An Average Joe in San Antonio

They say that you can never go home again, but I firmly believe that you can at least visit.

I’m a West Texas boy through and through; you probably have noticed it from my colloquial style of writing, and if you ever heard me open up my mouth, you would know immediately that I am not from South Texas.  I know that West Texas is incredibly flat and treeless, but to me, there is a charm in that desolate landscape.

To paraphrase a comment that I once heard Joe Ely say (and this is not verbatim): West Texas is strange because if you sit in the middle of a cotton field and look up you feel two diametrically opposed things.  At one time, you feel like you are the center of the world and everything kind of is centered on you.  At another time you realize how small and insignificant you are and how big the universe truly is.  Go stand in the middle of a cotton field and you’ll know what he’s saying.

Lubbock is my hometown, and I had the fortune of getting to return for a family member’s graduation in the middle of May.  Being recently unemployed, I had a lot of time to spend with my family and decided to go up in the middle of the week.  By doing this, I was able to visit a good friend and one of my favorite places to eat, Giorgio’s.

Giorgio’s is a pizza joint in downtown Lubbock on Broadway and it is owned and run by George, one of the most friendly and smart people that you will ever meet.  George has a diverse background and speaks something on the order of six different languages, has a mechanical engineering degree, and has a ton of experience in a wide array of businesses.

The front of Giorgio's Pizza off the brick street Broadway in Lubbock, TX.

I have been going to Giorgio’s since I was a sophomore in high school back in 1998.  From that time until I graduated Tech with my Master’s Degree in 2005, I ate at Giorgio’s at least once a week (if not more).  The restaurant became more than just a place to eat, it because a place to congregate, celebrate, and just have a lot of fun.  There were many good memories (and good meals) that happened at Giorgio’s in high school and college.

When I went to Tech, I started getting a group to go there every Friday; being further away from campus and in a part of town most students don’t venture out to, it was a tough sell at first.  But after the first bite, people became hooked and many made the pilgrimage every Friday for some good food.  I particularly enjoyed going in college because there was no “time limit” on how long we had for lunch.  Often times, meals would turn into events full of lively conversation, storytelling, and full on clowning around.

George has his doors open Monday through Friday from 11:00AM – 6:00PM, so it was always difficult for me to get up to Lubbock to eat there when I entered the corporate world.  In fact, I don’t think I have been there in some two and half years.  I was thrilled to get the chance to finally get to catch up with a good friend and eat some really good food.

I was greeted by the familiar awning, window paintings having the prices (from 1998 to 2010, George only went up a buck and a quarter to $5.50 on his famous two slices of pizza and drink combo (tax included)), and the red and white checkered floor.  Walking in, George hollered at me, “Hey my friend, long time no see!” It seemed like only a week had gone by since my last visit.

Since this blog primarily focuses on food, I will write a little bit about it here. I always favored the two slices of pepperoni pizza as my meal of choice; it will definitely fill you up as it is pretty much a quarter of a pizza! What really makes it is the crust, it is the perfect thickness and a little chewy.  The sauce also busts out with fresh flavor and that combination just makes it awesome!

Recently (and by recently, I mean probably since 2003), I started ordering the meat calzones (particularly on cloudy days); they are gigantic and filled with sausage, pepperoni, cheese, and sauce.  You can ask for a specialty made one stuffed just with pepperoni (quite the gut buster) or one that is vegetarian.  I always opt for a side of sauce to pour a little extra in the calzone and have to dip the  crust in.  My mouth is watering right now thinking of it.

This calzone will fill you up for sure! I like to get mine with a side of sauce.

As you have read my blog you probably realized that food and eating out is, to me, as much about the experience and the people preparing the food as it is about the food itself.  George really delivers on this by really making you feel glad that you chose his restaurant to dine.

He greets everyone with the cordial, “How are you doing my friend,” and for anyone who has been in more than a couple of times, he already knows something about that person to carry on a casual conversation and will ask, “Do you want the usual?” In fact, Andrew, one of the guys who would always go every Friday with me in college, was in Lubbock on a recruiting trip recently and George not only remembered his name, but also enough about him to ask what he was up to in Houston, how the other folks were doing who used to come in with us, and also if he wanted the usual.  This had been something like 3 years since he had seen him last!

I value George as good friend and mentor; he is one of those entrepreneurs who has inspired me in my life and made me realize that I want to start my own business.  Many days around closing, I would go into Giorgio’s just to talk with him about business, life, and pick his brain about how to make it on your own.  These conversations left an imprint on me to this day and I try to adopt many of his philosophies and ideas.

Giorgio’s has experienced its fare share of changes as well.  Neighboring business has come and gone around his storefront.  Prices have gone up slightly.  Students who eat their religiously graduate and move on and new ones fill their chairs.  Employees turn over and new ones come in to help out; this was kind of a sad point for me as one of the guys I really enjoyed talking with left for another opportunity.

Yet the food, friendliness, and red and white checkered floor remains constant.  I might not be able to go home, but at least for now I can go to Giorgio’s, and that is close enough.

Value: 10/10 (At $5.50 for a full plate of pizza and a drink (includes tax), how can you go wrong?)
Atmosphere: 9.5/10 (In downtown Lubbock, this joint feels like a throwback with red and white checkered floors)
Service: 10/10 (Can’t beat it; everyone is greeted with a “How are you doin’ my friend!”; go there a handful of times and the owner will know your “usual”)
Taste: 10/10 (Some of the best tasting pizza, calzones, and lasagna in the world!)
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I know that this is my second post in a row that is about a restaurant outside of the Rivercity, however, my job has recently asked me to travel to our Austin office so I thought I would stop by one of my favorites, North by Northwest.

Playing on the name of the popular festival, SXSW, North by Northwest (NXNW) is located on the North side of Austin and is a microbrewery along with serving some of the funky Austin fare relatively cheap.  A friend of mine who lives in Austin introduced me to this restaurant several years back and I really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, I can’t really say anything about the beer because it has been a while since I got to drink at the restaurant (read: been at the restaurant afterhours and not on a lunch), but from what I remember it was pretty good for a microbrew.

I ordered what I think has to be one of the best things off of the menu, the cedar plank salmon.  It is served on top of cooked spinach along with blue cheese scalloped potatoes.  The spinach is incredibly tasty and a little salty which I think compliments the salmon nicely.  I used to not even like blue cheese, but these potatoes changed all that several years ago; they come out piping hot and are incredibly creamy.  Not to be outdone is the salmon which just flakes off and I think is glazed with a soy/ginger type of sauce.

I love the cedar plank salmon at NXNW!

I really like the atmosphere of the restaurant; the patio is on the front so you can people watch as patrons arrive, the seating in the bar area encourages you to meet new people, the main restaurant is in an open room with a big fireplace that kind of feels like a lodge; you can also see all the brewing equipment through the glass wall.  There is a nice sound to the restaurant because you get a good noise from the crowd as people start filling in; you don’t have to shout to talk over it, but it has a good vibe.

When you are in Austin, be sure to stop by, but make sure you go when you can actually partake in the beer that they brew there!

Value: 8/10 (if you go at lunch you get a better bang for the buck and they are the same size as the dinner portions; at lunch the salmon is like $12, dinner it’s $19)
Atmosphere: 9.5/10 (cool feel on the inside and the patio is nice on a sunny day)
Service: 9/10 (nice and friendly staff)
Taste: 9.5/10 (good food with some of the funky Austin charm)
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I was making my way up to Dallas for the U2 concert and decided to take the scenic route up 281 to avoid all the I-35 mess on the weekend.  I was meeting up a friend in Arlington, and she didn’t get off of work until 11:00PM, so I just decided to take my time, do some geocaching (I need to write a post on this later) and stop wherever I wanted (I also stumbled upon a ranch rodeo in Evant, TX later that night that was pretty cool).

At any rate, I was driving through Marble Falls and saw the Blue Bonnet Café; I was pretty confident that a café with an old school neon sign and a “Pie Happy Hour” was going to be good, so I decided to stop on in.

Wouldn't you stop at a restaurant that had a sign like this?

Randomly, I ran into a coworker and her family who was coming out of the restaurant.  She told me that the food was excellent and told me not to leave without getting a piece of pie.  Seeing that I have a sweet tooth, I wasn’t going to pass on dessert with a recommendation like that coupled with the “Pie Happy Hour” sign.

As I walked in, I saw exactly what she was talking about; there was a huge refrigerated case that held all their pies and I noticed that there was a constant stream of waitresses stopping by to get either pieces or the entire pie!  Now I was just wondering if I was going to get one or two pieces…

How can you turn one of these bad boys down?

I was greeted by a friendly waitress, and she told me that I could go take at the bar if I didn’t want to wait for a table (the restaurant was really bumping).  I went up to the bar and was promptly greeted by another waitress who was very friendly.  I told her that I stumbled upon the restaurant en route to Dallas, and that I needed to find out what the house specialties were.  She told me that most of the people get either the pot roast or the chicken fried steak.  I opted for the roast, and for my three sides I got mashed potatoes, fried okra, and tamale soup (per her recommendation for a final side).

The food came out REALLY quick, so if you are just passing through town, go ahead and stop on by; you will probably get your meal faster than at a fast food joint!  Now, I have never heard of tamale soup, but it was really good.  It tasted just like a tamale, and had a nice spice to it.  The soup was full of flavor, so I knew that I was in for something good with my main course.

I think I might have mentioned this before, but it is worth repeating again in this post.  I think that food is one of the best things that can “transport” you back to another time and/or place.  Old pictures are good and reminding you of what something looked like, and music can bring a flood of memories of events that you associate with the song.  Food, however, is something that can stimulate all five senses: (1) obviously you taste it, (2) you feel the smooth/gritty/lumpy/tender texture of the food as you eat it, (3) you smell the aroma of a chili simmering or cookies baking, (4) you see the bright colors of fresh produce or the dark grill marks, and (5) you hear fajitas sizzle, soups bubble, or the utensils clanking on the plates (not to mention conversation with friends and family over the course of the meal).

Several times I have lived away from my hometown for extended periods of time, and whenever I got homesick I would inevitably seek out a familiar food because of its power to make me feel as if I was at home.  Other times, I will be able to find a local joint that has some food that reminds me of a bistro along a side street in some faraway place I traveled.  And still to this day, when I whip up a bowl of my mom’s famous green chili queso (made with Hatch green chilis that I get on my pilgrimage every year (yes I check a cooler as baggage on the airplane)) I feel like I am with my immediate family watching a game.  Sitting at the Blue Bonnet Café and eating the roast, mashed potatoes, and brown gravy instantly took me back to my Grandmother’s kitchen on a Saturday afternoon.

This roast, mashed potatoes, and brown gravy were as good as my grandmother's; no, I don't give that compliment often.

She passed away 7 years ago, but eating this meal immediately brought back a flood of memories of growing up, of going to a tiny West Texas town for Sunday lunch, and of how important she was in my life.  The mashed potatoes were incredibly smooth and not lumpy at all, just how she made them.  I know that some people like lumpy potatoes, but I can’t stand having any lumps in my mashed potatoes.  The roast was tender and just melted in your mouth, and the brown gravy was just the right consistency, saltiness, and flavor.  It was really cool how I was brought back to her kitchen even though I was miles away from that tiny West Texas town and she is no longer around.

Anyway, it was time for dessert, so I again asked my waitress what she suggested.  She said that the peanut butter pie was her absolute favorite, and she liked to drizzle chocolate sauce on top of it.  That seemed perfect to me, so I ordered that with a cup of coffee.  The pie was extremely rich, but was so good.  I never have had peanut butter pie, but it has the same consistency as chocolate pie with the exception that there are small pieces of peanuts mixed in that give it a little crunchiness.  The crust was also amazing and really made the pie!

If you get the peanut butter pie, ask for some chocolate sauce on the side!

I am so glad that I stumbled upon Blue Bonnet Café and look forward to stopping by there any time I am heading through Marble Falls to either get full helping of food and small town hospitality or to just get a whole pie to go.

Value: 9/10 (if you order any of the specials or happen in during Pie Happy Hour you will get a really good deal, otherwise you are looking at $7-$8 a plate and $3 for a piece of pie; note this is a CASH only restaurant)
Atmosphere: 10/10 (old school diner with  a bar with open seating in the middle of the restaurant)
Service: 10/10 (super friendly staff)
Taste: 10/10 (do yourself a favor and don’t leave without getting a piece of pie!)
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