Your Mom's Burger Bar

Not much to write as I'm climbing my way slowly out of a burger coma.  Met a few friends for lunch today at a new burger joint called Your Mom's over on East Cesar Chavez.  If you haven't been following the 104.9 burger bracket, they selected 64 of Austin's best burgers and put them into a NCAA tourney type faceoff.  Your Mom's had been getting a lot of love, so we gave it a go.

Food A+
I went with my favorite genre of burger and got the Buffalo Bill:
1/2 Lb. burger tossed in Buffalo's Don't Fly Sauce, stuffed with blue cheese, jalapenos, wrapped in bacon with a touch of ranch and a sauteed green chili on a toasted wheat bun.

To quote Ken Griffey Jr's one show stint on The Simpsons "Its like there's a party in my mouth and everyone's invited".   Unreal.  Cooked to perfection, perfect amount of add-ons, so so good.  The fries weren't bad and had a unique seasoning to them, but they could have been crispier.

Service C-
Its a small place and its not really clear when you walk in if there's a line or just people standing around, let alone where you're supposed to order.  Once you do, you wait for your burger to be brought out.  You wait....and you wait, and you wait.  Casino El Camino looks like Junior at the Union Wendy's in comparison.  By the time mine came out, I'd blown through my lunch break and had to take it to go.

If you have some time to waste, definitely go check it out but if you're looking for something quick on your lunch break, don't bother.

jittery hands + iphone = craptastic photos

Max's Wine Dive

Since the Greece trip, its been slow goings in the Huebner food world.  Some homemade pizzas will be appearing soon on the blog.  In the meantime, Adrienne and I decided to head out and treat ourselves.  I suggested a long overdue return to Max's Wine Dive downtown (mostly b/c I drive by it everyday on the way home and I was dying to get back). 

We'd been once for a birthday celebration and ended up buying (and drinking) a case of wine with a group of friends last time and figured we'd give it a romantic go just the two of us this time.  No cases were ordered, but the wine and the food were outstanding.  One of the local news crews was there doing closeups with plated dishes under some nice lighting with their cameras.  Sadly, iPhone was my only option.  Here's to the idea that iPhone 4 is necessary for pixel improvement for unplanned blog photos! Ok, maybe not.  Onto the amateur food porn:

Adrienne had Max's wrap:  Grilled spinach wrap stuffed with roasted seasonal vegetables and provolone cheese with a house salad with a '06 Domaine Carneros Brut (Napa).

As for me, I couldn't pass up the special of the day: Wagyu beef with grilled mushrooms, black truffles and spring salad with a Martin Fierro Cabernet.  The meat, my God, the meat.

This is one of my favorite places to go as the food is always amazing and the wine selection is hard to beat.  Houstonians and San Antonians, don't be jealous....they've got locations there too.

Sammich shop - Food Heads

Met Adrienne for lunch today at a sandwich place on 34th just off the drag called Food Heads.  She got the rec from a coworker who has a finger on the pulse of the Austin food scene.  Despite being 10 blocks down the road from me, I'd never heard of it but the menu looked solid.

Parking was a little suspect as any pseudo West Campus location suffers from, but the sandwiches....oh the sandwiches.

Adrienne got the Grilled Portabellas & Bleu Cheese ($6.75)
Served on toasted sourdough with fresh spinach, tomato and blackberry balsamic vinaigrette.  My inner carnivore prevented me from ordering this, so I was glad she did.  The combination of portabella, bleu cheese and vinaigrette was outstanding.  Crisp sourdough worked well.

I had the Spicy Apple Pork Tenderloin Sandwich  ($8.25)
Marinated and grilled pork tenderloin on toasted baguette with smoked gouda, spinach, spicy apple relish & honey dijon. With all those ingredients, surprisingly it was the honey dijon that really made the sandwich.  The spicy apple relish wasn't all that flavorful and the flavor of the pork was just kind of meh.  But the dijon along with the bread really saved it.

I overheard a customer talking to one of the waitresses about where they got their bread.  Everything they have is local (nice touch) and we may have to pay a visit to Panaderia Chuy soon.  This is about the 3rd recommendation I've gotten for this place and I love me some bread.

Final verdict, great sandwiches and great location but a little on the pricey side.  There are a few other items on their menu I'd like to try so I'll be back but it probably won't make the regular sammich rotation.  Jimmy John's has nothing to fear.