Monthly Archives: April 2017

The (3rd) Best Burger in Texas

In this Yelp-driven world we live in, a business with 4.5 stars out of 250 reviews, is no easy feat. A lot of businesses would kill for that, I know mine would….(ok, not “kill” but more like “go out of one’s mind), to get those stats. When I read about Alamo Springs Cafe being the third best burger in Texas, I was dubious. Not that I doubt the credibility of the writer, coz we all know that food writers are the pillars of integrity (cough-cough!). But when I searched for the reviews, there it was. Four point five stars in Yelp and Google, on over 400plus reviews! For a restaurant that is so laid-back it doesn’t even have a website, that is pretty cool.

It has a hole-in-the-wall vibe, it will never win awards in design. But there’s award-winning smell of the burgers all the way from the parking lot.
I recruited a highly qualified individual to help me review this burger—my teenager!!!
We started with this roasted garlic with goat cheese tostini. 
This is the burger in question. Is it pretty? No. Is it the third best burger i’ve had in Texas. Hell to the YES!

This is the kind of burger that I would make if I decided to make a burger. I am still on a diet  (I ate only 1/4 of this— I declared today my cheat day for the sake of this effing blog). I weighed myself yesterday so I know that it would be a loooooong while before I make these kind of dishes. But if I did, it would be like this — made of the best meat available, best blue cheese I could get my hands on, cooked in medium-rare perfection, and tucked in the middle of the best buns which I would probably bake from scratch. Thank God, this place is just about ten miles from Fredericksburg. Just thinking about the amount of labor that would go into making this, makes me want to crawl back to bed and sleep off my burger craving.

And just for kicks, they have the Jefe’s Challenge. It is a sight to behold.
This is how the challenge works.
Onion rings for sides.
My favorite kind of fries—crusty fries!

Alamo Hills Spring Cafe embodies the thought of food being done right. While most of the food they offer are not healthy by nature (fried avocados—enough said), it is cooked in such a way that it justifies an indulgence. They also have an honor system in their drinks wherein you can just grab anything off the counter from soda, beer to wine, and just declare it as you pay for your bill. It’s a wonderful touch! It is definitely not a fast-food even if the offerings are similar to that of Whataburger or MacDonald’s. Here’s what’s hanging in one of their walls:

If you ever get in my neck of the woods, this is a fun try. It is in the middle of nowhere but the drive is wonderfully scenic. That plus a big, juicy burger, it is worth the trip!

 

Welcome To My Kitchen

As you’ve probably seen on my Facebook posts, I am now a proud mom of four adorable puppies. For the longest time, we always maintained two. But as I unwittingly followed Facebook feeds of Pomeranian breeders, I instantly gained access to adorable puppies looking for a forever home. Truffle is a puppy Pom that I got from North Carolina and Tofu is a year old Pom from Russia. He was imported by a breeder here and was meant to be a show dog until his teeth started overcrowding, which, I was informed was a big no-no in AKC standards.

Isn’t Tofu the fluffiest thing in four legs???

Anyhooo…How do these furry babies equate into my present kitchen?  The first two pups, Cookie and Mochi, always hang around in the kitchen. They know very well that when I cook, scraps of food fall to the floor, so they’re always on a look-out. Naturally, when the two newer ones joined us, they caught on to that as well. So I now have four dogs, yipping at my heels every time I cook. Oh joy!

I once saw a video of a Pom breeder and it was a scene in her kitchen where she had almost a dozen fluff balls running around. I thought that was the coolest thing! I only have eight more to go to have my dream kitchen. Ha!!!

These are my kitchen buddies. Three smiling Poms and one Yorkie wishing he was an only puppy.

Enough of my puppy insanity…. Let’s get cooking! I am on week 3 of my low-carb cooking. I’ve been having lettuce/cabbage, fruits and sashimi. Surprisingly, it’s almost painless. I have discovered a slew of flavored vinegars and spices which jazz up the dish without bringing on the calories. I am, however, close to being sick of raw salmon and tuna (let’s not even go on how expensive those are ).

Innovation is the mother of necessity — said by some philosopher who was tired of paying $29/pound of sashimi-grade tuna.  So I will whip up the next best thing — lean turkey. Here is my Cilantro-Lime Turkey Wrap.

Get a pound of the leanest ground turkey you can find. Saute lightly. It will look like it’s one huge stretchy piece, but be patient, it will break apart as it starts to cook. As it breaks apart, add salt and pepper.
Add Lime Ponzu sauce, about 3 tablespoons.

It will look soup-y and you will feel like you’re doing it all wrong. Don’t despair, it WILL dry up. As it dries, it will concentrate the flavor of lime. This is really needed because when you work with super-lean meats, the low amount of fat makes it difficult to hold flavor. Hence, you need to cook in the flavor.

When dry and broken-up add freshly cut cilantro, about 2 teaspoons.
Wrap in cabbage and lunch is ready!!!

Check-out my folded plate. Got it for $12 at Home Goods. So pretty! It makes up for the atrocity of my wrap. I still haven’t figured out how to separate cabbage leaves without tearing, so I always end up with odd pieces that make it difficult to wrap well.

If you can stand to lose a pound or two, this is a good dish. Very flavorful, calorie-friendly, cooks fast and uses only one pan! In my book, it can’t get any better than that.