Waterloo Ice House

Serving great food since the hippies showed up

Website: www.waterlooicehouse.com

Not sure how weird they're keeping Austin, but I can testify the Waterloo Ice House is keeping Austin fed with good eats. Rumor has it they've been making a killer hamburger for the last 30 years, and from what I've seen, it's true. Haven't actually tasted one, since I'm turning over a new leaf and then eating it. This time I had the salad - The Waterloo Salad with grilled chicken, bacon, blue cheese crumbles, toasted pecans, granny smith apples on house mix greens with homemade apple cider vinaigrette. It made for a pretty light dinner, so I didn't waddle out like a python looking for a place to sleep off the goat. In fact, I felt pretty good, which is saying something after slaving away in the office during my weekly appointment with commerce.

OK, so technically, pythons can't waddle since it requires legs to "walk with short steps, swaying or rocking from side to side" but I was speaking of pre-Adamic snakes, before the curse that reduced them to crawling on their belly and eating dust and striking at heels and getting their heads crushed. Those old-timey snakes could waddle like anything, believe me! Think I'm kidding? Think again.

As you can see from the sign I snapped with my trusty Rokr, the 38th Street location resonates with the philosphy of rush hour date night. And, since it's right next door to The Woman's office, what could be handier? We did a little shopping at Toy Joy, which is definitely doing its part to keep Austin weird and then zipped over to Waterloo for some grinds and some jams. The Lamar and 38th Street locations have live music. Will Dunlap holds down a regular spot on Tue night rush hour. We made the mistake of getting there before 6pm, which means we waited for half an hour before the music started. (I'm telling you, there should be a rule about starting when the sign says you're going to start.) As a result, we only heard 5 or 6 songs before we dug out at 7pm. Next time we'll do a little more shopping first.

The Slaughter Lane location has a happening playground out back by the outdoor seating, which is great for the grandkid action. Last time we went there I had the Ranch House Chicken (Grilled chicken breast topped with bacon, mushrooms, grilled onion, poblano peppers and jack cheese, and served with black beans and rice.) Comes with a salad, so it's a great pick if you're watching the high-glycemic carbs - just skip the rice. As you would expect from a place called Ice House, they have a great selection of beers. Probably have good wine, too, but what do I know about wine? But one of these days, I might cheat and try one of those burgers. I wonder if they have whole wheat buns. Maybe I can bring my own. Shed's a whole new light on BYOB, don't it?