Barbecue Bites: Street Steak Tacos

Tacos are hard to beat in terms of ease and versatility: almost anyone can pull them off, and the combinations of flavors are limitless. Plus, they're fun to eat! Just line up all the fixins and have your guests serve themselves!

In this version of street steak tacos by Chef Eusebio Gongora, skirt steaks from Indie Plate are marinated in a mixture that includes Jay D's Louisiana Barbecue Sauce and served on warm tortillas with a number of fresh toppings. 

Check out more recipes here, and grab a bottle of sauce here while you're at it!

Street Steak Tacos. Photo courtesy of Maria Do at Indie Plate. 

Street Steak Tacos

Flank/Skirt Steak, marinated (see recipe below)

10 Tortillas

¼ cup Cilantro, chopped

½ cup onions, diced

¼ cup your favorite cheese

1 tbsp Jay D’s Sweet & Spicy Barbecue rub

1 Avocado, sliced

Preheat the grill, and remove steak from marinade. Season steak with BBQ Rub and let sit for 2 minutes to allow the seasoning to cure. Place steak on the grill and cook each side for 3 minutes for a medium temperature. Remove steak from grill and let it rest for 3 minutes. While the steak rests, grill the tortillas for 1 to 2 minutes. Slice the steak against the grain and fill each tortilla with the remaining ingredients.

Steak marinade

½ cup Jay D’s BBQ Sauce

1 tsp Chili powder
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Lime juice
1 tsp Soy sauce
Flank/skirt steak, 2 each

In a mixing bowl, combine BBQ sauce, chili powder, cumin, lime juice and soy sauce. Place skirt steaks into a Ziploc bag with marinade. Place bag into refrigerator and allow to marinate for 6 hours.

George Krause's Moscow Mule

Rumor has it that George Krause, bartender extraordinaire at Doe's Eat Place and current student at the Louisiana Culinary Institute, moves a fair amount of Russian Standard Vodka through the friendly confines of Crowntown at Doe's.  He serves so much Russian Standard, in fact, that he recently received a gesture from the vodka manufactures as a "thank you" for keeping the sales up.  Bestowed upon George was a set of four copper lined Moscow Mule mugs embossed with the Russian Standard logo.  Not being one to let a new set of bar ware to go to waste, I politely asked George to whip me up a Moscow Mule.  Naturally, he obliged.

The Moscow Mule is a fairly simple cocktail.  It consists of vodka, lime juice, and preferably ginger beer.  If you're not sitting on a stash of ginger beer, regular over the counter ginger ale will do.  It certainly worked for George on this cocktail!  Want to try a Moscow Mule for yourself?  Head over to Doe's Eat Place on Government St. in Baton Rouge, sit at the bar with George, tell him Jay from Bite and Booze sent you, and order up a Moscow Mule!

El Xuco Xicana en Houston, TX

Summertime in South Louisiana isn't much different than summer in Houston.  Heat.  Humidity.  Afternoon thunderstorms.  Desperation for football season to get here.  The biggest distinction, from best I can tell, is the quality of the Mexican food.  For some reason it seems that authentic, delicious Mexican cuisine has trouble traveling an extra 300 miles to Baton Rouge.  Not one to worry too much, I easily solve the problem by feasting on frijoles whenever I'm in the "Bayou City" of the state to our West.

El Xuco Xicana's Milletes topped with Fried Eggs

A recent trip found me setting up a visit to Chef Jonathan Jones's El Xuco Xicana.  Chef JJ, who came to fame under his Beaver's name, recently took over the kitchen at the establishment formerly known as El Patio.  Wanting to revamp the cuisine to reflect that of authentic interior Mexican superiority with a Texan twist, Chef JJ started massacring the menu and putting his flair all over it.  His "Comida Texano" menu made my mouth water before I could even order the signature blue margarita that reflected back to the El Patio days.

The Famous Blue Curacao Margarita from El Patio

I was joined by an excellent cast of characters for an early afternoon Sunday brunch.  We had my dear friend Amanda, high school pal Chad and his wife Ashley, Alvin and Jason from MasterChef on FOX along with Jason's bad ass lady friend, Sara Jackson and a friend of hers who are working on some food based television productions with kids in the Houston area, and a fella named Jay, who on Twitter goes by @GunsandTacos (clearly fits in well with my @BiteandBooze mentality), with his wife.  We gathered and ordered drinks.  Soon enough, Chef JJ's right hand man at XX, Chef Kenny Pullin, came out to the table to greet our crew and drop off our first round of grub.

Battered Stuffed Toast at El Xuco Xicana

The Milletes made me happy to be alive.  Proclaimed on the menu to be a "REAL Mexican brunch food," the milletes featured bolillo bread toasted and topped with refried black beans, queso Chihuahua and chorizo.  Then I had the option to add a fried egg on each half of the open-faced sandwich.  As you can see, I couldn't resist!  The milletes combined classic flavors into a brunch dish that I'd eat over and over again.  Then came the battered stuffed toast.  Dear Lord.  Heaven.  And Hell.  In every bite.  The dish is constructed by stuffing Texas toast with Dulce de Leche, coating that in a Grand Marnier cinnamon batter, dropping it in a deep fryer, then topping the sandwich with ancho-maple syrup, sauteed apples, and Chantilly cream.  Each bite let me know I was alive while assuredly slowly killing me.  I didn't mind.  I took another bite.  It tasted that damn orgasmic.  

El Xuco Xicana Mojito 

Ceviche at El Xuco Xicana

The beverages at El Xuco Xicana also provided plenty of punch.  Chef JJ warned me about the strong margaritas.  After I began with the blue margarita I noticed the rest of the table drinking amazing mojitos.  I needed to try one for myself.  It did a splendid job of being thirst quenching and intoxicating.  Meanwhile, Chef Pullin brought out the signature ceviche.  One thing that I like about the menu is that it warns the diner that the ceviche changes depending on the freshness of the seafood and availability of produce.  There is no set recipe, but rather a rotating and seasonal ceviche.  Ours had a gulf drum marinated in loads of citrus.  I thought I tasted lime, lemon, and the something a little different like a grapefruit.  It also had jalapenos, watermelon radishes and avocado.  The bottom line is that the concoction used fresh ingredients and tasted equally refreshing on a hot day.  The blending of sweet, sour and spice worked magnificently.

El XX Hot Wangs

The feast concluded for me with the El XX Hot Wangs.  The wings were fried naked then tossed in a special blend that includes Jalisco Chili de Arbol vinegar hot sauce, toasted sesame, cilantro and queso fresco.  They were served with "cucumber and jicima con chili y limon".  The "wangs" were certainly different than a traditional Buffalo style hot wing with celery and bleu cheese.  That being said, I loved them!  I thought the twists were pretty ingenious and I'm a sucker for an inventive wing.  Bravo, El Xuco Xicana.

I essentially got a full meal by sampling an assortment of brunch and appetizer selections.  Truth be told, that is one of my favorite ways to experience a restaurant.  Sometimes the most creative dishes are appetizers and daily specials.  The food at El Xuco Xicano was worthy of any trip to Houston.  I have no doubt that I'll be back when I get a Mexican craving that my local establishments can't handle!

Thai Kitchen with Megan

Thai Kitchen stands tall on the list of Baton Rouge Thai restaurants, though there are several other places that I like equally well for different reasons.  Thai Kitchen is the larger, more corporate feeling Thai location that always has a crowd and serves what I thought was consistently good food.  They are not a hole-in-the-wall like Rama and they do not offer a buffet like Thai Pepper.  Instead, Thai Kitchen serves their sushi bar and Thai cuisine in the well-known Southdowns Shopping Center, right next to Spectrum Fitness and around the corner from a popular watering hole, The Bulldog.  The tables at Thai Kitchen are made from carved wood with an Asian flair that matches the rest of the decor, and they also feature karaoke bar which is prominately advertised around the building.  Megan accompanied me on a recent trip to Thai Kitchen to see what we could find to satisfy our appetite. 

Neau Nam Tok

For an appetizer, our knowledgable server recommended the Neau Nam Tok.  This marinated and charbroiled beef came out sliced thin and seasoned with Thai herbs, hot pepper, and fresh lime juice.  The beef and herbs were served with crispy cabbage to make "cabbage wraps" out of the dish.  I have to say that this was my favorite part of the dinner (It was almost better than the company, but not quite!).  Not to say that everything else tasted bad, but rather, this appetizer is one that I can see myself getting over and over again.  The tender slices of tasty beef oozed with juices that brilliantly blended hot, sweet, and sour all together into one outstanding bit.  The hint of lime, the spice of pepper, and the tang of the herbs mixed in a symphony of flavors that orchestrated my taste buds.  Yeah, I'm getting that again!

Singha, Thai Lager Beer

Naturally when I eat at a Thai restaurant, I like to get a Thai beer.  For the selection available around here, it doesn't get much better than Singha.  Singha is a light lager beer with a sweet, distinguishably Oriental taste that is common in many East Asian beers.  The head quickly disappears from the glass and it can easily be mistaken for cheap American swill with many of the same tendencies.  All in all, the beer is good, but I don't really drink it except for when I'm eating Thai food.

Panang Curry

One traditional dish in Thai cuisine is curry.  Megan and I shared the panang curry with shrimp.  The dish featured a panang curry paste with coconut milk, green beans, and Kaffir lime leaves served with steamed white rice.  The panang curry is rather mild and the coconut milk and lime flavors stood out and very much complemented the shrimp.  I thought it was pretty good and would certainly recommend it or eat it again.

Pad Thai

The other quintessential Thai dish that you find in America is Pad Thai.  The popular dish at Thai Kitchen has stir fried rice noodles with shrimp, bean sprouts, scallions, tofu, ground peanuts, and eggs.  This particular Pad Thai did not impress Megan and I much at all.  I like Pad Thai a lot, but the taste of Thai Kitchen's dish on this night seemed a little off.  It remained edible, but not the special, delightful dish that it usually is.  Oh well, I guess you can't win them all.  I'm sure that I'll still go back and when I do, you can bet that I'll order the Neau Nam Tok.

San Francisco Part III: Olive Oil, Sparkling Wine, and Everything In Between

Day two of the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival proved to be just as memorable as the first.  If you missed the first two posts about the trip to San Francisco click on these for Post I and Post II.  Saturday began with a very unique way to break the fast... a sampling of delightful olive oils from around the world!  Chef Michael Tuohy from Grange at the Citizen Hotel in Sacramento, CA presented Eusebio and me, along with a room full of other festival participants, with six fine olive oils to passionately taste. 

Our Olive Oil Tasting Selection

Before telling us which oil on our sheet belonged to each of the bottles at the front of the room, Chef Tuohy asked us to follow him as he led us through a tasting session that was unique, comical, and very enjoyable.  Much like wine, the tasting of each oil began with a few swirls to open the oil up and release the fumes.  Then the taster sniffed the oil to notice and smells and fragrances that came from the lubricating liquid.  Some participants gently swirled the oil and delicately smelled it like they would a rose.  I, on the other hand, preferred to give my oil a couple hardy shakes and then inhale the aroma of the oil until it filled my nostrils with the peppery, herbaceous, buttery, and sometimes woody perfumes of all the different varietals of olive grease.  Delightful!

Six Olive Oils Ready to be Tasted

The one major difference about tasting olive oils instead of wines came when it was time to actually put the oil to our lips.  Instead of taking a nice sip of oil, Chef Tuohy suggested that we slurp it, bringing in air at the same time as the liquid.  This action "emulsifies the oil with oxygen and spreads it throughout your mouth".  Finally, after letting the oil swish around your mouth for a brief moment in time, the final step is to swallow the oil.  The after taste of each type of olive oil is one of the major ways to distinguish between the oils and it makes the swallowing action crucial in the tasting process.  Many of the oils that I liked the best are the ones that left a peppery and almost stinging aftertaste in the back of my throat.  In fact, one way to judge the oil is by how many coughs it takes to clear your throat after each swallow!

The Famous Ferry Building and Farmer's Market in San Francisco with the Bay Bridge in the Background

Eusebio and I had a little time to spend away from Festival activities after our olive oil tasting so we journeyed over to the Ferry Building and the San Francisco Farmer's Market to scope out the scene there.  The entire place was a madhouse of street vendors, organic farmers, cheese makers, and more.  It was an impressive sight to see for sure.  All of the samples that we got were amazing and we only wished that we had a house with a refrigerator and a couple days to hang out in town to cook all of the fantastic food items that we saw.

The View of San Francisco and the Bay from Our Hotel

After leaving the Farmer's Market we hopped on a trolley and took it up to the Fisherman's Wharf so we could get a view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.  We also came across an entire pier full of sea lions that were playing and bathing in the sun.  The sights were nice but wharf was overly touristy for my tastes so we got out of there, took a quick peek at the section of Lombard Street this is claimed to be "the crookedest street in the world" and then jumped on bus that brought us through China Town and back to our hotel.  The diversity and close proximity of everything in the heart of downtown San Francisco is amazing!

The Metreon, San Francisco, CA, Home to Our Tasting Pavilion

A brisk walk across Market Street took us to our next stop, The Metreon, where Foodbuzz had a tasting pavilion set up for us with all sorts divine treats, delectable goodies, and devilish beverages.  There were samples of too much food for me to even attempt to keep track of, so I focused primarily on the booze instead.  One note though, the food was amazing!

21st Amendment Brewery's Brew Free of Die IPA and Hell or High Watermelon Wheat

The 21st Amendment Brewery showed up with a couple of their beers, the Brew Free of Die IPA and the Hell or High Watermelon Wheat Bear.  Both were pretty good, but neither was exceptional.  The watermelon beer was rather, well, watery, and not all that flavorful.  I preferred it over an extremely sweet or way too fruity version, but this beer really had nothing on the perfect combination of fruit and beer that is Abita Strawberry Harvest.  The IPA was a decent brew, but I didn't like it as much Friday's selection from Speakeasy. 

Shrimp and Bay Scallop Seviche with Lime and Orange Citrus Flavors (Picture Courtesy of Alison)

The one food item that I did want to include was this beautiful seviche provided by Fuego.  Each individual cup was artistically created with shrimp, bay scallops, fresh herbs, and the juice of limes and oranges.  It was a tremendously flavorful couple bites of food!

Four Different California Sparkling Wines

During the afternoon session, Eusebio and I attended a California Sparkling Wine tasting that was hosted by Alder Yarrow, fellow blogger and author of the wine blog Vinography.  All four of the wines were delightful but I didn't have time to take notes about which I liked more than the others.  I feverously drank the bubbly beverage because it was time to get a move on so that we could go to Harrington's Bar and Grill to join the Bay Area Tigers for the LSU vs. Alabama football game.  We all know how that turned out.  Stupid refs.  It was nice to see William Winters at Harrington's though.  Plus, the several pitchers of beer that Eusebio and I drank with the help of Willie and Alison helped us forget about the game rather quickly.   

Three Beers on Tap from the Magnolia Brew Pub

On the way out of the tasting pavilion I happened upon another brewery that was giving out samples.  Magnolia Gastropub and Brewery had a little section set aside to let people try some of their small batch brews.  My first thought was what is a San Francisco brewery doing calling itself "Magnolia".  It turns out that the brewery has some New Orleans ties in its ownership and brewing lineage and the name, as well as their food, is a tribute to that!  I tried the Prescription Pale and the Gris-Gris.  Both were fantastic brews that I would love to go back and drink more of. 

That ended our tasting sessions at the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival.  The food and drink was plentiful and fabulous.  There was so much food at every turn and different vendors pouring wine, making cocktails, and serving brews in all directions.  I certainly drank my fair share!  The tasting pavilion lived up to its name as I tasted some of the best of what the Bay Area has to offer! 

San Francisco Post IV will feature Saturday night's Foodbuzz Blogger Awards Dinner at the Greenleaf Produce warehouse.  You don't want to miss that... or what I remember of it.  Apparently we had been drinking even more!

Things To Do
San Francisco

Eusebio's House for Authentic Mexican Tacos and Assorted Beverages

Last week Eusebio had Brent and I over for an authentic Mexican feast.  We did a little porch sitting, cerveza drinking, and chit chatting while the beef roast slow-cooked in a ceramic dish in the oven.  I started with a Dos Equis Lager.  Famous from the "Most Interesting Man in the World" commercials, Dos Equis was one Hell of a beer before its new-found ad campaign glory.  Dos Equis, or "Twenties" as I've heard them referred (referencing the Roman Numeral represented by XX), is a mexican-style lager beer that is crisp and refreshing and fairly gentle on the palate.  It most certainly is not only one of my favorite Mexican beers, but one of my favorite macro-brewed beers out there.

On a personal note: like all other Mexican beers, I prefer to drink Dos Equis WITHOUT a lime.  I know this is not normal in America, but when I drink Mexican beer, I prefer to drink it like a Mexican instead of like an American that is stereotyping Mexican beer drinkers.  It has nothing to do with being macho and "not fruiting beer", but rather I try to make a cultural statement by drinking my Mexican beers without a lime because that is how Mexicans drink their beers.  Limes were simply a method of using citric acid to disinfect the rim of a beer glass, clean the dusty lip of a beer can, or remove rust from the rim of a beer bottle back in the day, and now look what it turned into!  Oh, and another thing, much like Australians don't drink Fosters, Mexicans don't drink Corona.  Corona is about as American as pumpkin pie.  Maybe not apple pie, but pumpkin pie is about right.

When dinner came around we also drank a little wine.  Eusebio had two Zinfandels that we sipped on as we dined and then continued our consumption during our after-dinner story time.  One was from Gnarly Head and the other was from the Dancing Bull vineyard.  Both are California red wines with a little spice to go with the fantastic fermented fruit.  I realized on this day that I've long had a negative thought towards Zinfandels in my mind due to my dislike of ultra-sweet White Zinfandels, but the real thing, Red Zins, are actually fantastic wines and I need to drink more of them.

Dinner was as delicious as always at Eusebio's house.  The beef was better than fork-tender as it could be torn apart with just a little pressure of the fingers.  It was not ground beef like typical Tex-Mex tacos, but rather a beef roast that simmered in Mexican-spiced juices until it could melt in your mouth.  After being placed on a fresh tortilla, the succulent beef was topped with lettuce, cheese, a little pico de gallo, and some fresh cilantro to create an authentic soft taco that delivered mouth-watering flavor to my mouth.  The beef tacos were accompanied by some refried beans and Mexican rice.  The entire meal was phenomenal.  The spice of the Zins complimented the Mexican seasonings very well as each delightful bite came with a swallow of divine wine.  It was a great evening with some buddies, great food, and, of course, a little booze.  Life is good today.  O, en espanol, mi vida es buena hoy.