What I Ate: April 29, 2009 (Bill Miller BBQ)

While the cable guys were over trying to figure out how to get a tuning adapter to work so my TiVo would get all the channels (took them 2.5 hours!), I whipped up a quick lunch of omelets filled with wilted baby greens, sauteed mushrooms, and chopped steak.

At dinnertime, Tina and I headed up to Southpark Meadows to catch a movie (which we ended up not doing). We dropping in on Bill Miller BBQ (136 Slaughter Ln W, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 280-8364‎) and shared a pork spare ribs plate with chicken and sausage.

It came with a really tasty potato hash brown and a mayonnaise-less (vinegar-based) cole slaw that helped cut the grease.

May 2, 2009 Update: I was so busy this week I didn't get a chance to put down any additional thoughts on Bill Miller BBQ earlier, but here they are.

BBQ Pork Ribs were smoky (tasted/smelled like hickory) but could have benefited from a real dry rub – something that I could taste. Also needed more salt. We have better smoked ribs in California – but not at all the BBQ places. This actually tastes pretty typical of average BBQ places I’ve been to outside of Texas. I was hoping even the average BBQ place in TX would be much better than elsewhere, but guess not. At least the smoke flavor wasn’t artificial tasting or reminding me of petroleum – so I’m pretty sure they’re using real wood smoke.

Chicken – super tender; really amazingly tender. Needs flavor though. I could get the chicken again. (This was BBQ chicken not fried)

Sausage – OVERLY greasy. Pools of grease flowed out. The only thing there with enough salt, and it was a bit too salty. Not too bad, but over cooked a bit to get that grainy texture that results from overcooking the protein in a sausage… a lot of people like this texture, but I prefer mine differently prepared.

Cole slaw – pretty decent especially for a vinegar based slaw. Went well with the other food.

Potatoes / Hash browns – surprisingly strong caramelized onion taste and strong potato flavor.

BBQ Sauce – not complex – very simple tomato, molasses, and vinegar flavors. Too runny.