Vegetarian Friendly Indian on SoCo; Three Little Pigs

Over at the Chronicle this week, Mick Vann gets sociological at New India Cuisine, which will bring "huge smiles" to the "SoCo/SoATX hipster, vegan, or pesco-pollo vegetarian," but won't have the same effect on the "North Austin spice-craving carnivore." Meanwhile, Wes Marshall really, really liked the pork belly slider at Three Little Pigs as "simply the best thing I've eaten in 2011." [Chronicle]

Also at the Chronicle, Richard Whittakerdiscovers "the last bastions of homemade, handmade, working-class grub" in Full English Cafe: "No nouvelle cuisine here: The small but concise Full English menu favors the British tradition of fried goodness."

Mike Sutter gives the Statesman a double whammy on Trace and Zed's restaurant week performances, finding more than a few inconsistencies: Zed's baby-back ribs "were overcooked, with thick fibers pulling off in dry layers, approaching the consistency of jerky in the thinner spots." Trace's apparent lack of a "more effective literary forager" left him lamenting the "ordinary" nature of their menu but pleasantly surprised at the actual food, as "'garden salad' and 'market soup' [didn't] begin to describe the end products." [Statesman]

Texas Monthly's Megan Giller also dug the porcine offerings at Raymond Tatum's 3 Little Pigs, calling the cracklin' meat loaf "the kind of down-home dish you dream about on a cool, hungry evening." [TM]

The Fearless Critic declares A+A Sichuan Cuisine a worthy and more stylish rival for Austin's reigning authentic Chinese champ Asia Café: "As ever, leave the Americanized classics like General Tso’s to the lesser places (and the Cantonese to the Cantonese). Instead celebrate the mouth-numbing, menthol-like Szechuan peppercorn, and its partner, red-hot chili oil. ...pan-fried tofu is spongy, but served with wonderfully crunchy vegetables and a lovely cilantro brightness, whose resulting balance is found ever-so-slightly less at Asia Café." [FC]

— Jasmin Sun

New India Cuisine. [Photo: New India Cuisine]