Sallie's Down-Home Cookin'

For some reason, most Austinites will opt to eat meals outside when given the choice. They'll routinely pass up a climate-controlled dining room for bulbous plastic lawn furniture, even during the blast furnace days of summer. At Sallie's Home Cookin' on the east side, you don't get the choice of venue, but you do get huge helpings of great home cooking. Sallie runs a tiny cinderblock kitchen with a one-table patio, but lack of seating doesn't seem to hamper business much. Even on the hottest days, dedicated customers wait inside their cars for food -- AC blasting all the while.

Our first tip on Sallie's came from a reliable source who only looked up from her styrofoam to-go plate long enough to comment "It's the best chicken in town." After tasting other selections from the menu, the same could be said for their catfish and smothered pork chops. The fish and chicken were fried perfectly, with tasty brown crust that crunches for days (though the chicken had a bit of a fishy taste from the shared fryer). A full order gets you half a fried chicken (four pieces) along with two vegetables and a roll, so be prepared for a serious meal or equally serious leftovers. The savory pork chops came in similar quantities -- two big chops swamped in gravy and onions. If you know a lumberjack that's feeling homesick for logging camp portions, send them to Sallie.

Elsewhere on the menu, you'll find a variety of burgers, fried seafood, and the usual soul food suspects, including pig's feet, chitlins, and fourteen different vegetables. Deep Southerners who grew up on "sweet tea" will want to try Sallie's Special Blend Iced Tea, which is thick with sugar. Three sips are guaranteed to trigger severe bouts of sugar shock -- this stuff makes Big Red taste like beef stock.

A sign on Sallie's order window flatly announces that "Your food is cooked when you order. It takes time to cook." -- which amounts to fair warning during the swelter season. Until it cools down a bit, call ahead (474-8186) or be prepared to wait a while. The chicken takes about 20 minutes to fry, so unless you have unwavering faith in your car's freon supply, use the phone beforehand. -- Pableaux Johnson