Fuddruckers. After this experience, another F-word comes to mind.

After an awesome day at Going Bonkers, we capped off the evening at Fuddruckers (2001 State Highway 121, Grapevine, TX 76501). We've never been there and were excited at the variety of hamburgers offered. The burgers were good and the family was happy.


Sad to say, balloon guy ruined everything. He was at the table on our right, then he went to the table on our left. He totally passed us! WTF!!!

Then he went 2 tables to the front-left of us. What are we? Invisible?

He was at the other table about 5 mins when Jen went up to ask to be next. He said he would be there. After 20 mins, we left (disgusted) without balloons. Does it take 25 mins to make a few balloons figures?

Emily was upset and crying, asking why the balloon guy passed us and didn't come over.

So why did balloon guy pass us when we were between those 2 tables? I hate to assume it's because we're Asians but I really can't seem think of any other reason. I really like to give Emily an explanation.

Fuddruckers has good burgers and I have nothing against them, just balloon guy.

Texas Monthly's 2008 Top 5 BBQ

WARNING! Do not attempt this if you ever want to enjoy BBQ again. After trying the best, nothing else will ever be the same.

When Texas Monthly published their Top 50 BBQ list last year, I was intrigued. I embarked on a quest to try their top 5. They are all about an hour's drive from Austin, TX. I live in Arlington, TX so that means the closest is about a 3 hour drive.

I did it in two trips down south. First to San Antonio and next to Austin.

During the San Antonio trip, I tried City Market (Luling), Smitty's Market (Lockhart), and Kreuz Market (Lockhart).

For the Austin trip, I had Snow's BBQ (Lexington) and Louie Mueller Barbecue (Taylor).

Here's how I rate them.

Best Overall

City Market
633 E Davis St
Luling, TX 78648
(830) 875-9019



Among the top 5, City Market was the only one consistently good in everything they offered. Nothing really stood out like the taste of Kreuz or the brisket of Snow's, but everything was textbook good.

The brisket was tender and juicy. The meat on the ribs fell off the bone. The sausages had a coarse, meaty texture that appealed to me.

What else can I say? Everything was just, well... good.




Best Tasting, Best Beef Ribs & Best Jalapeno Cheese Sausages

Kreuz Market
619 N Colorado St
Lockhart, TX 78644
(512) 398-2361



Texas is all about meat. If you need sauce, it's not good BBQ. Real Texas BBQ has no BBQ sauce.

Research says that many Texas BBQ joints added BBQ sauce after Northerners moved south and wanted sauce with their BBQ.

Kreuz isn't caving in.


The fat in the beef ribs absorbed all the delicious, peppery goodness of the dry rub and the smoking process just adds that extra depth.

The homemade jalapeno cheese sausages had the right mixed of spices and cheese. Again, the smoking really gives it an X-Factor.

With Kreuz, it would be blasphemy to add sauce to their meats. Kreuz's peppery, smokey meats kicks you in the taste buds with the first bite. A defining "WOW!" moment.




Best Brisket & Potato Salad

Snow's BBQ
516 Main Street
Lexington, TX 78947
Tel: 979.773.4640 (SAT ONLY)
Cell: 979.542.8189



Snow's was crowned the best BBQ in Texas for 2008 by Texas Monthly last summer. Soon after that, long lines started forming as early as 7AM. They sometimes sell out as early as 10AM.

Snow's is an enigma. They really do have the best brisket but they only open on Saturdays. That's right. Only 1 day a week.

You think they would capitalize on their popularity and expand the days of operation? Nope. Snow's still opens only on Saturdays at 8AM.

We left Arlington at 4:30AM just so we could get to Snow's by 8AM. There was a line when we arrived. Not a long line like when the news first came out, but still a line.

Snow's brisket was phenomenal and their potato salad awesome, everything else was mediocre.

So why was Snow's rated the best BBQ in Texas? Because brisket defines Texas BBQ and is heavily weighted.

You really need to experience Snow's brisket to fully appreciate their ranking. The meat melts in your mouth like butter and taste is just perfect. If Leonardo da Vinci made brisket, this would be it.

We got back in line for seconds.




Most Overrated

Smitty's Market
208 S Commerce St
Lockhart, TX 78644
(512) 398-9344



Smitty's and Kreuz have an ongoing family feud. Both are owned by children of Edgar Schmidt. Edgar bought Kreuz Market in 1948 and the rest is history.

Because of the association with Kreuz and the top 5 ranking in Texas Monthly, I expected a lot more. While Smitty's meat is tender and juicy, the taste leaves a lot to be desired. There's a sweet, syrupy taste that doesn't belong in Texas BBQ.

The "No sauce" and "No forks" rules applies here.




Most Forgettable

Louie Mueller Barbecue
206 W 2nd St
Taylor, TX 76574
(512) 352-6206




Louie Mueller Barbecue has lots of great reviews. Unfortunately, my experience was very forgettable. Maybe it was bad day.

When I was in line, they gave me a small piece of brisket to sample. That brisket was almost as good as Snow's. So I ordered a bunch of brisket, pork ribs, beef ribs, and sausages thinking I was in for an awesome experience.

Sadly, the meats I got were dry and tough while the sausages were very average. To be fair, the meats had a good taste. Just can't get over the texture.

Everyone has bad days. I'll be back some day to give Louie another try. Hopefully, they will redeem themselves.



Conclusion

While City Market is very good and Snow's has the best brisket, Kreuz is my favorite. Beef ribs and jalapeno cheese sausages has more weight with me, plus I just love Kreuz's peppery smokiness. However, Snow's has given me a new appreciation for brisket.

For the uninitiated, Texas BBQ is served on butcher paper without silverware. Be prepared to get messy.

There are many undiscovered gems in Texas BBQ. I am hoping uncover many more. Eagerly awaiting my next Great BBQ Expedition ;)

THIS SUCKS!

We really need a vacuum. My allergies dictates that we get one with a HEPA filter.

Wanted to get a steam vac but read that frequent steaming can hurt carpets. And, carpets only need to be steam cleaned once a year (or twice if you're really filthy). So now we're getting a "regular" vacuum.

Did lots of research. Oreck, Dyson, Hoover, Eureka, and Kenmore came highly recommended. Then I came across a video review using a particle counter. Seems like these "independent" consumer reports are quite suspect.

Almost bought an Oreck. Whew!

Now, I am getting a Miele. German engineering and quality is awesome.

Which model should we get? Hmmm...

Turnaround Artist Shares Recipe For Business Success

Turnaround Artist Shares Recipe For Business Success

By CHEN HUIFEN

If he had a young child who was a scholar, Boustead Singapore CEO Wong Fong Fui would encourage him or her to join public service or a government linked company (GLC), instead of striking out as an entrepreneur.

'Perhaps, one day, he or she can also be paid as much as $10-20 million per year as salary/bonus without taking any risk,' he told BT in an email interview. 'Why take a chance when you may lose everything (as) an entrepreneur?'

That may sound strange, coming from a serial entrepreneur and a corporate turnaround king. But it hints at the odds that individuals must overcome when they choose the entrepreneur's path.

Mr Wong himself had his fair share of hardships during his entrepreneurial journey. A chemical engineer by training, he started his first company offering engineering services to the oil and gas sectors in the 1970s. With $30,000 pooled between himself and three other partners, he set off for Indonesia, rather than start out in Singapore first 'because there was no market for me'.

'I couldn't afford to stay in a hotel so I rented a room with no aircon and no fan,' he added. 'And every night, I had to negotiate the mosquitoes but that was not a problem since I had plenty of practice as a rubber tapper when I was young.

'The challenge was huge and the door narrow. I knew there was a big market with Pertamina and very little competition. But even then, Pertamina was a huge organisation with over 100,000 staff. I had six months to size up which of those 100,000 staff was the decision maker. This is where EQ is important.'

According to Mr Wong, he made a breakthrough only when he was down to his last few hundred dollars. 'Thereafter, the rest was history and I made my first S$1 million there.'

The man went on to start new firms in trading, property and construction and is also one of the key Singaporean players in the set up of Myanmar Airlines International, subsequently taken over by the state government. He then spent what he calls the 'second half' of his career turning around loss-making listed companies, including Sunshine Allied, QAF, EasyCall and Boustead, thereby earning himself a reputation as the turnaround ace.

At QAF, for instance, he turned its Gardenia business from a $8 million bakery to a $200 million brand with leading market share in Singapore and Malaysia in seven years. More recently, at Boustead, the engineering firm has been posting record revenue and profit, hitting $517 million in revenue in FY2009, from $64 million in 1996 when Mr Wong first joined the firm.

'Although it may sound like I experienced only success, much of what you see was built on failures in some businesses which then gave me the necessary insight and taught me valuable lessons which were applied to my later businesses,' he said.

Among the key ingredients critical for becoming a successful entrepreneur is the possession of a set of skills, said Mr Wong. Because with skills relevant to the business type, one can increase the chances of success, even without money. And if one fails, there's always those skills to fall back on if one chooses to go back to being an employee.

A keynote speaker at next Friday's Bluesky Festival, Mr Wong will be sharing his experiences as an entrepreneur and manager. Although he finds the entrepreneurial spirit in Singapore growing, it is still lagging behind that in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

'If you look at those markets, they differ from Singapore in one key aspect: there are hardly any government-linked companies competing against private sector,' he said. 'This key difference means that for the past few decades, MNCs and GLCs have been tasked with driving the economies in Singapore. The market in Singapore was not as conducive as that of Hong Kong and Taiwan in building entrepreneurial spirit.

'In addition, the most critical factor in the entrepreneurial spirit is risk reward ratio, which is clearly low in comparison with Hong Kong and Taiwan. Who wants to be an entrepreneur if you, as a young and highly qualified graduate, can achieve wealth without taking any risk of your own money by working for the government? The government's policy of paying civil servants well has a negative impact on entrepreneurial spirit.'

He is of the view that Singapore will never be able to reach the same level of entrepreneurial spirit as that of Hong Kong or Taiwan, unless it restructures the reward system for risk takers. 'But then again, is their society better than ours, especially when you take into account the social order and justice, social harmony, etc?' he asked rhetorically.

The BlueSky Festival is an annual event organised by the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE) and supported by SPRING Singapore. It is a platform for entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and share experiences. Mr Wong's speech will focus on building and re-inventing one's business model to tap on growth opportunities. For more information, go to www.blueskyfestival2009.sg.

Sun, Jul 05, 2009
The Business Times

House Hunting

The restaurant's lease is signed. We are now house hunting. Unlike in Singapore where kids can attend good schools if they make the grade, here in the US it is all about school districts. The only alternative here is an expensive private school.

Belonging to a good school district isn't enough, each school has its boundaries. There are bad schools in good school districts. We had to make sure that the houses we like are in the school zones we like.

So why doesn't everyone just stay in a good school district? Because it's freakin' expensive.

I was going to be a little extravagant but reconsidered after Tessi's (my broker) advice. We are still buying in a good school zone, just getting something modest. This will allow me to have more cash for business development.

"I can buy you a nice house now, or several nice houses in the future." That was what I told Jen.

I used a mortgage calculator to calculate what I can afford based on a 15-year loan. I plugged less than half our income into the calculator.

Hopefully, we can pay it off in 5 years.

Addendum - Virgin Territory & The Absence Of A Soul

Haha! I cracked up when I read Matt's comments on FB. Reread the part on bastardized food and realized that I sounded pretty harsh.

Actually, I love bastardized sushi rolls. My favorite is the Volcano Roll. They have them in Japan, but they are considered more a novelty.

In 2001, I brought a few Japanese friends out to eat in Oklahoma. They told me that it is not real sushi. I replied, "I know, but what can we expect in Oklahoma."

We still had a great time and we enjoyed the food for what it was.

Volcano Roll
Though I love the Volcano Roll, I will stop short of calling it Japanese. Just as curry pizzas are not "Italian", sushi rolls filled with craw fish and avocados are not Japanese. And yes, curry pizzas are delicious.

Butter Paneer Pizza
Because sushi and pizza have become commonplace, every culture has their own variations. My favorite place for Singapore sushi is Sushi Tei. They are a conveyor belt style restaurant.

Cuisines are constantly changing. For any cuisine to evolve, there has to be an influx of new cooking techniques and/or ingredients. I love trying new cuisine, fusion (bastardized) or traditional.

What is fusion? Is fusion just slapping some teriyaki sauce on a steak? Or is fusion mastering the different techniques and intricacies of different cuisines to create something new and amazing?

I lean towards the latter.

Again, I do not have anything against multicultural foods, just how it is classified.

Virgin Territory & The Absence Of A Soul

Today is forever etched in my mind.

Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson passed away today. Today, Gen X lost 2 icons. BUT that is not why today is special.

Today, we signed the lease for my restaurant. This is my virgin foray into the restaurant business. I am excited.

Though this is not the kind of cuisine I want to pander, it is a start. Being a newb, I have partnered a few people with a combined experience of more than 100 years. They have no management roles, just advisory.

Many immigrants to USA get into the restaurant business because they don't know how to do anything else. They sell bastardized food that passes off as ethic cuisine. Their only goal is the gold.

It is true that cuisine evolves. But when the soul of a cuisine is absent, can it still be classified as such? Does dressing an Irish in Chinese clothing make him Chinese?

Is teriyaki brisket still Texas BBQ even if you smoke it in a pit for 12 hours? So why are all those Tex-Mex rolls called Japanese just because they are wrapped in rice and seaweed?

As a business, I will sell what people want to eat. As a foodie, I will try to introduce new culinary experiences. In time, maybe expand the palates of my customers?

No matter what my product, my commitment is to quality!

*Addendum


Beat It - Michael Jackson