Ultimate Meat Boss, Lahmbiajin from Usta Kababgy and more (Photo: John Anderson)
Welcome to The Strip Club, our look at Austin's hottest strip malls. Where else can you get your eyebrows shaved while you send money? Stuff your new Mouse Grill with halal Mexican food? Watch cool dictators while munching on hot pupusas.
I'd been warned that Northgate Shopping Centre was a bit seedy; a friend goes there to buy clothes for her costume job but avoids going alone. As I pulled into the car park, I saw exactly what she meant: the mall sign was half-lined with closed-down stores, a few cars parked sideways, and in front of Action Pawn, two down-and-out men were loitering behind an emergency vehicle with its lights on.
But quirks aside, this place has exactly what I'm looking for: an environment where immigrant-owned businesses support a burgeoning immigrant community and where food is usually good and reasonably priced.
Ousta Kababji, which roughly translates to “boss of meat,” is a Turkish-style restaurant, but possibly somewhere in the Levant. I don't know where it is exactly because the friendly Algerian waitress won't tell me anything about the owner when I ask her. I try to charm her with my broken French, but to no avail.
But she lets slip that the other two people working her shift are Cuban and Mexican, which makes sense: There's an ice cream counter next to the register, with flavors listed in Spanish, and the menu features Austin's only halal Mexican selection.
The spicy michelada is a Victorina family secret
Giving up on that section, I opted for the more adventurous Lamb Biajín, or “meat with dough,” which has less bread than the others and looks more like a soft hamburger pizza, but that doesn't matter, because this is Turkish delight with well-seasoned ground beef topped with parsley, red onion and thin, long slices of pickled cucumber.
Prepared for a meat dish to commandeer, I dove into the “1 pound mix,” a platter of grilled kofta, lamb tikka, and chicken tikka served on half a flatbread with grilled tomatoes and onions. It was a Middle Eastern monster, and paired extremely well with an impressive yet economical vegetable platter of four falafels, hummus, baba ganoush, dolma, roasted cauliflower, and salad on a single flatbread. The crispy falafel balls and baba ganoush were especially delicious.
The entire meal is accompanied by three dipping sauces: garlicky yogurt, tahini, and a green sauce that looks and tastes very similar to Tacodeli's verde salsa, which, when paired with the bossy meat, evokes al pastor's Lebanese immigrant origins.
I love this place, but the drinks situation leaves something to be desired: there's no alcohol on the menu (obviously), and the water comes in small, flimsy plastic bottles that are hard to open and probably toxic. The good thing is that there are free self-serve tea bags (Earl Grey, but no mint?) and a kettle.
For dessert we had the Ma'amour date cookies, described as fig newtons of sand, an oasis in the midst of a wonderful baklava drizzled with honey. Opa!
At the entrance to Dollar Fiesta next door (“Over 10,000 Items”), I'm greeted by a small partitioned area with a barber's chair and a sign that reads “Diva Brows by Sita.” Threaded eyebrows ($10) will have to wait for another day, because this store is a classic bargain junk shop that sells enough plastic to cover the Gulf of Mexico, has a huge selection of children's birthday party supplies at reasonable prices, and also offers a wire transfer service.
Pupuseria Usuluteca serves up pupusas for the masses
Speaking of party supplies, you need drinks, and Victorina's House delivers. Her micheladas are loaded with spicy salt. With an emphasis on football swagger, well-dressed waitresses pamper the male clientele. The bar veers into “restaurant” territory with its selection of typical bar food, but it's the full selection of tequilas and mezcals that tops off the passable aguachiles I devour at the bar. This place is a great hidden gem, where no one seems to speak English and everyone is wondering what the hell I'm doing here. Golazo!
SPORTSKINGDOM PLUS advertises everything from DVDs and scales to belts and colognes, but what really catches my eye is a glass case crammed with cubic zirconia grills. I ask how the grills work, and a helpful woman explains that they come with a water-based mold that fits the shape of my teeth. One of the grills is made of brass, has fangs, and is reasonably priced, but I decide that ingesting a petrochemical product probably isn't worth the joke that follows, and instead opt for a Sanford & Son ballcap with the face of the Red Fox sewn on it and the words “YOU BIG DUMMY” inscribed on it. Lamont!
SPORTSKINGDOM PLUS hat (Photo: Taylor Holland)
After stopping by La Michoacana Meat Market for a handful of mole poblano fresco and gloria and a peek at the tempting caldo de res on the taqueria counter, I cross the parking lot to see if the flagship El Tacorido serves up an excellent taco de hongos. I often eat at the Riverside location, which is to die for when paired with the addictive molcajete salsa. ¿Tiene? No.
Still hungry, I took a seat at Pupuseria Usurteca beneath a portrait of Salvadoran President Najib Bukele, who once called himself “the coolest dictator in the world.” President Bukele, of Palestinian-Greek Orthodox descent, became famous for clearing his country of gangs at the expense of thousands of unjustly imprisoned civilians. But Salvadorans are reportedly happier now that they can safely go out for pupusas at night. The pupusas come in three varieties: bean and cheese, chicharron, and loroco cheese (a vine native to El Salvador that produces edible flowers). Served with salsa and vinegary coleslaw, the pupusas are best served with a hearty tamal de pollo, a beautiful elderly bird rivaled only by Oaxacan grandmas.
The mojarra frita is a whole fish advertised as “crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside,” but in reality it was crispy on the outside and inside, meatless and almost inedible. The empanadas de plátano are a dessert of mixed plantains and leche porada that could do without the rich, powdery filling. And the drinks situation isn't any better: the melon agua fresca is made from a mix, has no alcohol, and the water is again bottled, which makes you suspect there may be an issue with the water quality at Northgate Shopping Center.
Like she said, it may be a little sketchy, but then so is P. Terry's at Sixth and Congress Streets, so don't let that put you off.
Northgate Shopping Center
9300 North Lamar
