Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [234]
The Cupboard is where locals eat. Two airy dining rooms are crowned with circulating fans, illumination provided by fluorescent tubes shaded by what appears to be burlap feed-sack material. Service is no-nonsense; checks are put down on the table along with the meal.
Hoover’s Cooking
2002 Manor Rd.
512–479–5006
Austin, TX
LD | $$
Chef Hoover Alexander says, “I am an Austin native with deep Central Texas roots that run from Manchaca and Pilot Knob to little ol’ Utley, Texas. All of the recipes we use here were inspired by both my mother Dorothy’s good cooking and the styles and spices native throughout Texas itself. I grew up on home cooking—nicely seasoned vegetables, smoked foods, pan-fried dishes, and spicy foods with a nod toward Tex-Mex and Cajun. I also have never forgotten eating a lot of Mom’s fresh baked rolls, corn bread, and desserts…. After you’ve had one of our freshly mademeals and washed it down with a nice cool beverage, you’ll understand why I like to call the restaurant my ‘Smoke, Fire, and Ice House!’”
We knew we were in for a bigger-than-life treat as soon as our glass of lemonade arrived. In fact, it arrived not as a glass, but as a pitcher with a straw. We had to ask if a glass would be forthcoming; our waitress told us that the pitcher is the glass: a quart of lemonade to be drunk straight from the tankard. And it is good lemonade—sweet, fresh-squeezed, and refreshing.
The choice of meals is wide. Hoover’s has its own smokehouse, perfuming the parking lot outside, from which come pork ribs, Elgin sausage, highly spiced Jamaican jerk chicken, and regular-spiced barbecue chicken. In addition to smoked fare, the menu lists chicken-fried steak, meat loaf, catfish, and an array of sandwiches that range from a meatless muffuletta (made with a portobello mushroom) to half-pound hamburgers. On the side of any meal, choose from a large selection of vegetables that includes chunky mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, black-eyed peas, sweet and hammy mustard greens, crisp-fried okra, and jalapeño-accented creamed spinach. The vegetables are so good, and served in such abundance, that Hoover’s offers a three-or four-vegetable plate, with no meat at all.
Hut’s Hamburgers
807 W. 6th St.
512–472–0693
Austin, TX
LD | $
Hut’s is a burger joint with nineteen different varieties of hamburger listed on its menu (not to mention the options of buffalo meat, chicken breast, or veggie burgers), each one topped with a different constellation of condiments that range from hickory sauce (delicious!) to cheeses of all kinds to guacamole to chipotle mayonnaise. We are particularly fond of the Buddy Holly Burger with the works, the double-meat Dag burger, and the Hut’s favorite with bacon, cheese, lettuce, and mayonnaise. The French fries are excellent and the onion rings have a peppery zest that makes them a joy to overeat. Beyond burgers, there are other sandwiches, a different blue-plate special every day (chicken-fried steak, meat loaf, catfish, etc.), and a beverage list that includes cherry Coke, pink lemonade, and a root beer float.
Decorated to the rafters with neon beer signs, team pennants, and clippings celebrating its long-standing fame—since 1939—it is a small place that is always overstuffed with people, with noise, and with a spirit of fun. You will likely wait for a seat in the small vestibule or on the sidewalk outside, but once seated, the food comes fast.
Kincaid’s
4901 Camp Bowie Blvd.
817–732–2881
Fort Worth, TX
L | $
Kincaid’s serves a half-pound hamburger, lean yet juicy, sandwiched between halves of a big warm bun that oozes a surfeit of onions, tomato slices, and shreds of lettuce. What an unholy mess it is, compounded by the fact that Kincaid’s accommodations are—how shall we say it?—less than deluxe.
In fact, it is the ambience of Kincaid’s that gives these hamburgers their extra pizzazz. Kincaid’s is not quite a normal restaurant. It started as a grocery store and is still configured that way. The