Merv's Texas Adventures

Discussion in 'SBAF Blogs' started by purr1n, Dec 31, 2020.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I really did not believe I could find this in Texas. Stopped by while I passed through Austin.

    This is Pakistani cuisine with dishes that I'm pretty sure can't even be found in the SF Bay Area, not at least while I lived there. There was only once place I knew that served this in the El Lay Area, Red Chili in the Valley, which was one of my usual haunts. The Saag Paneer (left) wasn't every good. I got the feeling this place did not give a crap about the veggie dishes.

    Haleem (top), sort of a puree with grains of barley and wheat and beef topped with julienne ginger and fried onions. Paya (right), leg and hoof of cow cooked until all the soft tissue melts into a gelatinous goo with various spices - similar to Nihara which has chunks of meat without the gelatinous goo.

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    I knew this place was good when Bobby W had this to say:
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    You know what I say about negative reviews with audio gear: one can gleam a lot of very useful information from negative reviews. Indo-paki will not be authentic unless it grosses some people out, has some inconsistency from day to day, and occasionally has shitty service. It's about the food, not some annoying over-attentive waiter scraping the crumbs and mess from the table every two minutes. Also, long cook items are always going to be inconsistent depending upon when it was started and how much was left.

    Personally, I felt the paya could have used a little bit more heat, but I understand the reasons. Normal household Indo-paki food doesn't pour on the butter like this. Only in restaurants. Shalimar in the SF Bay Area (three locations) does the same with the butter. I'll take this way because it's not every day. Besides... butter, yum.
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2022
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I realized it's highly dependent upon the quality of the meat. Blue rare would be excessively chewy if the meat isn't of sufficient quality.

    I found out about this place called Texas Roadhouse in Corpus. This is one of those joints where you can be seated and order your steak from there. Or you want walk up front to see what they have on display and pick one. Of course I did the latter and chose a tomahawk ribeye with good marbling throughout.

    The sides were utter crap, except for the fluffy rolls with a nice thin crusty outside which were good. This is a real steakhouse where the star of the show is the meat. SImple salt and pepper rub, not excessive either. Grilled and put on the plate. No butter a la Ruth Chris (which uses butter because their meat is genuinely mediocre) or Hell's Kitchen Guy (who uses butter and rosemary - which is sacrilege - the equivalent of putting ice cubes into top shelf whiskeys). The surprise is that a butter knife could cut through it even though it was this rare. The only other place I've had steak like this was in Nebraska.

    The meat is a bit mangled here. I'm finishing it up an hour after I've taken it home because I couldn't eat all of it.
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    The best part of it all? Family of four walked out with just over a $100 spent including tip.
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2022
  3. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    Mind naming the place? I'm curious as "Houston has the 2nd biggest Indian population and Indian food is good here" - I tried a few Indian places "in the Indian part of town" and felt they were lackluster. I would love to be proven wrong in Austin (yes, Pakistani food =/= Indian food, but it's "similar enough"). Had bad experiences in other states too - supposedly great places were sometimes disappointing to me to the point where I quickly paid, left, and got a "2nd" meal elsewhere.

    Slightly different note, my favorite Pakistani place got pretty messed up by covid and the last I checked is now catering only. After a few mediocre places around different parts of socal, I was pleasantly surprised by a newer place in Tustin, although I haven't been able to go as much as I'd like.
     
  4. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    Houston/Austin/Dallas all have significant south Asian populations where you can find this. Good ones are always found through word of mouth unless you can decode Yelp reviews.
     
  5. archer88

    archer88 Friend

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    Have not tried or know of the place purr1n mentioned, but having lived in Austin I can tell you that there has been an explosion of south -Indian restaurants in the past few years. So you'll be better off checking out those places for an authentic experience. Most Indian restaurants otherwise are very generic (unless you are in NJ, NYC or bay area).
    Austin also has a couple of very good nepali places and recently some decent "Chaat" or street food places.

    In Houston- Pondicheri, Kiran's and Maharaja Bhog are Indian places that have some unique offerings. I am sure there are more but these three are well known
     
  6. Tchoupitoulas

    Tchoupitoulas Friend

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    That's too funny about the negative yelp review as a useful clue for finding good, authentic food. The recommendation in New Orleans is to eat where the cops go for lunch. This led me to a great place for red beans and rice and fried chicken. An equivalent in New York is to ask cab drivers where they get lunch. That led me to a great hole-in-the-wall place serving cheap, delicious South Asian food.
     
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Zaviya Grill

    Keywords are look for: nihari, paya, haleem, halal (muslim).
    Some places only serve this on the weekends and after they run out, they are out.
     
  8. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Chinese restaurants in San Gabriel / El Lay area inspection ratings: "B" rating means best. "C" means you can actually get sick. "A" means they are using too many pesticides and rat poisons, worrying about making the place look clean for gentrified non-locals than making awesome food. The critters and bugs know when food is good.
     
  9. HHS

    HHS Almost "Made"

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    Have you spent time in the Texas panhandle at all? My wife and I are setting off on a ~6 month road-trip in March before we ultimately land in Orlando (permanently?) and our first longish stop will be a few weeks in New Mexico, so we'll pass through Texas on route 66 on the way there. We'll be making a couple of one or two night stops on the way to NM to break up the driving, wondering if it'd be worth it to make one of our stops in Texas
     
  10. fastfwd

    fastfwd Friend

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    Interesting. In other California cities, "B" often means bacteria. "A" and "B" have pest-control services on the same schedule, but the "B" places leave food uncovered, don't keep it cold enough, have inadequate handwash facilities, etc.
    Gross.
     
  11. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I had a chuckle when I found out that high schoolers are required to watch this video in order to graduate in Texas. Personally, I think every state should implement something like this to avoid unnecessary police incidents.

     
  12. Erroneous

    Erroneous Friend

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    "Here's how to lower your chances of death during a traffic stop (as long as you're not black or brown)." ...But we're going to have primarily black or brown people in the video because reasons.
     
  13. haywood

    haywood Friend

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    Contrary to popular media narrative the number of deaths from traffic stops where the subject didn’t resist arrest is minuscule. Informing students about what to expect and how to act during a traffic stop is good practical education. Honestly it probably should be required viewing not just for high school students but anybody renewing their license.
     
  14. HHS

    HHS Almost "Made"

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    I personally take any "resisting arrest" statistics with a huge grain of salt as there is a huge range of actions that get thrown under the resisting umbrella, from something as serious as brandishing a weapon to something like not obeying commands quickly enough.
     
  15. Bobcat

    Bobcat Friend

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    I think you underestimate the difficulty of reading people's intent. I spent a couple of years as a deputy sheriff and was amazed at the people you would never consider to be a threat who turned out to be exactly that. One of the deputies in my county was stabbed while trying to keep a guy from beating the c**p out of his wife. Oh, it was the wife who stabbed the deputy.
     
  16. MisterRogers

    MisterRogers Ethernet Nervosa

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    Yup. I worked in Forensics / electronic discovery for many years, which has a very high percentage of ex-law enforcement. The stories they told...
     
  17. HHS

    HHS Almost "Made"

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    Oh yeah, no doubt it's messy business all around
     
  18. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    A death resulting from a traffic stops where the subject didn’t resist or comply or understand commands, should be a never event. There are some police that are not good at de-escalating and putting the subject at ease while still remaining prepared. Often misreading situations. Only in situations where lives are threatened should deadly force be used. I don't know why that one sentence can be so difficult. We are in a spot where a white mass shooter is somehow captured and some others are not so lucky. I know the media and what we see makes it seem like a bigger issue, but it should still not happen. It is just sad. Because it does happen and we know it all does, no matter how miniscule we make the issue out to be.
     
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  19. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Ewwwww not in this thread
     
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  20. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    I know it's your thread and forum @purr1n , but what YMO said.
     

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