Lunch: I had leftover blackened catfish with rice pilaf, grilled broccoli, and mashed potatoes.

Dinner: We watched a performance of Stomp at The Paramount in downtown Austin and afterward tried to go to the Me So Hungry Cuban/Vietnamese Food Truck, but they weren't at their 5th street location. We drove over to their East 6th street location and they were closed. So, we headed back on 6th street to Casino El Camino (517 East 6th Street, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 469-9330‎) to try their burgers.

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What I Ate: May 4, 2010 (Casino El Camino Bar & Grill)

Hey, everyone out there who lives in Austin or plans on visiting or has friends and family out here - the latest edition of The Fearless Critic Austin Restaurant Guide has just been released and is available at bookstores as well as online at Amazon.com. I spent the last year with the 2nd edition in my car and used it extensively while Tina and I tried out new restaurants. Our experience with the 2nd edition is that the Fearless Critic doesn't pull any punches. If the place is a local favorite but the food is mediocre, the review says so. Everything is rated on an absolute scale unaltered by nostalgia or "just wanting to be nice" (unfortunately, a problem that exists with the restaurant reviews I find in the newspapers here in Austin - how can Get Sum Dim Sum be great dimsum???). Occasionally, our opinions will differ from those of the Fearless Critic, but those slight deviations come down to personal taste. We're always in the same ballpark, so I thought 2nd edition was a great reference to have.

This new edition covers 75 additional restaurants and updates the reviews of pretty much all the restaurants previously included (unfortunately, some restaurants got worse over time) for a total of over 500 restaurants. I'm proud to say that Tina and I contributed somewhat to this edition by being one of the "local critics" that provided reviews and input into which restaurants were good (personal favorites this last year were Ryu of Japan and Zoot) and which were bad (worst experience was Romeo's - a very popular and supposedly "romantic" restaurant that was just the worst food we've had in Austin and more cheesy than romantic. If you read my review and then the 3rd edition Fearless Critic review, you'll see where my input went).

If you want to have a great restaurant guide that tells you the plain truth about Austin restaurants, then $11 (on Amazon; $16 at the bookstore unless it's on sale) is a small price to pay to make your restaurant dining choices a little better. Click here for the 3rd Edition Fearless Critic Austin Restaurant Guide on Amazon.com.

Dinner: I cooked a flank steak sous vide at 55°C (131°F) for about 44 hours in a Korean BBQ marinade (from a jar - but essentially soy sauce, sugar, asian pear puree, garlic, scallions, and ginger). I wanted to try the marinade on a cut not typically used for Korean BBQ. The result was very interesting - the flavors of bulgogi but the texture of the finest and most tender steak. I finished the steak by reducing the liquid in the bag, brushing it over the steak, and searing it over a propane searing burner. I tried cutting the steak across the grain as well as along the grain to see if there would be any difference. With these lengthy cooking times, the collagen has all broken down into gelatin, so there was no longer any toughness to the steak and grain direction makes no difference. It was still firm (not mushy like what some tenderizing agents will do) but very tender.

Tina sauteed some turnip greens with garlic and cooked rice to go with the steak.

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May 3, 2010 (Sous Vide Korean BBQ Flank Steak)

Dinner: We went up to Ho Ho Chinese BBQ Restaurant (13000 N. IH 35, Bldg. 6, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 339-9088‎) to see if they were any good. We ordered four dishes to try out and they were okay, but not good enough for us to want to make the drive back up north to Ho Ho.

BBQ Combination Plate - comes with BBQ Pork, Roast Duck, and Marinated Chicken. All three were pretty dry and somewhat bland. I didn't mind the mildness in the BBQ pork that much, but it was chewier than I generally like it. Both Tina and I agreed that the Chinese BBQ meats that we had at First Chinese BBQ were better than this (but it's been two years since we ate there last, so we need to revisit). I would rate this BBQ similarly to what we had last year at Din Ho. (After some web-based investigation, it seems that the original owners of Din Ho may have started Ho Ho, which would explain the similarities.)

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What I Ate: May 2, 2010 (Ho Ho Chinese BBQ Restaurant)

We got a late start today, so we ended eating just one formal meal. That was at Cherry Creek Catfish Company (5712 Manchaca Road, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 440-8810‎) where we ordered several different menu items to try out. The best thing there was the fried green tomatoes and they are so good we can't stop thinking about having them again. the rest of the food is decent, but not some of the best examples of each type of food.

Fried Green Tomatoes - crunchy, slightly salty, sour (but pleasantly so), and tomatoey (in a way that only green tomatoes can be). Delicious with and without ranch dressing. (A half order is pictured.)

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What I Ate: May 1, 2010 (Cherry Creek Catfish Company)