Last Friday some co-workers and I met a now-ex-coworker at a joint called Dot’s Place. It was the most fantastic hole in the wall I have been to yet in Austin. It’s way up north, hiding in a very large and hot shack behind the discount cinema, off of Howard Lane. It is soul food and if you don’t eat meat or at the very least fish, don’t even bother going. It’s $6.50 for a plate and that gets you ‘one meat and two vegetables’. If you’re not interested in pork in your vegetables, it’s best to ask before it lands on the plate. Drinks and gargantuan slices of pie and cobbler are extra. Friday is all you can eat catfish. It’s open for lunch from 11-2 and you will be standing in the good-natured cue to get served down the cafeteria style line. There was every kind of person imaginable at Dot’s and we all sat at long family-style tables covered with checkered oilcloths. My plate was enough food for about three meals and the catfish was excellent. It almost made me want to eat meat, looking at the homemade chicken and dumplings and fresh noodles and beef tips. Okra and tomatoes, collards greens, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, rice and broccoli casserole, green beans with ham, you get the picture. Even with its utterly limited vegetarian possibilities, the existence of this place makes me happy.
{ 2004 08 09 }