If you’ve ever been to Mother’s (4215 Duval, Austin, TX), you’ve either come out of the restaurant feeling very good about what you ate, or entirely dissatisfied with the bland food you spent your money on.
My affair with Mother’s has been intermittent. We took a year long hiatus while I replenished myself with salt and flavor.
Recently, however, I was in the mood to go out to dinner, and I didn’t want a fat bomb. Stumped by my options, I decided to give Mother’s another go. Since then I’ve been back about once a week and I’ve decided to get back together with the bitch for the rest of my stay in Austin.
Rule of thumb: embrace the salt shaker.
So here’s a list of Mother’s dishes I’ve tried that met with the approval of my flavor-demanding taste buds:
The Salads
Both their Mixed Green and their Spinach salads are among the best salads I’ve ever had. They are incredibly fresh and loaded with a variety of tasty raw vegetables - carrots, various kinds of sprouts, cucumber, purple cabbage, yum. Definitely get the Cashew-Tamari dressing. And get it ON THE SIDE.
The Burrito
It’s simple: rice, beans, a little cheese. But what makes this tasty is that they poor your choice of sauce over the burrito and bake it. Their creamy chipotle sauce is the best, imho.
The Special
This is up for debate, as I’ve only had two of their specials. Both, however, were droolishly delicious… and interesting! The first dish I had was eggplant stuffed with goodness (something like couscous with nuts and raisins). I also had their vegan enchiladas which may sound questionable but were almost better than Julio’s cheese-bomb enchiladas. They were stuffed with tvp, walnuts, beans and corn then topped with with some cashew/7-pepper sauce which I think was actually the aformentioned chipotle sauce in disguise. Oh yeah, it also came with guacamole and brown rice. Seriously: incredible.
The Soup
Although the soup occasionally needs a dose of the old salt machine, every time I’ve had it I’ve been pleased. They do all sorts of soups: broccoli-cheese, split pea, bisques, cauliflower, etc.
The Apple Pie
Holy shit this pie is good, and I don’t even like desserts. It’s not an ooze of apple mush; it’s actual apples in yumminess and a really light and tasty wheatish crust. And it’s VEGAN (unless you order it with Amy’s Mexican Vanilla ice cream, which turns the whole thing into a delicious creamy mess).
At some point I’ve had their cheese enchiladas and their vegetarian ruben sandwich. As I recall they weren’t hugely memorable. My issue may be with the black beans that comes with the enchiladas: VERY bland. Their weekend brunch is decent, though I always prefer eating breakfast at home. Their chalupas suck. Their guacamole is VERY good. Their chips and salsa is good enough to potentially ruin the rest of the meal. The hippie factor is occasionally overwhelming but tolerable, just don’t sit in the garden room when they have the harp player; it’s just a little strange. They don’t do fountain pop so no free refills (except on iced tea), but we shouldn’t be drinking that crap anyway.
Bon appetit!
Update (04/11/04): I asked people on austin.food (I love usenet) what they thought of Mother’s. Here’s the thread.
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