Goodbye to the paneer

Six months on the job at UT and I still go to the Dobie Mall for lunch pretty much every day.  I like the cheap, I like the walk there and back, but most of all I like the illusion that I won’t know what I’m having until I walk in the door.

“Illusion,” because in fact there are really only a few places there I’ll eat, and a specific meal at each.  Lasagna and salad from Niki’s on the colder days, though their pizza is good too – I’ve come to realize over the years it’s closer to my beloved Eastern Seaboard paper crust than anything else available in Austin.  The pastor at the Burrito Factory is worthy of Taco Loco at Mission and 29th, and that’s high praise indeed.  Palak paneer and lamb curry at Student Biryani make an excellent mini-feast on days when the Clay Pit is out of reach.  And if I can’t think of anything else, the gyros and fries at Gyro King make a serviceable Plan B, as long as there’s the requisite hillock of mayo and lake of ketchup on the side.

(I’ll probably never eat at Oona’s again.  They used to be one of my faves but a couple of truly abysmal customer-service experiences killed that.  That and they just don’t give enough food for a person of my size.)

RIP

So it was with some dismay I found earlier this week that one of my standbys has to be crossed off the list.  Student Biryani has gone out of business, so abruptly that the “Full Combo” placard still sits on the display counters and cans of Pepsi crowd into the glass cooler.  

I guess it’s not really a surprise, as I was almost always the only customer at the register.  I’d hoped that was because I usually got there after the lunch rush but a nagging feeling said not; the nice man and his equally nice wife were always just a little too anxious to see me walking up.  On occasions when I kept going, preferring a little faux-Italian or Greek prepared by Koreans, they looked so crestfallen I felt awful.

One of their neighbors confirmed it was no vacation they’d left suddenly for.  “They hadn’t paid their rent in three months,” he said sadly.  It’s a cutthroat business, the Dobie Food Court, and it’s claimed another victim.

Dobie Mall food court

I wish the Biryani folks well on their just-begun sojourn into The Land of Failed-Business Crushing Debt; I never learned their names.  I don’t know the name of the guys at Niki’s either, though they feel like old friends by now. I should learn them while I have the chance.