A Simple Lunch (Or Dinner)

A delicious pizza muffin! (pre-oven)

Sometimes, you just want to eat simple. Simple food, simple ingredients, yet satisfying all the same. For those who have never experienced one, a pizza muffin can be all those things. Easy and cheap to make, I had this for lunch today and it hit the spot. Recipe follows:

1 whole wheat english muffin
2 spoonfuls of pizza sauce
Shredded mozzarella cheese
2 fresh basil leafs

Set your oven to broil, and place the english muffin under the broiler until toasted and crispy. Take the muffins out, layer each half with a spoonful of pizza sauce, cheese, and a fresh basil leaf. Put back under the broiler until cheese is melted and just beginning to brown. Take muffins out of the oven and enjoy!

Pizza muffin post-oven

Aw Shucks, Another Review?

Being a recent college graduate in a recession means one thing - well, it means several actually, but chief among them is the need to find affordable places to eat - ones that don't contain lovable cartoon character mascots or multi-million dollar advertising budgets. It's been a mission of mine since I moved to Dallas - to be the most knowledgeable person in the city about how one can eat well on a budget. It's in that spirit that my girlfriend and I decided to check out the Aw Shucks Oyster Bar on Greenville Avenue.

On the outside - the inside too, for that matter, the place doesn't look like much. Growing up near the coast in Massachusetts, it looks like any small-time beach side restaurant you might find there - I was almost surprised to find I was still in Dallas. As you walk in, you're greeted not by a cheerful host, but a cash register. The premise behind Aw Shucks is that you eat on the honor system - order at the bar, pick up food when your name is called, eat, and pay on your way out. (Just make sure you remember to tell the cashier about all those frozen margaritas you may have ordered at the bar.)

The food itself is good - for what it is. Just about everything is fried, under $10, and it's the only place I know where you can get a dozen raw oysters for $9.95. I decided to be boring (for me) and ordered the Fish Tacos (with the ubiquitous frozen margarita). My girlfriend and I sat down on one of the many outdoor wooden tables. The seating area was full with other diners much like ourselves - young, almost broke, yet looking for some time away from the house.

When the food was ready, we were greeted with 2 circular metal plates - resembling small pizza trays. At first glance, I was disappointed. The "tacos" were 3 small flour tortillas containing measly strips of blackened Tilapia, and nothing else. Once I filled them with rice, fresh avocado and spicy slaw, however, (and a few more sips of margarita) I found them quite enjoyable. While I've certainly enjoyed better fish tacos in my day, for 7.95 these were hard to beat.

By the end of the meal, my girlfriend and I left Aw Shucks feeling full, satisfied, and lacking any of the regret that usually follows dining at a much pricier venue. Aw Shucks may not be that trendy sports car you've always wanted - it's more like the beat up old Honda you said you'd drive until it died - only it never did.