Morgan's Queso Guide to Austin: Intro

Doesn't that look delicious?

Now that Mrs. Chef Wife Connecticut Yankee will be returning soon, it's time to improve my eating habits. For the better part of the last 7 weeks, I've subsisted off a scurvy-inducing diet. For example, here is an exact breakdown of my meals for the last week:

2x's Whataburger fried chicken tenders with cream gravy and fries
1x Chicken Fried Steak with cream gravy and macaroni and cheese
6x's sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast tacos
2x's ham and provolone sandwich + jalapeno chips
10x's Dr Pepper
1x's eggs and sausage, cooked at home on the skillet (yay, home cooking)
1x's eggs and bacon, cooked at home on the skillet (yay, home cooking)
3x's Chips and Queso.

So clearly there's some room for improvement. But before that happens, I'd like to dive a little deeper on the last item: Chips and Queso.

Whilst I was banished from the Holy Land for the last four years, I found it exceptionally difficult to get my hands on Chips & Queso at Mexican restaurants. Most of the time, when I would order queso, it would go something like this:

Me: Yeah, sure, um, let's have some chips and guacamole. And do you have queso?
Waiter: Queso? Like "cheese"?
Me: Well, I mean, it's melted cheese. Often with stuff in it, like meat, onions, peppers, you know. Queso.
Waiter: Um, I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about.

or if I was reeeallly lucky, it'd go like this:

Me: Yeah, sure, um, let's have some chips and guacamole. And do you have queso?
Waiter: Sure

And then I'd get a plate of melted shredded cheese (thanks Rio).

For my unenlightened East Coast brethren who identify more with the waiters than me, queso (short for chile con queso, [but note I used the word chile, not chili - meat is rare, but often welcome]) is basically melted dipping cheese with a variety of Tex-Mex ingredients mixed throughout. The exact ingredients are left more or less up to interpretation of the quesoador.

My quesos looked more or less like this one

Since I couldn't find queso on the menu anywhere back East, I went through a lengthy trial and error method of trying to make my own recipes, but couldn't ever get the right mix. I've taken dozens of different attempts to come up with a queso that mimics the best of what I could get back home. The best I came up with used Velveeta cheese, sausage, ground beef, habanero, jalapeno, onions, and Ro-Tel tomatoes, but it still never came out quite right. I missed the availability of quality of good quesos from back in Texas.

The fact that basically none of the Mexican restaurants I went to in CT and NY had the slightest idea about queso was contrasted nicely with our visit to Austin's Katz's Deli - a NY delicatessen - where I had - yep - queso. It's really an absolute staple on the menus of every Tex-Mex, Mex-Mex, and even casual American fare restaurants down here. Even at Lambert's - known for BBQ - you'll find a delicious queso on their menu.

So long story short, my plan here is to try the quesos of Austin. There's no real objective like "find the best one," at least not initially, but anyone that knows me will know it will probably eventually turn in to that.

So stay tuned for my first review...