Lots of quick and simple foods today as we adopt our new dog who we're calling Hairy:

Breakfast: Before heading to the early morning church service (which we rarely do - we're late service people), I made egg sandwiches for us.

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What I Like: March 7, 2010 (Costco)

Dinner: We ate at what I would argue is the best trailer food in all of Austin - The Odd Duck Farm to Trailer (1219 South Lamar, Austin, TX) across the street (and just a tad south) from the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse Theater. Ultra-friendly service, outdoor seating, and decent amount of parking spaces are just bonuses - the quality of food is amazing here.

We ordered several items to share, paid by credit card, and sat down at one of the many outdoor tables they share with the Gourdough's Donuts trailer parked next to them. It wasn't fast (there were several people ahead of us) after we ordered - waiting about 25 minutes from the time we sat down to when we got our food - but it was worth it.

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What I Ate: March 6, 2010 (The Odd Duck Farm to Trailer)

Dinner: We tried Rudy's Country Store and Bar-B-Q (11570 Research Boulevard, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 418-9898‎) which was more like a Shell gas station / restaurant than a real country store. As far as barbecue places in Central Texas go, Rudy's had a lot more selection than the usual brisket, spare ribs, and rings. First timers get to have bite sized samples of whatever meats you want to try before you order. We tried a little of the turkey breast (lots of smoke flavor), lean brisket (beefy and smokey), moist brisket (decadently juicy and streaked with delicious fat), baby back ribs (a bit dry but nicely seasoned with a dry rub that isn't shy on the celery salt), sausage (finely ground texture and salty), cole slaw (sweet without being drowned in dressing), potato salad (not special - like supermarket potato salad), and creamed corn (very sweet).

Rudy's is worth going to just for the ultra-moist brisket - it's the best we've had so far. The rest of the BBQ is good, but not the best around. The baby back ribs at The Salt Lick are better and so are their sides.

Lunch: I ate the leftover trout and shrimp from Green Pastures.

Then I ate the flat iron steak.

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What I Ate: March 4, 2010 (Red Robin)

Breakfast: I woke up early a took my car to the VW dealer for routine maintenance. I picked up a Sausage McMuffin with Egg, Hash Brown Patty, and Coke to munch on while waiting in the waiting room.

Lunch: I made a Cajun-style turkey sandwich.

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What I Ate: March 3, 2010 (Taqueria Star)

Dinner: We went to Green Pastures (811 W Live Oak St, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 444-4747‎) for our first Austin Restaurant Week dinner of Spring 2010. We didn't get to see it very well because our dinner was after dark, but the land around the restaurant and the Victorian home that Green Pastures is housed in looked beautiful.

Green Pastures' Austin Restaurant Week menu looked so good and was such a good deal ($25 per person) that we couldn't resist ordering three meals instead of two. We tried everything on the menu except for one of the appetizer courses (we didn't order the South Texas Trio: A Little Quail, A Little Pork, and Some Chicken Bacon-wrapped jalapeno-stuffed Texas Quail; Pasilla-Nutmeg Pork En Croute; Ancho-Garlic Goat Cheese Chicken Sausage) because neither one of us wanted to share our lobster tail. The lobster tail - Breakfast in Vegas A Tempura Lobster Tail with Wasabi Mashed Potato, Coconut-Ginger Butter, Guajillo, Corriander [sic] and Crispy Basil - was rich (you'll see this an an ongoing theme with this dinner) and delicious. I loved the crunchy and well-seasoned tempura shell around the generous portion of lobster. Tina found the fried batter to be distracting and wished the lobster hadn't been fried so she could taste the lobster more.

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What I Ate: March 2, 2010 (Green Pastures)

Lunch: I made a sandwich of Cajun-style Turkey breast and sourdough bread.

Dinner: I had three tamales with some sauteed broccoli rabe.

Dinner: After watching an excellent performance of Groovaloo at The Long Center for the Performing Arts, we headed over to Star Taqueria for some lengua tacos. Unfortunately, they weren't open (guess the the trailer is closed on Sundays), so we kept driving and saw a Joe's Crab Shack (600 East Riverside Drive, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 441-1010‎). We've only been to a Joe's Crab Shack once many years ago (at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco), so we decided to stop in at this one.

The place was almost completely deserted (so we thought it might be closed), but it was open and they seated us promptly at the table of our choosing.

I also had a side salad - the photo shows half of the salad (forgot to take the picture until after I ate the first half).

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What I Ate: February 28, 2010 (Joe's Crab Shack)

Dinner: We went to Stubb's BBQ (801 Red River Street, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 480-8341‎) for an event benefiting the Sustainable Food Center called "Bad to the Bone". At the event three Central Texas chef's compete in an Iron Chef-lite mock-competition (one of the chef's was from Austin's Parkside Restuarant and his dish - the dessert - won the popular vote by a landslide as well as all four judges votes). Not a big deal since it was all for fun and to benefit a good cause.

All the chef's had to work with achiote (the plant whose seeds annatto is derived from), tangerine, and goat milk or cheese. The first we tried was David Bull's Achiote Glazed Salmon with Smoked Bacon Grits, Goat Cheese Crema & Tangerine-Spinach Salad. Since the event was outside, the food cooled pretty quickly (and didn't photograph well given the weird lighting conditions). While hot, the salmon with the grits was great. I thought the grits were excellent and paired well with the salmon while the salad was a bit weak in flavor. After tasting the pork dish and returning to the salmon dish, I found it all a bit bland, so I think this one held up in the cold the worst.

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What I Ate: February 27, 2010 (Bad to the Bone at Stubb's BBQ, East Side King)

Dinner: We managed to make our reservation for Paggi House (200 Lee Barton Dr, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 473-3700‎) this time. All in all, it was a so-so experience with none of the dishes completely satisfying.

Roasted Beet Carpaccio Baby Arugula, Goat Cheese Fondue, $8. The beets were sweet and clean tasting, but the arugula was dressed with something a little too acidic that pulled attention away from the smooth taste of the beets and mild pepperiness of the arugula. The white goat cheese liquid was pretty flavorless and didn't play well with the rest. It just didn't blend together.

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What I Ate: February 26, 2010 (Paggi House)