I enjoy going to Order Up and making ridiculous burgers. I thought I should keep a running tally of some of the epic ones that I have made, so here is the first installment:
Jack Cheese, Bacon, Guacamole, Grilled Serranos, Grilled Onions, Grilled Mushrooms, Sun Dried Tomatoes, and Garlic
One of my coworkers decided to take several of us to one of her favorite restaurants that is a sandwich shop and doubles as a bakery. Founded by Nicole and David, Nicavid’s creates specialty sandwiches on home baked bread, along with soups and desserts from scratch.
The restaurant is kind of small on the inside and has a good feel. There is also a nice patio, and seeing that the day was nice, we decided to go outside to take in the beautiful day. While ordering at the register, you can look at the strategically placed shelf to the left with all the baked goodies. Let me tell you it is hard to resist; my sweet tooth couldn’t turn down the raspberry cheesecake!
I ordered the ½ Italian Stallion (I think it had prosciutto, salami, and maybe pepperoni) along with a cup of carrot ginger soup. I had to go with that soup because my coworker had been raving about it for the entire week, so even though I could not imagine how a carrot soup would taste good, I trusted her judgment and ordered it.
The bread was really good on the sandwich, but the amount of meat on the sandwich was a little disappointing. I guess overall it was a pretty good sandwich, but nothing that really was absolutely amazing. The soup on the other hand was really really good and warrants a trip to the restaurant! I don’t even really know how to describe it in a way that could possibly make anyone believe that carrot soup could be awesome, but you just have to trust me.
The ginger carrot soup was soooooo good that I ate it so fast and forgot to get a picture!
While the sandwich was not all that impressive, I do recommend going to this restaurant on a cold day to pick up some soup. In my next trip to the restaurant, I think I will be getting a full bowl.
Value: 7/10 (a little expensive for a smallish ½ sandwich and soup; I would like to give a shout out to one of my coworkers who bought my lunch!)
Atmosphere: 8.5/10 (enjoyed the bakery/restaurant atmosphere and the patio is good)
Service: 9/10 (really didn’t interact with anyone with the exception of at the register)
Taste: 6.5/10 (I got to go with a 6.5 here because the sandwiches were just all right to me; if I was purely judging on the soup, I would give it like a 8.5 or a 9 because it is really good; like no joke, I plan on going back when it starts getting cold just to get some soup and their bread and you should too.)
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One of the best parts about going to a restaurant is when you get the feeling that you belong and are truly welcomed into someone’s dining room. Most often, this happens at the places that you frequent on a regular basis; rarely does it happen when you come to a restaurant for the first time as it did to me at Lula’s Mexican Café. It was turning out that I was having a rough week, and decided to go to a new place for some Mexican breakfast. Upon sitting down at the table, Lula herself asked how I was doing. When I told her, “Not too well,” she told me that she was having a bad day too and she took a little extra time to sit and talk with me. When a business owner displays a certain sort of humanity with their customer that action lends itself to creating customers for life.
But enough about owner/consumer relations; you want to know about the food. Turns out that it was exceptional and warrants a discussion on both breakfast and lunch.
I had gone for breakfast on a Friday a few weeks prior, and I was in for a treat because it turns out that on Friday there is a special on the chilaquiles plate (that includes refried beans and potatoes) with a cup of Joe for $3.99! Seeing that I love chilaquiles, I could not pass that offer up.
I was shocked at how much food I received and how rich the flavor was; the beans had an exceptional flavor to them and went nice with the thick flour tortillas. The chilaquiles were made with the white cheese instead of the yellow cheese that I typically find in San Antonio restaurants and had quite the kick to them; to take them up a notch I used some of Lula’s green salsa (you have to ask for it) which really had a nice spice. The service was impeccable and I don’t think I was ever able to empty my coffee cup without it being promptly refilled.
A few weeks brought me back to Lula’s today for lunch. The chips and salsa were incredibly addicting as the chips were fresh and came out really warm. It was pretty rainy and cool outside which is always the perfect recipe for some caldo. I decided to get the caldo de pollo (basically chicken soup with vegetables) and was brought out a big steaming bowl of soup with a side of rice. The caldo was very tasty, having big chunks of zucchini, potato, carrots, corn on the cob, and a big chunk of chicken on the bone.
Some good caldo perfect for a cold, rainy day; you know it is legit because of the chicken still being on the bone!
Having the meat on the bone is truly the best way to serve caldo as it really gives the soup a nice flavor. I got corn tortillas on the side and they were just as thick as the flour ones; I love some corn tortillas that have a little thickness on them, and you will like Lula’s corn tortillas even if you are the flour tortilla loving gringo like me. I think that the lunch was around $6.50 and was entirely worth it as I shelved any sense of manners and picked up the bowl to make sure I got all the soup that was left!
Value: 10/10 (If you get the morning special, you are going to have a full plate of food, tortillas, and coffee for around $4! I think you can get two tacos and coffee for $2.50 – $3.00; it is unbelievable!)
Atmosphere: 8.5/10 (very clean and bright interior)
Service: 10/10 (incredible service from not only the owner, but also all the waitresses; when I went for lunch a coworker of mine was dying because the steak a la Mexicana had a lot of spice and the waitress was constantly on the lookout to refill his tea to help quench the spice!)
Salsa: 9.5/10 (if you like spicy, as for the green salsa to compliment your meal; the warm chips and salsa are addicting)
Taste: 10/10 (incredibly tasty; you can tell the food is prepared with a lot of pride; a new favorite of mine in the Alamo City)
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I love eating red meat. I also love all you can eat joints. So when my friend said that she would treat me to a meal at the recently opened Fogo de Chao downtown in the River Center Mall. Having heard about Fogo de Chao and Brazilian steakhouses for some time now, I have to admit that I was excited to finally get to taste one for myself.
The restaurant is located on Commerce Street just west of the entrance for the Marriott hotel. If the restaurant business is all about location, location, location, then the newly opened Fogo de Chao has it figured out; it is in a position where plenty of tourists walk by en route to the Riverwalk and even some locals occasionally pass by on the weekend. You can’t miss the restaurant as it has some ribs on a skewer spinning in the front window.
When our group all got to the restaurant, we were given an orientation of how everything worked. Initially, we were told to visit the salad bar and get some of the exotic vegetables, cheese, and meats. After we were finished, we could flip our little coaster from red to green to signal the guachos that we were ready for some meat. They would come by and let us know what variety they had and slice as much off as we wanted. I was pleased to find out that our waiter was actually from Brazil (as were probably a 1/4 to 1/3 of the waiters there), and having had a Brazilian exchange student stay at my parents house before, returned the Portuguese phrase of “Obrigado” upon him finishing his explanation.
For my drink, I ordered a caipirinha, which is the nation cocktail of Brazil. It is kind of like a mojito and had a nice refreshing taste to it considering outside was pretty dang hot. The salad bar was comprehensive, and I particularly enjoyed the different cheeses and prosciutto along with the artichoke bottoms. But don’t let me fool you, I was there to eat the meat, so I had to make sure that I had my stomach ready.
As you eat the salad, the waiters begin to bring out four hot sides: the cheese rolls, polenta, garlic mashed potatoes, and the fried bananas. The cheese rolls were exceptional and I would have continued to have eaten basket after basket had it not been for the fact that I was about to get some steak. The polenta and garlic potatoes were also good, and before they had the possibility of getting cold, the waiters would snag them away and bring you a fresh batch! While I like the fried bananas, they were not truly plantains, but rather your normal run of the mill banana you get at HEB and peel; now, I am not up on how the Brazilians do it, but I was thinking that they used plantains.
When it was time to eat the meat, I flipped over my little coaster to green. I was immediately bombarded by a bunch of gauchos ready to slice me off some meat. NOTE: Be prepared for some prompt service when you flip over your coaster to green and as soon as you have your fill, flip it back to red! It was funny watching some of the people at the table, because they were getting flustered by all the waiters stopping by the table with their skewers of meat. It was kind of like landing in Puerto Vallarta and having all the cab drivers vie for your business outside the airport!
The meat was pretty good, and I liked two cuts in particular. First, the alcatra, or the top sirloin, had a nice taste to it. I was able to get it medium rare, and it seemed to melt in my mouth. My other favorite was the picanha, or the prime cut of the top sirloin. The waiter mentioned that this was the most popular cut of meat at the restaurant, and it happened to be mine too! I believe I got the garlic seasoned piece of the meat, and I asked for them to cut a couple of pieces; the first cut had a nice crispiness from being licked by the fire and the other pieces had the good pink color.
I was glad that I got to visit Fogo de Chao, and would say that it is something worth trying. While it is fairly pricy (approximately $40 for the food – I mean, you could go to a nice steak restaurant for that), the experience made it worth it. If you have any guests coming from out of town, it is definitely something that they will enjoy.
Value: 7/10 (I mean, how much steak can you eat??)
Atmosphere: 9/10 (the restaurant was really nice, however, the music was pretty dubious; I think it was some smooth jazz musak that was pretty terrible; I would like to see them either put on real music or maybe traditional Brazilian music)
Service: 10/10 (exceptional service; the waiters were constantly bringing out fresh/hot side dishes and as soon as you turned your card, there was a skewer of meat waiting for you!)
Taste: 8.5/10 (pretty solid taste; the salad bar was really good, and while the meat was good and you were able to get a variety of it, I think that you probably could get a better cut of meat at a steakhouse for the same price)
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There is a saying that good things come in small packages, but would this prove true at Kong’s Burgers and Wings whose slogan is “Little Place, Big Taste”? The restaurant is situated across the street from the old Windsor Park Mall off of Walzem Highway in a tiny brick building that doesn’t have any indoor seating; don’t worry, if it is cold, you can just drive through.
The Kong Burger (the namesake of the restaurant) was billed at a full pound of beef; I wasn’t exactly all that hungry, so I opted for the smaller half pound burger and dressed it up with cheese, bacon, and avocado. I think that the burger had a base price of $3.99 and each of the items that I added were $0.70/item.
When I picked up my burger, I was shocked by how heavy the little bag was; I knew in spite of being the ½ Kong that this burger wasn’t going to be playing around. First off, let me talk about the bun. I have never had a bun quite like this one as it was incredibly dense and the bottom was toasted to perfection. Similar to Biff Buzby’s, the bun was sweet, but it was so thick it could have been a standalone meal all by itself! By saying the bottom was toasted, doesn’t really do it justice as it was more kind of a fried because it was pretty crispy. You will just have to order it because it is a beast unto its own!
That bun is a thing of beauty...
The bacon was a nice add-on and they got it right where it was crispy but still had a nice amount of grease. The avocado was more of a guacamole that was spread on the bottom and had a great flavor. In fact, I would advise getting these two add-ons along with the cheese.
The burger itself had a nice flavor and was seasoned right. Instead of spreading the ½ pound of meat in a big patty, it was more concentrated and was pretty thick. Napkins were definitely in order because it had a little bit of grease to it. Overall, all the ingredients worked well in concert with each other nicely and the burger just had an amazing taste to it!
I was with one of my friends who participated in burger week a few months ago, and we both agreed that had we ventured to Kong’s Burgers and Wings that this burger would have been given the top prize. In fact, this has to be the best burger that I have had in the city of San Antonio (maybe the world!)!
Value: 9/10 (you can get a ½ pound burger for like $4)
Atmosphere: 5/10 (there’s not really atmosphere; you sit on a picnic bench!)
Service: 9/10 (the lady at the window is incredibly nice and friendly)
Taste: 10/10 (NOW THAT’S A TASTY BURGER; the best one I have found in SA, maybe even the world; go just to experience the bun)
(Google Maps does not have them listed just yet, but if you go to the below location, you should see the restaurant across Walzem from the old Windsor Park Mall)
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