Restaurants

Tasty Mexican breakfast with beans and tortillas

 

Everybody has one…a spot they like to go for a greasy weekend breakfast. Whether you had one too many drinks the night before or just feel like a calorie laden meal, it is always good to have a go-to joint that satisfies these urges.

My chosen spot, Cisco’s, in Austin, Texas feels like a well-kept secret. Though, it is a secret that is being shared with more people every day. Cisco’s restaurant is a little dive in east Austin, a well-established Hispanic neighborhood. The restaurant front is very nondescript. One must park in the gravel lot across the street. I always grab a newspaper outside before entering.

The front room has a brightly lit, slightly shabby “diner” feel. But, no one “in the know” ever sits in the front room. This space is unofficially reserved for neighborhood locals and old timers. Most patrons walk to the two large back rooms that feel as though they haven’t changed since being decorated in the 1970’s.

Glass topped wooden tables are packed full of business cards so you can see who has dined there before you. The walls are covered with pictures of Cisco, the owner, next to different local celebrities, like Willie Nelson and Mac Brown (the Texas football coach). Gaudy art work also adorns the walls. Visualize half-naked mermaid paintings with gilded frames and signs that say, “Refried beans, served only when in season”.

Cisco’s serves Mexican breakfasts and lunches to hungry Austin patrons and has been doing so for decades. They have super-fast service and good basic coffee. I always order the breakfast migas that consist of scrambled eggs with onions, cheese, tomatoes and peppers cooked with strips of tortilla chips. My husband always gets the Juevos Rancheros or their large filling breakfast tacos. Their refried beans are always in season and very tasty!

The best part, they serve all food with baskets of fluffy biscuits and tortillas. There is honey and butter in squeeze bottles on the table and you can drizzle this onto warm biscuits to finish off the meal.

I love to indulge in a Cisco’s breakfast and the Sunday crossword when I go back to Austin. It is a seasoned classic and near the top of the pack for old Austin Mexican eateries.

I always leave filling full, satisfied and ready to take on the weekend!

What is your favorite place to get a greasy breakfast?

Photo credit to pusgum and joebeone

Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen, Napa Valley California

Napa Valley, California is one of my favorite destinations for a culinary vacation. Sure, you know the wine lists are going to be amazing at practically any restaurant; this makes sense, seeing that Napa is America’s premiere wine making region. With all those famous local wineries supplying bottles of superb, top-of-the-line wine, the restaurants strive to live up to those high standards. And many restaurants in Napa Valley do just that – for lunch, none better than Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen.

Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen is in the Napa Valley town of St. Helena, which is convenient: St. Helena has the best shopping (with the most charming stores) of all of the Napa Valley towns, so lunch here makes for the beginning of a lovely afternoon. The ambience here isn’t as sophisticated and refined as, say, Bouchon or the restaurant at the Auberge hotel – and for lunch, it shouldn’t be. A homey, welcoming decor, along with a friendly staff, almost guarantees that lunch here is going to be a relaxed, highly enjoyable one. That staff, by the way, is also skilled at wine-matching. Their advice is impeccable, should you be uncertain as to what to order with your meal.

Every menu item is fresh and delicious here, but frequent guests know that a first-timer can’t miss the crispy flatbread appetizer. I also recommend the roasted artichoke appetizer, if you’re willing to get a little messy. If you’re planning a big dinner and want a light lunch at Cindy’s, the avocado and papaya salad fits the bill. Otherwise – if you have a wine-tasting tour in the afternoon, and want more padding – try the spice-rubbed quail, steak frites, or Backstreet Burger. All are simply delicious. If you like comfort food for lunch, along with a friendly atmosphere free of pretention, Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen is the perfect Napa Valley restaurant choice. Oh, and don’t forget to order the Campfire Pie for dessert! This Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen version of a smore is an excellent way to end one of the best lunches in the wine region of California.

Sarabeth's Kitchen, Upper West Side

New York City is famous for, among other things, its vast array of restaurant options. Nowhere else in America are there as many dining options, from the haute cuisine of Le Bernardin to the grab-it-and-go hot dog stands, as NYC. After living there for years and dining out more than my budget should have allowed, I can definitively say that Sarabeth’s Kitchen is my favorite restaurant for brunch in the city. Anyone traveling to New York for a fun-filled urban vacation would have a happy breakfast or lunch here.

Brunch is more than a meal here at Sarabeth’s. It’s a downright cultural movement. The proprietor, Sarabeth Levine, started out with a simple bakery, and it is these baked items that elevate the restaurant above the standard toast/eggs combo of brunch specials at city diners. The scones and muffins are among the best I’ve had.

My favorite brunch at Sarabeths? Easy. The garden omelette, with a pumpkin muffin on the side, never fails to distract me from any conversation. It’s almost embarrassing how I find myself compelled to “ooh and ahh” over a meal that I’ve had dozens of times. The lemon ricotta pancakes are a close second. Even the homemade jams are outstanding – don’t pass on the baked goods, or you won’t get to use them! My dining partner has a preference for the red omelette – its blend of cheese, sour cream, and tomatoes makes for real comfort food.

There are several Sarabeth’s Kitchens in New York City. The coziest one, however, has got to be at 423 Amsterdam Ave (at 80th St.) on the Upper West Side. The one at 1295 Madison Ave (at 92nd) also has a warm, inviting ambience. The Sarabeth’s Kitchen at the Whitney ( 945 Madison and 75th St.) is somewhat more sterile, perhaps in keeping with its home in the

museum. And while Sarabeth’s Central Park South (40 CPS) is sleek and lovely, the horses that wait across the street contribute a somewhat “manure-y” smell to the area immediately around the restaurant entranceway. The Upper East and Upper West Side Sarabeths are as close to perfect that a mellow, comfortable, and delicious brunch restaurant can be.

It’s been a while since I lived in New York City. Every time I go back, the one restaurant I always make time for is Sarabeth’s Kitchen. It is simply my favorite brunch in the city.

Tonight, my husband and I met friends for dinner at Alice’s restaurant. The restaurant has been around since the 1970’s. As a building, it has been around since the turn of the last century. Pretty damn old for California! It started as a grocery for the loggers who were working/living in the area. “Alice” for whom the restaurant is named, was a fan of Arlo Guthrie and his famous song,  ”Alice’s Restaurant“, had just come out when she opened.

I’ll start out with full disclosure. I wasn’t wild about the food. It is your typical burgers and fries type establishment and they don’t seem to be aiming for perfection in this regard.

However, everything else about my experience there was terrific.

The restaurant is at a crossroads outside of the small hamlet of Woodside. You drive up to it at night and are met with bright cheery lights that shine out at the darkness. Woodside is on Hwy 84 which cuts through the coastal range that separates the South Bay and the coast. It is an intensely windy and scenic road surrounded by deep forests filled with old giant Redwood trees. On this drive, I always have to roll down my window to breathe in the scent of pine, earth and the vaguest hint of salty ocean.

It is amazing to me how quickly you feel remote and disconnected from the hustle and bustle of Silicon Valley on this short 25 minute drive. By the time you pull into the large parking lot at Alice’s you feel relaxed and settled of mind.

The restaurant is old and charmingly cozy. A large wooden bar takes up most of the main room and a thin long room lined with large windows is the only other space. I did have a very crisp and refreshing pear cider and this, combined with the lovely drive and convivial atmosphere is enough to draw me back.

Next time, I just won’t order the burger!

Photo credit to the slowlane

Photo Credit to DiAichner3

My husband and I unexpectedly found ourselves in Berkeley this weekend. As I strolled down the city’s “Gourmet Ghetto” on Shattuck, I was amazed at how many fresh food markets, vegan eateries and organic, sustainable, high-quality ingredients I saw on the restaurant menus. This included, of course, the famous Chez Panisse owned by Alice Waters, the founder of the California slow-food movement.

Places like this are what make dining in California such a treat. However, for some reason, in the midst of all this beautiful produce, I just kept craving a big ‘ole plate of fatty, greasy, who-knows-where-the-cow-came-from, plate of meat. I’m talkin’ about Texas BBQ.

Maybe it was a case of ‘wanting what I couldn’t have’ but I really wanted to be outside in the Austin summer heat, sitting under an Oak tree with a cold beer and waiting for a table at the Salt Lick BBQ.

Let me give you a sensory image of this place- whirring ceiling fans, old creaky wooden benches, screened porch that lets in the smell of smoked meat and dry summer grass, large pitchers of cold iced tea and platters and platters of BBQ.

Photo Credit to Mccun934

You can bring your own cooler of beer and order ‘family-style’. This means they bring you potato salad, crisp coleslaw, peppery beans, soft bread, tasty ribs, tender brisket, smoked chicken, juicy sausage and pitchers full of their tangy signature BBQ sauce until the whirring fans and your full belly put you into a happy coma. If you are seriously trying to gain weight, you can order pecan pie or peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream to top it all off.

The Salt Lick is a ‘must’ for any visitor to Austin. It is about a 20 minute drive out of town on a winding country road. You can smell the smoking BBQ pits from miles away (ok, maybe not THAT far, but far). Eating here is about great atmosphere as much as it is about great BBQ. It’s Texas at its best. And I’ll admit, I don’t think about where the meat comes from or whether the cabbage for the coleslaw was grown on site with all natural fertilizers.

In Berkeley, I ended up eating organically prepared and quite tasty Ethiopian food…but, all the while I was dreaming of Texas BBQ!

Photo credits to Mccun934 and DiAichner3

photo credit to the bitten word

Okay. So, I have only lived in the Bay Area for a year now. But, there is an peculiar trend here that I have observed and am utterly fascinated by. People around here are obsessed with frozen yogurt. To be more specific…organic, fancy, ultra-expensive frozen yogurt.

Now, I like frozen treats just as much as the next person, but, it feels a little out of hand around here. I am constantly passing new stores in Palo Alto and San Francisco, advertising that they are “coming soon” and will be serving tasty organic frozen yogurt to the poor folks who live around the block and who before this grand opening, have been traveling two whole blocks to get their tasty organic frozen yogurt with extra strawberries and sustainable fair-trade coconut shavings.

It is nice to have some slightly healthier options to ice cream and gelato. I suppose I even feel good about the fact that it is organic. But, I do wonder where all this fro-yo enthusiasm is coming from. There is PinkBerry, Fraiche, Bi-Rite Creamery and Red Mango-just to name a few.

I wonder if this is a local fad or nation wide. Have you noticed this phenomenon where you live?

photo credit to Natalie Maynor

“You gotta eat”. I’m sure you’ve heard this adage before. It is certainly true. However, food is about much more than survival. It can provide a connection to your roots, a shared experience or a passport to another country. Dining out is a way to spend quality time with friends or to stimulate your palate with something new. When traveling, restaurants can be one of the highlights of a fresh destination; a window into a foreign culture or a comforting reminder of home.

UpTake’s restaurant blog was created to celebrate all things food. We want to share restaurant and dining experiences from fellow travelers and to keep you informed of what is fun and new. We’ll cover it all,

from Italian to Cantonese from fine dining to the greasy spoon.

So, visit often and bring your appetite. We’ll bring you the honest take on food!