Review: Cenote
Dec. 9th, 2017 08:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebCenote is a fairly new restaurant in my neighborhood that we finally tried after they sent us a $5-off coupon and we found out about 2-for-1 burgers on Thursdays. (It's at the southwest corner of 290E and Cameron Road, where the old Fran's/Dan's used to be in that great stone building.)
On the weekend, I got something other than a burger: migas. They were full of big chunks of vegetables, yet somehow also delicious. There was plenty of cheese and lots of corn tortilla in it. Normally when I'm in the mood for migas, I go to Cisco's, but this place would also satisfy that craving. It just depends whether I want a low-rent version or a high-rent version.
Robin got the burger and fries. The burger is the thick kind where they ask you how you want it cooked, and it comes on a slightly bigger bun, somehow toasted and also soft. The burger is juicy, but not so juicy that it makes the bun a soggy mess before you're finished. It also comes with lettuce, tomato and a little chipotle mayo and you can pay extra to get cheese, avocado, and other things. It comes with way too many fries. They are thin like at McDonald's but come with seasoned salt. So delicious.
The next time we went, we both got burgers. They also have a chicken sandwich, but it doesn't count as a burger for the purpose of the 2-for-1 special. However, they do have a vegetarian burger that does count--we did not try it. I got the burger and fries; Robin asked if they could sub something else for the fries for his order. Yes--soup or salad. He got some kind of chicken soup which tasted to me like tortilla soup only with sliced cabbage on top instead of tortillas mixed in. So healthy! Yet also delicious!
Normally when I'm alone at home and in the mood for a burger and fries, I have the bad habit of going to McDonald's for a double cheeseburger and small order of fries. I've been trying to find an alternative that's in walking distance, and I have found it. It's at least twice as much food, and thus way too much, but otherwise much less evil.
Several of their ingredients are one or more steps above the bottom level of quality. For example, the beef has no hormones and no antibiotics and the eggs come from hens that get to be in pastures. So this is not a super cheap place, but it's still a decent price for what you get, especially on 2-for-1 night. The burgers are $12 and I think the migas were $9.
You order at the counter and take a number; beverages are self-serve. However they still ask for a tip--they calculate several percentages for you or let you opt out or enter a different amount. I have not yet asked if the cashier/waitstaff get less than minimum wage or not.
My friend J says her sister loves that place and has told her that there is a patio. I didn't notice the patio, but J says it's one of those tacked-on patios that was probably added just because Austinites love their patios. Ha, ha, finding the website for this post, I see that they call themselves East Austin's neighborhood patio cafe! Well, FYI, it's also an indoor cafe. And I always consider East Austin to be about 50 blocks south of there, but hey, they are east of Congress and even I-35, so it's definitely accurate.
In Spanish class, there was a whole video about how the foreign-exchange student was taken swimming at place full of cenotes, which I decided were sinkholes. So I think you pronounce the name of this place "say-NOTE-ay" and not, say, "C-Note."
Exercise update - The day before yesterday I did basically no exercise but shiver. I felt pretty stiff and cold and spent much of the day curled up in a little ball under the covers. Hibernating, yeah, that's it. Oh, well, not a bad day for a rest day.
Yesterday I got up early in case there was still snow, and there was, so I walked around the old airport looking at that for 2 hours = 10,000 steps. I also found some pull-up bars I'd never noticed before (kind of across from the children's museum) and I won't say I did pull ups, exactly, more like arm-assisted squats. So I didn't exactly achieve my goal, but I'm okay with it.
You would think that, say, 30 minutes of non-walking exercise would be quite achievable, especially for a retiree with no dependents, and you would be right. However, I do have other goals, too, so I'm not going to be too hard on myself, at least not yet.
On the weekend, I got something other than a burger: migas. They were full of big chunks of vegetables, yet somehow also delicious. There was plenty of cheese and lots of corn tortilla in it. Normally when I'm in the mood for migas, I go to Cisco's, but this place would also satisfy that craving. It just depends whether I want a low-rent version or a high-rent version.
Robin got the burger and fries. The burger is the thick kind where they ask you how you want it cooked, and it comes on a slightly bigger bun, somehow toasted and also soft. The burger is juicy, but not so juicy that it makes the bun a soggy mess before you're finished. It also comes with lettuce, tomato and a little chipotle mayo and you can pay extra to get cheese, avocado, and other things. It comes with way too many fries. They are thin like at McDonald's but come with seasoned salt. So delicious.
The next time we went, we both got burgers. They also have a chicken sandwich, but it doesn't count as a burger for the purpose of the 2-for-1 special. However, they do have a vegetarian burger that does count--we did not try it. I got the burger and fries; Robin asked if they could sub something else for the fries for his order. Yes--soup or salad. He got some kind of chicken soup which tasted to me like tortilla soup only with sliced cabbage on top instead of tortillas mixed in. So healthy! Yet also delicious!
Normally when I'm alone at home and in the mood for a burger and fries, I have the bad habit of going to McDonald's for a double cheeseburger and small order of fries. I've been trying to find an alternative that's in walking distance, and I have found it. It's at least twice as much food, and thus way too much, but otherwise much less evil.
Several of their ingredients are one or more steps above the bottom level of quality. For example, the beef has no hormones and no antibiotics and the eggs come from hens that get to be in pastures. So this is not a super cheap place, but it's still a decent price for what you get, especially on 2-for-1 night. The burgers are $12 and I think the migas were $9.
You order at the counter and take a number; beverages are self-serve. However they still ask for a tip--they calculate several percentages for you or let you opt out or enter a different amount. I have not yet asked if the cashier/waitstaff get less than minimum wage or not.
My friend J says her sister loves that place and has told her that there is a patio. I didn't notice the patio, but J says it's one of those tacked-on patios that was probably added just because Austinites love their patios. Ha, ha, finding the website for this post, I see that they call themselves East Austin's neighborhood patio cafe! Well, FYI, it's also an indoor cafe. And I always consider East Austin to be about 50 blocks south of there, but hey, they are east of Congress and even I-35, so it's definitely accurate.
In Spanish class, there was a whole video about how the foreign-exchange student was taken swimming at place full of cenotes, which I decided were sinkholes. So I think you pronounce the name of this place "say-NOTE-ay" and not, say, "C-Note."
Exercise update - The day before yesterday I did basically no exercise but shiver. I felt pretty stiff and cold and spent much of the day curled up in a little ball under the covers. Hibernating, yeah, that's it. Oh, well, not a bad day for a rest day.
Yesterday I got up early in case there was still snow, and there was, so I walked around the old airport looking at that for 2 hours = 10,000 steps. I also found some pull-up bars I'd never noticed before (kind of across from the children's museum) and I won't say I did pull ups, exactly, more like arm-assisted squats. So I didn't exactly achieve my goal, but I'm okay with it.
You would think that, say, 30 minutes of non-walking exercise would be quite achievable, especially for a retiree with no dependents, and you would be right. However, I do have other goals, too, so I'm not going to be too hard on myself, at least not yet.