Restaurants


 by

Endless Road Trip Marfa: Buns N’ Roses

Marfa Buns and Roses Chips Salsa

That photo might not seem like the fanciest, most stylistic presentation of chips & salsa in the world, and you know what, it’s not. But what it is is fresh, thick corn tortillas fried to order for our table, dusted with the perfect amount of salt and served with fresh, garlicky salsa. That’s how they DO it at Buns N’ Roses in Marfa.

But let’s rewind a bit. The second day of our West Texas roadtrip extravaganza, we moseyed from our teepees at El Cosmico to Buns N’ Roses, about a 40 minute walk in the hot desert sun. (We could have driven I guess, but we’d all imbibed quite a few mimosas back at our lodging. Duh, vacation.) I had heard good things about their breakfast from the peeps at El Cosmico and besides that, I couldn’t turn down a restaurant with a pun for a name.

It’s an accurate pun, too, because Buns and Roses is a 2-in-1 stop: both a bakery (buns) and florist (roses). I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE.

Upon approach, you feel like you might be entering an abandoned/haunted greenhouse…

Marfa Buns and Roses Driveway

Marfa Buns and Roses Building

But inside it’s quite cute and cozy! The kitchen is run by a mother-daughter team, which I love. There were only a couple other tables in for brunch around 11:30am on a Saturday, and service was super quick with plenty of coffee refills – always appreciated. The menu is full of your standard egg dishes, plus offerings from their bakery: honey wheat bread, beer bread, and of course their famous buns. Tragically they were sold out of all their donuts and pastries by the time we rolled in so we couldn’t try any of their eponymous buns! But the breads/toast were GOOD.

Read More›
in Food Travel / Restaurants 0 comments
 by

Endless Road Trip Marfa: Padre’s Bar & Grill

Marfa Highway Welcome Sign

If you haven’t heard of Marfa, Texas, I can’t blame you. I didn’t know much about it until I moved to Austin a couple years back, but then I learned quickly enough: Marfa is a little town in the West Texas desert which has turned into an art enclave in the past few decades. It has some glimmers of weirdness because it was the setting of an old James Dean movie way back in the day, and it’s also home to the Marfa Lights, a mysterious phenomenon in the sky… basically, if you are looking for a scenic, artsy, and perhaps slightly creepy wild west desert roadtrip, West Texas (and specifically Marfa) is the place for YOU!

And the place for ME. I loved our trip so much. It’s funny because Marfa really is a teensy town, but I felt like there was way too much to do in the short amount of time we spent in the town (2 days out of the 4 we were in West TX). And by “do” I mean “eat” obviously, because Marfa actually has a great (albeit small, I mean come on, it’s like a 4-street town) food scene! So many cute food trucks and hole-in-the-wall spots only open for breakfast or lunch. There are like three “fancy”-ish restaurants and three bars as well. At least five days’ worth of solid eating and drinking, is what I’m saying.

Read More›
in Food Travel / Personal / Restaurants 0 comments
 by

Is This the World’s Spiciest Burger?

StarCityKitchen_GhostBurger2

At Star City Kitchen in El Paso, Texas, Chef Sarah Kosravani recently introduced “The Ghost Burger.” It consists of five separate elements, each designed to light your mouth on fire.

1. Bun brushed with cayenne-infused butter

2. Burger patty seasoned with secret-recipe salsa, pepper flakes, and raw, diced habanero

3. Pepperjack cheese laced with he notorious ghost pepper!

4. Roasted habanero and garlic aioli.

5. Battered and fried toreados (jalapenos that have basically mated with onion rings).

Would you try it?

in Cheese / Red Meat / Restaurants 0 comments
Smashburger Sampler Austin
 by

Food Porn of the Day: Burgers on Burgers

Smashburger Sampler Austin

I was invited to the pre-opening tasting of the new Smashburger here in Austin. I’m not much for burgers (unless they’re really exceptional) or “fast casual” type restaurants in general, but I’d heard a fair amount about the Colorado-based chain and decided to check it out. I will say the burgers (ground beef, chicken breast, and black bean) were much higher quality than your average chain burger, but they were still greasy, decadent, meaty… burgers. They held nothing back at the tasting event; the pic above is only part of what I was given to sample. I only ate a bite or so of each, otherwise I think my stomach would have exploded.

in Photos / Red Meat / Restaurants 0 comments
Peanut Butter Brussels Sprouts
 by

Brussels Sprouts Gone Wild: Peanut Butter Edition

Peanut Butter Brussels Sprouts

I stumbled upon the most interesting thing last night! Brussels sprouts are a hot menu item everywhere in Austin (and the general country, I feel) but usually I see them one of two ways: Asian style with fish sauce, cilantro, etc. or uh, Bacon style, as in they’re sautéed with tons of bacon, pancetta, etc. But we were trying out a new-ish restaurant, The Hightower, when I noticed something a little different on the menu: Peanut Butter Brussels Sprouts.

Well, I love peanut butter and I love Brussels sprouts, so obviously the universe had already made this choice for me.

These were some of the best sprouts I’ve had in recent memory – they weren’t too goopy or sugary, thanks to the addition of sambal and lemon. A sprinkling of plump, golden raisins added just enough contrast. This would be really easy to replicate at home — quarter some sprouts, sauté with some coconut oil, add in some natural peanut butter, a scoop of sambal, a squeeze of lemon, and a handful of raisins at the end. Sweet, sour, spicy, what’s not to love?!

Peanut Butter Brussels Sprouts 2

in Recipe / Restaurants / Veggie 1 comments
 by

Funny Photo of the Day

photo (4)

 

Via: Juliana’s Pizza

in Photos / Restaurants 0 comments
« Previous
Next »