Ribs aplenty at Austin's Ribs aplenty at Austin's (June 16, 2000)

By Jim Harrington

Diners dig into meaty fare at a well-known Mountain View barbecue.

@vcredit:Margaret Kaye

Has anyone looked at the calendar lately? I'm not sure how this happened, but summer is less than a week away. That said, there's nothing better to get one into the summer swing of things than a good barbecue. Since none of you invited me over for dogs on the grill, I decided to start my summer at one of the Peninsula's best purveyors of barbecue foods: Austin's in Mountain View.

Austin's is a friendly place where barbecue is served all year long, rain or shine. For big slabs of baby back, St. Louis and beef back ribs, this restaurant is hard to beat.

The warm decor is a mixture of dark woods and western decorations. Top 40 country tunes are played at a moderate volume and the service is cordial and helpful. The menu sticks to cowboy and Southern favorites like sausage, catfish, burgers and ribs, but there is also a nice salad menu, which appears in a section titled "Field of Greens."

Start with a cool Samuel Adams and move toward the "Trail Starters" list. You'll need to order an appetizer because the corn muffins that are automatically delivered to the table are bland and dry.

The appetizers include buffalo wings ($5.75) that are meaty and flavorful, though they could stand to be cooked a little longer and the sauce is a bit vinegary. Definitely go with the hot sauce over the mild option. The potato skins ($5.75) are covered with chopped beef brisket, three types of cheese, sour cream, guacamole and salsa. The Hill Country sampler ($6.25) is a great way to try a variety of offerings. The moderately sized sampler contains fantastic pulled pork, Andouille sausage and braised cabbage.

For green fans, try the spinach salad ($7.75 full; $4.50 half), which contains a mixture of red onions, mushrooms, hard-boiled egg, croutons and bacon vinaigrette. Add smoked chicken for about $2 more.

At lunch, stick with sandwiches and burgers. The sandwich list is varied, featuring Southern-fried catfish ($8.25), a tall club ($7.75), smoked beef brisket ($7.25), and smoked chicken cheese steak ($7.50). The marinated grilled chicken breast sandwich ($7.75) is quite good, although a bit too much tomato pecan salsa tops the tender breast meat.

The burgers, all of which are excellent, consist of a thick, half-pound hand mash of properly cooked Angus beef. Go with the regular cheeseburger ($6.75), or get more adventurous with the Mexicali burger ($7.75), which is topped with green chili, guacamole, salsa, and jack cheese. The bacon burger with smoked gouda ($7.75) is a classic.

Austin's features Southern staples such as smoked meatloaf ($8.25), chicken-fried steak ($8.50), and catfish ($10.95), as well as a nice selection of steaks (ranging from an 11-ounce rib eye for $14.95 to a 16-ounce filet mignon for $26.95).

If I'm especially hungry, I'll go straight to "The Smokehouse" at Austin's. All the meats are seasoned with what the restaurant calls "Texas Dust," a mixture of cayenne, seasoned salt and onion that changes the color of the flesh to pink. The meat is then slowly cooked at a temperature of 165 degrees, which keeps all the natural flavors and juices from seeping out.

The baby back ribs ($16.95 full slab) are tender and delicious and justifiably popular. I'm a fan of the beef back ribs ($10.95). Six ribs from the prime rib area are smoked, sauced and charbroiled. It's great beef but messy to eat. Bibs are recommended.

The coarse-grain Andouille link sausage ($8.25) is worth ordering. My favorite dish is the lean, somewhat spicy pulled pork ($8.95). My problem is there's no way I can eat full orders of sausage, pulled pork and ribs. Luckily, Austin's has a plan. Try the sampler ($12.95-$14.95) and enjoy all three.

A few more trips to Austin's and I'll be in the summer swing of things in no time at all.

Austin's, 1616 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View. Phone (650) 969-9191. Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Fri., 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sat., noon to 11 p.m.; and Sun., noon to 9:30 p.m. Credit cards are accepted.