The WacoFork wire alerted me this week that the Mexicano Bar & Grill at Central Texas Marketplace would be opening this week.
Close but no cigar.
(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.
We reached for our cameras before we reached for our forks.
My friend Becky Murphy took me to lunch at Hotel Indigo's Brazos Bar & Bistro on Friday. It was a nice change of pace after subsisting on greasy hamburgers all week for Burger Week. She ordered the crab martini and I chose the stuffed avocado. We were happy with our selections and, then, jubilant when our food arrived.
After almost a year of anticipation, BJ's Brewhouse will be opening in Waco on June 11.
I spoke with general manager Dave Lorenat and his associate Joey Bodnar this morning at the BJ's hiring center. They're buzzing as they await what they expect to be a huge opening.
I wonder what people from outside of Waco say about dining in Waco when one of their friends is coming to our town.
I know that I have places I'm likely to recommend whenever a friend travels to Austin, Fort Worth, Dallas, Lubbock, St Andrews, Scotland, Breckenridge, Colorado, Llano, Texas, South Padre Island, Chicago … you get the point.
I put George's in Hewitt in the Burger Week rotation for one specific reason — the George's folks take preparing great burgers seriously.
Back in October, George's Hewitt manager Kyle Citrano told me he was experimenting with a new way for George's to cook its burgers.
I'm pleased to say that at the end of a day when I finished off a double-double burger from Captain Billy Whizzbang's, I managed to feel like a healthy person.
I worked in a work out Tuesday afternoon. I'm not saying I'm an Iron Man or anything. Far from it. But I pushed myself hard enough to wonder whether or not the double-double might make a comeback.
And then I kept the momentum going by making myself a chicken salad sandwich with a side of sweet potato hummus from Crav at Gourmet Gallery. This was carefully planned. I stopped by Crav for all the fixings you see on the plate in the picture, save for the bread.
I don't subscribe to the usual "Best of" hype.
I downed two amazing hamburgers this week — the first at Cafe Homestead and then at Captain Billy Whizzbang's — before arriving at DUBL-R today. But if I saw a "Best of" list that selected DUBL-R as one of Waco's favorite burger joints, I wouldn't have an issue with it.
I went into lunch on Tuesday … Wait, I'll back up. I went into Tuesday with the best intentions of being healthy.
My plan, as I set out for lunch, involved ordering a double-double at Captain Billy Whizzbang's for photo purposes only. I planned to eat only about half of it. Maybe not even half.
It feels like it's about time to do a week. It also seems like I would have done burger week by this point, but I haven't.
In the 13 months that WacoFork has been around, we've had barbecue week, Mexican food week, sandwich week, Asian food week, we've even had a week when we ate on the porch or patio all week.
There's plenty more weeks to do. Pizza week for example. But before I go on with anything else, it's time to do burger week.
