Where Truckstop TexMex Meets the Beatles

We went to Jovita's the other night. Jovita's has been in Austin forever. It's never been a great restaurant, but it's fun, friendly, the food has been solid truckstop TexmMex and there's music. Also...you could get Pearl beer in bottles. Pearl is a pretty awful beer, but it's so much fun to go to a restaurant, order a Pearl and drink it out of its stubby bottle.

The Eggmen played Jovita's last Saturday night. They are a very fun Beatles cover band. Lots of Beatles fans from the pre-hippy days as well as fans from the hippy days crowded the joint. They danced all night. Watching the over 60 crowd get down was almost as fun as a Pearl in a bottle.

Jovita's changed their menu. It looked pretty good. Looked as if they'd decided to go more interior Mexican than truckstop TexMex. We were excited to try the new items.

We ordered around 6:30. I made the mistake of ordering a margarita instead of a Pearl. I think the only lime that entered the drink was the droopy one on the edge of my glass. The drink tasted of chemicals and something day-glo green.

The guacamole arrived about 45 minutes after we ordered it. It was fresh and full of big chunks of avocado, so I assumed they had to pick the fruit before they could mash it into its little bowl.

The Eggmen played. And played.

Now, the Eggmen are good, but really, I'm not a big Beatles fan. I know, this is blasphemous, but I'm not. The Eggmen were quite good, the crowd was lively, the energy high, but I was prepared for dinner and a few songs.

And my 11 year old, my husband and I were hungry.

The waitress looked a bit frazzled, but never commented on the fact that our food was not forthcoming. She brought more drinks...not a margarita for me.

Around 8, the eleven year old peaked in the kitchen and reported he saw no one there. I followed up on this report and indeed, we saw no one in the kitchen.

I stopped the waitress. "Is everything ok? Do you think we'll get food?"

"Oh yes, we're just backed up."

I took the eleven year old down the street to Whatburger. He ordered chicken strips and a coke. We drove back to Jovita's where my husband continued to enjoy the Beatles covers.

Nine o'clock dinner arrived. The waitress didn't even mind that my son had a Whataburger bag and coke cup on the table.

The enchiladas divociados were big, and the sauces were pretty to look at, and that's where the good things about them stopped. The chicken fajitas were salty and tough. The rice was not cooked...it crunched. If I'd had a filling or a crown I would have knocked it out!

Maybe the cooks quit last Saturday night. Maybe they were not prepared for a crowd on a Saturday night in Austin. Who knows, but we won't eat at Jovita's again.

If you want really good Truckstop Texmex enchiladas....go to the Dart Bowl.

Who Knew Dip Could Be So Good

So it's 4th of July. Woop-woop! I wasn't counting on a big day. In fact, I spent most of it asleep. I woke at 1 o'clock...I just bought a new silk sleep mask that has changed my life, but that's another story.

It was time to go to our friend's house about the time I got hungry.

The spread was enormous. Lemonade, beer, wine, potato salad, corn salad, garlic marinated olives, fat sour pickles, mixed greens and walnut salad, juicy cherry tomatoes, two types of baked beans, the fattest hot dogs of all times, sauerkraut, and an amazing dip.

I'm too old and too female to eat like a longshoreman after a hard day on the docks, but I do it anyway.

I ate everything described above and enjoyed every second of it.

Dessert arrived on a giant tray. Eight different types of ice cream sandwiches, Popsicles, Drumsticks and the like where piled high and paraded around to the guests.

My mouth was not ready for sweets. It longed for more of that dip.

Since I denied myself the joy of a sweet treat, I grabbed another plate, a little (or really medium-sized) mound of chips and a dollop of creamy white goo.

Turns out the brawniest guy at the fete made this dip. He said it was a secret recipe he deciphered.

It was a sneaky deceptive treat, posing as run-of-the-mill Ranch dip. It wasn't until about the second chew that mouths were alerted to the firey zing.

Sour cream, cream cheese, fresh seeded jalapenos, pickled japs.,pickled jalapeno juice and two packages of dry Ranch mix whirled in a blender to make a sinfully rich, spicy cool condiment.

I'd skip the Popsicles any day for a dollop of Drew's Dip.

Amazing Green Beans

So Madam Mam's has three locations. Does that make it a chain? After years of living in places that had nothing but chain restaurants, I vowed to avoid chains. But I'm confused. If the restaurant is only in one town but has multiple locations...I don't know...

I love Madam Mam's Amazing Green Beans. I get it with either pork or tofu. The pork is tasty because it's ground and each bite includes a bite of pork. The tofu is fun because their tofu is flash fried, big, puffy, sort of like savory marshmallows.

The Amazing Green Beans are hot. Somehow though, they don't hurt and they leave you able to continue to taste what you're eating.

The broth is salty and rich.

I always think I'll need a take home box, and I always end up eating the entire HUGE bowl of Amazing Green Beans.

In The Loving Arms of Queso and Chili

It's May, but it's not too damn hot in Austin yet.

Life's been vivid...sort of like one of those Cecil B. Demille movies in mondo technicolor. You just can't decide if it's ok or way too much. One thing for certain, you can't live too long in the vivid state without it beginning to drive you crazy.

I forgot to eat today, except for the half pint of exquisite organic blackberries that started the day right. Big, fat, juicy that tart/sweet that makes a perfect piece of fruit perfect.

I remembered my board meeting. I rushed out of the house sending instructions to all the boys and my husband about returning a tux, finishing science home work and eating dinner.

I got to the office to find it locked. I knocked and knocked. My fellow board member opened the door and laughed. The meeting is tomorrow. She made the mistake of asking how I am. I gushed about work, house selling, and crimes committed on my job site. She got dressed for the gym and scurried out.

I called my husband and told him I needed soup. Great idea he said. We made plans to meet at El Chile's for tortilla soup. Within seconds of hanging up, he reminded me we are to meet friends tonight at Fino's. But I have improv class and all I want is soup. He said he'd cover for me.

On the way to El Chile's I remembered the chili at Star Seed's. Last time I had it it was winter and 3 o'clock in the morning. But I wanted it bad.

It's early and no one is here. The music is good.

I tried to talk myself into something responsible for a 48 year old to eat. But I wanted chili. AND I wanted queso.

The bowls of goo are in front of me along with a big basket of tortilla chips. Tomatoes, onions and grated cheese come with the bowl of red. I just put the tomatoes on top. I eat the queso and chili together by dipping chips in the queso first and then the chili.

The chili is not spicy, but it is flavorful. You can see ther is a fair amount of grease in it, but not so much that you know you're going to pay before you even get home. The queso is perfect queso for those raised on the tex-mex staple.

My waitress is a big friendly gal who offers great service without trying to be my friend.

I'm about to finish all I can possibly eat, and I hate that I don't think I'll be able to eat it all.

Life feels better with these nasty bowls of artery clogging concoctions in my gullet. This isn't vivid it's real......real good.