Our Main Street Meal

Well, as you all can imagine it's getting harder and harder to get out and about these days! With Christmas coming, and having kids, and expecting another (my goodness!) It's hard to find the time to get our night out on the town. However, last night we finally had some Mommy and Daddy time so we bundled up and hit downtown for a quaint (but freezing cold!) evening.

First we hit Viejo's and it was below 40 degrees, so we were eager to sit inside and warm our bones! We ordered a Chicken Quesadilla, a bowl of Tortilla Soup, the new Beef Skewers, and of course the hubby had a little fun with a margarita! (Oh yah, we ordered queso too!) We really enjoyed our meal, and I thought the Tortilla Soup was absolutely scrumptious! It did it's job and we could feel the love in the "homey" atmosphere. After dinner we stopped in at Maxine's for desert and coffee. I had the Chocolate Creme, and he had the Pumpkin Pie. It was the PERFECT way to cozy up before heading home!

Downtown was gorgeous, the shops are starting to decorate their windows for Christmas, and main street is glowing with lamps and snowflakes. I really love our small little main street strip and the truly small town atmosphere we have. It made for a brisk but romantic winter date night! So if you can brave the cold, head downtown...Viejo's is even giving discounts for you brave winter loving souls!

It's been a while...

Hey there Bastropians! We've not written in a while, so we wanted to check in and say hi! We've been lagging on our restaurant reviews lately, as it gets harder and harder to find new and exciting places to go! We also have been getting super busy getting ready for a new baby in our house, so we haven't had much opportunity to get out! We wanted to check in with y'all though, so I thought why not find out what everyone is doing for Thanksgiving?!?!

What do you do for Turkey Day?? Do you cook, or do you leave that to the chef in your house??

At the little birdie house, it's kind of a family affair! This year, we're going to have a slumber party and start the baking on Wednesday. I'm really excited, because desserts are my FAVORITE thing to cook! I'm thinking I'll make my Grams RED VELVET CAKE this year, and if you're lucky...I may share the secret! Over the next week, I'm going to start collecting recipes and my MIL and I will finalize our menu. As we go along, I'll share with you what we're doing! Is there a favorite dish you like to cook? Share your recipes with us! The holidays are always a GREAT time to get creative, don't you think?

La Hacienda (Bastrop, Tx)

We finally were able to try the ever so elusive La Hacienda restaurant this week, and I must say…based on many of your reviews so far I expected it to be much much worse! In all fairness I think we need to give these folks a chance. As someone said on Facebook earlier “the last thing Bastrop needs is another Mexican food restaurant!” and we couldn’t agree more! They really are attempting to introduce us to another side of Mexican food, and take it from a Southern Californian….Tex Mex is NOT the only way to go!

La Hacienda has a great atmosphere; it’s beautifully decorated and pristinely cleaned! They’ve got high standards, and that’s something that we DEFINTELY need around here! Our server was incredibly sweet, and really excited about working there!  We ordered two entrée’s and one soup, and over all the flavors were great! The major problem that we experienced was that each dish seemed to be missing just a little something. If La Hacienda would make sure to taste their dishes before serving, I think that would help tremendously! We ordered the (and please excuse me if I get something wrong here…) Suiza Pollo Enchiladas (below), a bowl of Pozole (to the right), and I had the Carnitas Pibil. (I think that’s what it was called anyway….). The Enchilada sauce was really tasty, it was some kind of green creamy avocado sauce, the thing we missed was some kind of seasoning on the chicken.  You could tell that the chicken was nothing more than poached with maybe a little salt in the water, and that was it. It definitely needed more. Unfortunately, same story on the Pozole, the richness of the broth was there and it again tasted yummy, but I asked for fresh lime and pico to go with it. The broth is very fatty, and it needed something fresh to help cut through that richness. Lastly, my dish, the Pork Pibil dish…this was my favorite! The meat was well seasoned, and really well cooked BUT again it was missing something. I was not impressed with it’s presentation (pictured below) and the plate could have used some fresh garnishes to go with…like avocado, or grilled peppers, something to help fill up your taco! The sides were good, but again the beans were lacking salt and pepper, you could taste the Shiner Beer, which I really enjoyed and appreciated but it needed more. All in all La Hacienda just opened, and they FOR SURE need to work out some kinks, but if they paid a little more attention to detail, they could become a real asset to our small town community!

Paw Paw's Catfish House (Bastrop, Tx)

Ok, so I have a confession to make. The Mr. and I ARE NOT fish fans, and especially NOT catfish fans but this weekend we finally bit the bullet and decided to give Paw Paw’s a try! My little ones like fish a whole lot and I like to expose them to new things so we figured someone in our group was bound to like something!
First, I have to say what an adorable little spot! They have done a really great job of decorating this place, and they treat it with pride which believe it or not, is not always the case around here. The people at Paw Paw’s really have tried to go the extra mile. They have even strategically placed a little wind up fishing game at each table to keep the kidlets occupied while you eat. Mine enjoyed it so much we had to go buy one on the way home!

Like I said before, us adults do really do fish…but no worries we found plenty to eat! Brandon ordered the Maw Maw Burger, and I ordered their Grilled Chicken Strips. (I’m trying to watch my waistline before our cruise next week!) We had the kiddos split the Paw Paw’s Platter, which has Catfish and Shrimp, French Fries and Hushpuppies. Everything was delicious! We had one minor issue with our Burger, but the manager was so quick to jump to and rectify the problem we were extremely pleased. The Chicken was cooked very well; it was moist and looked really nice! The batter on the fish wasn’t too heavy, and my favorite thing in the world was the Hushpuppies! I think I may just order those and a beer next time I go! The plates also came with southern green beans, and coleslaw which were also amazing! They have successfully added their own little twists to some very traditional sidesMy only suggestion would be to ask for the Grilled Chicken to come blackened. I didn’t, and the only seasoning on them seemed to be salt and pepper. I appreciate simplicity, but Chicken can be VERY bland on its own and I notice they had a blackened Catfish. I doubt it would be too much trouble to throw a little of that, on that Grilled Chicken next time I go. However the fact that they even offer something that isn’t battered and deep fried is a big time plus!

Anyway, go give Paw Paw’s a try if you haven’t already! You’ll be pleasantly surprised, and don’t be afraid to take the kids! It makes me feel like a huge success if they’ll eat something that even I won’t touch, so I think Paw Paw’s will become a family hit in the little birdie household! Don't forget to tell them a little birdie sent ya!

What's for dinner? Sesame Lemon Chicken!

Obviously my family LOVES to eat out, but we can't do that every night...and actually we cook quite a bit in my house so I thought y'all might like to try this new recipe I found in my new Food Network magazine! It was relatively easy, and I changed a few things but it was still delicious! Anyway here it is!

The recipe:



 

Here's what you need:



 



You do have to grind up your spices...and a re-purposed baby bullet works perfectly! ;]] All you do it rub it on the chicken, and then broil each side for 10 minutes. I began mine on HI to get it nice and hot then turned it back down to LO to cook the chicken.



 

And voila! It came out great! Nice and moist, really lemony!. ;]] I think next time I will toast my sesame seeds a little longer, because they weren't very strong...but still very tasty, and really pretty healthy! A GREAT midweek family dinner!

Simply Sweet (Bastrop, Tx)

After much anticipation over the last couple of months, I finally walked my butt into Simply Sweet last Thursday to try our very own cupcakery! I don't know why I had waited so long, but it definitely won't take months for my next visit!

Everyday Simply Sweet offers an array of fresh cupcakes to quell your sweet tooth. On Thursday morning, they offered chocolate with strawberry icing, vanilla with sprinkles, red velvet, lemon, chocolate with chocolate icing, and their flavor of the day...Irish Cream. I ordered one of each in the mini size, and one large chocolate with peanut butter icing (just for me!). The sugar must have spread, because I was feeling sweet! I took my bountiful treasure to my In laws to get some extra input for my review. Within a matter of minutes half of the minis were gone...and my 2 year old had eaten 3!! They were amazing! The peanut butter frosting was rich and creamy, the italian cream was whipped and light, all of the cakes were moist and fluffy, the red velvet was classic, and it took all my might to not go back and get more the next day. I tried to save one of each for the hubby to try...but by the time he got home he only got to taste one!

The coolest part about Simply Sweet is that (in my opinion) they deliver amazingly tasty sweets at a reasonable price. I've visited cupcake bakeries that charge $5.00 or more for their cupcakes...so for $2.00 a cake ($1.00 for a mini) I don't know why they don't have a line out their door! I even grabbed a cupcake gift card for my loyal facebook followers, and Rebecca is anxious to drop by and try Simply Sweet too!

So happy I've found my sweet tooth haven!

Viejo's Tacos Y Tequila

Hey y’all! How’ve you been?? It’s been a little while since we last reviewed a restaurant for you, but last Friday we got to attend a special tasting for Viejo’s Tacos Y Tequila and we wanted to tell you all about it!

First of all we sat at the most incredible table of people, and had an amazing time chatting with everyone and making new friends. Viejo’s definitely knows how to throw a good party! Our server was so sweet, and very accommodating. All of the members of the staff were so eager and excited to serve us, we really felt special! We got served 5 courses from start to finish and to drink they served us what will be their house margarita. (Oh boy, is it a kicker!) So we started with a fresh ceviche that was made with Tilapia, and garnished with fresh tomatoes, cilantro, avocado, and lime juice. I’m not a huge fan of fish, but gave it a taste and actually I found it really yummy. The fish was fresh, (I HATE a fishy taste, if it smells fishy I won’t eat it!) and it looked beautiful too!

Next came the tacos, and we got to try 4 different kinds. They served us a Carne Asada, a Chicken, a Pork, and a Fish taco. Everything had amazing flavor! My absolute favorite was the Chicken, but it does have a bit of an after bite to it, and will kick you in the pants if you aren’t careful! The Pork taco was served with a fresh mango salsa which was amazing! They’ll be making a couple of tweaks here and there before their grand opening this June, but overall the flavors they have created are unique and delicious! Viejo’s will be a great little tapas bar, serving mostly tacos and finger foods with a great bar filled with local Tequila. We can’t WAIT till they open, and will be there with bells on every chance we get!

Cartwright's Smokehouse (Bastrop)

Hey y’all! I truly am sorry for such a late posting, kids and jobs and life are definitely keeping this family busy!! But…I wanted to take some time to tell you about the visit we had at Cartwright’s Smokehouse last weekend, because we had an amazing time! To tell you the truth, I’m not too sure of the relation between this Cartwright’s and the one that used to be in the new Verizon building next to Walmart…so if any of you know please…??? But we were happy to see that someone has taken back over a really neat establishment off HWY 71, right across the highway from Hunan Tiger.



Well…we pulled into the parking lot and were very pleasantly surprised with the cleaning up and landscaping that they are doing outside of their building. They really are trying to make this a fun place to stop, and my daughter and I had some fun taking some photo ops next to their fountains and such. I was very eager to see what they had done on the inside too! If any of you have visited this site before, you know that it was a BBQ joint before as well, and while the inside was clean…as is true with many Bastrop restaurants it definitely needed an update. Well, update it they did and they did a really nice job with it too! It’s painted mostly this vibrant yellow with a cool mural of a chicken on the wall, they incorporated the very nostalgic and stereotypical antique pieces you may find at any BBQ restaurant, with a very nice crisp and clean color palette. We really were very excited to spend some time there.



True to form, we had both kids in toe and our whole family loves BBQ (what Texan doesn’t…right??) so we ordered just about one of everything to give it all to try.

And here it goes…this is what we ordered:
BBQ Chicken
Sausage
Pulled Pork Baked Potato
Chopped Beef Sandwich
Brisket
With of course all your normal sides:
Coleslaw
Potato Salad
AND…
Beans



It was all incredibly delicious! BBQ sauces were amazing, their coleslaw (which I believe they make in house) was really tasty, and wasn’t overly sweet. The whole family was happy, and I couldn’t have asked for a better lunch! We were real bummed to see Cartwright’s go, so if this is their resurrection we’re really very happy to have them back! It’s now the only BBQ place in town to be able to seat more than 50 people indoors. Make sure you swing by there sometime this week and give’em a holler! I’m sure they’ll be delighted to see you!

Jalisco's Taqueria (Bastrop)

Ok, so I know we said we were going to Baxter’s next, and we fully intend to by Sunday…but today we went to Jalisco’s Taqueria for brunch and the food was so good how could I NOT talk about it??? My husband and I went together, and we ordered the same thing and actually it’s my FAVORITE thing on the menu! Chilaquiles!! Oh! My! Gosh!

Do you know what Chilaquiles are??

Basically, they are tortilla chips soaked in enchilada sauce, baked, and then they sprinkle cheese on top. I remember watching Diners Drive Ins and Dives one night, and Guy was trying Chilaquiles…I was like “What???” Chips soaked in Enchilada sauce?? Sounds like MUNCHIE food to me, and umm…fattening?? Well…what can I say?? Yes…yes it is but it’s also delicious! We went to Jalisco’s Taqueria as soon as it opened and this was the very first thing I tried on their menu, it’s absolutely sinful! The chips are always tender but not soggy; the enchilada sauce is really tasty and just spicy enough. They sprinkle Queso Fresco on top. it comes with refried beans and potatoes, and you can get the perfect bite with one full swipe of your plate. MMM

We also ordered a pork tamale each and those are just as delicious! The pork is perfectly seasoned, and their nice and piping hot when they come to the table. Their house made salsa bar is the perfect companion for ALL of their dishes! I don’t know what they do at Jalisco’s Taqueria to make their food so amazing, but I would say it’s my favorite Mexican “Restaurant” in town. I just can’t wait for their bigger restaurant to open, I have a feeling we’ll be spending a lot of time there!

Kay's Cafe (Bastrop)

Well we took y’alls advice and had dinner at Kay’s Café last week, and we were pleasantly surprised with a home cooked meal and incredibly friendly service. We’ll be back visiting Kay sometime in the near future! We’d driven past Kay’s many times, so we knew exactly where to go and find them. From the outside we had expected a large cafeteria style restaurant, so imagine our surprise when we first walked in! They share the building with Twister Cheer Company, and the actual dining room has a total of maybe 10 tables…but we’ve experienced many “holes in the wall” and I wouldn’t exactly put Kay’s in that category.  We ordered Pot Roast, and a stuffed Burger. Both had amazing flavor and tasted like something Mom had just made for dinner. I felt as though my roast was a little dry, but they served it with gravy and that had an amazing flavor and solved the moisture problem right away. The hamburger was actually quite incredible. It was juicy, and cooked well. It was stuffed with Cheddar Cheese and had the perfect balance of crunch with their fresh and ripe veggies piled mountain high on top. We also ordered dessert, actually 3 of them to take and try at home. We ordered the Peach Pecan Cobbler, the Banana Bread, and the Berry Cheesecake. I will say that I had wished the desserts had been freshly made. Ours had been made a day or two previously and then refrigerated and you could definitely tell. The Peach Pecan cobbler tasted really great and had a great texture, but unfortunately the cheesecake had separated and was inedible. Aside from desert however, we really enjoyed our time. We sat next to a table of about 8 adults who obviously frequent the spot, and Kay’s has a real crowd of fans in Bastrop. We could definitely see why when we were served…the staff is incredibly friendly and there is real love in their dining room, reminds me of visiting an old Aunt’s house, or with a friend’s mom. I can’t wait to go back and try their meatloaf!

Cindy's Downtown

After hearing all the hub bub about Cindy’s Downtown this week, we decided to try it out for lunch this last Thursday afternoon. We had a pleasant enough time, and were greeted by enthusiastic owners and employees, all very excited about their new menu. I love spending time downtown, and Cindy’s is on a beautiful corner on Main Street. It’s actually a fun little spot to hang out and watch the passerby’s on a beautiful afternoon. This time my husband and I brought my brother in law, Brett along. He’s just moved here from California, so we thought we’d wrangle him in so we could try one more dish! ;]] Cindy’s is a Bar/Grill, with things like burgers and sandwiches on their menu. So we tried to go for some bar type menu items. We ordered onion rings to start out with, which are popular amongst most of our readers. They raved about their burger so Brett ordered a Baja Burger, Brandon (the hubby) ordered Macho Nachos, and I wanted to see what their lighter items were like so I tried the Raspberry Chipotle Chicken Wrap. The food was fresh, tasty, and they had GREAT prices!

First, the onion rings. Talk about sinfully delicious! They were crisp, and fried well. Not too greasy and the onion was perfectly tender on the inside. And you know sometimes when you bite into an onion ring, and the whole thing comes out?? Not these, you took a bite and that’s what you got…a BITE! We LOVED them, actually I had to snap a photo of the last three FAST because they were gone in minutes. They really were amazing, so thank you to our readers who raved about those rings. I ADORE a good onion ring.

Now let’s talk about our lunch...After hearing so much about their burger my Brother in Law decided to tackle the Baja Burger. Right away we noticed the bright, crisp vegetables and it was plated beautifully. The burger tasted good, and the fresh produce gave the burger a nice crunch. We did notice that the burger was a little more on the well done side, and we tend to order ours medium, but I don’t think we were asked what temperature we preferred either. As for the Macho Nachos, the chicken was cooked very well and again we appreciated the fresh tomatoes, and guacamole. They came out spilling out over a white plate, just the way nachos should be. We did notice the guacamole to be a bit salty, and I’m a big believer in freshly fried tortilla chips, but we were amazed at the portion sizes of both the burger AND nachos, especially for the prices. The burger was only $9.50 and came with fries, the nachos were only $9.00 so two thirds of our bill was already under $20.00

I had the Raspberry Chipotle Chicken Wrap, in hopes for a fresh and lighter lunch. I enjoyed the texture and temperature of my food. All of our plates arrived fresh and hot. The chicken was cooked very well, not underdone and still moist. Again, we REALLY enjoyed and appreciated the fresh and crisp produce. If I had any suggestions for the wrap I would say that the raspberry chipotle sauce was tasty, however I didn’t really taste the “chipotle” part. I was looking forward to a bit of a kick, and didn’t really get it. Another suggestion would be to work a bit on the presentation for this one. Below you’ll see a picture (on the left) of how it arrived to the table, and on the right a picture after I made one small adjustment. The picture on the right really is blurry, but in the second photo you can see all the beautiful color that the fresh veggies provide, and I think it makes a big difference. A lighter toast on the wrap (like with a Panini press) may also help, not only with the visual but also the texture of the tortilla. We were still amazed at the prices though, as my wrap cost $8.00 which brought our bill for 3 to under $35.00. (Not including tip).

To “wrap” up, (lol ;]]) we were pleased with the cleanliness of the restaurant, the friendly staff and owners, and the atmosphere they have pulled together at Cindy’s Downtown. It’s a beautiful building and a great place to stop for a drink while shopping down Main Street. We’re completely thrilled that they’ve updated their menu, and that they offer a fresh items at a fair price. However, if they stretch a little further and go that extra little mile on the “little things” I believe they could turn into a great downtown hotspot!

Hunan Tiger (Cedar Creek, Tx)

We have been on the hunt for amazing Asian food since we moved here, and recently we've been on a bit of a Vietnamese Food kick. A couple of weeks ago, our search landed us at Little Thailand (a hole in the wall off the 71, but that's another story!) and on the way there I spotted this little treasure, Hunan Tiger. It's located off of HWY 71, right before you hit The Colony. It's hidden in a small outdated shopping center, and if it weren't for their bright yellow CHINESE/VIETNAMESE DELIVERY sign I wouldn't have seen it. Anyway, today we were in the mood for some Pho so we thought we'd give it a shot. All I can say is, OH MY are we glad we did.

The first thing I noticed when we walked in was how extremely clean it was. If you         know anything about dining in Bastrop, you know that even some of our best restaurants can be dirty and outdated. It looked like the owners took pride in their establishment, and although the walls were adorned with the rolling hills of Tuscany (this used to be a pizza kitchen, I think) the seats were not torn, there was no grungy old carpet, and it was kept up very nicely.

Since this was our first outing at Hunan Tiger, we decided to order as many different types of dishes as we could. We tend to WAY over order, but for us dining is an experience and we really do order to eat just a little bit of everything! We began with two appetizers, the first (unassumingly enough) was their Appetizer platter. This came with beef skewers, crab ragoons, fried shrimp, an egg roll, and chicken wings. It was served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. The second (an absolute MUST for the Varn family) Chicken Dumplings...or DUNKLINGS as my four year old daughter calls them. These were also served with a dipping sauce, however I'm not sure what they called it. Right away we were blown away with the presentation of the food. Our platter came to us on this beautiful Vietnamese decorated dish, with a mini fire pit right in the middle. It was quite the sight to see, and we LOVE food that serves as entertainment! Each and every portion of our platter was delicious. Everything perfectly cooked, beautifully displayed, and served steaming hot. The second appetizer, the Dunklings ;]] were nothing to scoff at either. They knew just how to cook them (not just boiled but pan fried), and are on our top list of best Chicken Dumplings ever!

[caption id="attachment_10" align="alignright" width="584"] Appetizer Platter[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_13" align="alignright" width="225"] Bun GA Nuong[/caption]

Lastly, came our entrees. I may have forgotten
to mention that we did bring our two children along with us. Some may think we're crazy, walking into a restaurant with a 4 year old and a 2 year old in tow, but they love food as much as we do and it helps keep the house a little cleaner! Anyway, they had Broccoli Beef, and Shrimp and beef which were both delicious and again perfectly cooked...however I want to talk about the ADULT food! The Hubby ordered his Beef Pho that he was dying for, and I ordered the Bun GA Nuong (or vermicelli with grilled chicken). The Pho was served with all the trappings, lemon, thai basil, and bamboo shoots. It was TO DIE FOR!! Don't EVER drive to Austin for PHO again! Seriously, it was amazing!! Mine, the Bun GA Nuong was mouthwatering. It was served with a fish oil sauce, which you drizzle on top, I added some soy sauce and I'll say it was one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth. I can't believe we didn't find this restaurant any sooner.

[caption id="attachment_11" align="alignright" width="584"] Beef Pho[/caption]

Anyway, next time you're in the mood for some Asian food, GOOD Asian food, go take a little drive just out of town to Hunan Tiger. The Chinese Buffet's in town really are a travesty, and now there's NO REASON to drive 45 minutes to find some amazing Vietnamese/Chinese food. It was a great experience, and family friendly! During our meal here is when we officially decided to start a food review blog. At the close of our meal I opened a telling fortune. We can't even tell you how excited we are to have them in town, and are so honored to publish our first blog all about Hunan Tiger! They've only been around for 7 months, but we hope they stay for a lifetime!

Welcome!

Welcome to our Food Review Blog, we're so excited you came to visit! My name is Lindsay, and my Husband Brandon and I are big time foodies originally from California. We moved to Bastrop, Tx about three years ago, and although it's taken us a little time to adjust to the culture shock we have really grown to love Bastrop, and are very happy to be raising a family here. Now, I said we were foodies but let me say it again...WE ARE FOODIES! We love to cook, we love to eat, and we love everything about food. I also said we were from California, and actually we lived in Pasadena together before moving here, and my husband was born and raised there. Because of that we've been exposed to some of the most amazing restaurants in the country, and can be a little particular when it comes to our food. We're eager to try anything new in town, and have traveled off the beaten path in search for a little gem here and there. It's taken us about 3 years to find some of the best kept secrets in our little area, and now, we want to share our experiences (good or bad) with you! We hope that we can inspire to try something different, and explore your own backyard a little. Maybe we'll steer you in a new direction, and hopefully we can curb you from some bad experiences too! Now without further adieu...come check out our blog!