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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, South Austin said:

What do you guys use for chicken fajitas?

Italian dressing to marinade and season with Fiesta's Beef Fajita seasoning. 

 

I'm admittedly low-rent with my fajita prep,

Edited by dcbc
Posted
24 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

You guys are slacking.  There's no such thing as chicken fajita.

Bullshit. Its the outside skirt, ain't ya been reading'?

CHIEF

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Posted
1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Yeah, at 8.99, that is inside skirt, not outside skirt.

Since I was a teen, inside skirt has always been my preferred destination.

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Posted

Not gonna scroll back through dozens of posts, but if Matt’s El Rancho isn’t on here already that’s a goddam shame. Place was overrated in 1985 when I was a freshman, and hanst gotten any better since food-wise. There’s always a ton of hot puss there but you can find that all over Austin…

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Posted
28 minutes ago, Ignatius said:

Not gonna scroll back through dozens of posts, but if Matt’s El Rancho isn’t on here already that’s a goddam shame. Place was overrated in 1985 when I was a freshman, and hanst gotten any better since food-wise. There’s always a ton of hot puss there but you can find that all over Austin…

Blasphemer!  Matt's is Austin.

Posted
Not gonna scroll back through dozens of posts, but if Matt’s El Rancho isn’t on here already that’s a goddam shame. Place was overrated in 1985 when I was a freshman, and hanst gotten any better since food-wise. There’s always a ton of hot puss there but you can find that all over Austin…


Its as rated. Never heard anyone rave about Mats except that it’s a good Happy Hour meetup, especially for out of towners. With that said, more than once I went there on a Tuesday and was dumbfounded they’re closed on Tuesdays.
Posted
On 10/22/2025 at 11:50 AM, Brisketexan said:

Yeah, at 8.99, that is inside skirt, not outside skirt.

Today at La Familia at S. 1st and W. Dittmar.  We'll see how they turn out... 

PXL_20251023_224429731.jpg

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Posted
9 hours ago, Eskimohorn said:

Its as rated. Never heard anyone rave about Mats except that it’s a good Happy Hour meetup, especially for out of towners. With that said, more than once I went there on a Tuesday and was dumbfounded they’re closed on Tuesdays.

 

There's a laundry list of other places I'm going to take out-of-towners with a local Austin flavor before Matt's, whether for just happy hour drinks or food.  If I have guests who have never spent much time in Austin, they won't give two fucks about nostalgia.  But if I take them to Matt's for dinner, they'll be saying on their way home, "I can't believe he took us out to eat that mediocre shit."

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Posted (edited)
13 hours ago, texasdago said:

Matt's is (Nostalgic) Austin, that's it

Every town has a nostalgic Tex-Mex spot where people who didn't basically grow up with it realize it's not really very good.  But the people who grew up with it, or who just don't know any better, rave about it and usually talk about how good the margaritas are.

Edited by dcbc
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Posted
2 hours ago, HenryJames said:

They're Eating The Cats Springfield GIF - They're eating the cats  Springfield Cat - Discover & Share GIFs

My granddad said the best tamales in Bosque county, during the 1950s, where made by an old Mexican man in Morgan, Tx. He said the meat was slightly sweet. When the old man passed, they tore down the man's rickety shack after he passed away and found a few dozen dog skeletal remains buried in the back yard.

The Aztecs bred chihuahuas to be the size of a chicken for a purpose.

CHIEF

Posted
13 hours ago, texasdago said:

Today at La Familia at S. 1st and W. Dittmar.  We'll see how they turn out... 

PXL_20251023_224429731.jpg

That's where I buy my lard for carnitas. The taco joint in that same gas station/carnicaria makes damn fine breakfast tacos. And they have a fantastic selection of $1 mexican hot sauces. 

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Posted
4 minutes ago, irishtexan said:

That's where I buy my lard for carnitas. The taco joint in that same gas station/carnicaria makes damn fine breakfast tacos. And they have a fantastic selection of $1 mexican hot sauces. 

I need to visit that place 

Posted
18 minutes ago, irishtexan said:

That's where I buy my lard for carnitas. 

So I assume you use the lard to crisp the pork after its braised?  I just used the braising liquid that has accumulated the rendered fat.  Does the lard make an appreciable difference?

Posted (edited)
7 minutes ago, South Austin said:

So I assume you use the lard to crisp the pork after its braised?  I just used the braising liquid that has accumulated the rendered fat.  Does the lard make an appreciable difference?

I confit the pork in the lard in the oven for like 3-4 hours, and then crisp it up in the skillet before serving. That's why you gotta get the good shit, and not that Armour garbage they sell at grocery stores. 

Edited by irishtexan
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Posted
1 minute ago, irishtexan said:

I confit the pork in the lard in the oven for like 3-4 hours, and then crisp it up in the skillet before serving. That's why you gotta get the good shit, and not that Armour garbage they sell at grocery stores. 

That sounds great.  But I have a lipid profile, echocardiogram, and stress test scheduled in a couple weeks, so I'll hold off on that just a bit.

Posted
9 minutes ago, irishtexan said:

I confit the pork in the lard in the oven for like 3-4 hours, and then crisp it up in the skillet before serving. 

I mean that's the correct way to make carnitas.

Posted
11 minutes ago, South Austin said:

That sounds great.  But I have a lipid profile, echocardiogram, and stress test scheduled in a couple weeks, so I'll hold off on that just a bit.

Don't worry.  Your heart will last you your whole life.

Posted
6 hours ago, dcbc said:

Every town has a nostalgic Tex-Mex spot where people who didn't basically grow up with it realize it's not really very good.  But the people who grew up with it, or who just don't know any better, rave about it and usually talk about how good the margaritas are.

*cough cough* 

Locations — Los Tios Mexican Restaurants

3 hours ago, irishtexan said:

That's where I buy my lard for carnitas. The taco joint in that same gas station/carnicaria makes damn fine breakfast tacos. And they have a fantastic selection of $1 mexican hot sauces. 

Awesome - I haven't found a good Mexican meat market near me so I'm hoping this one fills the void.

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Posted
1 hour ago, texasdago said:

*cough cough* 

Locations — Los Tios Mexican Restaurants

As a native Houstonian, I kind of wondered if Houston's answer to this wasn't Molina's.  I grew up with it and really love it, but since I'm the guy telling you I like it, I wonder if it's the one people who didn't grow up in Houston going to that really isn't that great?  

 

But I'm sure Houston has several that qualify.

 

As a transplant to Tyler, I can tell you that Tyler's version of this was Gilbert's El Charro.  That place sucked and old-school Tyler people loved it.  Mercifully, it closed years ago.  

Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, dcbc said:

As a native Houstonian, I kind of wondered if Houston's answer to this wasn't Molina's.  I grew up with it and really love it, but since I'm the guy telling you I like it, I wonder if it's the one people who didn't grow up in Houston going to that really isn't that great?  

 

But I'm sure Houston has several that qualify.

 

As a transplant to Tyler, I can tell you that Tyler's version of this was Gilbert's El Charro.  That place sucked and old-school Tyler people loved it.  Mercifully, it closed years ago.  

I didn't hit up Molina's much but it least it had atmosphere.  Last time I went to Gross Tios it had the atmosphere of a 1970s doctor's office waiting room.

Edited by texasdago
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Posted
5 minutes ago, texasdago said:

I didn't hit up Molina's much but it least it had atmosphere.  Last time I went to Gross Tios it had the atmosphere of a 1970s doctor's office waiting room.

I think Molina's is fine.  It's not mind-blowing, but I wouldn't complain if someone suggested it, and I'd have the nostalgia factor and order Jose's Dip, which seems the same as Bob Armstrong dip, but I digress.  

Posted
1 hour ago, texasdago said:

I didn't hit up Molina's much but it least it had atmosphere.  Last time I went to Gross Tios it had the atmosphere of a 1970s doctor's office waiting room.

They had an aquarium in there?

Posted
4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

And a stack of Highlights magazines.

Beat me by mere minutes, although I definitely associate Highlights with the dentist's office.

Posted

Matt's is the shit. Honestly I'm grateful for all of these stupid dickheads in here that don't understand how to evaluate restaurants. I think y'all keep the wait-time down.

Posted
12 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Matt's is the shit. Honestly I'm grateful for all of these stupid dickheads in here that don't understand how to evaluate restaurants. I think y'all keep the wait-time down.

Honestly, for the amount of business they do and the fact that they consistently pack that space with a wait, the fact that I can go there and, not having "best meal ever" expectation, can order something that doesn't disappoint me is pretty remarkable.  It still probably qualifies as that place in Austin (see my post above), but it has a good view in every direction and, I can't believe I'm saying this (see above), but I've enjoyed some good margaritas there.

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Posted

Matt's is....fine.

Molina's is....fine [interesting note: it was the first restaurant I ever went to.  Mom took me as a 6 week old baby]

Los Tios is....fine (although that puffy queso thing is awesome).

Tex-mex is one of those foods that can be done "fine" pretty easily, and plenty of places pull it off.   Shit, my wife loves La Mancha.   Which is....fine.

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Posted
4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Matt's is....fine.

Molina's is....fine [interesting note: it was the first restaurant I ever went to.  Mom took me as a 6 week old baby]

Los Tios is....fine (although that puffy queso thing is awesome).

Tex-mex is one of those foods that can be done "fine" pretty easily, and plenty of places pull it off.   Shit, my wife loves La Mancha.   Which is....fine.

It's like when we complain about BBQ.  This is us.

Posted

Follow up question.  I'm just going to assume I remember that Matt's, like many Tex Mex places, has a burger and fries on the menu.  In my experience, such Tex-Mex restaurant burgers tend to kick a little ass.  I'm sure one of my kids probably ordered one in their younger years, but long shot: Anyone who's had one, Does a burger from Matt's hit pretty good?

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Posted
Just now, Judge Roybeanbag said:

You think we complain about this shit, wait until the game tomorrow!

Calm before the storm and so forth.

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