Bryan & College Station, Texas

If you’ve been here for any amount of time, someone has probably mentioned JJ’s SnoCones. And if you haven’t gone out there yet, go do it. They open for the year some time in March and I’ll have to find out, but I think they close up in September.

When we first got here, it was one of the places that many of the people we met recommended. We were not and have not been disappointed.

I grew up eating these things in Puerto Rico, they were called “piraguas” or “Raspados”, (translates to “scraped”). They would literally have a block of ice and scrape the top or side of the ice with a hand plane, you know, the kind you scrape wood with and produce those little curls of wood. I don’t know if it was a plane or not, but it looked like it. I found the picture to the left here of the actual instrument used.

Anyway, JJ’s is one of the only places whose ice is “shaved” around here, and it’s reminiscent of what I experienced in Puerto Rico.

So, I go and ask if they have Guava, they don’t. Tamarindo? No. But you know what they did? They got some. Man, Guava/Tamarindo is so yummy.

OK, so they told me that Pickle Juice is one of the biggest sellers. That’s crazy. I have not tried that and I’m not sure I will.

This week I tried the Snozberry…that was really good. My wife tried the Yellow Cake Batter with cream and it was like eating frozen yellow cake batter.

We’ve tried the Wedding Cake, Bahama Breeze, Coffee, Chocolate, Tutti Frutti, bubble gum, and others.

I was told the Charlie Brown is a good one, but haven’t gotten around to that one yet.

You can add cream, Ice Cream, a gum ball and even buy a pickle if that’s what you want. My suggestion is to try flavors with the kiddie, then graduate. Like I said, so far, all the flavors have been excellent.

Kiddie: 8 oz. - ¢.75
Shorty: 10 oz. - $1.25
Small: 12 oz. - $1.75
Medium: 16 oz. - $2.00
Large: 20 oz. - $2.25
Jumbo: 24 oz. - $2.75

They are on the corner of Villa Maria and Carter Creek, right next to the Blockbuster Video. That little shack with the funky spray paint all over it and usually a line of people.

The owners and workers are really great people.

They are open every day from 12:30 - 8:00pm except Sunday, they’re open from 1:00 - 7:00pm.

Enjoy

jorge

We have a prayer meeting at our house on Monday nights where around 5 families get together, each bringing some dish or side or dessert. We eat, then hang out, then pray and sing songs. It’s a perfect way to start the week. We all look forward to getting together.

Well, this last week, we were blessed to have our desert supplied by Delicious Moments, and Husband and Wife team who caters small parties in the College Station and Bryan area.

They brought us a whole bunch of really yummy mini cheesecakes. They were so good. Everyone commented on them and wanted to know where they came from. I was happy to tell them that Zack and Lauren from Delicious Moments brought them over.

Being the first time we used a catering service, I was not sure what to expect, but let me assure you, Delicious Moments has set the bar pretty high, at least in our eyes.

They emailed me in the morning asking me what time would be good for them to drop off the food, then in the afternoon (way before people started to arrive), I got a call from them telling me they were on their way.

They brought the cheesecakes in cute little pink boxes, and they looked just perfect. They brought us original and peanut butter cheesecakes. Wow, they were good. In fact, there were way more than we needed, and were looking forward to having some the next day, but at the end of the night, while my wife and I were cleaning up after everyone left, we looked in the boxes and they were all gone. Bummer. They were obviously very good, maybe even the best in town!

We were all very impressed with these guys, and will definitely be the first company we call.

They also offer a personal chef service and in home cooking classes.

They even offer to go to the grocery store for you. Here a quote from the Delicious Moments website:

How many people hate grocery shopping? Either it takes too long, you have little kids who seem to always throw a tantrum once you get to the store or who just want to load the cart up on candy and cookies, you’re too busy to find time to grocery shop, you hate waiting in long lines, crowded aisles, finding a close parking spot, etc. Well, if you just want someone to do your grocery shopping for you, call us up and let us know! We would be happy to be of assistance! Just send us your list and we’ll do the grocery shopping for you! Simple as that.

Call these guys soon, even if your event is later this year. Visit their website for more catering, personal chef and cooking class information.

jorge

Are you wanting to go out to eat or call in a to go order, but you can’t find the restaurant’s website, and you don’t know what to order? Well, College Station and Bryan restaurant menus can be viewed at a website called “Aggieland Menus”.

Aggieland menus is a cool website that lists many (if not all) of the restaurants in town, and links to a pdf of the restaurant’s menu. So even if the restaurant doesn’t have a website, chances are, the menu is posted at AggielandMenus.info.

It’s a free service, so if you are a restaurant owner, contact them. And if you are a restaurant owner and need a website, contact me…it’s what I do.

Here’s what they have to say about their service:

Aggieland Menus is a guide serving the restaurants and consumers of Bryan-College Station, Texas. We are a free service that provides the most information about your restaurant to the most important person… your customers!

They have a rating system on the site, a place to write a review on the restaurant’s own page. It’s very well organized, and a great resource.

We just recently downloaded Spice Bowl’s menu for my wife’s parents. They wanted to try something different, and have another look at the prices.

I also downloaded the Pho John’s menu to see if they served Bubble Smoothies…they do.

It’s just a great idea to serve the restaurants in town.

You can even subscribe to the site with a syndication reader and get Aggieland Menus news as soon as it’s posted on the site. Nice. (click on the little orange RSS button in the corner).

And by the way, don’t you think the best menus are the ones with beautiful pictures of food items on them? I love those.

You should call in an order and eat in! Or order from Freebirds and go eat at Central Park.

jorge

Freebirds is a wonderful place. They make these gigantic burritos that are so wonderfully tasty and filling and just awesome.

The first time I had one of these was back around 1992 when my older brother (who was attending A&M at the time) invited me to come and play my guitar for some of his friends. My songs back then were mostly geared toward Junior High, chock full of body function humor and other things that most people wouldn’t necessarily like.

Well, It was great then, and it’s great now. In fact, other companies have imitated them, like Habanero’s Grill in San Antonio, and Chipotle’s.

Although those other restaurants are good, Freebirds is really the best. They have 4 tortilla choices (flour, whole wheat, spinach and cayenne). Chipotle’s only offers white tortillas and Habanero’s in San antonio at least offers Whole Wheat.

Freebirds has 4 sizes, and although ‘ve seend them make one, I’ve never ordered a “Super Monster”. It’s really big. Like 1 and a half pounds.

The Freebirds Restaurants are on University and Hwy 6, down in Northgate (across from the A&M campus, one on Rock Prairie over by Kroger’s, and one next to Old Navy.

They offer a punch card where you can get a free burrito after you’ve bought 10, and they don’t limit it to the cheapest burrito…you can order it however you want it, and it’s free. Totally worth it.

One of the fun things about Freebirds is the tradition to make a foil sculpture with the foil you peel off the burrito. There are some really creative sculptures up on the walls. I’ve left a few.

They’ve got quesadillas, salads, chips, guac…just a great place.

A “regular” Freebird chicken Burrito will run you $5.75. They’ve included tax into the price, so “no chump change”. Nice.

Now, it can be a little daunting your first time, but just tell the server it’s your first time. Y’ll choose a tortilla size and flavor, they’ll steam it and ask you if you want rice, cheese, and what kind of meat…you can even chose dark or white meat. Choose from three kinds of beans, cilantro, onions, hot sauce, etc. Then you keep moving down the line and get all your other stuff in there piled high. Some items are extra, but they’ll tell you first. Then the’ll ask you if it looks good, and take it off the line and wrap it in foil.

I suggest you stand the bird on one end, then unwrap it a couple of inches at a time, eating it down toward the table.

Oh, the “death sauce” is pretty hot, and their BBQ sauce is really tasty.

Looks like there might be some Freebirds outside of Texas in the future. That’s fun. There’s 4in College Station, 4 in Austin, 4 in Dallas-Ft. Worth, 3 in Houston, 1 in San Marcos, 1 in San Antonio, 2 in Lubock, 1 in Norman Oklahoma, and I believe there’s on in Santa Barbara, California…the original.

Go eat one.

jorge

If you haven’t tried Vietnamese food, Rosie’s Pho is a great place to start. There’s a big Asian population here in College Station, and the Asian Market on Texas over by the Tractor Supply will prove it.

As will the amount of Asian food restaurants.

Personally, I don’t completely like the Americanized Chinese food that’s over fried and over sauced. It usually has me in the bathroom within the hour. Well, sometimes I like it…not the bathroom part.

My favorite is Vietnamese. And almost always, I get the Bun, which is a rice vermicelli noodle bowl with salad on the bottom and some sort of topping. I like mine topped with spring rolls and BBQ pork.

I usually opt out of the fish sauce…I don’t like the smell or the taste of it, but I always squirt my noodles with Hoisin Sauce, garlic Chili Sauce and a little Soy Sauce.

Here’s a Wiki Definition of Hoisin Sauce:

Hoisin sauce, or Haixian Sauce, (hǎixiānjiàng) also called suckling pig sauce, is a Chinese dipping sauce. The word Hoisin is a romanization of the Chinese word “海鮮” as pronounced in Cantonese. Despite the literal meaning of “seafood,” Hoisin sauce does not actually contain fish. It is similar to the sweet noodle sauce made from fermented soybeans, but has the added ingredients of garlic, vinegar, and chilli peppers. Additionally, it tastes less pungent than sweet noodle sauce. Mandarin-style Hoisin sauce ingredients include water, sugar, soybeans, white distilled vinegar, rice, salt, wheat flour, garlic, and red chili peppers, and several preservatives and coloring agents. Traditionally, Hoisin sauce is made using sweet potato.

The vermicelli bowl is a large bowl of vermicelli rice noodles (the thin white ones), served over lettuce and sliced cucumbers, then topped with roasted peanuts, pickled carrots (and sometimes onions), cilantro and mint sprig, and then your choice of meats or spring rolls.

Pho is a noodle soup, which is traditional Vietnamese restaurant fare, but I’ve never been able to not be excited about the noodle bowl, and I get the same thing every time. Maybe next time.

As far as appetizers go, check out the Summer Rolls. They are lettuce, mint, and usually a few shrimp, wrapped in a thin white rice wrap. We call them surgical glove rolls. They usually come out with a sweet peanut/Hoisin Sauce to dip in.

We usually come out of there nice and full, and also pretty happy that we got some salad in us at the same time. It’s always so freah tasting. Very nice.

Oh, when you go in there, you’ll notice there’s a colorful poster to the right of the cashier. Those are “bubble” smoothies. I’m not sure what they call them, but you’ve got to try one. My suggestion is the Honeydew Melon with Black Pearl Tapioca Balls. My second suggestion is a Mocha with Black Pearl Tapioca Balls or Coffee Jellies.

Black Pearl Tapioca Balls have a very slight sweet taste, and the texture is like a Gummi Bear. They don’t taste like the Tapioca you might be used to. It’s really just a texture thing, but it’s really cool. There’s something very “addicting” about drinking/eating one of these. Just try it…for $3, you won’t be out much. The Coffee Jellies are like very concentrated Jello that’s been cut up into small cubes…very cool taste and feel. They have Mango Jellies too, and they are yummy as well.

There are a few other places in town that have these smoothies, and they are all made similarly, but Rosie’s Pho has the cheapest. Asian Cuisine and Tea House Restaurant next to Play It Again Sports has a cool machine that seals the top on the cup and you poke the straw through the top.

You’ll notice that you get these smoothies with a huge straw…that’s so you can suck the balls out.

The staff and service at Rosie’s Pho is Really great…they even made “Child-friendly” chopsticks for our kids…which they loved (pictured at the top of this post).

Oh, I almost forgot, you should also try the Iced Coffee (ca phe sua da). They brew a strong cup of coffee in a “drip filter” onto about a half inch of Sweetened Condensed Milk, then pour that over ice. Yum. Usually the coffee has chicory in it so it’s real strong, but kinda nutty, and very tasty.

Enjoy

Jorge