Richard Jernigan -> RE: I don't always drink coffee... (Feb. 20 2017 19:16:42)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: Piwin It seems to be a national passtime in France to diss American food. I've never really understood it as everywhere I've been in the US there have been some decent things to eat. I think French tourists probably just never get over the fact that there are fast-food chains everywhere and must assume that's all there is on offer. When I lived in Santa Barbara we had French customers. We went more often to France than they came to California. We met in Paris and Bordeaux. The Admiral in charge of the French project was something of a gourmet. He said we could have used the Aerospatiale facility in Nice, but the food was better in Bordeaux. When our French friends came to Santa Barbara they said they really enjoyed the food and wine, probably thanks to one of my California colleagues who was President of the Santa Barbara Wine and Food Society at the time. He had around 350 cases in his cellar. When I lived in Palo Alto my girlfriend and I ate regularly at a number of good restaurants in San Francisco, featuring a wide range of cuisines and prices. One of the best was a very economical Salvadoran restaurant in the Mission district. Most of the employees were members of the owner's extended family. The owner stood at the cash register next to the window where the food came out of the kitchen. Every dish had to meet his very high standards. Eventually the neighborhood got too rough for the family trade, the civil war in El Salvador ended, the owner's sons graduated from high school and got scholarships to university, so he closed up and went back home. Austin is famous for barbecue, the small town of Taylor to the northeast has one excellent place, and Lockhart to the southeast has several, of which two are very good. Austin also has one of the best Mexican restaurants anywhere--I have been in every state in Mexico. The Fonda San Miguel in Austin is not "Tex-Mex," which can be good if done right, but it's usually terrible in Austin. The Fonda features classic Mexican cuisine, as you would get in a high quality traditional restaurant in the capital, Puebla or Cuernavaca, for example. They have been doing good business for 42 years, and during that time I have been a steady patron when living in Austin or visiting. There are a rash of trendy (and expensive) restaurants in Austin, with fashionable cuisines, but in my experience they are mostly hit-or-miss. The hits are nice, the misses feel expensive for what you are served. For Tex-Mex, stick to San Antonio and points south. There you might mention you were in the mood for chiles rellenos, and spend the next ten minutes discussing details and preferences of preparation at half a dozen different places known for their versions. RNJ
|
|
|
|