While it might not have the same ring as “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe,” the Cream of Jalapeño soup at the Blue Quail Deli in Goliad, Texas is something not to miss.

What’s a jalapeño?

Jalapeño is the chili pepper of Texas. While the New Mexicans have their Anaheim and the Jamaicans have their Scotch Bonnet, Texans have the jalapeño. These small, green peppers can have varying degrees of hotness, but in the overall scheme of peppers, they are considered mild. They can be found in everything from hamburgers to nachos, but at one small town deli, they have found a happy home as the chief ingredient in an award winning soup, the Cream of Jalapeño.

Where’s Goliad?

Goliad is located on the Central Gulf Coast of Texas, a couple of hours south of Houston and an hour or so north of Corpus Christi. If you know anything at all about Texas history, Goliad is famous as a battle site between the Mexican army and Texas rebels. It didn’t end well for the Texans, unfortunately. Back when I attended school in Goliad (population: maybe 2000), we had a Dairy Queen and a handful of Mexican food places to appease our high school appetites. Most days, however, we ended up piling into a Texaco gas station to eat microwaved mini-pizzas and burritos. Some days we went to another gas station for Frito pies. Gourmet we were not. On the days when we felt like splurging, we might call in an order for steak finger baskets at the Dairy Queen. (How on earth I could have eaten all those steak fingers and still kept slim I’ll never know.)

When I told my Chinese students that I used to live in a town of 2000 people, they just looked at me dumbfounded. In their minds, a town that small is nearly incomprehensible. The people there would be old and poor farmers left to tend their fields while the youngsters headed to universities and factory jobs in the big cities. That people choose to live in a small town, that people choose a rural lifestyle is a bit of a shock to my students.

What about that soup!?

Goliad’s downtown is known as Market Square. It consists of four streets surrounding an old courthouse. The old buildings have been lovingly maintained and although not super busy, it is a square oozing with charm. Once a month they hold an open air market on the square, called Market Days. The buildings along the square hold a library, several restaurants, a bank, a museum and shopping.

For years now I have heard talk of a little deli on the square that serves award winning jalapeño soup. The Blue Quail Deli is a casual restaurant featuring sandwiches and soup, of course. It’s famous – Luke Wilson ate there! I can finally say I have tried the soup and it is delicious! The recipe is secret, but as you can imagine, the soup includes jalapeños chopped fine and a lot of delicious cheese and cream. It is silky and just hot enough to get your nose running – but nothing to stop you from enjoying the flavor. I highly recommend it!

A few photos:

The Blue Quail Deli

Goliad’s version of Santa Claus

Goliad’s Courthouse

Market Square buildings

Nutcracker on a balcony

Detail of Von Dohlen building

Decorations and flags

Oh dear, here it is Sunday and I’ve completely missed my Saturday Weekly Round Up posting. And looks like I’ve neglected to post for most of the week… oh well! That’s holiday travel for you. I’ve been far too busy shopping and eating to post. And yes, I mean that quite literally.

The past week I visited two country delis in Beeville and Goliad, (two cities south of Victoria) a tractor supply store, several bookstores, a feed store, a supermarket, the Victoria Mall and my favorite store, Target. I’ve had my eggnog latte at Starbucks, broken my fast food don’t at Chick Fil ‘A, and filled my belly with far more meat than I’ve eaten in the entire last year. My suitcase is a little heavier and, I fear, my waistline a little bigger. Hmmm… going to have to add an “exercise more” resolution to my New Year’s list.

Since food is much on my mind, this round up is going to focus on two delicious meals I’ve had, with a third meal featured in a separate post later in the week.

Although I firmly believe there is a real tragedy occurring in the US food industry (and I’m not like a PETA freak or anything, but I can’t help but recommend Michael Pollan’s books and the documentary Food INC.) there are still delicious eats to be had here and there, and South Texas offers some true southern delicacies. Delicacies I can only dream about in China (and believe me, I have been dreaming of them!) Southern food tends to the down-home end of the gourmet spectrum, and I assure you there is nothing particularly glamorous about the three meals I will share with you today and later in the week. They do, however, embody my South Texas version of “home.”

The Almighty Chicken Fried Steak

A good chicken fried steak is the mark of a good restaurant in Texas. Nearly everyone is an aficionado. When you think Texas, you likely think of steak, but the unofficial king of food is, in fact, the humble chicken fried. Despite its name, there is no chicken in a chicken fried. It’s just a tough old piece of round steak, tenderized a bit,  dredged through egg and flour (sometimes crumbled crackers) and deep-fried to a crisp. Topped with white gravy and mashed potatoes on the side, you’ve got a meal fit for a… cowboy, I guess. I don’t know what it is about the chicken fried, but I’ve always been a huge fan. There’s a family legend that says I once ordered a double order of chicken fried steak. (That would be two chicken fried steaks, stacked atop one another.) The waitress nearly refused. How could a 10 year old possibly eat that much food? I showed her. These days I stick to a single order and struggle to finish. What you’ve heard is true. Everything really is bigger in Texas, including meal portions.

My preferred Chicken Fried Steak can be found at the Double J Eatery at 8607 North Navarro Street in Victoria, Texas. I ate there this past Friday with my parents and family friends. Double J’s is a casual restaurant – the kind of place where you order at a counter, the food comes out on paper plates and at the end of the meal, you carry your own plates to a giant trash can next to the door. The music is a little loud and, as is highly typical of South Texas, country through and through. I once read you can judge a chicken fried steak restaurant by the number of trucks parked outside. If Double J’s parking lot is any indicator, you will find a fine chicken fried specimen inside.

Texas Barbecue

To many Americans, barbecue equals meat with grill marks and a side of baked beans. To others, it means hot dogs and hamburgers. To Texans, barbecue is an art form. It’s all taken quite seriously here. I am not joking when I say I have seen barbecue pits the size of trucks parked in people’s driveways. A good barbecue meal in Texas features beef brisket and sausage, with the ever-present mashed potatoes on the side (although pinto beans, fried okra and potato salad might also make an appearance.) Brisket is a cut from the breast or chest and after hours of slow cooking over mequite wood, it emerges tender and flavorful.

My preferred barbecue meal can be found at Uncle Mutt’s Barbeque at 5404 North Navarro Street in Victoria, Texas. I ate here mid-week with my Dad. Uncle Mutt’s is another casual restaurant – you order at a counter and sit in a collection of booths with a roll of paper towels on the table. A friend of mine goes to Uncle Mutt’s just for the fountain Dr. Pepper. I gave up soda (or coke, as Victorians refer to all carbonated drinks)  a long time ago, so I can’t vouch for their fountain drinks, but another South Texas staple, iced tea, is just fine. Like Double J’s, the portions here are enormous. I had to make this the sole meal of my day!

While I thoroughly enjoyed these meals, I must also a share a highlight of the week, which didn’t feature food so much as catching up. On Thursday I met up with a group of girlfriends from my Goliad High School days and chatted away over margaritas and appetizers. We’re all a bit older and wiser but still a little bit silly, which I think is a good thing.

Five more days to Christmas! Hope you’ve got your shopping done! (I admit most of the shopping I did this week was for myself. <blush>)

Xinjiang Restaurant BBQ Pit

Last Thursday night, the eve before the May 1st holiday, the DH and I ventured over to Linyi’s Xinjiang restaurant for some lamb kebabs. The weather was warm so we were hoping they would have tables set up on the sidewalk, and they did. We had our usual kebabs and naan and enjoyed the shiny new teapots the restaurant had just purchased.

Shiny New Teapots & Sidewalk Dining

Suddenly we became aware of some commotion behind us, and that is when we realized the Uygur restaurateurs were in the act of butchering a lamb. On the sidewalk. That’s what I call fresh. The DH was able to catch all of it on video, but I’ll just post a photo.

Kebabs in Their Natural State

Warning: Serious Pork Post Ahead

I’m starting a new series here on the blog, because I do love me a good meal. It’s called Great Feasts. Join me as I chronicle the top meals I’ve had, either together with the DH or with friends, across the globe. From pork in Spain to seafood in Asia, I’m hungry!

First up is a surprising meal in the Spanish city of Mérida. Alas, there is no photographic evidence of this feast, perhaps that is why it is still a secret:

There was nothing inspiring about the Hotel Zeus in Mérida, Spain, at least not at first glance. The parking lot was a nightmare – the spaces had all been painted just a few inches too small, and every car had been forced to take up two. The reception was so over the top and cheesy in its “Greek” decor that even Zeus was embarrassed. The staff were not friendly at all. In fact, they took great offense at our suggestion that the parking lot was illogically designed. In exchange for a ridiculous amount of money, they gave us a tiny room with an even more illogical design. Mérida was in fiestas, however, and it was this or the back seat of the Renault. The hotel was a 15 minute walk from the city center and after a long day traipsing around the Roman ruins, we hesitated at the thought of walking all the way back for dinner. The reception desk staff recommended the hotel’s terrace restaurant. “Sure,” we thought, “we really want to eat in this two-bit joint.” Skeptical, we wandered over to the “terrace” to drink a beer.

The terrace turned out to be a large garden area to the side of the hotel with a swimming pool at one end and a bar/grill at the other. Entirely open air, the restaurant/cafe was filled with both tourists and locals from the nearby residential area having drinks and appetizers. (It was not quite yet the dinner hour.) Children played while the adults chatted. Everyone seemed happy. The air was slightly cool, which was a relief from the high Summer temperatures. The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly and the few food dishes out on the tables looked tasty.

We had a beer and looked at the menu. And we stayed. And that has to be one of the most fortuitous decisions of our lives. Because what we ordered was insanely divine. Now I am not saying that the Terrace Restaurant at the Hotel Zeus serves the best grilled meat in all of Mérida, for all I know every grill restaurant in Mérida churns out awesome meat. All I can say is on that particular night in August, in that particular corner of Mérida, on that particular plate, it was magic.

The “magic” is called Secreto Ibérico, (Iberian Secret), and I am licking my fingers at the memory alone. Everyone knows that the Spanish love their pork. They have awesome pork products. I pity the pork abstainers on holiday in Spain. Of all the Spanish, the Extremeños know pork the best. The Secreto Ibérico is a cut of pork that I believe could only come from the famed Spanish pigs raised in the wooded hills of Extremadura. Up in northern Spain, where the DH comes from, there is no Secreto Ibérico. It’s such a secret no one’s ever heard of it. What is it? It is a highly-marbled cut from behind the shoulder blade. Highly-marbled, so all you anti-fattists out there can stop reading. Herein lies the glory. Seared pork fat. Secreto Ibérico is cooked over a hot flame and through the power of science, the outer surface turns crispy while the inside stays moist and flavorful. Cut up and consumed with mass quantities of french fries cooked in olive oil, it is heaven. Or a heart attack, depending on your genetic makeup. Cost? No idea! It was worth whatever we paid!

**Number one on our list of Global Gal and the DH’s greatest feasts is Secreto Ibérico in Mérida, Spain.**

Terraza del Hotel Zeus
Avenida Reina Sofia, 8
Mérida, Extremadura, Spain

I love that on this hotel booking site, it states that “free parking is possible.”

I’ve been watching the construction of a new restaurant in our neighborhood with great interest. We are connoisseurs of Linyi restaurants, you see, and we’re always open to new options. After the turtle debacle, I was feeling like eating Pizza Hut last night. But instead we were lured by the flashing neon sign of the recently completed restaurant.

The New Flash Chinese

Our first year in China, living at the Shijiazhuang Airport, we became intimately familiar with all the restaurants in the area. All six or seven of them. More often than not we ate at the Russians, the Mongols or a particularly dirty little dive we called the Kwik-E-Mart, but every once in a while we ventured over to the “Flash Chinese.”  (That’s it above.) The flight instructors who arrived to the company before us had christened it the flash restaurant, I can only guess because it was a little nicer than all the others.

It had the distinction of being located next to a big pink brothel, complete with faux-European white balcony. We called it Casa Rosada and that’s it on the right.

We ate out nearly every night while living in Shijiazhuang. (We did live in a hotel, afterall.) Here in Linyi we eat out practically every other day, if not more. It’s just too good and too cheap not to. I’m really looking forward to a few restaurant meals back in the US & Vancouver. (Sushi at In the Raw in Tulsa, Chicken Fried Steak at Double-D Eatery in Victoria, and who knows what kind of delights in Vancouver!)

So, the new flash Chinese is really ostentatious. So much so, I almost felt uncomfortable. While we waited for a room (private dining rooms only, which is common in China) we sat in this giant central room and had green tea, prepared just for us in an elaborate little ceremony.

It’s a little fuzzy, the DH doesn’t like to shoot with flash.
Flash would have been appropriate here.

A close-up of the waterfall. There were a few fat koi in the water.

The DH, drinking tea and waiting for our room.

Try to ignore my make-up less look here and focus on the room.

This restaurant is brand new and very, very shiny. The rooms are plush with television screens (we watched CCTV9, the English language channel), soft chairs covered in nice fabrics, complementary soy milk, fruit, tea, snacks, soup and your own personal fuwuyuan (waiter/server) who stands at attention nearby, attending to your every need. No, really. He pours your beer. You take a sip. He refills your sip. You take another. He refills again. We’re used to this by now. See the little door under the TV? That is where the outside wait staff deliver your food.

And so, our bellies full, we left the flash, vowing to return.

The new flash truly did not disappoint. The food was delicious and well prepared. We had lotus bulb & celery, eggplant fritters with shrimp (that would be two slices of eggplant with meat & shrimp in between, deep fried.), broccoli and steamed clams. The service was efficient and fairly non-intrusive. The bill was not even ridiculously high. (17 Euros for private room, high quality tea, four dishes, three bottles of beer and lots of little extras like fruit & soup…) 

And even the other clientele were friendly, good natured and drunk!
When this guy saw us, he jumped in the pic & then insisted on shaking hands with DH. We get that a lot.

You never know what you’re gonna get when ordering in a restaurant. Many restaurants have these giant refrigerated cases where they display the dishes they can prepare. It’s like a giant menu and you can just walk around and point. (Like the dog dish in the picture I posted.) Just because you are getting a preview of your food, however, does not mean it will emerge from the kitchen looking anything like the sample. Let’s call it “chef’s prerogative.”

Last night I think I might have eaten turtle. I thought I ordered beef with broccoli but what I received had no broccoli and a rather weird, spongy texture. I asked the waitress if it was niurou, (beef), and she didn’t seem to understand me. Seriously, I know for a fact my pronunciation was correct, but I think she was overwhelmed and was having a “laowais don’t know how to speak Chinese” moment. So I shouldered on until I noticed that one piece of “beef” suspiciously resembled the outline of a turtle – little tail, floppy feet. DH insists it was not turtle, but he didn’t actually eat any of it.

If I did actually eat turtle, I can’t recommend it.

BTW, 543 was just an arbitrary number I pulled out of my hat, but I am sure I could come up with a few more of these posts… Except for a lot of times, it’s definitely not chocolate.

Warning: Sensitive types and PETA members – look away!

What was on offer in the restaurant we ate at last night

It’s what you think it is. Sorry, I had to share. It’s inhumane. It’s wrong. It’s disgusting. But it is also a different culture. It is what it is. 

A little spicy?

Turkey for Thanksgiving? Not in Linyi. Hou Ji (Turkey in Mandarin – literally Fire Chicken) is not readily available. For about 70 USD you can get one in Beijing… Since I don’t actually have an oven, seemed like a ridiculous idea anyway. Besides, Thanksgiving is about sharing and what better way to celebrate than with Chinese Hot Pot?

Hot Pot with tomato broth – the outside is mild and the inside is spicy

What goes in the Hot Pot -
potatoes, cabbage, sweet potato noodles, mushrooms, beef & lamb

Cool the cooked food in a sesame dipping sauce, decorated with “luck”

Enjoy with co-workers and friends!

And the only stress involved is deciding what to order to put in the pot! My kind of holiday…and no dirty dishes!

I had some coffee the other day at Coffee Language, a restaurant close to People’s Square here in Linyi. I haven’t been there in a long time and they have changed their menu since my last visit. I only wanted coffee, but I decided to have a look at the food just to see what was different. What was different was that the menu items are now only offered in Chinese, they used to be in Chinese and English. Weird. The main menu headings were still in English, however, which is how I could identify the snacks and drinks sections. One heading was a little confusing, though. “Atherosclerosis,” it read. That sounds very appetizing. “Yes, waitress, I think I’ll have the second item here under atherosclerosis. Xie xie.”

Continuing the eating out theme, here are a few pictures of a little feast we had last night in downtown Qingdao – Mushroom Hot Pot.

Start by selecting mushrooms – there’s all shapes & sizes! (the middle black ones were so incredibly delicious I can’t even put words down about them!)

Like these

And these

Boil them up in a rich mushroom flavored broth

Enjoy them with a few sauces (this was a strange mushroom with a lace-like texture and nutty flavor)

And be creative at cooling beers (It is quite common for the beer to be served warm)

Mushroom feast for 4: 380RMB ($55 or E 37.5)