Foods of Texas for Recipe Friday

If you have read any of my blog posts this week, you know I am in Texas visiting family. We’ve been to Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. I haven’t done any cooking, but the visit started out with an awesome bar-b-que dinner out. So I decided early in the week that my Recipe Friday post would be a recap of all the wonderful food I’ve enjoyed here in Texas. Most of the pictures were taken by my sister because she has a better camera than I do. We did have a sandwich or two, and a buffet dinner outside Houston, which I haven’t included, partly because I didn’t get pictures and partly because they were pretty ordinary meals. Here is the best of what I ate in Texas.

The first night we were in Texas, my cousin and aunt took us to The Salt Lick. I had bar-b-que prime rib (the Sunday special) that was so tasty! But it was so big (2 ½ lbs) that my sister and I had prime rib sandwiches the next day. The sides were okay – scalloped potatoes and baked beans – but the prime rib itself was delicious!

On Tuesday, we went to Houston to visit some other family, and stopped at Rudy’s Bar-B-Que on the way out of town for a breakfast taco. I ordered one with bacon, sausage, and potatoes. They clerk asked, “No eggs?” I said, “No, I don’t like eggs.” Then in addition to not marking the “egg” option on my order he also wrote “no eggs” right before it. I guess that was an odd request. It was a pretty yummy taco, though.

When we arrived in the Houston area, we stopped for lunch at a place called Smash Burger. I know the next picture seems like it should be a big juicy hamburger (I am in Texas, after all), but I really felt like I needed some veggies so I got a large wedge salad. It was good, except that they over did it just a tad on the blue cheese dressing.

After all the driving and visiting on Tuesday, we decided to take it easy on Wednesday morning and just hung around the house. In the afternoon, we went to a local mall to do some walking (since it was 104° outside!). We had lunch at Phil’s Philly Grill, where I had a chicken Caesar wrap and French fries. It was pretty good.

On Wednesday evening, after watching 1.5 million bats fly out from under the Congress St. Bridge, we went for dinner at the Iron Cactus on 6^th St. in Austin. We started with chips, salsa, and queso dip. The dip was quite delicious!

For my main course at the Iron Cactus I had ancho chili rubbed pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes and broccoli. The tenderloin was juicy and spicy, and gave me the idea of making ancho chili rubbed tenderloin on my Traeger when I get home. The sides were also wonderful. I was especially impressed by the broccoli because this vegetable is typically overcooked in restaurants, but this was just right and seasoned perfectly.

Finally, on Thursday we had lunch at the Chart House Restaurant at the top of the Tower of the Americas in San Antonio. The restaurant is one of those that slowly spins around at the top of a tower built for the 1968 HemisFair. I had a chop salad with balsamic vinaigrette and lobster bisque. It was a nice change from some of the more filling meals I’ve had.

I don’t know what else we will have on this trip. We go home on Saturday so we may have a chance to enjoy a few more Texas favorites. I kind of think I want to get some Texas bar-b-que again, but we’ll see. Next week it will be back to recipes. I’m already thinking of some things I want to make next week when I’m back home.