One More Bite

The WacoFork Blog

How 'bout ... Vitek's Gut Pak Shak

January 8, 2013 | Chad Conine | Profiles | Comment

[ "How 'bout …" is the logical extension of our tagline "Where you wanna eat?" Because we've all been there when someone says "Where you wanna eat?" and then everyone stands around a little awkwardly until someone cautiously offers up "How 'bout …" and then the name of a restaurant. It's also a way for us to highlight the restaurants that we want to highlight. Here it goes. ]

With a new year underway, most of us are trying to gain some traction and really begin 2013 with a fast start. We're on the move, so if you need a place to grab a quick lunch that will also be delicious, stop by the Vitek's Gut Pak Shak.

How 'bout ... Quaker Steak & Lube

November 9, 2012 | Chad Conine | Profiles | Comment

[ "How 'bout …" is the logical extension of our tagline "Where you wanna eat?" Because we've all been there when someone says "Where you wanna eat?" and then everyone stands around a little awkwardly until someone cautiously offers up "How 'bout …" and then the name of a restaurant. It's also a way for us to highlight the restaurants that we want to highlight. Here it goes. ]

Quaker Steak & Lube, a Pennsylvania-based restaurant that features a fantastic motor sports and automotive theme, opened its first Texas restaurant in Waco in September of 2012. The Lube, as its fans call it, provides plenty of fun for patrons and some of the best wings anywhere. In fact, The Lube dining room is highlighted by a pick up truck outfitted as a wing bar with a plethora of wing flavors. Speaking of variety, The Lube has more than a dozen beers on tap, making it one of the best places in town to grab a beer and wings with buddies while watching the big game or games on The Lube's wall-to-wall big screen TVs.

How 'bout ... Taqueria El Crucero

November 5, 2012 | Chad Conine | Profiles | Comment

[ "How 'bout …" is the logical extension of our tagline "Where you wanna eat?" Because we've all been there when someone says "Where you wanna eat?" and then everyone stands around a little awkwardly until someone cautiously offers up "How 'bout …" and then the name of a restaurant. It's also a way for us to highlight the restaurants that we want to highlight. Here it goes. ]

Taqueria El Crucero is one of Waco's most loved family-owned Mexican food restaurants. Located at 2505 Robinson Drive, less than a mile off of Waco's famous traffic circle, El Crucero offers all of the traditional Mexican food favorites, plus the legendary Oso burrito. Made famous by and for the Baylor students who frequent El Crucero, The Oso burrito is stuffed with rice, beans and chicken and covered with salsa verde and sour cream.

How 'bout ... Clay Pot

October 26, 2012 | Chad Conine | Profiles | Comment

[ "How 'bout …" is the logical extension of our tagline "Where you wanna eat?" Because we've all been there when someone says "Where you wanna eat?" and then everyone stands around a little awkwardly until someone cautiously offers up "How 'bout …" and then the name of a restaurant. It's also a way for us to highlight the restaurants that we want to highlight. Here it goes. ]

Clay Pot serves fantastic Vietnamese cuisine, including but not limited to traditional Vietnamese soup (Pho), fried rice, banh mi and an impressive variety of vegetarian options, in an elegant-yet-casual setting. The restaurant in the red-and-yellow building near the Baylor campus has been family owned and operated for 20 years.

How 'bout ... Bangkok Royal

October 23, 2012 | Chad Conine | Profiles | Comment

[ "How 'bout …" is the logical extension of our tagline "Where you wanna eat?" Because we've all been there when someone says "Where you wanna eat?" and then everyone stands around a little awkwardly until someone cautiously offers up "How 'bout …" and then the name of a restaurant. It's also a way for us to highlight the restaurants that we want to highlight. Here it goes. ]

Bangkok Royal is Waco's premiere Thai food restaurant offers top notch cuisine in an elegant setting ideal for anything from take out to a a casual lunch to formal celebratory dinners. Open since 2000, Bangkok Royal has established itself as one of the area's favorite restaurants of any kind.

It's great for … Just about anything from a casual lunch to a fancy dinner. You will be as comfortable in shorts and a T-shirt as you will in your dress-up clothes before a graduation. When you first dine at Bangkok Royal, you might think of it as semi-fine dining, but the more you go there, the more you'll see it as comfort food.

WacoFork folks say … "If I want anything asian influenced EVER, please go here. They have tofu if you don't like meat, their vegetables are always fresh, the fried eggrolls are supreme, their peanut sauce is delectable, and they give you drinks in goblets. GOBLETS, I say" -- mghamma

We recommend … Tom Yum Goong as a starter and Panang Curry as an entree.

If you're on a budget … The Pad Thai is delicious and filling. Order it for $8.95, eat a quarter of it and take home the rest for two or three more meals.

How 'bout ... Lone Star Tavern

October 19, 2012 | Chad Conine | Profiles | Comment

[ Introducing "How 'bout …" the logical extension of our tagline "Where you wanna eat?" Because we've all been there when someone says "Where you wanna eat?" and then everyone stands around a little awkwardly until someone cautiously offers up "How 'bout …" and then the name of a restaurant. It's also a way for us to highlight the restaurants that we want to highlight. Here it goes. ]

Lone Star Tavern is a true Texas experience — delicious steaks, burgers, sides and cold beer in a rustic and comfortable atmosphere. Walk in, complete a menu sheet and settle in to dine among friendly people and good country music from the jukebox. It as American as it gets, but even better, it's a good slice of Texas.

If there are any foodies in Waco that don't know about or haven't been to Gourmet Gallery and Crav, then those folks really need to evaluate their self-label. Or perhaps they just need to go to Gourmet Gallery and get hip to our town's most specialized cooking shop.

The best option would be to attend one of Gourmet Gallery's cooking classes, which they offer on a regular basis — like eight in the next month! There's a free one tomorrow as they'll hold a holiday appetizer demonstration and sampling. Click here for the complete schedule.

(For some reason that escapes me, your fearless restaurant blogger has failed to dine at Franklin in Austin. It's this year's biggest BBQ sensation and I'm not one to miss something like that. Don't worry, I'll get there. My friend Wes Kitten has been there twice and writes about it for us today. He graciously let me borrow this photo and text from his blog. The photo shows folks waiting in line for the privelege of scarfing some Franklin barbecue.)

I first heard about Franklin from a friend. He said that you have to get there around 9 a.m. for their 11 a.m. opening and they sell out in an hour. He said a certain publication named it not only the best BBQ in Texas, but the best BBQ in the U.S.

Cascarones!

This is what the crowd yells at the end of Oysterbake during the San Antonio Fiesta. At least that's what we yelled at the end of Oysterbake as we crushed cascarones, or confetti eggs, on the heads of people we knew as well as friends we hadn't met yet. I'm opposed to expressing myself with all caps and superfluous exclamation marks, but if it helps you get a mental picture, it might have been something like "CASCARONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And then, maybe, if I was really feeling it "yayayayaya!"

A little part of me expected to arrive back in Waco from my two-week tour of parts of the United States to find that Freebirds had risen out of the concrete in the parking lot at New Road and Franklin.

But the least bit of reconnaissance on Monday showed that wasn't the case. I'll check on it and hopefully have some information by the end of the week.