The Monument Cafe (500 S. Austin Avenue, Georgetown)

Thanks to my wife getting jury duty for Williamson County, we had the pleasure of dining at The Monument Cafe in Georgetown.  Located just north of the town square, The Monument Cafe is a pretty cool place.  Most of their produce is either grown in their garden behind the restaurant or from local farms in the area.  There was a small wait, which is also a sign that a restaurant has good potential.  With an open kitchen and old school diner/cafe design, The Monument Cafe is spacious and comfortable.  With the addition of a new Beer Garten for live music and a Market in back to purchase meats and fresh produce, there's plenty to do while you wait for your table.

Because they use fresh produce, there side dishes are always changing so make sure to check out the chalkboards above the counter.  My wife went with the chicken fried steak and I decided to go with the chicken fried chicken breast (4oz) with homemade cream gravy and sweet potato fries and fruit salad as my two sides.  ($10.99)

 The coating was nice and flaky while the chicken breast was so moist and yummy that you didn't even need the gravy, but who is really going to pass up on homemade creamy gravy.  The sweet potato fries were good, but would have preferred them to be cooked a little more to crisp them up a little bit.  The fruit salad consisted of apples, bananas, and some kind of nut.  It was good.... the sweet potato fries and fruit were my idea of healthy eating to counteract the chicken fried chicken.  The offer two sizes, this being the smaller portion and it was plenty for me (they also bring some bread to the table while you wait). 

We had to get some dessert, because yet again, it is homemade.  We went with the fried strawberry pie with custard...... oh so yummy!!!





Website:
http://www.themonumentcafe.com/

Elevation Burger (9828 Great Hills Trail)

Where's the beef? If you are looking for 100% USDA certified organic, grass-fed, free-range beef, then drive on over to Elevation Burger in the Arboretum.  A simplistic menu with a build your own style burger, whether it be an all beef or veggie burger. I opted for the all beef cheeseburger with lettuce, pickles, caramelized onions, and mustard with a side of french fries that are cooked in 100% olive oil (which is healthier for the heart than vegetable oil).

 As you can see, one order of french fries is enough to feed two.  Everything was delicious.  The one drawback about Elevation Burger is the Coke Dream Machine, which is one machine that provides up to 160 different drink combinations.  Tried a Cherry Coke and it was way to sweet.  You have to run the water option beforehand to wash out any residue from the previous drink dispensed.  The "Dream Machine" is more of a dream for kids who love to make the "suicide drinks".  Luckily, I personally would rather have a plain ol' iced tea, which they do offer.

Another cool fact about Elevation Burger besides the healthier food options, is that the building itself is good for the environment.  It's LEED certified by the United States Green Building Council.  Their philosophy is to be environmentally sustainable on as many levels as they can be from the food they serve, to the Energy Star appliances, to the bamboo floors, to donating their used olive oil to be converted to bio-diesel for auto fuel.


2 locations now in Austin: 9828 Great Hills Trail and 2525 W. Anderson Lane

Elevation Burger website
http://www.elevationburger.com/EB.php

Hyde Park Bar and Grill (4206 Duval St. Austin, TX)

I have been dining at Hyde Park Bar and Grill for over a decade now.  The food, atmosphere, and service has always been stupendous, and it still was last Sunday night for dinner with my wife's family.  Having just returned from a trip to Fort Worth and eating a very late lunch, I wasn't particularly hungry, so I was going to get something small to eat.  As I was scanning over the menu, all of my favorites seemed to be whispering my name, like kids wanting to be chosen for your kickball team.  "Pick me, pick me." I kept telling myself that I wasn't that hungry, but my voice of reason kicked in and reminded me that I could always take the rest home for lunch the next day.  So now I had to make a choice on which of my favorites I wanted.   I kept going back and forth between the Asian Chicken Salad and the Blacken Yellow tail Tuna Sandwich, when suddenly the craving for a burger hit me.  Looking at the menu, I had four choices of burgers, the Texas Raised Kobe beef, ground chuck, ground turkey, sirloin, or the Garden burger.  I decided to go light with the turkey burger with the addition of smoked Gouda cheese and a side of their Austin Chronicle's consistently voted "Best French Fries in Austin."  ($5.95 + $1.95 to add fries)

The turkey had some flavor, but was a little on the dry side.  But after spreading some deli mustard and some the secret fry sauce on it, it was very tasty.  So tasty in fact that before I knew it, my plate was clean.  There goes saving half of it for lunch tomorrow.   My father-in-law had ordered the ground chuck burger with mushrooms added and my brother-in-law had the Garden burger, which both said were delicious.  My brother once had the Texas Raised Kobe style beef burger, but said that he could not tell much of a difference from a regular burger... I guess I will just have to try it out for myself in the future.  It's hard to compare a turkey burger with a beef burger with bison burger, so you really have to keep them in separate categories.  I haven't had many turkey burgers before, but this one wasn't that bad.  I will be on the lookout now for other restaurants who serve them to really get a good comparison scale going.



Hyde Park website:  http://hpbng.com/menu

San Francisco Bakery and Cafe (2900 W Anderson Ln)

My Jennie wanted to go here for her birthday lunch yesterday, so I obliged.  It's a small place near the Alamo Drafthouse Village that serves sandwiches, soups, salads, quiches, breakfast til 11am, cookies, and other pastries.  I ordered the Union Square: (Baguette) $6.69 Hot Cappicola, Peppered Ham, Turkey, Roast Beef, Lettuce, Tomato, Provolone, Mayo & Dijon, served with my choice of Ruffles or carrot and celery sticks.   

 

this is only half of the foot long sandwich

One reason I like to eat at the San Francisco Bakery is that they make all their bread from scratch (White\Wheat\Sourdough\Baguette\Croissant) and they only use the best quality deli meat (Boar's Head).  Plus, the smell of fresh baked cookies is always appealing to my palette.  Everything was delicious and fresh.  Washing it all down with a Republic of Tea Passion fruit Papaya Black tea in a compostable/bio-degradable to-go cup. 





http://www.urbanspoon.com/San-Francisco-Bakery-and-Cafe-Austin

TARKA Indian Kitchen in Round Rock

So my wife and I had to make a trip up to IKEA this past weekend and we were in the mood for some good ol' Mighty Fine burgers.  It was about 1pm and the line was to the door.  We were hungry and didn't want to wait, even though they are some good burgers.  As we drove into the shopping center with IKEA, I had notice on the directory sign an Indian Food restaurant.  Located on the southeast side of the shopping center across from Mighty Fine and about 3 stores down from OfficeMax on the corner, stood TARKA Indian Kitchen, (same format as Pei Wei).  The place was busy but not overly crowded.  I went with the Combo Kabob (lamb and chicken kabob with grilled bell peppers and zucchini) ($9.00)

and my wife got the Aloo Ghobi (Braised cauliflower & potatoes cooked with a fragrant blend of spices. A traditional north Indian favorite!)($7.50).  We also ordered some Naan and soft drinks which made the total cost of our lunch $23. 98.  They sell soda from India, like a Thums Up, which tastes a lot like a Dr. P but less sweet.  The food arrived at our table in no time at all.  The kabobs were nice and juicy and the grilled veggies were perfect.  It came with a yummy mint-tamarind-yogurt chutney to dip in.  I thought the everything tasted great and will definitely go back when I am in the area again.




http://www.tarkaindiankitchen.com/

Hoover's Cooking

   I am no stranger to Hoover's Cooking (13376 Research Blvd, #400, NW Austin) and have never been disappointed with the food or service.  This time I decided to try something that I had never had there before..... a burger.  It took a lot of restraint to not get some of the BBQ, catfish, or chicken fried steak, but I did and I am quite pleased with my decision.  With only two burger choices to choose from, the classic and the Red, White, and Bleu,  I decided to be patriotic and get the latter. 

Red, White, & Bleu Burger . . . $8.99
8 oz. smoked hamburger patty topped with our Aus-Tex wing sauce, Monterrey jack & bleu cheeses, lettuce and tomato and served on a sweet kolache bun. OR try it with our “Amos” marinated chicken breast.

    If you are a fan of smoked meats, then you want to try this burger.  The smoky flavor was heavenly and with the combination of the spicy Aus-Tex wing sauce, Monterrey jack and bleu cheeses, and the sweetness of the kolache bun made each bite difficult to swallow due to the fantastic flavors soaking into each and every crevice of my palette.  
   The entree is served open faced, with I believe to be fresh veggies from Hoover's own Soular Food Garden in South Austin, and a handful of fries served straight on some paper on a tray.  A little off putting that it wasn't served on a plate, but after the first bite, all was forgotten.  Funny because when we made the suggestion to my father-in-law, he said no at first because he said they don't use plates.  I thought it was funny because I had never experienced that before myself. 
    To cap off an exquisite burger, my wife and I decided to split some bread putting for dessert.  It was a pretty nice portion for two to share.  Covered with a warm rum sauce, the bread pudding was soft and moist.  It ended up taking half of it home to enjoy later.



http://hooverscooking.com/