¡ENCHILADAS! Maudie's Hacienda - 9911 Brodie Lane 3.6/5
It was the last day of February and Steve and Rusty had a special guest for lunch. Austin guitarist Eric Tessmer. Eric and Rusty had to cancel a birthday lunch due to Rusty's illness and Steve joined in on the raincheck. They met up at Eric's favorite enchilada spot, Maudie's Hacienda. The chips were homemade, a little greasy maybe, but nothing wrong with a little grease in the right places. In Eric's words they were "passable". The salsa was fresh and peppery, not too chunky with a nice burn to it. Eric would prefer even more heat. If you've seen him play then you know he brings the heat. Mucho caliente! There were a couple bowls of salsa so refills weren't an issue.
While Maudie's does offer basic cheese enchiladas as one of their lunch specials for a surprisingly low $6.75, the guys were tempted to try some of Maudie's other unique enchilada options. Steve ordered the Beef Lover's Enchiladas, Rusty went for the Josie's Enchiladas and Eric got the Strait Plate.
Steve really enjoyed the Beef Lover's Enchiladas - beef enchiladas with chili con carne sauce, diced onions, and queso Amarillo. The beef filling had tender chunks of peppers and was spicy and spiced quite nicely. The abundant, Tex-Mex style chili con carne sauce was dark, rich and very tasty. The yellow cheese was American cheese. We had to look up "queso Amarillo" and, yep, a more romantic name for American cheese. Steve would much prefer a "real" cheese but he wasn't disappointed with the end results.
Rusty was happy with his Josie's Enchiladas - cheese enchiladas with chili con carne, diced onions and chili con queso. The sauce was plentiful and delicious. Rusty is a chili con queso lover so the cheese was right up his alley. While Rusty would prefer his cheese enchiladas to have onions on the inside - one of his missions on this enchilada quest is to find a good traditional cheese enchilada made with onions on the inside - he found the onions on top to be a nice touch.
As with his guitar playing, Eric Tessmer didn't mess around! He went for the Strait Plate - THREE beef enchiladas, chili con carne, diced onions and two fried eggs on top, over easy in this case. At Maudie's the rice and beans are optional and Eric opted out and focused on enchiladas. A busy musician gets their sustenance where and when they can and Eric made short work of one of his hometown favorites. He described his enchiladas as "made in heaven and cooked with angel meat". Eric admired the "loads of finesse" of the server who deftly refilled teas and coffee with one hand while balancing fully loaded trays on the other hand. Apt praise, we suppose, from someone who's fingers bring loads of finesse to the fretboards of his '59 Strat and his new Fender Custom Surf Green Strat.
Beef Lover's Enchiladas
Josie's Enchiladas
Strait Plate
