Tina and I had lunch at a Japanese Restaurant called Haiku (9300-9900 IH-35 South, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 291-5600‎) in the Southpark Meadows shopping complex in South Austin. Since they've been pushing their sushi rather hard online (going so far as two have a couple dozen suspicious CitySearch reviews), I decided to focus the meal on their sushi.

I ordered maguro (tuna) nigiri, hamachi (yellowtail) nigiri, and sake (salmon) nigiri to taste the freshness of the fish as well as the rice (sushi). The fish was a little softer than I like it, but fresh enough to not be mushy. The visual appearance was some what startling - the tuna was almost glistening while the yellowtail just looked odd (almost brownish). The color of the yellowtail looked much worse in the dim yellow lighting where we were sitting and the color corrected photo shown below makes it look alright (even though it still looks a bit off to me). The yellowtail, like the other fish, tasted just fine - mild and fresh with no textural deficiencies such as stringiness or sliminess. The sushi itself was good enough that I don't have the palate to determine if anything was missing or imbalanced. The rice held together easily without being sticky while maintaining their individual grains. It was seasoned with just the right amount of vinegar, and I couldn't detect any variation in seasoning levels (a good sign that the vinegar was evenly distributed). My only issue with the sushi was that there was too much of it for the nigiri. Tina had trouble chewing after sticking the nigiri into her mouth. Maybe in Texas you're supposed to take more than one bite or Texans have larger mouths.

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What I Ate: April 23, 2009 (Haiku)

We had to run out to get some supplies so we could start cooking at home, so, on the way, we stopped at a local restaurant in Kyle - Luvianos Mexican Restaurant (804 W Center St, Kyle, TX‎ - (512) 268-4380‎). I ordered the Luvianos Combination which is one chalupa, one tamale, and one enchilada. They were okay, but I wouldn't recommend this place or go out of my way to eat here. I look forward to trying some other Mexican/TexMex restaurants in Kyle.


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What I Ate: April 22, 2009 (Luvianos)

After finally managing to get our Driver Licenses (they didn't want to give one to Tina even though she had her California Driver License, Social Security Card, United States Passport, and Naturalization Paperwork - the biggest hang up was her Australian citizenship; they didn't know what to do since her prior citizenship listed on her Naturalization Papers didn't match her birth country… took thirty minutes for them to decide to let her have the license), we drove back to Kyle and ate lunch at the Texas Pie Company (202 W Center St, Kyle, TX - (512) 268-5885). I ordered a chicken salad sandwich on multi-grain wheat bread. As chicken salad sandwiches go, this one was nothing special, but it tasted the way I expected it to and was what I was looking for.

For dinner, we went over to Tina's parent's where they had several dishes prepared.

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What I Ate: April 21, 2009 (Texas Pie Company)

Tina and I headed down to San Marcos to get our Texas driver's licenses. It turns out we need to register my car in Texas first and to do that we have to get a vehicle inspection. From the Hays County Tax Assessor's Office (where they handle vehicle registration), we were sent to Lube Pit Stop to get ours done. When we arrived, the mechanic was busy and told us to come back in about thirty minutes. Since it was near lunch time, I asked him for a lunch recommendation and he suggested Italian Garden (415 N L B J Dr, San Marcos, TX‎ - (512) 392-8730‎) for their large Philly Cheesesteaks.

Situated on the south border of Texas State University San Marcos, Italian Garden is easy to find but not much to look at. A look through their menu showed that they served standard American Italian fare with both regular menu items and lunch specials attractively priced (lasagna for $5.95 caught my eye). But, we had come with the intention of ordering the Philly Cheesesteak (also $5.95). After asking the friendly waitress how big the sandwich was, we decided to start by just ordering one and splitting it. The sandwich arrived and was about a foot long and stuffed with grilled steak and the perfect amount of bell peppers (providing a tad of bell pepper sweetness and bitterness) as well as just enough cheese (for flavor and lubrication, but not so much to be heavy). They also had thick slices of grilled mushrooms mixed in which I like a lot more than the thinly sliced variety. Unfortunately, I left my cameras at home and had to take the picture with my mobile phone.

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What I Ate: April 20, 2009 (Italian Garden)

In the morning, our moving company arrived and delivered all our stuff. Then the cable guy arrived (early!) and set up the cable and internet. Meanwhile, I was rearranging the boxes to be both more space efficient and also accessible if we needed something. Tina went over to her parent's place to help them with some of the furniture we had brought from California that we were giving to them. She gave me a call around lunchtime and told me that they had made lunch. I had potatoes and daikon, pork marinated in Asian barbecue sauce, and zucchini over rice for lunch.

For dinner, we headed back to Tina's parent's for pork and cilantro won tons. I ended up eating three bowls!

Another day of pure driving. It also doesn't help when driving east since you have to factor in that you lose an hour as you cross timezones. We stopped in Van Horn, Texas at a Pilot station with a Wendy's in it for lunch. Tina had Chicken Nuggets and I ordered a Mandarin Chicken Salad. I actually liked it quite a bit and the salad was a decent size. The dressing was sweet, tart, and had a strong sesame flavor and the individually bagged almond slices and crispy noodles added extra texture and flavor.

We made it all the way to New Braunfels before deciding to stop for dinner. We had discussed dinner options earlier and Tina and I had agreed if we could find a Schlotzsky's then we should go there for a quick dinner. Using Google Maps on my mobile phone, I found a couple on our way up the I-35, so we stopped at the New Braunfels Schlotzsky's (1037 S Walnut Ave, New Braunfels, TX‎ - (830) 629-2811‎). Tina and I have had Schlotzsky's three times before - every time it was purchased at the airport and eaten on the plane ride back to California (we missed it last time since our plane was so early none of the airport restaurants were open). There's something addictive about the "Original" sandwich sold at Schlotzsky's - the combination of salty Italian salami, cold cuts, slightly gooey melted cheeses (cheddar, mozzarella, and Parmesan), crispy lettuce, and their abundant use of olives gives it a real satisfying taste. However, I think there's more to it. For both Tina and I, there's something magical about the so-called sourdough bread it's served on. (I say "so-called" because it doesn't taste or feel like any sourdough bread I'm familiar with, but I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area so I have particular views on sourdough bread.) The bread is spongy - not like a sponge bread, but like a Scotch-Brite cleaning sponge. I know that the comparison between a food product and a sanitation tool isn't all that appetizing, but it's the best comparison that I can think of. Somehow the crumb structure (mostly the size and distribution of the holes) and the slight resistance to chewing seems to match my mental picture of a sponge (okay, it's not difficult to chew through - just has a little resistance. I'd image a sponge would be really hard to chew through.) It all works really well - the holes capture the sauce of the sandwich and the bread has just enough chew to support the meats.

We drove from Los Angeles for the Las Cruces, New Mexico today. I decided to stop for lunch (and a driver change) at Blythe, California (the last town in I-10 before you reach the Arizona border). We stopped at the McDonald's there and I ordered a Filet-o-Fish and a Big Mac.

The thing that surprised me the most about the meal was that the Filet-o-Fish was properly constructed! The cheese was squarely in the center of the bottom half of the bun, the fish patty was placed correctly on the cheese (not halfway off the sandwich) and the tartar sauce in the middle of the patty. This is the first time in years that I've had a Filet-o-Fish that wasn't completely off-center (and when that happens, there's no fixing it because the partially melted cheese acts as a strong glue keeping the fish and the bun in strict spatial relationship to each other). Tina laughed that I had to go all the way out to Blythe to get a Filet-o-Fish I was satisfied with.

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What I Ate: April 17, 2009 (McDonald's, El Guero Canelo)

Our last meal in the Bay Area went to In-N-Out Burger. I was planning on hitting the one in Gilroy on the way down, but it took us a while to get going (lots of stuff to wrap up), so at around 2pm we went to the Sunnyvale In-N-Out (604 E El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, CA‎ - (800) 786-1000‎). I had a Double Double with onions, Tina had a Cheeseburger with onions, and we shared an order of fries.

Dinner was at my parent's place where my mom and dad prepared a delicious dinner of pork and daikon soup, kombu seaweed seasoned with garlic and oyster sauce, shrimp and jielan (Chinese broccoli), steamed broccoli, and spicy teriyaki beef with vegetables.

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What I Ate: April 16, 2009 (In-N-Out, Red Mango, Pinkberry)

Our moving company, Moovers, Inc., came today and took all of our stuff. Well, almost all of it. It's amazing how the little things that you tell the movers not to take add up to a lot of stuff. We threw a lot of it away, recycled a bunch, gave away more, and packed a few more boxes for the car. Tina did some painting and then we decided it was time for lunch. I had to return my Comcast cable box so we found ourselves in San Jose and decided on going to Lee's Sandwiches (which is a San Jose institution). I pulled into the parking lot and we saw Lucy's Tamale Factory (974 Story Rd, San Jose, CA‎ - (408) 275-8262). I had never been to this one but Lucy's Tamale Factory makes great tamales. We ordered a pork, a sweet (cinnamon and raisins), and a chicken tamale. As usual, the tamales were good.

We then walked over to Lee's Sandwiches (990 Story Rd # 30, San Jose, CA‎ - (408) 295-3402‎) and ordered a Special Combination #11 to share. There is a Vietnamese community in Austin, but I don't know what their Vietnamese sandwich shops are like (yet). We usually go to the Lee's Sandwiches in Sunnyvale or the one in Milpitas. This one's #11 tasted a little different than the others we were used to. I think it had to do with the addition of cucumber to the filling.

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What I Ate: April 15, 2009 (Lucy's Tamale Factory, Lee's Sandwiches, Ramen Halu, Pinkberry)

Our last day of packing (I think). The movers are coming in about 6 hours to pick up our stuff and I think we just finished. Around lunchtime, I made another trip out to Goodwill and then swung by Erik's DeliCafe to pick up Pilgrim's Progress sandwiches for both Tina and myself. Erik's is another Bay Area establishment that I'll miss and the Pilgrim's Progress is our favorite sandwich there. I got Clam Chowder with my sandwich while picking up Chicken Vegetable Rice soup for Tina.

For dinner, we chose to eat at Won Ton House (1205 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA‎ - (408) 984-8668) where we both ordered the House Special Combination Clay Pot Rice. The clay pot rice comes with "Chinese Vegetable and Soup of the Day".

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What I Ate: April 14, 2009 (Erik's DeliCafe, Won Ton House)