Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Not for Vegetarians

So we leave Austin, Texas, not long ago, heading southwest from the original Whole Foods navel of the universe, and the wonderfully cool and independent Bookpeople store. Our destination: Driftwood, to the Salt Lick Barbeque. Yes, Driftwood. We decided to take our first vacation in two years to a place we'd never been, and settled on Canyon Lake between San Antonio and Austin. Terrible drought. Learned that FM roads means "Farm to Market." Anyway we naively thought that at 8 pm there wouldn't be many folks at the Salt Lick, only to discover about 500 cars in the parking lot. No matter. Didn't take long. Wayyyy too much meat. Attention most folks from India: don't go there! : our server told us that 60% of customers pay an extra five bucks for "all you can eat." What is wrong with this picture? The cole slaw had a nice Asian tang because the man who started the place had a Japanese wife. Beans were wonderful too. But, as is often the case, there were mind-boggling juxtapositions, this time in the hill country of Texas. Not so far from this place is a Hindu property replicating Vaishnaivite pilgrimage to Vrindravan (Vraj), where Krishna, I believe, was a cowherder sporting with the gopis. It's just so bizarre. And somewhere around there also is the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower research / wander around place. Very nice. But it was over 90 degrees, and I couldn't walk more than 1/4 mile due to my disability. Oh well. Got a few nice photos. I must admit that for the most part, our food was tasty. But what we had belongs to a form of trayf that comes our way once every three years or so. Mea culpa, mea culpa.