Austin- When it comes to 6th street in Austin, a lot of Texans associate it with live music, a bunch of bars, and some wild times. If you walk a little bit past the party part of town, you’ll find a beer garden and bakery on the banks of Waller Creek.

We’re at Easy Tiger in Austin.

“We call it the ‘Old ET,’” Sophie Neilon said.

David Norman is one of the co-owners and head baker of this interesting restaurant with an exotic name.

“It’s funny, that’s what I hear my wife say when I order the third beer at this place. ‘Easy, tiger,’” Jerrod Poffenberger said.

That’s exactly how Easy Tiger earned it stripes. That, and the incredibly delicious food.

“We do our own sausages, we cure our own meats, we make our own mustard and sauerkraut,” David Norman said. “We do almost everything on the menu is made by Easy Tiger.”

“This menu, it hits me,” Jerrod said. “It hits my soul.”

While beer flows in the beer garden and people enjoy their marvelous encased meats, don’t call this place a German restaurant. That would be like calling your pet tiger Spot!

“We get pigeonholed as a German restaurant sometimes, but I think we’re not a beer garden, we’re a beer garden,” David said. “We’re an American version of a beer garden. There’s some German stuff, definitely, but that’s central Texan. That’s the heritage here.”

The thing that makes David’s chest puff up with pride is the bread that rises in his bakery.  

“You smell it too,” George Mitchell said. “That’s the first time it hits you as soon as you walk up top. You’re like, ‘Bakery whiff,’ so.”

While living in Germany, David become addicted to the different kinds of baked goods in the bright cities of Europe. So when he moved back to the states, he decided to make the same sort of sustenance. His warm, flaky, delicious bread has been a big hit, for the most part.

“We’re baking bread in a tortilla town, but that’s changing a lot, and there’s more good bread in Austin now, but we’re still working on getting bread on people’s tables every day,” David said.

The best way to accomplish this is to pair it with something that makes you want to eat more of it.

“The synergy between beer and bread, it’s all fermentation,” David said. “Grains that are fermented, just going different directions with it.”

Well we’re ready to toast to some good toast, so David got things started on a hot warm Bavarian pretzel.

“Well it’s a soft pretzel. It’s a pretty stiff, chewy dough. And then the secret to it is, you dip it in a alkaline solution, in lye, basically….,” David said.

“It’s changing the pH of the proteins on the surface of the loaf is what’s technically happening,” David said. “Bread baking is a lot of science.”

Once in the oven, all it takes is time. While waiting David got started on one of their most popular offerings that goes perfect with bread and beer: A charcuterie (char-cute-a-ree) board.

“We’re gonna do our Texas Hill Country board,” David said. “We got some red chili mustard and we have a green chili mustard. This is our French sourdough bread, our miche. Comes in a big round loaf. Some butter with our bread, lots, of course. This is whipped, salted butter. So we take a really good European style, high fat butter that I use in our croissants and stuff, and we whip it and add salt to it, for our salted butter. This is a fresh style, German-styled cheese called Quark. Now these are the goodies. This is a venison hot link with some cheddar cheese in it. This is a duck terrine. So there’s duck, there’s bacon, there’s ham, there’s some pork fat in there, there’s cranberries, apricots, apple cider, and even a little bourbon … from the whisky bar downstairs. And then, we have a wild boar rillette. A rillette, is a mixture of pork, pulled pork, and pork fat. And this one has some fresh sage, poblanos, and jalapenos in it.”

So, I am not going to take it easy tiger. I am going to dive right into this. Let’s start with some of that sausage. The house made venison cheddar hot link.  We’re game. Literally, game.

“We like trying different crafts when it comes to sausages, and what they’re doing at Easy Tiger, it’s right,” Jerrod said. “It’s real good.”

After that, it was time to butter our bread.

“The butter is really soft and whipped so you can dip it. I like to dip it instead of spread it,” Sophie said.

Once the flavor set in, it was like hearing the roar of a tiger.

“You’re pretty safe ordering almost anything, because there’s such a variety on all the offerings that you never know what you’re gonna end up with, and usually, it’s gonna hit you right,” Jerrod said.

When it comes to expanding your palate, don’t take it easy, tiger, go for the tiger. Go for the gold, because it’s well worth a stop on the Texas Bucket List, right here, at Easy Tiger.

“It’s a comfortable place for people to come, relax, slow down, eat great food, drink some good beer,” David said.

Wichita Falls- It’s time for the Texas Bucket List “Bite of the Week,” and this week we’ve woken up early in Wichita Falls for a special sandwich made with, of all things, waffles.

We’re at Gidget’s Sandwich Shack.

“You can see it’s eclectic, it’s homegrown, it’s 100% these guys and their creation and they started from the ground up,” Tanner Wachsman said.

Julie Spence started this sandwich shop with her best friend, Melissa Alread back in 2004.  These two busy ladies got the bug to be business owners while on a girls trip to Galveston.

“So, I was talking to my best friend,” Julie said.  “We were in Galveston drinking some wine out on the front porch and talking about how bad our work lives were. She was a pharmaceutical rep, and so we thought, ‘Well, let’s just roll back to Wichita Falls and start a coffee shop.’”

The pair needed the perfect provisions to accompany their eclectic persona.  Paninis fit the bill.

“Bought us a grill, bought us an espresso machine, came back here to Wichita Falls and we thought, ‘We’ve gotta make this Texas-sized panini,’” Julie said.

They took on the name of Melissa’s daughter Gidget, and they were good to go.

“We had five sandwiches,” Julie said. “It worked.”

Business boomed, and it wasn’t long until they moved into an old downtown bank building complete with an old safe and some serious history.

“Yeah, it has some history,” Julie said. “First bank robbery in Wichita Falls, and the first bank robbery murder happened. Then they found the guys and they lynched them somewhere out here on the corner or something like that, and there’s actually a picture of them … I’ve got it at home and on my archives, of them right over here in this area. Their bodies are just kind of laid over like this both dead.”

Thank goodness we won’t be dealing with any ghosts. There’s nothing scary here except for scary good sandwiches.

“Yeah,” Julie said. “They’re not scary good, they’re just really good.”

Gidget’s has got something that seriously stuck out to us: Waffles.

“I’ve got some waffle mix, and I have this waffle maker and we’re like, ‘Let’s just make some waffle sandwiches,’” Julie said. “That’s different, right? “

Yes it is, and Julie couldn’t wait to get started on the featured sandwich.

“It’s gonna be one waffle sandwich. They get really big,” Julie said.

Once the waffles got whipped up, Julie started putting the Monte Cristo breakfast sandwich together.  She threw on the grill a combination of cheddar, turkey, ham, eggs and seasoning. It only takes a few minutes but the magical Monte Cristo comes together marvelously. Put on some powdered sugar, and it’s ready for our palate.

“You can’t get a sandwich like this anywhere else,”  Taylor Wachsman said.

As soon as you bite into that sandwich, you get that initial hit of sweetness between the waffle and the powdered sugar. Then as you bite down, you get into the ham, cheese, and eggs, and it gives you that real salty, sweet flavor that makes for an incredible flavor.

“We don’t compete with anybody in town,” Julie said. “Nobody. We’re just different. Eclectic. Our sandwiches are eclectic, we’re just all over the board with anything. Yeah.”

For a ginormous sandwich that’s a great start to any day, Gidget’s in Wichita Falls is well worth a stop on the Texas Bucket List.

“We don’t have another sandwich shop like this that provides the same quality and ingredients,” Tanner said.  “The freshness, taste, et cetera … it’s really an awesome spot.”

Andrews, Texas- 30 miles from the New Mexico border sits Andrews, Texas, named for Richard Andrews, the first man to die in the war for Texas independence.  This part of the state is home to loads of oil and one of the best restaurants to feed all those hard-working roughnecks, cowboys and fine folks of far west Texas, Buddy’s.

Buddy’s Drive Inn, this week’s Texas Bucket List Bite of the Week, has been known for their steak fingers since 1969.

“You can go out, far west Texas as you can, people know Buddy’s,” Lorena Jurazo said.

Janie Robertson manages the restaurant nowadays.

“I got kind of elected, let me put it that way,” Janie said.

You see, Janie’s no stranger to steak fingers.

”I married into it. My husband’s mother was one of the original owners,” Janie said.

Founders Floy Robertson and Minnie Coleman were the buddies who started Buddy’s and named it after Minnie’s husband.

“When it was just a small dining room, that there would be people lined up all the way out in the street to get in,” Janie said. “Minnie was real outgoing, and she would go get people and say, you’re going to sit here, and she would sit them with people, and she’d say, get to know each other. Just to make sure everybody was getting in.”

Floy and Minnie were so close, the pair passed away within a year of each other. This left the town terrified that the Buddy’s run had come to a close.

“I feel their soul and their heart here,” Janie said. “I think in a way, they kind of guide me on a daily basis, and other people here do too. It’s just, they’re here. This is their place, and we all really miss them.”

Fortunately, you can still find the highly sought-after strips of steak.

“Well, if you like fried food, they’re your dream come true,” Janie said.

That dream starts with a big ole beef.

“We get our meat in, in huge bags, fresh it’s never frozen,” Janie said. “We get it in twice a week. We have a meat cutter that cuts them up, then they’re put in the walk-in, and then the cooks go get one tote at a time, and they cook em as they go.”

Jacob Ramirez is the main man when comes to making these marvelous meat sticks.

“Depending on how busy we are, I can get about eight orders in my hand, which is about 40 steak fingers,” Jacob said.

Most people are used to processed meat when it comes to steak fingers, but these nothing but meat.

“Honestly, if you like fried foods, and you like steak fingers, this is it,” Janie said.

If you’re searching for a suburb steak finger in the Lone Star State, it’s safe to say Buddy’s in Andrews is well worth a stop on the Texas Bucket List.

“Need to come here and try them at least once, and say that you’ve been to Buddy’s in Andrews, Texas,” Paula said. “They’re the best that I’ve ever eaten. They’re the best in Texas.”

San Antonio, Texas- It’s time for the Texas Bucket List Bite of the Week! When it comes to San Antonio traditions, the first things that come to mind might include the Riverwalk, the Alamo and fiesta. When it comes to food, the puffy taco is pretty much part of the culture in these parts.  

This week, we’ve found a place with some peculiar tacos that have become a phenomenon here in the Lone Star State. We’re at Henry’s Puffy Tacos.

 

“I don’t know how to explain it, but … how do I say this? I don’t know. I’m not good at this,” Laila Magallanez said. “It’s not too hard, but just soft, you know? In the middle, especially.”

For many people, a puffy taco is a foreign concept. This leads to lots of questions about what a puffy taco is exactly, and thankfully Imelda Sanchez has the answer we’re looking for.

“A puffy taco is fresh corn dough, or “masa”, we call it,” Imelda said. “It’s just a thick corn dough that when you deep fry it in some hot oil, it’ll puff up. It has this really nice … we form it into a taco shell. So then we stuff it with your choice of filling. Ground beef, chicken, bean and cheese. We have about seven different types of fillings.”

This puffy taco phenomena all started in the 50’s when Imelda’s father, Henry, worked with his oldest brother Ray at Ray’s Drive Inn.  The pair experimented with deep fried food, and when they found out what happened to fried up “masa” dough, they had a culinary creation with a kick. It’s so special that Henry’s has a special secret tool to make it happen.

“How we create the shell is we have a patent on the tool that we use to create the shell, so we’re able to create the puffy taco shell quite quickly,” Imelda said.

Henry opened his own restaurant in 1978 and through the years Imelda and her siblings helped out wherever they could. Now, they all run the business together.

“I’m the only girl in my immediate family,” Imelda said. “My father Henry, my mother Alicia and my three brothers. It was great. It was good. Yeah, I guess they treated me like a princess, but I was in everything that they were doing, so …”

With a taco like this on their side, it’s no wonder the family business has been booming.

“It was surprising that, ‘Okay, you know what, this one taco is gonna hit it pretty big,’” Imelda said. “We didn’t think about that. You know? “ Who would?

We headed to the back to make some tacos. It all starts with mixing corn masa, water and salt. Once flattened, it’s time to fry.

So we start with the masa and carefully peel …carefully peel,” Imelda said. “Okay, there you go. That one’s nice and …Nice. Just dip it in. In for the bath. It’s very hot. You’ll see a nice sizzle. This is a tool where you can’t see. Ok, look away. And then there it is! Nice and puffy. Let it sit to cook the bottom of it. There it is!”

To fill it up, our friend Eric gets to the good stuff.

“Starting off with shredded chicken, one of the most popular ordered items we have on the menu,” Imelda said. “Then spicy beef fajita we’re gonna go ahead and go on to. That is one of the ones that made the best taco list. Move on to our toppings. It comes with lettuce and tomato, but you can … this is great with also cheese and guacamole.”

If you’re looking for some terrific Tex-Mex that’s become a tradition here in Texas, Henry’s Puffy Tacos is well worth a stop on the Texas Bucket List.

“It’s the puffiness when it crunches and you get all of the flavors and juices into that corn dough … it just explodes and also melts in your mouth, all the flavors,” Imelda said. “We call it ‘puffy love’. We are pretty proud and we’re pretty happy and excited. We wanna definitely continue this and let everybody know what San Antonio has to offer and that Henry’s Puffy Taco is here to just serve some great food.”