Emily - - Page 38

by Emily

Beet Fries, Pork Belly and Tongue Buns

Pork belly is having a serious moment in Austin. I know it’s been a trend for awhile now (what, the past 3? 5? years…?) and I know I recently gushed over Tacodeli’s pork belly tacos. But seriously! I had never seen SO. MUCH. Pork belly love until I moved down here. This is evident in the popularity of East Side King, Top Chef winner Paul Qui’s Asian fusion food truck with three locations in East Austin. Ask anyone what they like about ESK and the answer is always the same: “oh my god, the pork belly!”And yes, it’s good. Really good.

I’ll happily state that East Side King is one of the best, if not THE best, food trailers in Austin. Their original trailer at The Liberty is my favorite. To be slightly controversial, though, I will say this: I think the ESK pork belly hype unfairly overshadows some of the other delights on their menus. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely amazing, but I feel as though most people discount the fried chicken and even some other less obviously delicious options like the tongue buns and beet fries.

Want to see what really, really, REALLY good food from a truck looks like? Of course you do. (I’m really trying hard to restrain myself from making any sort of obvious “food porn lol buns” remarks here.) Photos a the j.

by Emily

Put This on Your Pizza and Smoke It

Need a little inspiration for your next pizza creation? Look no further. This is a pizza topped with jalapeños, soft cooked eggs, and Lil’ Smokies. WHAT? Yup. You could easily recreate this masterpiece at home… the original is from East Side Pies in Austin, TX. You’ll never want another type of pizza again.

in Eggs / Red Meat / Restaurants 0 comments

by Emily

100 Ways to Cook with BBQ Sauce

Alright, we’re calling it: it’s officially summer as far as we’re concerned! All around the nation, loyal ESers are firing up their grills, cracking up a cold brewski (or two, or three, or ten…we don’t judge), and getting ready to devour their body weight in BBQ-sauce drenched goodness. We support this and want to help you in your summertime BBQ journey, so we’ve rounded up 100 of the most delicious ways to create and utilize delicious BBQ flavor. There are the usual suspects (read: meat, meat, and more meat) but we’ve got the vegetarians and vegans covered, too… BBQ tempeh burgers or BBQ pulled portobello quesadillas, anybody? What about BBQ in our pasta, on our pizzas, or glazed on our fruit? Don’t mind if we do!

Click on the photos for full recipes.

All 100 Ways — 1,600 recipes and counting! — found here.

in 100 Ways / Featured / Lists / Now Simmering 1 comments

by Emily

The Next Pig Thing: Pork Belly Tacos

So. I’ve been in Austin for just about three months now, and I’m sure y’all are just DYING to ask me this one burning question: Emily, what is the best taco you’ve eaten so far?!

Well, I’ve dutifully done my research. Of course we have the classics: al pastor, barbacoa, chicken tinga. We can’t discount the ATX-ubiquitous breakfast tacos, with their myriad combinations of eggs, beans, cheese, chorizo and potato. Seafood tacos have made an appearance in my meals: grilled fish, spicy scallops, even shrimp katsu. Okay, I’m making myself hungry just by recounting all of these. Let’s cut to the chase. What is THE BEST?!

May I present… the DeliBelly from Tacodeli.

I’m not the only one who carries a torch for these amazingly flavorful pork belly tacos. Yahoo! recently named Tacodeli‘s DeliBelly as one of the ten best tacos in the country. That’s a pretty tall claim in Austin, where a taco stand lurks on every corner, but hey, they were on to something.

in Food Travel / Pig / Restaurants / Trends 3 comments

by Emily

Peanut Butter and Jell-WHY?!? Vodka

By this point in my Endless Simmer career (and let’s face it, my career as a human being in general), I have become the go-to girl when it comes to crazy/ridiculous/ill-fated novelty alcoholic endeavors. (Well, to be fair, this honor is shared with my booze soulmate, ML.)

So it should come as no shock that when Van Gogh wanted to send us a bottle of its new PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY FLAVORED VODKA to sample, I was the first (and only) writer to jump at the chance to experience such a creation. I didn’t have the highest of hopes for it, but come on, I never really have dreams of glory for any of my drunken experiences. All I hope for are entertaining stories we can retell in the future. And by “entertaining” I mean “humiliating,” but whatever.

My roommates and I decided to throw together a last-minute “flavored vodka tasting party” (classy) to poll people on the PB&J vodka. As one might imagine, the reactions were not the most positive. Don’t get me wrong, I love vodka. I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But something seems a bit…. off about this booze.

Their website describes it as such:

in Drinks / Rants & Raves 3 comments

by Emily

Artsy Photo of the Day

And you thought chicken was boring?

This is a torta from Fresa’s Chicken al Carbon in Austin. Pulled chicken, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, avocado, queso fresco, and chipotle mayo. One of the best sandwiches I’ve had in a long, long time. Just imagine that going into your mouth (what, gross, I didn’t mean it like that).

in Fowl / Photos / Sandwich 0 comments

by Emily

A Cucumber Salad for Cucumber Haters

The other weekend I was going to a little cucumber-themed dinner party with some friends. Yep, cucumber-themed. Pretty specific, I know, but I love dinner parties so of course I was down. Here’s a secret, though: I really don’t like cucumbers very much. They’re one of the few foods I generally shy away from (other foods that receive that treatment from yours truly? Celery, eggplant, and licorice). I wasn’t going to be a theme-wrecker, though, so I decided to make a salad including, but not highlighting, the cukes. I also was in the mood to be healthy (if you don’t count the approximately 6 glasses of white wine I downed that night, oops).

This salad was really easy to throw together and it was a hit amongst my friends. Quinoa has always been one of my favorite grains, and it used to be considered kind of exotic, but these days it’s pretty easy to find. I combined that with fresh herbs and ruby red grapefruit (which, unlike cucumber, is one of my favorite flavors). The result? Light, fresh, sweet, sour, a bit spicy, and waaaaay too easy to eat.

Grapefruit-Cucumber Quinoa Salad

in Recipe / Veggie 2 comments

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