yum – Page 3 – beakatude

Portland with Holly

By beakatude
on Sep 16, 2018
in friends, outta here, yum

This weekend, I took a quick girls trip with Holly to Portland. The last trip we took together was a big family trip to Hawaii for Yoon’s wedding over 4 years ago. so we were long overdue. I arrived late on Friday, took the train to the hotel, and met up with Hols who had already checked in.

We had a tapas dinner at Lechon and finished the night with a visit to Voodoo Donuts.

The next morning, the view outside the window was so pretty and we were ready to do some shopping!

We headed out to the Portland Saturday Market, which was blocks and blocks of local street vendors. It was so fun to browse at our leisure for hours without the worry of kids tagging along.

I ended up picking up some jewelry for myself and KK and artwork for the house. I also got a cool handmade leather bag for work.

For lunch, we ate at the market because not only did they have tons of things to buy but had tons of things to eat too! I picked up a gyro wrap and we ate by the waterfront.

Once we were done shopping, eating, and exploring, we headed back to the hotel on the train. It was fun taking out all our goodies and trying them on.

We also both fell asleep and felt refreshed after a long afternoon nap.

For dinner, we went to a Screen Door and feasted on a variety of southern favorites like mac and cheese, fried chicken, biscuits, and gumbo.

Their cocktails were also very good. 😉 What a fun night! Too bad I had to fly back home the next morning.

At the airport, I picked up a few donuts from Blue Star for the family. Yummy!

Thanks to Jes for waching the kids for the weekend!

Austin – Day Three

By beakatude
on Aug 11, 2018
in outta here, yum

After a gluttonous morning at Franklin BBQ, we went back to our hotel to take a quick nap and then went for a little dip in the hotel pool.

Unfortunately, it started to rain and then by the time we got back up to our room, it became a giant downpour and flooded the streets for a bit. Once the rain stopped, we headed back out to explore the city one last time. It happened to be Austin’s Pride Weekend and they had a parade down Congress Avenue that evening.

It seems more like a corporate-sponsored parade with every corporation with a presence. It was still a fun celebration and fun to watch.

Before the end of the night, we went back to SanJac for one more night of live music before heading back to the hotel.

But of course a late night would not be complete without a quick meal off a street cart.

We picked up a couple tacos and ate it on the street.

After a good night’s sleep, we headed back to the airport for an early morning flight back to the Bay Area. What a fun no-kid trip!

Austin – Franklin BBQ

By beakatude
on Aug 11, 2018
in outta here, yum

Our morning at Franklin BBQ started early. Unfortunately, I overslept and Jes woke me up by 7:00. My original plan was to get to the line by 7:00 but we got there closer to 7:30.

By the time we arrived, the line was out to the white car in the parking lot and there were two chairs left under the stairs for us to borrow.

Luckily it didn’t rain and the heat in the morning wasn’t bad. Once we got settled, I walked back to the hotel, just one street away, to buy coffee and breakfast.

During our wait, we met two girls who were engineering majors at University of Texas. Next to them was a group of guys from the Sacramento area. There was a bigger group of guys in front of us in line who brought chairs, music, and a cooler of beer. We weren’t nearly as prepared but when the store upstairs opened at 9am, we got to buy beer and wine and use their restroom whenever we needed. It was also nicely air-conditioned in there so I got to cool off a bit each time we needed a refill.

Here’s their Line Manifesto, which is posted out front.

At 11am, the restaurant opened and everyone got up from their chairs and started filling the line inside. We ended up just at the bottom of the ramp and got some shade for the rest of our wait. The buckets of beer continued to follow and the girls joined our little party.

By noon, we were at the front of the door. Woohoo!

Once inside, we got to enjoy the A/C and check out what everyone in front of us had ordered.

Here’s the menu. They only serve beef ribs on Saturdays (main reason we chose to come on this day) and we were one of the last ones in the line who could get some. Earlier in the morning, a guy came around to take our tentative orders so he could predict who would likely get beef ribs. He designated me and my hat as the marker for the last beef ribs so the guy cutting would be able to pace himself.

By the time we got to the counter, there was plenty of beef ribs to go around to the 2-3 groups behind us. The guys in front of us didn’t realize how large they were and cut their order down quite a bit. I’m sure that’s what a lot of people did.

Here’s what we ordered: one beef rib, 1/2 lb brisket, one sausage, potato salad, a key lime tart, and a bourbon pecan tart.

Look at this brisket! I thought yesterday’s was good at la Barbecue but THIS was SO MUCH BETTER!

I didn’t think that was possible but Mr. Aaron Franklin really knows what he’s doing and his brisket is worth the wait!

The look on Jesse’s face this morning was priceless.

Here’s a video of our three groups sitting together to enjoy our meal. Everyone was so happy.

Now for the beef rib. One rib was plenty. The bark was so tasty and the meat was super tender.

Here’s another perfect bite: white bread, brisket with lots of bark, and a pickle on top.

Aaron came out to chat and greet everyone while we were there and was happy to take a photo. Cool dude.

The verdict: If you have the time and another buddy who is just excited for some real Central Texas BBQ, the 5-hour experience of camping out, meeting new people, morning drinking, and happy-halo-over-your-head grubbing on meat is well worth the experience.

Austin – Day Two

By beakatude
on Aug 10, 2018
in outta here, videos, yum

After our meal at la Barbecue in the morning, we walked back to our hotel in the noon heat. By the time we got back, we were ready for something indoors.

So, we went to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema that is famous for having table service at your seat. At the ticket counter, we purchased out movie tickets for Mission Impossible along with our first drinks.

Once we sat down, a server came by to show us how to order in the middle of the movie. What a fun experience and great way to cool off.

Right outside of the theater was a mini shopping area that had an ice cream shoppe called Lick. They had SO MANY flavors to choose from.

I ended up going really simple with salted caramel and coffee scoops.

We did a little more walking back toward the Colorado River. We crossed the foot bridge to check out the paddlers below and the graffiti all along the railroad tracks.

Our next stop was Lambert’s Downtown Barbecue where they had Happy Hour specials. I had a giant glass of ice cold water and then a glass of white wine with a frito pie! Yum.

By the time we finished, there was just enough time to walk over to the Congress Avenue Bridge to check out the bats that come out at dusk. It was quite the sight.

We were lucky to have perfect timing on our arrival. By the time we made our way down toward the underside of the bridge, it was just minutes before they all came out all at once. What a unique way to end our day!

Austin – la Barbecue

By beakatude
on Aug 10, 2018
in outta here, videos, yum

This morning, we got up in time to get to La Barbecue before it opened (~10:30am).

Here’s the menu in front.

We made it to the first part of the line and waited until it opened at 11. It was nice to be able to wait indoors where they were running the A/C. They also served drinks before the meat counter opened.

When we got to the counter, we ordered a beef rib, sausage, and brisket.

We also got their beans, pickles, and jalapeno slaw. They also threw in a couple slices of white bread.

Jesse had been looking forward to this trip in hopes of tasting a really good brisket and he was not disappointed.

Look at that smoke ring! It was tender and had a nice bark.

Here’s the beef rib. It was HUGE and equally delicious.

This was my perfect bite: white bread, a little bit of tangy sauce, and some of the beef rib with bark. Yum.

Utzutzu

By beakatude
on Aug 03, 2018
in outings, yum

We had dinner at Utzutzu this evening. It’s a little Japanese restaurant in Alameda that’s tucked away in the upstairs “apartment” over a store on Park Street. It’s not marked and they seat only 10 people per night.

The menu consisted of a pre-planned menu that was a mix of small Japanese dishes with two hefty courses of sashimi and nigiri. The sushi chef quietly prepared all our fish dishes and it was so fun to watch from the bar.