Happy Year of the Rabbit and Ho Ho Chinese BBQ Review

I never really practiced any special Lunar New Year customs growing up except eating special treats and having a bountiful Chinese dinner.

This year, my daughter has learned a little bit about the Lunar New Year at school and a little bit about the Chinese horoscope. And she wanted to know if we could eat some new year food and treats. 

Thanks to Marley and Spoon providing a few new year dishes for selection this week, I made lion's head meatballs and Hong Kong egg tarts.

I made modifications to the meatballs by adding minced wood ear mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms. I also halved the amount of cornstarch, which made my meatballs too wet and thus became big hill mounds rather than balls. But these were so delicious; it doesn't matter that they're not balls! My mom learned how to make these from Chinese cooking school in Taiwan and has been known to make awesome lion's head, and she approved of these!

Lion's Head Meatballs

I continued my streak of ugly but yummy food with the egg tart recipe. Maybe I can blame Marley and Spoon for forgetting to include the pre-made pie crusts. I went and got some pressed empanada dough instead and churned these puppies out. The ones baked in small muffin tins were forgiving, but not so much the regular-sized ones! The flavor and texture are pretty spot on, but I swear the instructions did not include tips on how to avoid the custard from bubbling in the oven!

Mini Egg Tarts

Strange-looking Egg Tarts

For dinner, we ordered from the closest Chinese BBQ restaurant to Round Rock, Ho Ho Chinese BBQ. This place is straight up "we make good food and don't care about all the other variables that a customer may care about." It's an old school Cantonese restaurant where the exterior and interior aesthetics is pretty tattered, but it doesn't stop the influx of customers trying to get their fill of savory morsels of meats. My online pick up order was supposed to be ready at 5:18 PM, and they didn't have the food ready until 6 PM. Granted it's Lunar New Year and instead of taking the day off, they were trying to service greater than usual traffic. 

With my daughter in tow, I solved our long wait by ordering roast duck and roast pork belly to be chopped up straight from the BBQ line and took it out to my mom and daughter to munch on while I went back to the restaurant to listen for my name. 

I came back to very satisfied passengers

None of the dishes are particularly pretty to look at; maybe they're slightly better looking than the building that it came from, but there's definite skill and authenticity behind the taste. Each dish has its distinct flavor profile and none are overly salted. I feel like these have become rare qualities in Chinese restaurants as of late. As chefs who have trained in specific Chinese cuisines retire, new chefs or owners have tried to cater to the types of Chinese cuisines and dishes that have risen in popularity and they lose authenticity. Cantonese food has been pushed to the side to make way for Sichuan food. And restaurants that don't align to Sichuan food try to do a bit of everything to accommodate what's trending and lose their way. I feel like Ho Ho does a great job in staying true to Cantonese flavors, and I hope they can successfully continue that! 

Happy new year to all!

The Chuck Wagon: BBQ in Fort Davis, TX

Before the Star Party at the McDonald Observatory, we chowed down at the Chuck Wagon.  

There's nothing as desirable as a big jug of ice cold sweet tea in the desert, and I'm forever grateful to the Chuck Wagon for serving them.

Texas-Size Sweet Tea

Homemade BBQ Sauces-(left to right) Spicy, Sweet, and Vinegary

You're not going to find the best BBQ in Texas here, but you'll find big portions of passable BBQ meats with pretty darn good BBQ sauce.  It's really silly to be picky about food in west Texas so I was quite satisfied with our meal.

"The Big Haul"-Chicken, Sausage, Brisket, and Ribs with Cole Slaw, Beans, Fries, and Toast

Stuffed Baked Potato

After dinner, we headed to the McDonald Observatory for a pre-Star Party educational tour and Star Party.  I highly recommend doing any of the tours at the observatory.  I learned a lot of fascinating things about stars and even brushed up on my foggy knowledge of the planets.  The best part was seeing Saturn TWICE through two different high-powered telescopes.  We saw the freakin' rings of Saturn!!!!  Unfortunately I couldn't take a photo of it through the telescope.

Sunset at the McDonald Observatory

Venus and The Moon seen outside the McDonald Observatory

The next day, we ordered breakfast burritos and a peach pancake from the Chuck Wagon.  The burritos were cheap, gigantic, and delicious.  Breakfast was better than dinner!

Peach Pancake

Breakfast Burrito-eggs, sausage, bacon, country ham, grilled potatoes, sliced tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, and cheese 

Bowie BBQ at Whole Foods

Bowie BBQ

I did not expect grocery store BBQ to be as good as BBQ served at well established joints around town.  I should've known better since Bowie BBQ is a dine-in or take-out counter facing the butcher's counter at Whole Foods.  The racks of ribs in the display case looked so gorgeous that I just had to have the ribs plate with mac and cheese and potato salad.  The sides were excellent!  The ribs were better than those from Franklin's BBQ trailer and Rudy's.  Both Rudy's and Franklin's BBQ trailer tend to over-pepper their ribs, and I find that I need BBQ sauce to enhance the meat's taste.  I did not use one drop of BBQ sauce for my Bowie ribs.  They were moist, flavorful, and slightly crusty on the outside.  It was one of the most enjoyable to-go meals I've had.  Being able to wash the meat and sides down with cold sweet tea was the cherry on top.  I can't wait to try the brisket next time!

Ribs Plate with 2 Sides-mac and cheese and potato salad

Franklin's BBQ Trailer

Franklin's BBQ

I decided to cheer myself up after a dreary day at work and before my afternoon and late evening classes with BBQ from Franklin's. 

Franklin's Menu

I ordered the 2 meats combo: sausage, pork ribs, potato salad, and cole slaw.  Wow.  That sausage was the best BBQ sausage I EVER had.  It beats even the highly esteemed Salt Lick's!  The sausage was juicy, tightly packed in the casing, and snapped with each bite.  However, the ribs did not impress.  The rub fell flat on the surface and the seasoning did not penetrate the meat.  I had to rely on the espresso and hot BBQ sauces.  The sauces were too vinegary.  I wanted the espresso to have more coffee bean flavor and less tartness. 

2 meats combo: sausage, pork ribs, potato salad, and cole slaw

I'll have to try the beef brisket next time and of course help myself to another sausage.

Dongbei Interpretation of Korean BBQ

There's a popular Korean-style BBQ restaurant near work that really does not taste Korean but is nonetheless tasty, filling, and inexpensive.

On our first visit we experienced an arduously uncomfortable attempt at good service. They assigned a waitress to grill our food for us at our table. The waitress placed a handful of meats on the grill and left for 5 minutes without leaving us the tongs, the meats came dangerously close to turning into carbon before she came back to add more. We had no control over the cooking process and the awkward rhythm of our meal was unexpectedly stressful.

Plate of Spiced Lamb for the Grill; Side of Peanuts, Seaweed Salad, and Ground Peanuts and Sauce for Dipping

Unlike the tea house, we came back to this BBQ joint because the food was good and is very affordable. We were smart enough to point out to the waitress that we wanted to grill our food ourselves the second time around.

Beef; Pumpkin


Grilling on Wax Paper; Barbara Flipping the Lamb and Beef

Qiqiha'er BBQ

I was taken to carnivorous heaven in Qiqiha'er by locals who were keen on impressing me with their cuisine. This meal was the most memorable one I've had so far in Northeast China. The variety, quality, and flavors of the BBQ made me an eating fiend. I had remind myself to maintain my composure.

After the host ordered a gazillion ingredients from the menu, waiters and waitresses wheeled in carts full of our BBQ items.

Oregano, Sesame, Chile Powder, Peanut Powder; Vinegar and a Special Sauce

I was told to pile my plate with all the condiments on the table and mix them all together.

Garlic Beef

Then, the grilling marathon commenced.

Sweet Potato and Pickled Cabbage; Meat n' Potatoes

Qiqiha'er BBQ Condiments

Lamb Skewers and Grilling Sweet Potatoes and Beef

Steak with Red Wine; Grilling Veggies

Dipping Tofu in Egg Yolk Before Grill-Frying

What separates this BBQ experience apart from all the other BBQs I've had before is the finale of hand made fresh noodles. The waitress poured a hot water into our deep-dish grill, scraped all the remaining traces of browned meat juices from the bottom of the grill dish, incorporated our grilled veggie and meat leftovers, brought the mixture to a boil, and tossed in the hand-made noodles.

Hand-Stretching Noodle Dough; Hand-Tearing Noodles from Stretched Dough

Making Noodle Soup with the Grill

This was the best Northeast China meal I've had. I know, I'm using a ton of superlatives here, but I am not exaggerating.

My First BBQ in Lockhart

Chisholm Trail BBQ

A friend, who has a ranch in Lockhart, introduced us to Lockhart's famous BBQ scene yesterday. There are 4 famous BBQ joints that are properly advertised on the city government's website. Paula took us to her favorite, which unlike the others, has a ton of sides to go with the meats (Black's is the other option for great BBQ with sides). Others focus solely on serving up meats.

The line to get into Chisholm wrapped all the way around the outside walls of the building at high noon. We came back an hour later and encountered a shorter line that still queued out the door.

The lunch menu comes with 3 sides, and you get to scoop as much as you want. I was greedy and went way overboard. I know BBQ is all about the meats, but for me, the BBQ experience just isn't complete without the presence of potato salad at the very least! I ordered the extra large plate that comes with beef brisket, a sausage link, and a pork sparerib and I picked out potato salad, broccoli salad, and macaroni salad for my sides. My BBQ mate ordered the same meats, and picked out fried squash, mac and cheese, and green beans.

The sausage was a huge disappointment because the texture is all wrong. When you cut into the link, the meat inside squishes out of the skin and breaks apart rather than cut off in one whole piece. The brisket and the sparerib quickly salvaged this Lockhart BBQ experience though! Brisket is tough to impress, quite literally. Even Salt Lick's brisket can come out too dry for my taste. I usually remedy this by drowning the beef in sauce, but Chisholm's briskets don't need the sauce. It's juicy and flavorful by itself. The pork ribs are super smokey, there's really no point in heightening the flavorful with sauce. The ribs definitely trump Salt Lick's...sorry Fickle Foodie, I know how staunchly you stand by Salt Lick. At these prices (Extra Large Plate of Beef, Sausage, Ribs, and 3 Sides = $7.95!!!!), I think Chisholm Trail beats BBQ in Austin...but then you have to factor in price of gas...but then, there's the super addictive, incomparable sweet tea at Chisholm Trail!

2 Extra Large Lunch Plates of Beef, Sausage, and Rib with sides

Obviously, my point in ordering the extra large was to have plenty of leftovers back in Austin. Good thing we don't live in Europe, where doggie bags are taboo. We made room in our tummies for a comforting warm peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

Mmmm...time for a nap!

Warm Peach Cobbler a la mode