German for “best pancake ever.” When you go to order this at the Magnolia Haus in San Antonio, the friendly wait staff are trained to spot you trying to say “Munk-nih–” and they finish pronouncing it for you, so quickly you want them to say it three more times. It’s really German for “Munich Apple Pancake” and it claims to be “an authentic taste of Bavaria” translated from Oma’s cookbook. I believe it. If you don’t feel like waiting in line for an hour to get a seat in one of MH’s hard little wooden gingerbread booths (is this authentic German too?) to eat this, you can make it at home, in your pajamas, with a pot of coffee. This place was featured last…
Posts from the “restaurants” Category
I am almost finished reading a book about the history of the taco, which of course involves the history of tortillas, and therefore the history of corn and wheat flour, and has much to do with the history of the industrialization of food, as well as mining in 19th century Mexico, the lost chili queens of old San Antonio, taco night in Norway, surfer’s running taquerias in Amsterdam, how to make mole in France… a couple of wars and revolutions, colonization, nation building, ranching, tequila making… I’m working up an appetite. The history of foodways might seem like some obscure thing to read about, but it really is reading the history of the world. In fact it might be the most inter-sectional and materialist…
Some people cannot stand to know how a story ends until they experience it for themselves. I am that way with movies, books, and dinner parties. This is the learning-by-doing side of me that fuels this blog and the cooking that goes with it. (Yes there is pedagogy in all my projects, it seems, but we wont let that ruin all the fun.) Along the way, it is useful to engage the other more refined side of me– the planning backwards “school marm” control-driven side. The side that is currently starting an argument with my other side about cleaning out the refrigerator this morning and doing a complete kitchen inventory before shopping for our Thanksgiving meal– instead of just walking every aisle of the…
Categories: restaurants, travel
We just came back from another successful visit to the Rio Grande Valley—and quite a tour it was—Edinburg, Elsa, Weslaco, Harlingen, La Feria. We visited some of Tlacuache’s ancestors—recent and ancient. We pawed pumpkin empanadas, breakfast tacos, and other portable homemade goods. The outside of the empanadas in La Feria were lighter than any others I have had, so very tearable, and the filling was the most pumpkiny and least sweet. It was intense, earthy, and delightful. The food of South Texas and the region of the border known as the Rio Grande Valley, (RGV or just “The Valley” to locals) is a regional cuisine best understood by forgetting most of what you have ever heard about Tex-Mex. The term has been widely misused,…
The true cherry. For those readers in Oregon, the old world has you beat this time. Your Maraschino are imitations of something much more precious. Something made without corn syrup and artificial colors. Even the “natural Maraschino” you produce are not true to the name. I have stumbled upon genuine Marasca cherries, in Luxardo liqueur. As black as an olive, as sweet as they ought to be (not overly), and so rich with the flavor of something in its second form– the sweet-tart flame of its past life flickering across our tongues. The texture is also like an olive– firm but quickly devoured. That is, after sipping my new favorite cocktail, The Montserrat. Like a martini, but lost in the Chihuahuan desert, or the…
Categories: restaurants, Where food comes from
Tucked among the endless rows of late summer melon, onions, peppers, zucchini, I found these. For a moment I thought they might start talking to me like the little flowers in Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. If you find French Radishes, also called breakfast radishes– eat them. And their greens are tasty too. Traditionally eaten with salt and butter, these crunchy little roots are great sliced and sprinkled on a salty sopressa sandwich, or with any kind of salty cheese. Not as spicy as the standard radish, they are mild and refreshing. Last week we partook of the German heritage at the Beethoven Maennerchor. This place is a cultural preservation society, which throws biergarten parties every weekend, exactly two blocks from our house. Presently they are working on raising money to restore the…
I have never had some kind of life-changing epiphany about food or life while eating some special bite of something, some mind-blowing morsel that made me quit my job or move across country. Perhaps this means they will never make a movie about this blog– thank goodness. I think we have enough emotional eating happening on every commercial break, so I wont bore you with that here. I am trying to make this blog both useful (to those who want to cook– and some of you have been following and cooking what I post– which is awesome!), as well as a place I can explore what food means in terms of where flavors come from, how they meet up with other flavors, and how cooking is…
The shortage of decent french bread in this town is what you might expect from South Texas, land of SOFT white bread, the kind you cant help but squeeze into a ball for fun. Up until now, I basically didn’t bother with baguettes down here. I was momentarily excited by the prospect of Bistro Bakery, where the ambience included people in the kitchen arguing in french. But the baguette seemed a little pale, and too soft and without air bubbles inside. The menu seems more focused on various puff pastry things filled with ham and cheese. I was a little surprised to find an almost empty round dessert case blocking the menu, filled with one tart tatin, and these frightening macarons that seem…
Categories: restaurants
I have been sick for a couple days, and due to the nature of my illness, unable to really think about food at all. But I am recovered now, just in time. I feel very compelled to make this post today. I am new to blogging, and in a good-faith effort to read and try to interact with other food bloggers in the area, I have subscribed myself to their blogs. I try to read them as often as they post (not very often) and if possible, write comments on their work. Well, today I unsubscribed from one. I wont name names, but they were boasting about their favorite burrito being from Chipotle. They are from San Antonio. How can this be? First of…
You know seafood is really fresh when it has no fishy smell or taste. It releases a sweetness when you bite into it, even when breaded in salty breadcrumbs and deep fried. I remember experiencing this intensely for the first time in Maui visiting my brother years ago. We had sushi at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, which at the time had this amazing deal where locals got half off their bill on a certain night of the week. I had never had such fresh fish, buttery textured sweet tuna and shrimp. It made eating it raw a really good idea. I never used to eat fried fish until I moved to Texas, and met MG, who loves fish. I always ate scampi and baked…
Categories: restaurants
Tagged: fish friday, oysters, restaurants, san antonio, seafood, shrimp, urban spoon
