Choice City Butcher and Deli

104 W. Olive St., Fort Collins, CO

Most of my meals in Fort Collins were taken with relatives and I ate very well but I had done some research in case I had time to grab a meal or two on my own.  Not surprisingly I found Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai but also an Afghan kabob place, Ethiopian and Nepalese.  Not bad for a college town the size of Fort Collins known mostly for it's craft brewing scene.

As interesting as those sounded at the top of my list of places to try was Choice City Butcher and Deli, right downtown.  And at the top of the menu for me.....

the Colorado Corned Buffalo Reuben, one of five Reuben variations they offer, dressed with sauerkraut, homemade Thousand Island dressing, and Swiss cheese, grilled on rye bread.  This is the half order and was a perfect size for me; a whole order has more meat on it.

I had arrived almost an hour early for lunch, the result of my never having adjusted the clock on the dashboard, but the wait was worth it (well, when I realized the delay was my fault and not just very slow service).  The Reuben is one of the greatest culinary inventions of all time and this was a very good version and one of the best treatments of buffalo I can ever remember having.  The bright and fresh homemade Thousand Island dressing upended a couple of decades of disdain on my part for that style of dressing. A kosher dill pickle spear, a classic accompaniment, added to the enjoyment; the Lemon Dill Cole Slaw was just okay.

Choice City Butcher and Deli

Tocabe - An American Indian Eatery

8181 E. Arapahoe, Greenwood Village, CO

As I was researching places to eat when I briefly passed through Denver, Tocabe was the second place I found and it marked the end of my search.  I only expected to have at most two meals in Denver and probably only one.  I never got to go to Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs, the first place I found, so  I never got to taste the Alaskan Reindeer Dog or the Jack-A-Lope dog, said to be mythically delicious.

As alluring as those dogs sounded, the Bison Ribs and Fry Bread at Tocabe were calling my name more insistently.  I chose a hotel right there in Greenwood Village for my overnight stay, just so I'd be close by.

When I was a kid my family traveled across the southwest several times on the way to visit relatives up and down the west coast.  We stopped at Navaho Curio shops but never experienced even Fry Bread (actually, mostly we cooked our own food on a Coleman camp stove as we camped out often.  Finding reliable roadside eats was a lot harder when I was a kid than it is now).  So eating American Indian food at Tocabe was a first for me.

I expected hulking ribs but they were not large; there was a lot of meat on them.  (There's a better picture on the website).  They are apparently braised and then finished on a grill.  Bison is a very lean meat, of course, and the ribs were very well done but not to the falling-off-the-bone stage.  The seasonal berry (blueberry) barbecue sauce that accompanied the ribs helped, but I missed the juicy fat of pork or beef ribs.  I had no trouble finishing all three ribs I was served and the barbecue sauce was also good for dipping the Fry Bread.

As for fried bread - but of course.  Fry Bread makes every thing better.

For a side I went with their rice.  It's not listed on the online menu and I can't remember if it was called Indian Wild Rice or just Wild Rice on the menu board.  It's a black rice with kernel corn, diced red onion and a berry or grape for sweetness.  It wasn't tart enough for cranberry but I couldn't decide if it was a kind of cherry or red grape.  But it was delicious.  According to this article they use Red Lakes Nation rice from Minnesota.  That article and this one reveal more of their ingredient sources, too.

The eatery has been compared to Chipotle.  Never having been inside a Chipotle I'm not positive what the comparison is but I think it has mostly to do with the service line, where you pick all the toppings you want on your Indian Tacos.  They have 2 locations and a mobile unit now.  If there is to be another Denver chain make it to Houston, I hope it's this one.

Tocabe

Dr. Field Goods Kitchen

2860 Cerrillos Rd., Santa Fe, NM

This was another recommendation by a poster on Hungry Onion.  I really wanted to try some Green Chile Stew during my brief pass through New Mexico but I just couldn't pass up the signature sandwich at this farm-to-table restaurant.  It's called the New Mexican on the menu, green chile rubbed and smoked pulled pork served on a bun baked by  Dr. Field Goods Bakery, Butcher Shop and Deli, about 50 paces away in the same shopping center, topped with sharp cheddar, green chile and apple jicama slaw, served with Field Good potatoes.  After just one bite I began to regret I wasn't going to be staying around to sample a lot more of this menu.  This was an excellent sandwich.

I also had the house made ginger ale - muddled ginger, fresh squeezed lemon juice, simple syrup and soda water.  It was a bit on the sweet side for me.

I'm sure if I lived in Santa Fe, or visited often, I'd spend a lot of time here and at the companion shop just down the way.

Santa Fe bills itself as a very friendly city and I certainly experienced that here and at Plaza Cafe.

Dr. Field Goods

Plaza Cafe Southside

3466 Zafarano Dr., Santa Fe, NM

I was a tourist in Santa Fe and I wanted to do what tourists do - eat typical New Mexican fare, like a Green Chile Cheeseburger.  There are lots of contenders but a poster on Hungry Onion had recommended Plaza Cafe Southside and since it was near my hotel, I opted for it.

The original Plaza Cafe still operates in Old Town Santa Fe but this new location is said to be more popular with locals, for obvious reasons.  New Mexico grass-fed beef with sharp cheddar cheese and Hatch chiles - excellent.  I opted for the small (6 oz) burger.  It arrived a little over-cooked (I had requested medium rare) but was good nonetheless.

For a side I opted for the Charro Bean Soup.  A little more complex than the charro beans you'd get at a taco truck in Houston and very good.

Too bad I didn't have enough time in Santa Fe to try a few of the other contenders.

Plaza Cafe Southside

Taco Loco II

2501 S. Velasco (288 B), Angleton

Perhaps inspired by the Bronco Burrito of the Donut Shoppe and La Estacion in Galveston, Taco Loco (all the signage said II or 2) offers the Hippo, a breakfast taco with potatoes, egg, bacon, chorizo and shredded cheddar cheese on a flour tortilla.  The chorizo was very mild and amazingly greaseless - perhaps the grease was all absorbed by the other ingredients - and more like an American breakfast sausage than a Mexican chorizo, leaving the predominant tastes of the bacon and cheddar.  It all held together amazingly well.  Weighing in at almost 9 ounces, the Hippo lives up to its name. Nine ounces is a lot of taco.

An interesting brownish tinted salsa containing both tomatoes and tomatillos added some welcome heat. 

Roadside stand? Check.  There are a couple of weathered picnic tables on a concrete slab just off to the right, sans any shade, the slab itself a remnant of another structure rather than specifically constructed.  Signs tacked to a pole point to a restroom out back.  I didn't check it out but they may have been indicating the structure in the background that resembles an outhouse.

There are other tacos on the menu and some plates but it's the Hippo that is building this place's fame, with nothing but 5 star reviews on Yelp right now.   The taco was $3.50; extra cheese is available for an additional cost but it certainly isn't needed. 

Open until 2 pm, six days a week.  The Hippo is available until closing. I neglected to take a snapshot of the menu board.

Doreck and Sons Packing Co.

4101 FM 646 N, Santa Fe

For several years before I made the decision to do a blog I had been very much into barbecue, burgers, and Texas-made sausages and The Texas Sausage Trail was one of the first categories I established on this blog. But there are unforeseen twists and turns in life and the blog has become more focused on ethnic and neighborhood eats in Houston. I’ve only been up to Austin and Central Texas once in the past 3 years and I didn’t stop at any of the barbecue emporiums or smokehouses or butcher shops along the way on that trip. But it was about 3 years ago that I happened upon this place while researching another project down in the Santa Fe area.

It was a nasty day; the parking lot was full of mud-splattered vehicles of the 4WD and dually variety. Inside, coolers were stacked all over the place, bearing the names of the hunters whose bounty was inside.

When I finally found the meat cases there was only one variety of sausage, a pork and beef jalapeno sausage (they make other varieties I understand) so I grabbed a package and got back to work. Back home, I tossed the package in my freezer in a section devoted to sausages I’d collected on previous trips around the state.

It was only recently that I came across the package again and heated some up. To be honest my expectations weren’t too high for an unheralded sausage maker from Santa Fe. I had looked for something online back then and found nothing (there are a few brief mentions now). I was down to the last of the link before I remembered to take a picture and the little piece I had left is lost in the bun from Three Brothers. The first thing I had noticed was the rather larger pieces of jalapeno, confirmed by a more pronounced taste of jalapeno than one usually finds in jalapeno sausages, but it had only a modest amount of heat. It’s a medium-coarse grind, densely packed sausage; I hardly detected any smokiness; it might benefit from finishing off in a smoker rather than stove top as I did. However I was pleasantly surprised by this sausage and next time I get back down there I intend to check them out for some other varieties.

Arepas y Empanadas Dona Maria

1315 E. 1st Street (aka FM 1960B East), Humble

I first encountered this place just over 5 years ago. While tending to some business in Humble I happened across the trailer in the driveway of a large convenience store/gas station and pulled in. As I recall I wasn't even aware it was Venezuelan until I got within reading distance of the menu.

I was very impressed with the freshly fried, beautifully golden empanadas. It was my first experience with Venezuelan food and it was something of a revelation to encounter these little fried pies made with a corn instead of wheat based dough. I've also come to appreciate the fact they were freshly prepared as most Venezuelan (and Colombian) places prepare these in advance and keep them under heat lamps.

I stopped by a couple of times that week but have never had reason to go back to Humble until last month, when I thought I'd pick up an hallaca for my hallacas report. I wasn't that surprised to find that the cart was no longer there and mentioned in my report that it seemed to have gone out of business. I hadn't been worried because I thought a trip to Humble would be a good scouting trip anyway and I drove around all over downtown Humble hoping to spot it or a brick and mortar replacement, but to no avail.

After I posted that report I received a tip by email that there is a brick and mortar replacement and even a listing on Yelp! and, of all places, b4-u-eat.com. Sometimes I forget to check in the most obvious places. Still hoping to nab an hallaca or two I made a second trip to Humble and discovered I had passed right by the place and missed it, partly because the strip center it's located in doesn't face 1st Street but rather a small side street/driveway that's named Artesian Place, and it's rather far back from 1st Street. If I had been looking for a flag rather than a trailer or restaurant, I might have noticed the Venezuelan flag planted at the corner and flapping in the breeze but I didn't. (BTW, I've also received a tip there's a Puerto Rican place in Humble - there's a Puertorrican flag on the banner - and I spotted a big Indo/Pak grocery store. Who knew Humble was such an international city?)

I arrived too late for this year's supply of hallacas but I tried the other Venezuelan treat that's become a favorite, the Patacone, a sandwich which substitutes mashed, fried plantain slices for bread. This is the version with chicken, Patacon de Pollo, as they were out of the Carne Mechada. I wish they had had the beef so I could make a more direct comparison to all the others I've had but I have to say I really liked this with it's very thin plantain that was as crispy as kettle potato chips and seemed to soak up less grease that the much thicker slices I've encountered everywhere else.

I was presented with four sauces - I think these are all considered variations of guasacaca. What's a poor, non-Venezuelan boy to do? I had no idea which one would be best so I used all four, making for a wonderfully, wonderfully messy and tasty sandwich (the basic ingredients include cheese, ketchup and mayo).

The menu includes the usual arepas, cachapas, tequenos, empanadas and pastelitos plus Pabellon Criollo and Hervido de Res con Arepa (beef soup). Patacones are available with beef, chicken, pernil and queso de mano. There are hamburgers made with beef or chicken available with egg and avocado added plus Pepitos which are Venezuelan versions of po'boys dressed with cabbage, parmesan cheese and potato sticks. There are also tacos, tortas, burritos and pupusas. The restaurant is open Monday thru Saturday, 7a - 7p.

Dona Maria is already at the top of my list for my hallacas roundup next year and I hope to find an excuse to make the trip to Humble again before then to try some of the other items on the menu.

The Kolache Shop

120 S. Hwy 288 B @ Main Street, Clute


Behold the celebrated and award-winning Jalapeno Pig. It was named Grand Champion of the state of Texas in 2007 in a statewide kolache competition. This place does call their offerings pigs-in-a-blanket rather than sausage kolaches or klobasneks. It’s about twice the size of any I’ve had before, weighing in at about 6 or 6 and a half ounces, with a good chunk of sausage with natural casing, not just a lil’ smokey or breakfast link much less a wiener, with a modest amount of cheese but a generous amount of jalapeno. An extra attraction is the bread, said to be from a family recipe. It’s more of a country style white bread with a coarser grain than most kolaches with a nice crust and crumb. The bread is also available as rolls. The pigs come with or without cheese and jalapeno, of course, and also as ham and cheese. Another option is the Fajita Pig - fajita meat and Monterey Jack in the same bread. Apparently it’s their fastest seller but I didn’t like it nearly as much. I'm a sausage-aholic though, and not much of a fajita fancier.

Their kolaches, in only about a half-dozen varieties, are quite substantial, too, but not as good as some of the best I’ve had from the Original Kolache Shop on Telephone Road or Kountry Bakery in Hallettsville and Schulenberg or Weikel’s outside La Grange.

They’re open only limited hours, 5 to 11 am, Monday thru Friday. The shop is neat on the inside, with booths and a few tables and a very friendly staff as you would expect in a small Texas town. These may not be worth a special trip from Houston to try but if you’re in the area it’s a real good bet for a breakfast nosh.

Sankalp

16338 Kensington Dr., Sugar Land

Pure Indian Vegetarian, The Taste of the Country and The Taste of South are some of the descriptive phrases in the window and on the menu and website for this restaurant. I went down to check out the Chaat House that used to be at this location and was surprised to see it replaced by this. I was even more surprised when the silverware holder on the table and the menu informed me it's part of a chain of more than 50 restaurants across the country. The country referred to is India; there are only a handful of locations in the US, 5 or 6 currently, but more are being added. I don't eat at a lot of chains but I was interested to see how the food might compare to some of my favorite places in Little India. I wondered, do Indians have higher expectations of chain restaurants, higher standards?

The restaurant is based in Gujurat and serves the foods of South India including the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The menu is thick both because of the binding and rather thick stock and also larger type but it is not overly long. In the Idli Stall section are almost a dozen offerings; in the Dashing Dosaz section, well over a dozen. There are Amazing Uthappams, Ravishing Ravas and so on.

I had been anticipating a vegetarian meal but wanted something substantial; there were two vegetable kurmas and I settled on the Chettinad Kurma with a Malabari Porotta. I had no idea what Chettinad referred to but the Wikioracle has revealed to me that Chettinad is a region in Tamil Nadu State that is known for it's spicy and aromatic dishes. I noticed when the dish was placed before me that it was very aromatic and it also proved to be wonderfully spicy. I had wondered if the spices would be tamed down for a chain restaurant's clientele which I generally think of being less adventurous eaters but if this had been tamed down at all, the unadulterated version might be outside my comfort zone for heat. There were peas, still with a bit of crunch, carrots, small florets of broccoli and cauliflower, green beans or long beans, a little corn, I think. I was very pleased by the dish; it was one of the two best vegetable kurmas I've ever had and certainly the spiciest. The portion was a little small but kurma is very filling and I left satisfied.

I was given a choice of steamed rice or Malabari Porota to accompany this. I've been eating almost exclusively Indian and Thai food for several weeks and was getting tired of rice so I went with the Porota. The Malabari Porota is produced by rolling out the dough in a long thin strip, coiling it up into a multi-layered circle about the size of a corn tortilla and then frying it. It proved to be very good, easily torn into pieces and excellent for sopping up the kurma. It was smaller than other porotas/parathas I've had.

This is outside my usual grazing range and I don't turn to chain restaurants very often but a few days later, hungry for some Indian food, I thought I'd give it another try to see if my first impressions held up. There was a problem, though. The restaurant was in it's first 2 weeks of operation and there were recurring equipment problems; 2 of the first 4 times I tried to eat there they weren't open when the sign said they should be, some dishes could not be prepared and the kitchen was slow overall. They were also very short staffed. I think all these problems have been taken care of by now. I tried again a couple of days later and caught them open.

According to the corporate website the company operates a chain of pizza parlors called Uncle Sam's and a chain of Northern Indian barbecue grill places called Saffron offering both meat and vegetable grilled items; all locations of both chains are in India. I wondered if any of the items from those menus also made it onto the Sankalp menu and I did find one pizza, a Chennai Pizza Uthapam. I wasn't in the mood for pizza, however, so I went for a quesadilla.

This is the Madurai Sandwich Uthappam. The way it was described by the waitress and the way it looks I thought: This is an Indian vegetarian quesadilla (there is a cheese version with paneer). This was two thin, light uthappams, more pancake-like than any Uthappams I've had, layered with peas and carrots and curry paste and maybe a few other vegetables, garnished as you see. It brought a smile to my face plus it was tasty. Madurai is a city in Tamil Nadu; I don't know if this is a typical dish there or a creation of the restaurant's menu development department but I don't care how authentic it is - it was tasty and fun and I was encouraged to try more of their Uthappams. The waitress said you could pick it up and eat it like a sandwich if you liked but I think it would have been pretty messy.

The Uthappam came with a dipping bowl of the house coconut chutney and was preceded by a small cup of a spicy and sour Rasam and a cup of Sambar, plus four house chutneys. I had seen these being served at other tables but didn't get any with my Kurma. The portions of Rasam and Sambar were small but a server came around offering to refill both, even offering to leave the saucier on the table. The chutneys included, from the left, Coconut, Gunpowder, Mint/Coriander/Chile Pepper and Garlic. I went straight for the garlic chutney and was sure it was going to be my favorite until I tried the coconut and mint/coriander concoctions. Those were all good but I didn't get much spice or flavor or anything out of the gunpowder chutney. I learned on a subsequent visit that gunpowder chutney is produced from ground spices, ground lentils and oil and the ingredients tend to settle. You have to dig down in the cup and stir it up to get the spices and flavor, at the top is mostly oil.

With this meal I also ordered the restaurant's version of Chhas, the Indian buttermilk, which is also referred to as Neermore on the menu. As served here is was thicker than any I've had before, the same texture as American cultured buttermilk but not as sour; it was not as spicy with cumin and cilantro as others I've had but I liked it.

I had decided Sankalp was worthy of a blog post, perhaps blowing any credibility I might have as an explorer of off-beat eateries, but I wanted to visit one more time to try something on the Dosa menu. Dosas are a fascinating food, thin, light crepes with a spicy filling. Well, the Masala Dosa is fascinating and can be excellent. My favorite is at Shri Balaji Bhavan. But every time I've tried other varieties of dosas I've been disappointed. The menu here offers 2 dosa combination plates, the Three Barrel Dosa, one of them being Nilgiri that I can remember, and the Dosa Combination Platter and I wanted to try one of those to sample three dosas at the same time. I ordered the Dosa Platter which included an achar dosa and a Chennai dosa with seasoned paneer, plus one other I've forgotten. These were described as small but each was about 10 or 11 inches in length. They looked like three large breakfast burritos on the plate. This came with the Rasam and Sambar plus the four chutneys. To my surprise my favorite was the sour and salty achar dosa but overall this was the least satisfying meal of the three I've had; I still don't get dosas, other than the Masala Dosa.

The website of the Sugar Land store is under construction. On the corporate website you can find out more about the company including their Guinness World Record Dosa. Click on the Sankalp page on the home page and then on Menus at the top to see a pdf file of a menu that is close to the menu of the Sugar Land location. On the home page is a link to USA menus but the menus which come up there are very different. Apparently the Sugar Land store has a menu that is closer to what is offered in the restaurants in India than other US locations. I've identified a few items on the menu locally that are not on that corporate menu file and the menu you'll see at the restaurant has more elaborate explanations of the items.

Sugar Land seems to have a substantial Indian community; there are two other Indian restaurants on this short street and I've also eaten at Udipi and the new Indian Spices and Snacks on US-90A in old downtown Sugar Land. It will be interesting to see how this one fares.

The Frisco Shop

6801 Burnet Rd., Austin

Back in the dark ages, when I was a student at UT, one of my favorite restaurants was the Night Hawk on the Drag. I don't know how I managed to eat there as often as I did - Vienna sausages and saltines or canned soup warmed on a hot plate in my room was more common fare - but as my situation improved, I ate there 2 or 3 times a week. The daily plate lunch specials were very good eats; occasionally I'd splurge in the evening on one of the larger Top Chop't Steaks and on weekends, maybe a Frisco Burger with a gaggle of friends crammed into a booth.

Over the years, I often returned to the Night Hawk when I visited Austin. The chain briefly had a location in Houston far out on Westheimer but it didn't last and neither did the main restaurants in Austin. It got down to where the Frisco Shop on Burnet Rd. was the only outpost left; I'd visit it on occasion when in Austin and swear I recognized some of the waitresses (and customers).

Then a couple of years ago I heard that even the Frisco Shop was closing, a casualty of the drugstore wars in Austin. I made sure to stop by on my next visit to Austin for one last taste and caused some mild consternation with my camera.


The Top Chop't Steak was not as good as I remembered it, although a little better than the ones you can find in the freezer section of every grocery store in these parts. Likewise the fries, which I had remembered as the best I'd had up to that point, were somehow not as wonderful, limper and perhaps a little too greasy.


I had not been that fond of the Frisco Burger in my college and grad school days but over the years, perhaps as my taste in steaks improved, I turned to it more and more when I visited and I found it just as wonderful as ever. As is apparent from the picture it's very different from what most people want in a burger these days, smallish instead of so big you can barely pick it up, much less get it in your mouth. It's unique appeal lies partly in the special relish on the top bun, a blend of ketchup and pickle relish and maybe something else I think; it is also unfailingly freshly prepared and served on a toasted, soft bun.

The big surprise on this visit was the coleslaw, which I had completely forgotten over the years. Large shred cabbage, mildly acetic, crisp and well-chilled, it is perhaps my favorite restaurant coleslaw and I was amazed I could have forgotten it.

Recently I found out that the Frisco has reopened, apparently just a few yards away from the former location, and so I thought I would pay homage (and make use of these pictures). I'll be looking forward to a visit on my next trip to Austin.

The Frisco burger is one of my all time favorite burgers and it's good to know an old friend is going to be around for a few more years.

The Frisco Shop

Kasper's Meat Market

119 E. Post Office Street, Weimar, Texas

Back a couple of years ago when I was posting on one of the discussion boards about my interest in Texas sausage makers, I got a lot of suggestions for ones to check out. One good suggestion was Kasper’s in Weimar.

I’d been to Weimar before, on old US 90 just before Schulenburg, and didn't remember any meat market, but when I got around to looking into it I found Kasper’s has some very loyal fans.


Kasper’s has been in business since 1917. E. Post Office Street (which runs parallel to US 90 a block north) is also dubbed Old Sausage Avenue in honor of the town’s most famous business. Stepping inside the door is a trip back in time; the interior is time worn. there are ancient fixtures and some newer ‘country’ accouterments; the walls are lined with ancient clippings and photographs, including a framed picture of the La Grange Chicken Ranch and many of the town’s athletic heroes. Just across the meat cases which completely divide the room is the work area, giving me the feeling of being the closest I’ve ever been to being in a slaughterhouse.


I tried the ‘famous’ Weimar sausage, a beef and pork combination with natural casing. On my first visit I also picked up a jalapeno version of the same, a dry version of the same, and some of the wieners.

The sausage is unsmoked, mildly seasoned and excellent. It’s quite different in seasoning from most Texas sausages I’ve sampled and it goes right up to the very top echelon of my favorite sausages from Texas sausage makers. I was really kind of surprised I liked such a mildly seasoned sausage so much but the taste buds don’t lie.

The dry sausage likewise is excellent and is likely to replace the similar product from Patek’s Shiner Smokehouse as my favorite dry sausage. The natural casing beef and pork wieners already have done so, eclipsing the all beef but skinless Shiner Dogs from Patek’s.

One post online says that Kasper’s uses casings that have not been soaked in salt so don’t get tough when cooked. They give an excellent, slight snap when bitten into or cut.

The Wiki article on Weimar says that people flock to Kasper’s on Saturday for barbecue. Not wanting to be left out of all the fun, I made sure to schedule a trip through the area on a Saturday. I arrived just after 1 PM; there was only one parking space left on the entire block but upon entering I could neither smell nor see any barbecue being served. What I did observe was people lined up 3 and 4 deep all across the front of the meat cases, placing big orders for meats or waiting for their orders to be taken. Like what I've witnessed at Vincek’s in nearby East Bernard, Weimarians must be big meat eaters and I can imagine the meat departments of the 2 local grocery stores I saw might get pretty lonely.

I had seen a sign at a service station at the exit off I-10 (Chevron? Mobil?) that they carried Kasper’s sausages so I just headed over there to stock up on some of the ones I was familiar with but they had only a few samples of jerky; most of what the store had in its meat case was from Prasek’s in Hillje, about 40 miles south. Prasek’s is available all over this region and even in some supermarkets in Houston and I’ve had it before , though it’s been a couple of years; I think Kasper’s is better.


On yet another trip through the area I picked up more of the basic product and some more of the dried sausage, plus the liver sausage, which is excellent, like all the others I’ve tried. (I haven’t tried their boudin). One of these trips I’m also going to buy a roast or some steaks and see what their fresh meats are like.

Another fan of Kasper’s has posted a photo of the menu on the wall which also shows just a glimpse of some of the furnishings.

Kasper's


Side trip: the day there was no barbecue I needed something to eat. Rather than heading back to Schulenburg 10 miles away I went back into town and stopped at Franklin Fried Chicken, on W. Main, close to the high school, an old fashioned, small town chicken shack.


The very nice lady at the window admitted the potato salad is store bought but the slaw is home made. The potato salad was only so-so; the slaw was good, except for the texture - it was all finely minced and I like the cabbage in a larger shred or dice.


The chicken was not bad; I’d stop here again rather than try to find one of the chain outlets in Schulenburg or Columbus. The most amazing thing was the thigh meat which was darker than any thigh meat I’ve seen in a long time. Chickens are slaughtered so young these days their meat develops little flavor and it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference between breast meat and thigh meat just based on color or taste. This was very good.

There’s was also a Bob’s Cookshack on W. Main that was open, serving barbecue and other items, another place to eat in beautiful downtown Weimar.

Froberg Farm

UPDATE:  THERE IS NOW AN ENTRANCE DIRECTLY OFF OF HIGHWAY 6 - 3601 W. Highway 6, Alvin, TX


I took a little trip down to Froberg Farm near Alvin before Christmas. Actually, I stopped off on the way home from a day trip to Galveston. I’ve heard about Froberg’s for years and have received gifts from there, but never been before. Partly this is because I’ve been warned it was hard to find; more on that below.

I’ve got an aunt who’s been going since the Frobergs were selling produce off of tables under the trees and pies out of their kitchen. The place has grown quite a bit, with a small warehouse-like store, shopping carts, and more. There’s a plaque on the wall dedicating the building to several Frobergs who’ve gone before.

There was a big display of gift baskets, shelves of home-baked pies, and tables of nuts, mostly probably not grown around here. The Snack Bar, fried pie central, offered an enticing array of home-made fried pies in paper pockets with hand-written labels, kept warm under heat lamps. There are also shelves of home-made pickles and jams and jellies and some other products produced elsewhere including salsas.


The produce bins are clearly marked with those items grown on the farm and I mostly stuck to those. I got a 5# bag of satsumas for $3.50. I have a satsuma tree but had not a single bud this past year so I was glad to get these. There were also ‘home-grown’ lemons which I suspected, and the cashier confirmed, were Meyer lemons. My Meyer tree likewise had no fruit this year, although it has numerous buds now. I also picked up some kumquats (my shrub produced only a handful) and some Honey Crisp apples (not from around here) for $1.39 a lb., a lot less that you usually see them in the grocery stores. I also got a few of their home-grown tangelos but passed on the grapefruit (all from the Valley I think); all they had were Rio Star and I prefer Ruby Red. I also passed on some beautiful, large bananas at $.60/lb.

Before leaving I picked up a couple of the fried pies. They had about a dozen varieties including some sugar-free and at least one breakfast fried pie (eggs, potatoes, bacon as I recall), but who wants breakfast when you can have dessert? I got a Sweet Potato and an Apricot Cream fried pie.

The sweet potato fried pie did not survive the trip home and could not make it to the photo session! It was great. I’ve never been a big fan of sweet potatoes and haven’t figured out why some people think it’s better than pumpkin in a pie, but this was excellent. The Frobergs make a very excellent, flaky pie crust. The apricot cream fried pie (not sure what the ‘cream’ denotes) was also good even at room temperature with large chunks of fruit preserves inside. The fried pies are $1.75 apiece and worth it.


The Honey Crisps were not as good as I’ve had before but the satsumas were so good I decided to get some more to share with family, friends and neighbors so I made another trip. I also picked up a Buttermilk Pecan pie and a jar of their dill pickles and a jar of their homemade fig preserves. The dill pickles are excellent; the label only lists ‘vinegar’ as one of the ingredients but I’d sure like to know what they're using; I don’t think it’s regular store bought white vinegar or rice wine vinegar, which is mostly what I’ve used in making pickles. The pie was good but not exceptional. I had to resist the temptation to buy some more fried pies, too.

I’ll be a regular at this place for the fried pies and pickles if nothing else but I’m sure on any visit it’ll be possible to find some locally grown, excellent produce. In fact, it wasn’t until after my second trip that I remembered the tangelos I had bought the first time and tried one and discovered they’re even better than the satsumas.


On leaving after the second visit I stopped in at the Greak’s Smoke House, a little shack on the end of the warehouse, and got a sliced beef sandwich and a regular sausage link.


The meats are pecan smoked and I found the brisket, a very generous amount of thick slices of beef with a deep pink smoke ring, was too acrid, I guess from the pecan smoke. I literally couldn’t eat it; it became more palatable when cooled off but ultimately I had to trim some of the exterior bark. The sausage, however, was excellent and they have several varieties. The price was kind of steep, $13 for a sandwich and less than a pound of link. There is no price list or menu posted anywhere so I was quite surprised. I doubt if I’ll get anything there again.

There are several picnic tables on the premises so you can chow down on your haul right away.


UPDATE - AS NOTED ABOVE, THERE IS NOW AN ENTRANCE DIRECTLY OFF OF HIGHWAY 6, WELL MARKED TOO, SO THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS ARE UNNECESSARY.  Now - about finding the place. It’s really quite simple contrary to what I’ve been warned. If you know where Alvin and Manvel are on Highway 6 you won’t even need a map. County Road 190 runs parallel to Highway 6 only about a city block south, on the other side of a rail line. About half way between Alvin and Manvel on 6 you should see the sign for County Road 146 and a temporary sign (plastic sheeting on a frame) for Froberg’s. There is a traffic signal at this intersection. Go south off Highway 6 for one block and just over the railroad, turn left for about 1 mile. Another way to get there is on the western outskirts of Alvin, look for County Road 149; go south over the tracks and turn right and go about 3 miles. They’re open 7 days a week except for holidays (Closed December 26th, too).

Froberg Farm

Antonini's Subs and Steaks

17314 Highway 3 @ Medical Center Blvd., Webster


I've had to make some trips to the Clear Lake area lately and had heard of this fabulous sub shop and finally had a chance to check it out. It's hidden behind a Valero but easy to find despite the poor signage since it's right at the intersection.

The owners are from Delaware judging by the posters and license plates on the wall. I've read before in a national forum that the Delmarva Peninsula is a mecca for sub lovers and this is my first chance to find out for myself.

The place is small and very plain; the menu is quite small. On my first visit I got a Special to go. The sandwich was huge with 2 meats, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and a very good hot pepper relish. I had noticed a big gallon jar of the relish sitting next to the cash register and now I knew why - they undoubtedly get lots of requests for it and they sell it ($21 a gallon). The bread is chewy rather than crusty and quite sturdy, which it needs to be to hold up to the sandwich's fixings since a lot of their business is take-away. It was a very good deal for just under $5.

On a second visit I tried their Cheesesteak which is a little more expensive, but only by a few cents. I thought it was a little odd it wasn't labeled a Philly Cheesesteak but once sampling it I can see it's a little different than what I think of as a classic Philly. There was a lot of thinly sliced beef, probably sirloin, plus provolone and grilled onions and more of the relish, plus mayo and ketchup. I had read about that ketchup online and so knew to ask that it be left off and only a smear of mayo be added. I think I did the right thing. The relish adds a nice twist to the sandwich which I think would only be muted by the ketchup (I'm not a big fan of ketchup for anything, anyway).

I definitely preferred the Special of the two sandwiches but when I ordered one of those again the owner steered me toward the Italian (pictured above) which he said is his best sandwich. It too was just a few cents more than the Special and has 4 meats instead of 2 (ham, peppered ham, salami, Lebanon bologna?) and was one of the best subs I've ever had. Right away, the Italian becomes one of my favorite sandwiches alongside the Chicago Italian Beef (seems to be a trend developing here) and much better than any Philly I've ever had. Too bad this place is an 80 mile round trip from where I live.

They have a selection of Zapp's and Lay's chips and some sodas and Tastykakes, the packaged snack cakes from Philadelphia that are very good, although the ones I've tried had been on the shelf a little too long.

Besides the gallon jugs, they sell the Bay Valley Foods Chopped Hot Pepper Relish in quart jars for $9. I'm going to have to pick some up. It'll go nicely on the condiments shelf alongside the harissa and sriracha, etc.

There's supposed to be a menu online but I haven't been able to get the website to come up. They do have a meatball sub that I haven't tried but I can't remember all the other sandwiches on the menu.

The Local - Kitchen, Market, Bakery

120 Circle Way, Lake Jackson

I had to make a trip to my old stomping grounds, Brazosport, and was looking for some good eats and happened on this place in my hometown. I suspected from the menu and the food that it was in some way connected to Cafe Annice just down the street and a review on b4-u-eat.com confirms that.

It's a sandwich shop (breakfasts, sandwiches, wraps, burgers, soups, salads) which also does rotisserie chickens and 'Premium' casseroles, which looked pretty good. Then there's the Starbucks coffee bar and Tazo tea, the pastry shop, and an eclectic market with imported African tableware, totes, coffee mugs, candles --- a hodge-podge one might expect to find in a sandwich shop in a touristy town, which Lake Jackson is not.

I tried the 'Upper West Side' sandwich (sandwich names are a little strained) - thinly sliced pastrami with melted Swiss cheese, fresh coleslaw and Creole mayo grilled on light rye. Mayo and pastrami? Yes, it worked for me. The sandwich was very satisfying, especially after an earlier visit to a local tamale shop where I left most of the food on the plate. I was not very happy with the potato salad side, however. Was that Thousand Island dressing instead of mayo? Next time I'll try the fruit salad side.

I've never been to Cafe Annice but heard nothing but good things about it and have been to a reception in town once catered by the restaurant at which the food was very good. I'll have no hesitation about visiting The Local again.

There's some interior shots and full menu on the website.

The Local

Junior's Texas Best Smokehouse

Mackay, TX, on US 59 between Wharton and El Campo


Junior’s is the retail outlet for H & B sausage company of El Campo. It’s a bit smaller than Prasek’s Hillje Smokehouse on the other side of El Campo, less touristy and with a smaller selection and menu.

The first time I stopped in I mostly window-shopped. I tried a sliced beef bbq sandwich and picked up some kolaches and a venison, jalapeno and cheese summer sausage. The sandwich was hefty, about 9 or 10 ounces of meat, but the meat was a little tough and underdone. A link sandwich or plate might be the better way to go here but if you’re hungry for bbq in this area I’d suggest you stop at Hinze’s up the road a piece in Wharton for some good pecan smoked Q.

They use a variety of meats in their summer sausages including beef, turkey, bison and venison. The sample I got was pretty good although I thought they used a mediocre cheese and the heat seemed more due to black pepper than jalapeno. Unlike a true summer sausage, refrigeration is required and I wound up tossing most of this after the power outage caused by Hurricane Ike.

On my second visit I also tried the elk jerky and some cheese and jalapeno survival sticks and venison survival sticks and more of the kolaches including a couple of Little Pigs, small sausage kolaches.

The best things I’ve had are the elk jerky ($31.99/lb) which was very light, not tough and chewy at all, the jalapeno and cheese survival sticks and the iced poppy seed roll which I’ve gotten both times (like a cinnamon roll but with poppy seeds). The kolaches have been good though nothing special.

The have a large variety of their own products - jams, jellies, pickled vegetables, seasonings, etc., plus products from Fischer-Wieser Farms and Fredericksburg Farms, both in Fredericksburg, and New Canaan products from Dripping Springs. I haven’t tried any of the Fredericksburg products but I’ve had products from New Canaan before and they are very good. The Jr.’s Texas Best Red Flame preserves I picked up (strawberry plus jalapeno) were more like jam than preserves and only so-so; the pickled sweet baby corn was very good though a tad too sweet for my taste (baby corn with pimentos done like bread and butter pickles).

On my second visit many of the meat display cases were empty for some reason. Jerky and survival sticks seem to be bigger here than sausages but I thought I remembered from my first visit more sausages to choose from. The had numerous frozen products including farm raised rabbits in cry-o-vac packs which looked like they had been marinated or seasoned; I wish I had picked one up. I did pick up some of their fresh smoked green onion sausage which was also available unsmoked and frozen. Compared to the similar product from Poffenberger’s Bellville Meat Market I picked up some months ago I wasn’t too impressed with this which seemed to have some filler material making it kind of mealy. It also had less of a green onion presence, though it looked very good.

Junior's Texas Best Smokehouse

The Texas Sausage Trail - Summer Sausages

I got into summer sausage as a snack a few years ago while trying the Adkins Diet and discovered some very good ones from our Texas sausage makers, much better than the nationally distributed ones like Hormel and Armour. I wasn't that impressed with the more widely distributed Texas brands, Burton and Blue Ribbon (just guessing on distribution here) but Chappell Hill and Holmes both make very good summer sausages and that’s only the beginning.

J Bar B out of Waelder makes a good one as I recall though I’ve only been able to get my hands on it twice (at Fiesta in Houston). J Bar B also produces the Earl Campbell brand but I didn’t care for that one very much. Eckermann’s from New Ulm also has a pretty decent one. Eckermann's may be available at Super WalMarts.

Still, I preferred to seek out the even smaller producers, some selling only on premises at small town butcher shops, smokehouses and meat markets. I really liked the 3 varieties from Vincek’s Smokehouse in East Bernard, regular, hot pepper cheese and black pepper encrusted, especially the pepper cheese one. They’re larger than usual. The picture shows a beef and pork link, black pepper encrusted summer sausage, hot pepper cheese summer sausage and a solitary piece of peppered jerky. I like to zap the cheese one briefly in the microwave until the cheese starts to melt and the fats run a little.

I also had a very good one several years ago that I found at Hinze’s Barbecue in Wharton, Poffenberger’s from Bellville Meat Market but haven’t seen it there since. It was an awesome black pepper encrusted one but apparently they’ve dropped that variety from their line. Poffenberger’s jalapeno cheese variety won a taste test last year but I have a couple of others I like better.

City Market in Schulenburg produces an unusual summer sausage that technically isn’t a summer sausage since it requires refrigeration. It includes beef and pork heart and brown sugar, among other things, giving it a flavor reminiscent of maple smoked bacon. Not my favorite but very good.

Jr.’s Texas Best in Mackay, on US 59 just north of El Campo, has several varieties, including a venison, cheese and jalapeno that is good. That’s the only one of their’s I’ve tried but I believe they also have buffalo summer sausages.

I recently tried a couple of summer sausages from B&W Meat Co. in Houston on North Shepherd outside the Loop, a venison and a jalapeno/cheese/beef one and wasn’t very impressed. B&W makes a large variety of sausages but a problem with summer sausages occasionally is small bits of bone and both the B&W summer sausages had more bits of bone and bigger pieces of bone than I’ve ever encountered and the beef one had gristle, too, something I’ve never encountered in any other summer sausage.

The best I have encountered is the jalapeno cheese summer sausage from Maeker’s in Shiner recently and it is excellent.

And then there are the dry sausages, and jerkies, and......it’s a rich field in which to indulge your taste buds.

Bellville Meat Market
Jr.'s Texas Best

See also the reviews of Maeker's and Vincek's on the sidebar.

V & V Sausage

Cistern, Texas




I first ‘discovered’ V & V smoked sausage several years ago at Pizzitola’s Barbecue on North Shepherd in Houston. I thought their sausage was the best thing they served and it comes from V & V in beautiful Cistern, Texas.

Shortly thereafter I stopped off at the V & V plant in Cistern on a trip to Central Texas. The ladies in the office were very nice and went into the plant and came back with a couple of packages of their sausages right off the line. They make only two varieties, a beef and pork and beef and pork with jalapeno. The recipe is an old Czech family recipe although the modern formulation includes textured vegetable protein and soy flour which gives the sausage a smoother texture than most sausages. They use natural casings.

V & V is carried by some of the larger HEB stores in the Houston area; you have to look for it, though, because, with only two varieties, they aren’t allotted a lot of shelf space like some of the other brands.

V & V Sausage

Pizzitola's

The Texas Sausage Trail - Maeker's, Shiner

I was tipped to Maeker’s by Houston food explorer Jay Francis, who is from Shiner originally. I was headed out for barbecue at Novosad’s in Hallettsville and to visit Patek’s Shiner Smokehouse but was glad to include another stop on the tour. It’s a real treasure and very easy to miss. On the west end of town, 90-A at 16th Street, Maeker’s is a combination package store, mini-meat market and tavern (parking can require careful maneuvering) that makes a small variety of sausages including a very unique bright red pork and beef wiener that I’m very impressed with. They must use very good cuts of meat for these dogs and the spices are very good – they are very savory, more interesting than any frankfurter I’ve ever had. They’re ready-to-eat but benefit from warming up. I kind of feel like it’s a shame serving these on standard issue hot dog buns but I haven’t figured out yet what else to serve them with.

And the wieners are not even the best find; Maeker’s beef, cheese and jalapeno summer sausage is probably my favorite Texas-made summer sausage, and the dry sausages are awesome, also.

Patek’s, on the other end of town, also makes some good wieners and dry sausages; I’ll report on them in an upcoming post. If all you’ve ever been to Shiner for is to visit the brewery, you’re missing a lot.

Maeker's

The Texas Sausage Trail - Austin's, Eagle Lake

I’ve driven through Eagle Lake many times and seen Austin’s BBQ but it had never been open and I had come to the conclusion it had gone out of business since the publication of Robb Walsh’s Legends of Texas Barbecue. But one Saturday last winter as I rolled through town I spied smoke and pulled right in. That was when I first saw the sign on the side of the building, well back from the street, that they’re only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Four days out of the week, Austin’s looks like an abandoned filling station, but on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, they open up the former service bays and roll out these big smokers and get to smoking.

I was not at all hungry but I really wanted to sample some of their wares while I could so I ordered a sliced beef sandwich. It was a very large sandwich on a big, soft, fresh bun; the meat had a 1/8" smoke ring and was tender, juicy and smoky, and the fixings included pickles, onions and sauce. My sandwich could have used a little more meat to fill up that big bun but it was good. There are some tables in a fenced in, covered area on the other side of the building but it was very chilly that day and I ate in the car. In fact every time I’ve been to Austin’s it’s either been miserably rainy or miserably cold and I’ve eaten in the car. There’s barely room inside the building to sidle along between the front wall and the counter to place your order.

Judging great Texas Q by a sliced beef sandwich is a mistake as far as I’m concerned and the only conclusion I drew from my first visit was that Austin’s was good enough to warrant another visit, so a couple of weeks later I made a special trip out to Eagle Lake and got a plate with one of their 2 varieties of potato salad and some beans on the side. I had re-read Walsh’s comments in the meantime and been reminded sausage is their best offering; Walsh also recommends avoiding the sauce but I come from a long line of DIYers and had to sample it for myself.

The brisket had less smoke ring than before but still was above average I’d say, but not really remarkable and it didn’t stand up to the sauce very well. The sauce is very tomato-ey and has the consistency of ketchup and I did not care for it. The potato salad was very good, better than what you get at many Q joints, and obviously home-made; the beans were very basic pintos with no special seasoning and were actually a little underdone so there’s no question they don’t just open up a can and dump these in a pot.

The highlight of the meal was the awesome sausage. I was so enthused by the sausage that I made a note to myself that it was quite possibly second only to Louie Mueller’s in Taylor. That’s very high praise and since I’ve had it several times now I do include it in my Top 4 of sausages at Texas BBQ joints (the list also includes Mueller’s, Black’s, and City Market in Luling). Though the sausage stood up to the sauce okay it would have been much better without it.

On still another visit I had a sausage plate and just opening it up brought a big smile to my face not only from the aroma but just the appearance of the food. I knew just by looking at that sausage it was going to be great. The sides included more of the home-made mayo potato salad - note the large chunks of potato - the salad also includes sweet red and green bell peppers and they also have a mustard potato salad. The slaw is of a creamy, sweet variety and I prefer vinegary but this was very good, ice cold and obviously freshly made, the cabbage still good and crisp. Unfortunately they didn’t hear me when I said to hold the sauce but at least the sausage wasn’t swimming in it.

The special of the day on one of my visits was fried catfish and it looked pretty pathetic. A sign on the door on a couple of visits indicates they serve cabrito on occasion but it’s never been available when I’ve been there. I understand they raise their own goats and only occasionally slaughter one.

I brought some of their sausage home after one visit. They make 2 varieties, pork and pork with jalapeno but it’s only partially cooked and I didn’t go to the trouble to get out the smoker to prepare it and it’s not as good as what I had at the joint – it needs more smoke flavor.

Besides their own product, I’ve seen some sausages from Eckermann’s in New Ulm for sale; Eckermann’s is available in some Super WalMarts in the Houston area, Fiesta, Kroger, HEB and Brookshire Brothers are also listed on their website. It’s a pretty decent sausage in it’s own right but it’s no match for Austin’s.

If you’re headed west thru Eagle Lake on US 90A, Austin’s is on your left just before 90A veers off to the left and FM 102 goes straight into the old part of downtown Eagle Lake. On a recent visit I noticed the sign in the window indicates they’re open for a few hours on Wednesday and Sunday around lunch time.

Austin's

El Campo - the 2nd Sausage Capital of Texas?

Nowak’s Meat Market, 205 N. Washington, El Campo (just north of Business 59 right downtown)

One of the inspirations for this blog is Texas sausage, an important part of our culinary heritage which sometimes gets short shrift compared to barbecue, Tex-Mex, chili and chicken fried steak, and I have enjoyed for several years investigating small town butcher shops and smokehouses for their sausages.

There are 3 places in El Campo, or at least claiming an El Campo mailing address: Prasek’s, which is actually located in Hillje a few miles south on US 59, Jr’s, the retail outlet of H & B Sausage Co. of El Campo, located in Mackay about 5 miles north of El Campo on US 59, and, right downtown in El Campo, Nowak’s Meat Market.

Compared to Vincek’s in nearby East Bernard Nowak’s is a small shop. They told me they’ve been in business for 26 years but the building looks like it’s been there a lot longer than that and there are relics of a much earlier mercantile era in a corner of the store. The heritage is Bohemian according to the clerk. A hand lettered sign taped to the front door the first time I visited advertised frying sized rabbits were available; I wondered about squirrels?

They only make 3 sausages here, a half and half (beef and pork), all pork, and a turkey summer sausage that is about 95% turkey and 5 percent pork from what they told me. They also carry a number of other sausages they don’t produce on premises including some interesting looking hot links and turkey franks plus Taylor wieners, a beef and pork, natural casing frankfurter from Taylor Meat Company in Taylor. I had never heard of this company before but apparently they’re widely distributed in Central Texas.

I like the summer sausage; it’s mildly flavored and probably a little healthier for you than a typical beef or beef and pork summer sausage. I’ve found the all pork sausage to be tastier than the half and half which is a bit too lean; both have natural casings. (I’ve only pan grilled them on the stove not in the smoker).

The Taylor wieners are good too, almost as good as my favorite Texas made wiener, Shiner Dogs from Patek’s Shiner Smokehouse.

They had some jerky but I didn’t ask if they made it themselves and some boutique produced preserves, etc., some of it from a company in Corpus Christi, plus a couple of their own canned items that I saw, beets and sauerkraut.

I plan to report on Prasek’s and Jr.’s in upcoming posts.