
All in all, the rolls are great. But the Miso Soup is even better! It is home made in the kitchen from fish stock and Miso paste...yes it is very difficult (especially making the broth). Here is a recipe:
- 2 teaspoons dashi granules
- 4 cups water
- 3 tablespoons miso paste
- 1 (8 ounce) package silken tofu, diced
- 2 green onions, sliced diagonally into 1/2 inch pieces
Miso Soup...Tasty |
Serve warm. :) :) :)
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
It's not Torchy's; it's Taco Deli!
I visited Taco Deli over the weekend with my family. Check it out!![]() |
They have locations in Central, South and North Austin. We visited the Central location. |
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The menu. |
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The "Daily Specials" menu above the ordering line. This line was backed up all the way to the entrance. |
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Apparently, it's always this crowded. |
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Ordering counter; slightly obscured by the ever-present masses of people. |
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Chips and guacamole. Very, very good guacamole.
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Florentino Taco: RECOMMENDED. [I had to take a bite before even photographing them; they were that good.] |
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T-Shirts for sale! I really liked Taco Deli and I definitely suggest you check it out! Photography by Culinary Queen. |