The Saturday Dining Conspiracy: October, 1996

October 5, 1996: Sam's Bar-B-Cue

2000 E. 12th Street

478-0378

Dwight's comments:

Supposedly Stevie Ray Vaughn's favorite barbecue place. Though I think his death was tragic, I was never impressed by SRV as a musician, and I'm even less impressed by his taste in barbecue.

Most of what I said about Ben's Long Branch BBQ applies here, except that:

Sam's is much more "funky".
Sam's mutton isn't nearly as good as Ben's.
Lawrence says the brisket is as good as any he's had in Austin.

As usual, no large combo plates, nothing but beans and potato salad, and not terribly good (in my opinion) barbecue. (The mutton, in particular, seemed "off".)

An Austin "legend", from the same bunch of folks who want to turn Austin into a '70s music theme park.

October 12, 1996: Armadillocon

Dwight's comments:

No dining conspiracy per se this week, as we were at Armadillocon.

We did get a good turn out for the traditional Friday afternoon lunch at Mangia's, and barbecue at the County Line on Sunday night was a lot of fun.

October 19, 1996: Italian Garden

14611 FM 1325

388-1062

Pepper grinder rating: 0.

Men's room rating: 2.

Dwight's comments:

We figured we'd do the cannonical Big Night thing: watch Italian food, then eat Italian food.

So, although this isn't the logs of the Saturday Movie Conspiracy:

I like Big Night less the more I think about it. It's not a bad movie: indeed, I'd put it in the "good" class, but I had problems with it:

Not enough food and cooking. I expected more. I wanted more. It's not that long a movie to begin with, and...
Too many irrelevant plot points. Why was the car dealer there? What was the point of the love triangle?
The final confrontation on the beach went on far too long, I thought, and became strained after a while.
I don't necessarily expect a happy ending in my movies. I respect Big Night in a sort of abstract sense for not copping out with one: but, at the same time, as a moviegoer, I was disappointed. If you're going to end on a downbeat note, you have to earn it. Big Night doesn't.
I think the major problem is that Big Night lacks any feeling of resolution. At the end of the movie, as beautiful as it is, nothing seems to have been resolved. Have the characters grown and changed any? Not as far as I can tell. What are they going to do next? Who knows? Why should I care? I don't see a good reason.

That said, we chose, for our Italian feast, the sort of place that Primo would flame for "crimes against food": Italian Garden, a standard spaghetti (and meatballs!) sort of place.

I liked the service a lot. (It took a while to get garlic bread, but I blame that on the kitchen: I was impressed when they brought out chilled glasses for Lawrence's Dr. Pepper.)

The food? Well...I had spaghetti and mushrooms with a garlic and butter sauce. I could make this in my own kitchen (and have in the past), and do it as well as Italian Garden does. It wasn't bad, but it lacked spice. (Some sage would have helped, perhaps.)

I didn't hear any complaints from my fellow diners about their meals, which were more in keeping with the traditions that Primo would find offensive.

Not bad, but I'm not rushing back anytime soon.

October 26, 1996: Chez Zee

5406 Balcones Drive

454-2666

Pepper grinder rating: 3.5.

Men's room rating: 3.5. (per Lawrence, who was taken by the decorative tile, among other things.)

Dwight's comments:

A special early edition of the Dining Conspiracy, so we could get over to the wedding of two of my best friends, Richard Everett and Terri Gailey.

(Not that you asked, but it was a pretty good wedding. The weather could have stood improvement (we've been at about 100% humidity for five days or so), but some things the happy couple can't control.)

Chez Zee? Not too bad: the chicken tenders had some sort of pretentious Cajun name, but were nicely moist, tender, and well breaded. The crabmeat quesadillas were also nice, and my Southwestern Pecan Chicken had an excellent combination of flavors and textures.

Good (and generously proportioned desserts), too, and a reasonable (~$25/person with dessert) check at the end of the meal.

A nice place for lunch if you live/work nearby, or a casual dinner with your sweetheart.

Lawrence's comments:

A bit pricier than their Chez Fred days, but still quite tasty. Their Alfredo was very good. The portions could have been larger, but I wasn't dissatisfied.

(Also, ask them to bring out their garlic butter (instead of just olive oil) with the bread. It's the best I've tasted this side of Gumbo's.)

Send e-mail to Dwight Brown (stainles@bga.com).

Return to the main Saturday Dining Conspiracy page.

See the logs for November of 1996.

See the logs for September of 1996.

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