Cuban Sandwich Cafe

Salam and Mabuhay to the most commonly viewing countries for this week (not including the US). Now, onto a major pork sandwich. 

"I'm foreseeing a future of colorectal cancer." This sandwich here is my magic ball. Among other interesting but off topic ideas, it's not hard to predict the future from your diet, but for obvious reasons, I think most Americans would not find that fun.

Frederick and I decided to try the Cuban Sandwich Cafe near Longspur and Rutland. It tasted good and was amply seasoned but I think I've altered my palette too much to find something like this enjoyable. I finished it out of obligation, but I feel like I gave up a month of my life for this. I should be wary of a sandwich that has both ham and pork on it, but being Filipino, I'm naturally attracted to anything that describes itself as lechon. This sandwich had more meat on it than anything else. It could have stood to have more pickles or something close to a vegetable.

Now, I'm not saying this wasn't good. And I can't gauge authenticity either, but I am almost virtually a vegetarian writing about a Cuban Sandwich. The bread was good and I wish there were more pickles. My suggestion for trying this would be to share a sandwich.

Wait for it...

First off, semalat pagi and sawatdii kha for the majority of this weeks visitors!  My main advice, if you come to Austin TX from Thailand, Indonesia, or Malaysia: eat and enjoy your mangosteen and rambutan there as the imported things really are not as good quality - especially the mangosteen. 

I've been working full time for the past year pretty much. Currently I work from home which is nice, but I lack the ability to escape from work and when that is combined with my workaholic tendencies, life gets exhausting pretty fast. Anyway, I've discovered a new tidbit:

I generally like eating at the same places and getting the same dishes generally because I know they're good but also as a gauge of consistency. Given this, I was really surprised one night at Opal Divines when I had a remarkably good serving of fish & chips. 

Fish & chips is my default pub food. Usually it is the first thing I'll try. What made this an occasion was that I have had the fish & chips before and did not remember it being as pleasant, but more along the lines of greasy and bready. I had gone back again during lunch time on a Wednesday, ordered the fish & chips and got fish that felt like they were encased in hush-puppy. I ABHOR hush-puppies. I'm pretty sure the day cooking staff is different from the night cooking staff, possibly even the week staff may be different from the weekend staff. After coming to the conclusion that the chef who makes the excellent fish & chips most probably worked weekend evenings, I decided to try a fish sandwich on a Saturday night. It was the same - light batter, flaky, and lightly fish flavored. To get good fish & chips, I have to wait until the weekend evenings. 

Maybe it's the anticipation that enhances the experience, or just the thought of knowing "limited time window this week (every week)" for the good fish & chips. It's really not too different from seasonal fruit if you think about it. Fado's has a good fish & chips too, but the trade off would be time and paying for parking downtown. 

I think the general message is that there's always a sacrifice when it comes to good food. This is a sentiment echoed in Dan Barber's Surprising Parable about Foie Gras. which reflects on the origins of foie gras. One could assume that initially fois gras was a seasonal thing before it's industrialization due to increased demand, that geese naturally ate more and fattened up during a certain time of the year. Citrus tastes more tart in the summer, and berries are rather sour in the fall and winter. Is it really that much of a sacrifice to wait to eat something when it is at it's best? Impermanence is something to be taken advantage of rather than changed to suit our needs. It leaves something to appreciate rather than something to take for granted.    

#23: right-hand man

Truthfully, I haven't been going out much. Last time I went out to eat was, yep, you guessed it, crabs. I can only elaborate on the pleasures of eating crab for so long before I end up writing a manual on the pleasures of eating crab.

What has occurred to me is that there are places that I go out to eat on a pretty regular basis and I never write about them because they're so familiar to me that I don't even notice when I go there. It just happens. For instance, Kerbey Lane Cafe always slips my mind just because I'm there pretty often. It's always open when I'm hungry, and there's usually something on the menu I'll be in the mood for. I much prefer their winter menu with the boar chili and the pozole.

I've also mentioned this before, but Starseeds Cafe has a really good veggie wrap and also good vegetarian tacos. I have a feeling that their specials are no more than tv dinners, but their vegetarian fare is pretty good.

More general commentary on why crawfish is awesome

First off, while I don't know if it's cheaper to buy live crawfish and boil them yourself, I do know that the smell make any outdoor party become heaven, but any indoor kitchen becomes hell. I don't have any experience with crawfish in my kitchen, but I do know that crabs can make any kitchen smell for days.

The benefit of going out for crawfish is the money and time you save on having to buy everything and then prepare it...then clean up a massive smelly mess afterwards that will lurk in your kitchen. When you go out, you can make a mess outside of your house.

I know that there are a number of people out there that find crustaceans to not be worth the work involved in eating them. Maybe I'm just an oddball who doesn't like having a plate of food just placed in front of me so I can easily gorge, but I feel that the work makes the eating process even more enjoyable. It's like eating a meal that you've cooked, or a treasure hunting game. Or maybe I'm just addicted to crustacean meat.

Messy food just tastes better. Things that are a little more safe and convenient just aren't...fun. You can't have great success without taking a risk: crawfish, ribs...I don't order food because it won't make a mess, I get it because it tastes good.

#2: Discomfort

I recall approximately six years ago there being an article in the San Antonio Express News about Twin Sisters Bakery and Cafe being a restaurant that belonged in Austin.

- you see, even us San Antonians can feel when something wandered onto the wrong side of the tracks -

What is it about Twin Sisters that made it so Austin like? Sweet potato muffins, the chocolate zucchini cake, and the short lived beet cake. It's healthy. It's healthy all over. Their zucchini cake consists mostly of zucchini by weight!

Austin provides a very different atmosphere from San Antonio. Everything boasts being organic, eco-friendly, and healthy. Despite that, coming from an emerging foodie, Twin Sisters really belongs to San Antonio for one reason: Twin Sisters hasn't sacrificed taste.

Things in San Antonio just taste better. It's currently 1:38AM and I know two places in San Antonio where I can get a good chicken fried steak. Austin? 0. In Austin, I'd have to resign myself to eating some kind of vegetarian taco or over priced burger, both of which I find very irritating. Austin lacks comfort food. Being organic, and healthy just doesn't compensate for a lack of taste. Twin Sisters can make that compromise in San Antonio, and it has to because the competition in San Antonio dictates, if a place has nothing that tastes good - it goes out of business.

Twin Sisters Bakery and Cafe (San Antonio)

Star Seeds Cafe (Austin) Has a chicken fried steak, but some of the meals here taste like TV dinners, and by some, I mean the meatloaf. Try at your own discretion.