Regular reader and commenter, Maureen, tipped me off to the opening of our own Smashburger up near Bandera and 1604 on the Super Target side, and boy our we glad she did.
The place is your standard issue atmosphere with nothing really setting apart from any other place, aside from the huge painted smash, sizzle, savor on the walls. But it was clean, the managers were circulating the crowd asking if anyone needed anything and when you go, you will find like we did, that the burgers are great.
I have read a few complaints about the pricing scheme from others; $1.49 to add bacon, 99 cents for mushrooms and 49 cents for an extra slice of cheese. Basically, if you add on a bunch of stuff, the next thing you know, your burger is the price of a steak at Texas Road House. I have to admit, when I got the bill for five of us, it was about $53.00. Yikes! But I'm here to tell you, it was money well spent.
My son and his friend both had 1/2 pound Texas Smashburgers and one added guacamole. They both got the Smashfries which are tender and crispy fries tossed with rosemary, olive oil, garlic and other herbs for a great savory taste. They were fine, I suppose. More importantly, look at those burgers. It is clear that these are not frozen patties, and the "smash" part of the name is apparent. My son commented that he hadn't "had a burger this good in a long time."
My wife and daughter both went with the 1/3 pound BBQ, Bacon & Cheese which comes with apple wood bacon and topped with the haystack onions. Both of them were please with the choice. They also got the regular french fries. Smashburger doesn't have any honey mustard, but my wife did enjoy the BBQ sauce she used for dipping her fries in. Tastes like KC Masterpiece to me.
I went with the "Create your Own" plan, opting for a half pound burger on the multi-grain bun, American cheese, mayo, mustard, lettuce, grilled onions, pickles and jalapenos. I also paid a $1.49 to add bacon. My burger was outstanding. I did have to immediately remove the jalapenos because I just assumed they would be either pickled or at least grilled. I seriously don't know anyone who eats jalapenos fresh and crispy like that, but apparently, there is a market for it. Aside from that little miscue, the burger was stunningly wonderful, and worth the price.
Along with the burger, I got a side of the haystack onions. The onions come with that same dipping sauce you get when your order a Bloomin' Onion or Awesome Blossom. My wife and daughter both commented that the haystack onions worked well on their burgers, but attempting to eat them as onion rings, and especially attempting to dip them in the sauce is a bit awkward. And, they give you more than a single person should eat and feel safe to be in public. If you go to Smashburger, just share an order of fries, it is enough for two people.
When we were finishing up, we had five happy faces and my wife repeatedly performing here little happy dance and discussing coming back to try the Smashdogs. Hungry for something really good? Smashburger is a Tasty Treat!
First and foremost, I need to thank the several readers (including another one today) who alerted us to Porky J's, hidden in a small shopping center on Bandera Road between Huebner and Sawyer. When someone says Porky J's is a hole in the wall, they ain't kiddin'! There is no store front at all; just a sign leading you to awesome goodness in the form of Memphis style vittles.
I had mentioned that we made an effort to try Porky J's on Sunday but surprisingly, found the place closed. I learned the story behind that little mystery this evening when I talked with one of the owners during our dinner. Turns out Porky J's does catering and had such an overwhelmingly unexpected crowd at an event, that they simply ran out of food. Don't take that as a sign of poor planning. They expected to serve a few hundred plates and ended up serving over a thousand. So, I think we can give them a pass, don't you?
We have learned from recent experiences at other small businesses that one of the real joys of the dining experience is a positive atmosphere and positive people. A friend of ours told us about attempting to give this place a try during a busy Friday evening but having to wait so long to have their order taken, they simply left. I can only guess that was a total freak accident. Porky J's is small - I'm guessing they can only seat about 30 people at max capacity - so who knows how they could have messed that one up. I can only suggest giving them another shot.
In addition to the smallish indoor seating area (by the way, no smaller than the indoor seating area at either Augie's Barbed Wire or The Rib House - two of our favorites), they have an interesting outdoor patio formed by the surrounding walls of the buildings to the side and behind the place. Inside, the theme is Memphis and the music reflects that.
First up, I had to try the onion rings. Most of you know that I am less a fan of the crispity-crunchy type rings and much prefer the beer battered version. But when onion rings have a unique seasoning to them, I take note. These are not dropped in the fryer out of a frozen bag from a local supplier; like everything else, they are home made and very good. Try them.
My wife had a hankering for a brisket sammy. What she got was a really messy (in a very good way) Memphis style treat with Cole-slaw mashed in with the brisket between the bread. We had talked about the fact that when we flew through Memphis last time, we saw that you could order your sandwich with or without Cole-slaw. Now we know the correct answer; you must have it with the slaw. The brisket does have a slight bite to it, so if you are a lightweight in the spicy department, keep your iced tea handy.
I had to try the pork ribs and was glad I did. Again, I had the spicy version of things, but you can order a milder version if you need. Don't get me wrong, for most San Antonian's you'll want to go with the spicy, I'm just letting you know of the option in case your brittle aunt visits or something. I also asked for some brisket just so I could try it without the benefit of sandwich and slaw, and I will tell you that it is wonderful. You can try it with the home made BBQ sauce, but it isn't needed.
To really make me fat, I also asked for small portions of potato salad and green beans. Both are top notch. The potato salad was smooth with no aftertaste which can sometimes be an issue. The green beans are the flat type, nicely seasoned and cooked enough to make me happy. Good stuff!
As we chatted with the owner, I asked him if he had tried Augie's. This lead to quite a discussion on the topic and I mentioned the wonderful pulled-pork sammy I had last time I went to Augie's. A few minutes later, out comes a serving of pulled-pork for me to give a little taste to. My wife and I both LOVED it, but I was not willing to go on record as saying his was better than Augie's. I'd need to do one of those blindfolded taste tests to be sure. I can just tell you this: Porky J's is a lot closer to my house than Augie's is.
This all brings me back to the issue of enjoying the atmosphere and friendly folks. I can tell you right now that if I walked into Porky J's and it was jammed packed, I'd get my order to go. I just don't like crowds in small places. But we must have hit at the right time because we beat the dinner crowd.
We had a great conversation about all the places we love to eat and to make it that much better, we enjoyed some really great food, and that makes our visit to Porky J's a Tasty Treat.
A friend told my wife and I about Frankfurter Express, a fairly new place located near the St. Mary's area near 281 on a street that was once residential and now filled with small businesses.
We were told to expect friendly folks, interesting art, and wonderful hot dogs, and I am happy to report, we found all of the above.
The first order of business is parking. Good luck, but don't let it deter you. Just know that you may have to drive around the block a few times before finding a place to park.
When we walked in, the owner (or the co-owner - it is a father-son team), was chatting with another customer and he immediately welcomed us and gave us the lowdown on the hot dog operation. This wasn't that fake, forced "Welcome to Fill-in-the-Blank" that you get nowadays from so many chains, but a genuine enthusiasm by someone happy to see us. I swear, my wife and I started giving each other that puzzled "where do we know this guy from" look, because he was an instant friend. Surely, he isn't this friendly to everyone (and we would find out that he is not).
As we looked over the picture menu of all the possible combinations, he explained to us that they were trying to give customers something different than the fast-food experience we have all become accustomed to. I laughed when he imitated the accepted style of cashier at some fast food places, and I'm sure readers here have all encountered it. You walk into McDonald's and when it is your turn in line, the cashier just gives you a blank stare; none of the polite welcome and asking to take your order that was so drilled into those of us who worked fast food twenty-something years ago.
He told me about the need for people to smile and be happy and enjoy the experience, but confessed that he has had to throw two different customers out for misunderstanding what Frankfurter Express is all about. In one case, a guy came in and wanted his hot dogs ASAP/PDQ because he was in a hurry. The owner kindly pointed him to the direction of Der Wiener Schnitzel and simply turned and walked into the kitchen. I like this guy!
The atmosphere is that of a small converted house turned art gallery. The walls are bright, covered with original artwork and they offer free WiFi if you need to check out my Blog while you shovel a footlong down your gullet.
Outside, there is patio dining and apparently, they show movies occasionally. This Thursday I believe it is, they will be showing a movie in celebration of the owner's birthday.
Not ready to watch a film, but interested in a good dog? There is a huge selection of pre-designed dog combinations to choose from, or you can just order a dog and dress it yourself from the well stocked toppings bar. Oh, and a huge selection of mustards that you simply won't find at most places.
My wife decided to try the Cincinnati (as my late aunt would pronounce it, Cincinnat-uh) Footlong. This dog comes with a New York Hebrew National Kosher served on a long (fresh) bun with authentic Cincinnati chili, cheddar cheese and chopped onions. My wife thought the chili was different than what she is used to, but at least it was home made and enjoyed the dog - and ate the whole thing.
We ordered up a basket split with onion rings and fries. The rings have that harder, crispy feel that I'm not a huge fan of (I prefer the less healthy, beer battered fried rings), but the taste was simply wonderful. I do recommend them. More importantly, the fries were out of this world fantastic. If you go and do not order the fries, you are making a huge mistake. They are cut potatoes and seasoned with something to make them better than your normal fries from most places we visit.
I was extremely hungry and was contemplating ordering two different types of dogs when the owner suggested I give the Dogzilla a try. It is a monster sized half pound foot long covered half and half Cincinnati Style and New York style for a two city rampage. Whatever; it was huge and it was wonderful.
And yes, I ate the whole thing.
You'll like the company and the presentation and you'll really like the food. Frankfurter Express at 111 Kings Court near downtown is a Tasty Treat.
My son needed to get the oil changed in his car so we slipped into the Wal Mart located in the what I suspect is a semi-retirement community for Carny-folk (not that Carny-folk shouldn't semi-retire anywhere they choose), called Callaway, FL. We dropped off the car for the lube service and considered taking a stroll through the Wal Mart itself only because I suspect that we could have taken a few pictures to submit to PeopleOfWalmart, but instead, we decided to grab some lunch.*
I had always thought Beef O'Brady's was just a local outfit in my parents town of Brandon, but come to find out, they are in 23 states including Texas, just nothing near San Antonio. Too bad. Turns out they do have a few locations near Panama City Beach, and luckily for us, there is one just across the street from the WalMart in Callaway.
Beef's is a sports bar type of set up with loads of TVs everywhere, including individual monitors at most of the booths and tables. This allows you to watch whatever you choose, from ESPN, FoxNews or your favorite soap if needed. My son reports that Beef's is always good for showing the pay-per-view events like boxing and UFC events.
The menu is loaded with lots of the usual neighborhood bar & grill like options (think Applebee's, Chili's, Friday's, Bennigan's, etc.) and we decided to start with an order of the Onion Rings served with some sort of orange looking tangy and spicy dipping sauce. Good stuff. The rings were just the way I like them and we made extremely quick work of them.
My son ordered a sandwich called the Watterson apparently named after one of Beef's first customers. The sandwich is made with roast beef, with Swiss cheese on rye, loaded with lots of salad. I love it when people are not afraid to put loads of mayonnaise on a sandwich! He added a little serving of potato salad which was pretty good.
Although the menu had numerous possibilities, I immediately honed in on The Reuben and was pretty pleased with it. The sandwiches are not puny little two-bite affairs that leave you wishing for more. I also had the potato salad which was very creamy and enjoyable.
Our waitress was very friendly and even though the place was still doing a brisk lunch hour business, things were served quickly. As we were leaving, she swapped our tea glasses for environmentally friendly Styrofoam cups - okay, maybe not so green, but in this Florida humidity, it was appreciated - and sent us on to retrieve the vehicle from Wal Mart.
Good food, good service and an atmosphere perfect for game day or just lunch, we could use a Beef's in San Antonio. If you get a chance, give Beef O'Brady's a try - it's a Tasty Treat.
*No offense to Carny folk, citizens of Callaway, or awkward appearing shoppers of Wal Mart; I'm just hackin' on ya.
The place is your standard issue atmosphere with nothing really setting apart from any other place, aside from the huge painted smash, sizzle, savor on the walls. But it was clean, the managers were circulating the crowd asking if anyone needed anything and when you go, you will find like we did, that the burgers are great.
My son and his friend both had 1/2 pound Texas Smashburgers and one added guacamole. They both got the Smashfries which are tender and crispy fries tossed with rosemary, olive oil, garlic and other herbs for a great savory taste. They were fine, I suppose. More importantly, look at those burgers. It is clear that these are not frozen patties, and the "smash" part of the name is apparent. My son commented that he hadn't "had a burger this good in a long time."
My wife and daughter both went with the 1/3 pound BBQ, Bacon & Cheese which comes with apple wood bacon and topped with the haystack onions. Both of them were please with the choice. They also got the regular french fries. Smashburger doesn't have any honey mustard, but my wife did enjoy the BBQ sauce she used for dipping her fries in. Tastes like KC Masterpiece to me.
I went with the "Create your Own" plan, opting for a half pound burger on the multi-grain bun, American cheese, mayo, mustard, lettuce, grilled onions, pickles and jalapenos. I also paid a $1.49 to add bacon. My burger was outstanding. I did have to immediately remove the jalapenos because I just assumed they would be either pickled or at least grilled. I seriously don't know anyone who eats jalapenos fresh and crispy like that, but apparently, there is a market for it. Aside from that little miscue, the burger was stunningly wonderful, and worth the price.
Along with the burger, I got a side of the haystack onions. The onions come with that same dipping sauce you get when your order a Bloomin' Onion or Awesome Blossom. My wife and daughter both commented that the haystack onions worked well on their burgers, but attempting to eat them as onion rings, and especially attempting to dip them in the sauce is a bit awkward. And, they give you more than a single person should eat and feel safe to be in public. If you go to Smashburger, just share an order of fries, it is enough for two people.
When we were finishing up, we had five happy faces and my wife repeatedly performing here little happy dance and discussing coming back to try the Smashdogs. Hungry for something really good? Smashburger is a Tasty Treat!
