I like Hoover's just fine. So do people from Rhode Island: you can count on them doing at least one dinner and one breakfast at Hoover's.
The hot wings are seriously hot: like fire, man. I'm also fond of the quesadillas and the barbecue, especially the jerked chicken and jerked ribs. The Elgin sausage isn't bad, either: sometimes (generally on Friday night, from what I can tell) they do an excellent grilled boudin as a special, which I highly recommend.
Hoover's service is generally good: at least, it was this time. Sometimes, though, they seem to have problems getting good waitrons. And, while I like Hoover's breakfasts in general, I wish Hoover (or whoever is cooking on Sunday mornings) would try pancakes or waffles.
(March 2004 note: almost 2 1/2 years later, Hoover finally listened to me. They now do pancakes on Sunday.)
Hoover's strikes me as a place that always seems to be on the edge of greatness, but never quite manages the feat. They serve some good food, to be sure, better than Threadgill's or Lone Star Cafe (but perhaps a tad less generous than the latter), but there still seems to be something missing.
Both the hot wings and the quesadillas were OK, but neither was an outstanding value for the money. My muffaletta was very tasty, but not as large as I could have gotten at Sambet's Cajun Cafe. The service was very good, and they kept my bottomless glass of Dr Pepper well refilled.
With a little effort (a bit more spice and imagination, maybe, and perhaps more generous portions), and Hoover's could easily earn the sort of reputation that places like Threadgill's have been coasting on for years. But they're not there yet.I know this probably marks me as a Philistine in the eyes of the austin.food crowd, especially those members who are obsessed with the purity and authenticity of Mexican food. But, dammit all to hell, sometimes I just want a big combo plate with an enchilada and a tamale and a taco and some beans and some rice! I refuse to consider that a sin. Whenever I hear the "authentic Mexico" rant, I think of a quote from Calvin Trillin's American Fried:
When a reviewer starts explaining how the preparation of a quiche Lorraine at the restaurant he has visited differs from the way one prepares a true quiche Lorraine, I always want to interrupt. "But did you like it?" I want to shout. "Did it make you happy? Did you clean your plate?" Any chance that I might someday acquire a serious interest in how closely what I ate resembled the true article disappeared one day at a block party near our house while I was eating some homemade gazpacho and talking about how it differed from the authentic gazpacho one got in Seville. The more I talked about the difference, the faster I wolfed down the gazpacho—until I realized that one way what I was eating differed from authentic gazpacho was that it tasted better.
That rant out of the way, El Gallo does a pretty good and pretty hefty combo plate. You can easily get out for $10 - $12, with tea (included with the larger combo plates) and tip. I'm not going to claim that El Gallo is a damn paragon of TexMex or MexMex cooking, but they've been around a long time and serve a satisfying meal.
Eh. I can think of half a dozen better TexMex places than this. The nacho appetizers were rather sparse, and the flameda was pretty expensive for what you get (Elsi's offers a much better deal for less money). The pound of fajitas were tasty and certainly generous enough to feed two, but at $18 a plate I would expect no less. Service was good, with timely drink and chip refills (though, again, the hot sauce was wimpy), but on the whole my main impression was: "Why bother?
According to the Austin Chronicle, Java Noodles was recently sold, and the original owner is working on a new place, Java Grill. I'm delighted at the prospect of another dining choice in the Austin area: I'm even more delighted because, as far as I can tell, the sale of Java Noodles hasn't hurt it any.
The food remains as good, and as cheap, as always. One nice thing is that there's much more variety in terms of appetizers now, including pan-fried dumplings. (They may not be a "traditional" Indonesian dish: on the other hand, I like a good fried dumpling or three enough to ignore concerns about authenticity, and the ones at Java Noodles are pretty good).
The kitchen does seem a bit slow at times: I wouldn't go here expecting a fast meal. (But the waitstaff does do a pretty good job of keeping tea and water glasses filled.) And, yes, there's still a dearth of noodle dishes and individual sized soups. I like what they do enough to consider those minor drawbacks.
Pretty much the same as it was last time, good food in reasonable portions at pretty inexpensive prices (I think the most expensive entree is still $8.95). They seem to have added more appetizers, all of which were tasty; the ribs were very good and quite large for the price, maybe even the equal of the ones Pao's downtown used to serve. Service was good except for a slight delay on getting the check. About the only drawback was that my beef entree (#17, I think) was slightly on the tough side (though still quite good). I might opt for the pork next time.
If you haven't checked out Java Noodles yet, you owe yourself a trip.
I hit Calabash every so often, when I'm not in the mood for Hoover's, and when I don't feel like fighting traffic up I-35 any longer. The waitresses are always pleasant and efficient, and the food's pretty good. I personally like just about everything on the menu I've tried, especially the curried goat, the rum almond chicken, and the mango barbecue ribs. I don't care much for the Trini pepper shrimp, personally, but that's because the veggie/shrimp ratio is a bit high for my taste. The meat pies are pretty good as an appetizer (or, for that matter, a main dish), and the fried plantains are a good side. (However, I have to admit that I think the ones at Habana are slightly better.)
The only thing I don't like about Calabash is that they're not open on Monday.
Calabash serves good Caribbean food at very affordable prices. The calamari was among the best we've had, and the jerk wings were tasty as well. They even brought up some very credible "house special" hot sauce to go with them. And the plantains were nice too. Though my jerk beef steak was a far cry from Ruth's Chris, but it was certainly acceptable for the price and quite appealing. The waiter also kept my Dr Pepper glass well refilled.
Drawbacks: Well, there's that UNACCEPTABLE mandatory 20% gratuity for large parties. Even though we didn't get bit by this ourselves, it's annoying to see this vile, contemptible disease infect another restaurant.
See the logs for November of 2001.