Saturday, August 06, 2005

 

Chuy's

For some reason, my office has made Chuy's the default for lunch. Hence, I've eaten from there WAY too many times. Please keep that in mind as I describe the food there... I'll try to be ... objective.

It is consistently decent, however, no doubt about that. Not the best tex-mex in the world by any means, but always edible. It's funny though: they really are *not* consistent when it comes to packing chips, etc, for take out. This last time, they gave us a small white paper bag of chips. A couple of years ago, however, ... let's just say that, for a minute, we weren't sure if they were giving us a week's worth of trash for free.

The chips are pretty good. So is the salsa (red), though there's a slight resemblance to ketchup.

For those who'd want to visit the place, it can get as crowded as Trudy's sometimes. By the way, remember the Bush daughters' fake ID thing? Well, this is where it happened. So that's a reason to visit (or not). Anyways, at least we've got evidence that the drinks are popular.

As for this most recent sampling, I ordered the Cheese Chile Rellenos with (I think) the Green Chile sauce. Came with rice and refried beans. The rellenos were on the delicious side, especially the poblano pepper part of it. The cheese inside was, well, good.. But to me, cheese is always at least "good", so as far as cheese goes, this was just ok. Mediocre. No.. I'll say ok. I guess. Well, I ate all of it. Batter was good, and the sauce was pretty much crowded out by the other tastes, though the texture it provided was nice. The rice was, you know, present. Refried beans were pretty standard (which means tasty). Then I went crazy on the chips and salsa, as always. This time the chips were a bit stale... or something. Very abnormal for these guys. But.. I pigged out on them nonetheless.

To sum it all up, it's a local Austin business, with consistely fairly decent (I really want to say just "edible" again... but... err... trying to be objective) food, and almost some presidential history, so you should give it a try if you're in the area! I'm sure I'll eat from there again.. (not exactly by choice)

Comments:
My standard is a "Big as Yo' Face" burrito with carne guisada and ranchero sauce. It's pretty consistently good.
 
I agree that is another dependable one. I neglected to mention some of the other items on their menu. Burritos, tacos, "sopapillas" (not the sweet kind), enchiladas, and fajitas, make up most of the standard items. When I was vegan, I would exclusively pick the Veggie Enchiladas with no cheese. All the enchiladas come with a choice of beans (refried for the herbivores) and sauce (most are vegan, like the chipotle). As a non-vegan, all of these items have some vegetarian option, including the "Big as Yo' Face".
 
I lllllove the creamy jalapeno salsa sauce at Chuys. I am saying salsa, but it does not have any tomato in it. I think they take ranch dressing or mayonnaise and grind it with jalapenos. OHHH, I always pig out on those.
 
Oh right the creamy jalapeno ranch.. Yeah that stuff is pretty darn good. I guess after being vegan for so long, I've gotten used to not choosing it. Alas. Those days have ended.
 
Chuy's biggest problem is that there aren't enough of them per capita in the capital area. I live in Round Rock, and the one of I35 is always packed with about 100 people in the 5-person waiting area.
 
I can handle the 183 location, but couldn't hang at the Barton Springs location. Had to leave before the food was served because of the NOISE. Constant dishes being thrown on each other and silverware being tossed into stainless steel tubs and the patrons having to all talk louder and louder to be heard over the din... I couldn't take it. The hard floor and low metal roof just made things worse. The food smelled great, but, gee, that place needs some sound treatment!
 
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