Lee M.
Yelp
Finding new food adventures in far S. Austin can be a bit like challenging of trying to find the Northwest Passage. O.K., I am being dramatic here, but honestly - trailers and restaurants in the '48 can tease you with their siren's song, but then disappear faster than a sinking ship.
My journey to find Las Abuelas started about 3 months back; excited to find them on the Yelp map in my 'hood AND confirmed with mouthwatering pics - I was ready to stake my claim (and boomarked them immediately)!
Well, last month, my SNL (and her kids) beat me to it. Drat!! They came. They saw. They conquered. They took pics. She reviewed it on Yelp. She confirmed it. This literally IS the 'New World' of chicken sandwiches.
Fast forward to 2 weeks ago: my son Grant and I finally made the journey to Las Abuelas and our first encounter went like this;
Me 'Hi, I'm Lee, this is my (hungry) son Grant.'
Chef Matt 'Hi, I'm Matt. I'm from the CIA'.
Me 'Um, Ok.. (looking perplexed, slowly backs away). Nice to meet you, um...we gotta go....'
Well, what he quickly clarified was CIA = the Culinary Institutue of America. The one that offers degreed prorgams from Culinary Arts to Hospitality Management. Sooo.....this is a trained, and very experienced chef slinging chicken sandwiches on SOMA = I'm IN! Buuuut, I digress...so let's talk food.
The Camote Fries (we had as a starter) were finger licking good fries - topped with a light Mexican coke & lime glaze, a squeeze of chipotle mayo, a sprinkling of cotija cheese, a few toasted pumpkin seeds, with a few chopped green onions. Simply a great combination without being overly 'saucey'.
The Espicy is a ridiculously good mixture of spicy (from Árbol-garlic oil, chiplote mayo, creamy jalapeño salsa) and crispy (1 large, juicy chicken breast) with a touch of cool/crunchy (pickled cabbage slaw + cilantro & onion) - all amply contained in one of Martin's Potato Rolls (yep, its a bun, people). It is my new fave chicken sandwich.
As an extra bonus, I REALLY Matt's healthy choices for his patrons 1.) antibiotic free chicken, plus 2.) Martin's Famous Rolls is a bun that contains NO high fructose corn syrup, nor artif. dyes, nor trans fats, nor GMOs. This is good stuff!
In the end, I can't wait to go back, take our girls, and explore more of this great menu that Las Abuelas. You should discover it too - before he disappears into the far away land of brick & mortar.