Coffee Rub Steak 

This isn't the first time I have made a coffee rub steak on the grill. But in the age of the Coronapocalypse, my grilling has kicked into overdrive. The age of #selfquarantine has also got me looking at a big fat shelf of cookbooks I have collected over the years that I just don't crack open often enough. Well that is all about to change. I'm starting a new chapter of Bang for your Burger Buck: Cook the Book, where I test drive recipes and share the results. And with that, let's get down with Cool Smoke's Coffee Rub Steak . . . . (more…)

a Slider Recipe

A slider recipe. Really? Yeah, it seems so simple you don't even need one but consider these two fundamental burger realities:

1. Everybody loves the sound of making burgers on the grill but they don't always come out primetime.
2. Everybody loves the sound of sliders but lots of restaurants serve up overpriced lil' burgers and let's be real: White Castle is awesome in idea, less so in reality. Unless you are hammered.

Which brings me to an enchanted recipe that merges two great ideas to into an easily executed reality: making sliders in the backyard. (more…)

The Vitals: the spot: Provision 4200 B W. Braker Lane Austin TX 78759 the eats: A special tasting menu paired with Old Forester Bourbon the bucks: $0 - sorry kids, perks of the life. This was a complimentary dinner. Typical avg entree price is $30 at the restaurant the full nelson: a lesson that when you drink heavy hitting bourbon, you deserve heavy hitting proteins

Recently I had the pleasure of attending a bourbon tasting menu prepared at a new restaurant in Austin called Provision, sponsored by Old Forester. Now tasting menus aren't exactly typical fare at Bang for your Burger Buck but indulgence in rich foods certainly is. Besides, you can learn a lot from fancy meals too and who knows, you might even find a tip or two here the next time you hit up a primo restaurant and have to decide on whether to get the surf or the turf. The correct answer is "both" in case you were wondering. (more…)

Austin isn't exactly a two horse town when it comes to food. Sure, there are plenty of farm to table special occasion meals, some ridiculously good burgers, and some of the best soup dumplings I have ever had but if you came here and just stuck to barbecue and tacos, you would cover a lot of delicious ground. So imagine then what happens if tacos and barbecue get into a tussle? When the dust settles, what emerges is a hand held, no napkins necessary(almost), smoked meat experience. Welcome to a taco new wave. Giddy-up my friends, you are about to jump on the Taco Bronco Chuck Wagon. I think I've been in Texas too long . . . (more…)