Polvos and Stubb's BBQ - Austin, Texas

Although Uchi was obviously the best restaurant we ate at in Austin, Sweetmonger and I had some very good, low-key meals elsewhere. These included a wonderful Mexican place called Polvos and the famous Stubb's BBQ in downtown Austin. Bang for the buck, these places are hard to beat as the bill with alcohol and tip never topped $35 at either.

Polvos is located in south-central Austin and is just in a building on the side of the road. It has a large outdoor seating area and the decor is pretty much your standard Mexican restaurant stuff. Chips and salsa are a little different here as Polvos operates a self-service salsa bar instead of just bringing it to the table. Sweetmonger was tasked with choosing among 3 different salsas. She chose two but we have no idea what they were. She asked another diner who simply said, "Umm . . . I'm not sure. I just come here hungry and eat. I don't ask too many questions."

Whatever Sweetmonger brought back was very good as was the queso with guacamole, onions, peppers and amazingly seasoned ground beef. For our entree, we both got the exotic taco, which is a huge flat tortilla topped with rice, cheese, grilled pineapple, pork (or your choice of meat) and Cartuja sauce (or your choice). Not really sure what the Cartuja sauce was but it was damn good. We will be returning many times to Polvos once we move to Austin.

Stubb's BBQ is an Austin institution known as much for its amphitheatre and great concerts as it is for its food. On our visit we were there to sample the food and we skipped appetizers and just ordered entrees. She got the pulled pork sandwich (I know . . . it's Texas. Beef is the norm, but what can you do? She's stubborn) with cheese spinach and potato salad, and I went with the brisket plate with cheese spinach and side salad. She really liked the sandwich and loved the cheese spinach. It along with the Tuna and goat cheese dish at Uchi was the best single thing I had while in Austin. It's very cheesy, but there is still a decent amount of spinach flavor. What sets the dish off though is the incorporation of Serrano peppers. It adds spice and a wonderful Tex-Mex aspect.

My brisket, on the other hand, was not nearly as good. It was fine and had a nice smokey flavor, but something was lacking. I also found the world-famous Stubbs BBQ sauce a little bit of a let down. Furthermore, the fact the the sides are put on the plate with an ice-cream scooper is a turn off. It reminds me of my high-school cafeteria, but the spinach is good enough that I will return over and over.

Polvos:

polvos.ypguides.net/

2004 S. 1st St.

Austin, TX 78704

Stubb's BBQ:

http://www.stubbsaustin.com/

801 Red River

Austin, TX 78701