On this week's episode of "What's Eric Eating," restaurateur Sharon Haynes and chef Mallory Buford join CultureMap food editor to discuss Fajitas A Go Go, their to-go and delivery restaurant. The conversation begins with both partners recalling their starts in the restaurant business; after being connected by Washington, D.C. restaurateur Jeff Black, the trio opened Fajitas A Go Go in 2016.
Two things help set Fajitas A Go Go's fajitas apart from some other restaurants. First, the meat is cooked on a mesquite grill (as opposed to a flat top griddle), and the restaurant uses sirloin flap steak that's seasoned with salt and pepper instead of the traditional outside skirt that's marinated prior to cooking. Sandler asks Buford to explain the reasons for that choice.
"We wanted to go back to the roots of what fajitas were: meat cooked over a wood grill. Skirt steak, we understand why it was originally used, but to make it palatable you have to use marinades or tenderizers," Buford says. "We didn't want to do that. We knew that there are better cuts of meat out there that taste like steak. That's what we use flap meat. We think it tastes more like beef instead of pineapple or soy sauce."
Prior to the interview, Felice Sloan of Swanky Maven joins Sandler to discuss the news of the week. Their topics include: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to reduce restaurants to 50-percent capacity and close bars statewide; changes in regulations that allow restaurants to sell pre-mixed cocktails to-go; and Common Bond's plans to open a second location of its drive-thru "On The Go" concept.
In the restaurants of the week segment, Sloan and Sandler discuss their recent meals at Chick Houz, chef Roberto Castre's recently opened restaurant devoted to Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken, and Proper Rose Garden, a tea house and cafe in Katy with an elegant atmosphere.
---
Subscribe to "What's Eric Eating" on Apple podcasts, Google Play, or Spotify. Listen to it Sunday at 1 pm on ESPN 97.5.
Proper Rose Garden is the restaurant of the week.
