Peachy the Magazine September October 2015 | Page 65

AUSTIN Tamale Addiction 1418 Barton Springs Road 512.278.1775 Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ 7612 Brodie Lane 512.221.4248 Valentina’s “pitmaster,” Miguel Vidal, has brought together the two basic food groups near and dear to any Texan’s heart, Tex Mex and BBQ. He’s also smoking some of the best damn brisket you can get in Austin outside of the usual suspects (Franklin’s BBQ, La Barbecue and John Mueller Meat Company). Valentina’s offers brisket, pulled pork and pulled chicken as either tacos (with different garnishes and salsas) or as BBQ sandwiches. Their flour tortillas are killer, and the brisket taco is my favorite. It’s just a flour tortilla, chopped smoky brisket and a small dousing of simple and slightly spicy red salsa fresca. That’s it, and it is incredible. All of the tamales are pretty good, but my favorites are the ones wrapped in banana leaves. The Chiapaneco is my number one; the masa is delicate, just a little crumbly and intensely corny (in a good way). It’s full of pulled chicken thigh meat slathered in a bitter, exotic and cocoa-y mole sauce, and every other bite has either a little bit of prune, green olive or fried plantain. The banana leaf imparts a fruity aromatic smell and flavor to the corn masa. SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2015 63