WHO is The Limited Palate Gourmet???

Owen: Hi, I'm Owen and I just turned eleven.

Dad: And I'm Dad.

Owen: My family and I moved to Austin from Dallas last year. I was not very happy.

Dad: Like any kid, Owen struggled with the move. He missed his friends, his house, his school, his soccer team, etc. At the end of the day he missed familiarity. And he missed his favorite restaurants.

Owen: Yeah, no Scotty Ps, no Fifth Street Pizza, no Italian Villa. What is up with Austin?

Dad: Austin is a unique town and you have to be able to embrace the independent spirit and time-honored traditions of mom and pop restaurants with character (and often, attitude).

Owen: I like hamburgers, pizza, chicken, french fries, and milkshakes.

Dad: Unlike the rest of the family including Owen's older brother Malachi, Owen is NOT adventurous when it comes to food. In fact, he's downright picky. Owen is, The Limited Palate Gourmet.

Owen: Yeah, so????

Dad: To help Owen find ways of embracing his new home we decided that we would eat our way through Austin. We'd start with a specific food and find the best, non-chain establishments for those foods. We decided to start with...

Owen: Did I mention I like burgers? And did I mention that I am hungry... ALL THE TIME.

Dad: Burgers it is. We thought that we would make this a family endeavor. Each week for the past few months, we have chosen a traditional burger stand throughout the Austin area to visit. We rate the restaurant on a number of factors including burger taste, customer service, side items, burger toppings...

Owen: and Burger SIZE!

Dad: Yes Owen, burger size. Plus restaurant vibe, cleanliness, etc.

Owen: Wow, we've eaten a lot of burgers. I am ready for another one. Where are we going this week? How about that new mini-burger place Moo Moos?

Dad: The idea here is demonstrate to Owen that "new" doesn't mean good or bad. "Old" doesn't mean good or bad. Just because a restaurant is part of a chain doesn't mean it is perfect nor does it mean it is awful. Owen has learned that good food and bad service do not mix well. And that great vibe and bad food don't mix well. Owen has helped us all decide what makes a great burger joint and he has learned that you have to be open minded to the entire experience if you want to be a respected food critic.

Owen: I don't like dirty restaurants and employees who act like they don't want to serve us.

Dad: We also took this opportunity to work with Owen to embrace his new home town. And he has. If nothing else, he has found a few great burgers restaurants that he can call his new favorites. He also knows the streets of Austin pretty well; better than his mom at least.

Mom: That's not funny. True, but not funny.

Owen: Mom gets lost backing out of the driveway.

Malachi: Mom uses the GPS to get from the kitchen to the bedroom.

Dad: That's Malachi, Owen's 14 year old brother. Malachi has an adventurous appetite and a witty demeanor. I am sure that we will hear plenty from him as we go through this exercise.

Owen: Doesn't he have anything better to do?

Dad: Lastly, this has been a statistics math lesson for Owen. We rate all of the individual elements and then create averages and compare. Over the next couple of weeks, Owen will share those results with you and tell you all about his favorites.

Owen: And I will tell you all about the bad ones too.

Malachi: Can we do sushi next?? I am REALLY tired of burgers.