I celebrated my 33rd birthday last week and the
crew from work wanted to take me out to lunch to get a Reuben. I said thanks,
but no thanks. I had a trip to the Hoppy Monk in San Antonio coming up that
weekend and I couldn’t be distracted by another Reuben. We had some great Mexican that day instead.
The Hoppy Monk in El Paso was featured on Episode XL and I
often cite it as one of the best Reubens I’ve had. The location in San Antonio
has a Reuben de Lengua, which had been on my radar. It was time to check it out
and let the world know what happens when you put beef tongue and sauerkraut
together.
REUBEN DE LENGUA
“ten-day cured wagyu beef tongue + muenster + sauerkraut + russian
sauce + marbled rye”
Appearance – (4.6/5.0)
Lovely stacking. The
marbled rye looks like a cut out cross section of a bullseye. The sauerkraut
gives a great visual contrast and the bottom piece has the Russian dressing
seeping out. They may have forgotten the
dressing on the top piece. You can also see the salt crystals on the lengua
meat and the tiny bits of moisture it pulls out. The fries are generously
seasoned with fresh herbs that put some green on the plate. A flimsy sword/toothpick keeps it all
together but overall, a great looking dish.
Quality of
Ingredients – (4.7/5.0)
This one was encroaching on RINO territory (Reuben in name
only), by swapping out the corned beef and Swiss cheese, but still had the
sauerkraut, marbled rye, and Russian dressing to restore credibility.
Great ingredients and an even better job of marketing them
to the customer. The menu and website direct lots of attention to all of the
local suppliers and I think that makes the food taste better. They have the placebo effect working for them
here. When you take a bite, you say to yourself,
“Oh yeah, this tastes like it came from that farm I drove by last week in the
Hill Country.” They also have an amazing
house made ketchup. Remember, we are in Whataburger country here, so anything
that can compete with Whataburger Ketchup and Whataburger Spicy Ketchup has got
to be pretty amazing.
This place talks the talk and walks the walk.
Price – (4.0/5.0)
$11. So this is not cheap, especially for South Texas, but I
think the dish as a whole is a good value. For one thing, you know you are paying
for the local ingredients. Another is
that they are not shy about bringing you more of the ketchup when you ask. You
also know you are paying for the ambiance. There is an awesome beer tap
fountain outside and the inside is a long room with community tables so it has
the feel of a European beer hall.
Je Ne Sais Quoi
– (4.4/5.0)
Anything that has lengua is going to have a high JNSQ score.
I just like this place. I came here a few months back for drinks with friends
and that is when I discovered their special Reuben. That was a late night stop
with the guys drinking beers and this time I was with my son and two nephews
right when they opened early in the day. This place is versatile. The owners
are from El Paso, so they have that going for them too.
Taste – (8.0/10.0)
What happened?! It was too salty for my taste. This might be
by design, a marketing trick as old as time.
What do you need with a salty snack? Something to wash it down. The
drink menu here is 20 pages long.
I was a fat kid growing up and will be a fat kid for life. I
have to watch what I eat (and drink). I
know I can only consume so many calories at a time and I prefer to eat my
calories. I realize that this is a microbrew and their whole thing is the beer,
I get it. I also grew up in a house where my mother was scared of only three
things: scorpions, garlic, and salt. It’s weird. My mom uses very little salt
when she cooks and no garlic. So my tolerance for salt is lower than others.
What I wanted to do was order a nice local beer, rinse the lengua in the beer
to remove the excess salt, then reconstruct the Reuben. I think that would have
been awesome. The lengua itself was great and prepared really well. It is a
tough cut of meat and usually requires a slow cooker or a pressure cooker to
really break it down.
Overall – (25.7/30.0)
Would I order it again? No.
I had some of my wife’s burger and it was amazing (Burger blogs are a
dime a dozen, you can find a write up there); I am getting that next time. Or maybe the next time I go I’ll drink my
calories and get a flight of Texas beer. Either way, I can’t wait to go back.
