This restaurant was my very first stop in the city of Austin, arriving straight there from the airport, guided and urged by my local brother and his wife (Zach and Emily), and joined by my mother (Mother). He, among other Texans, transplants and locals alike, had sung the praises of this simple diner. My goal, as always, was to see if it lived up to its hype, judged solely on the basis of its onion rings.
Here is a review of Hut's Hamburgers in Austin, Texas.
Presentation and Appearance: 4.5/5
Our order of onion rings for the table arrives in a red plastic basket, lined with plain, white paper. The simple and standard plating style fits in with the restaurant's aesthetic, an island of old in the sea of new. Its lack of pretension bodes well.
The onion rings themselves are obviously impressive. They are both tall and thick, possibly hinting of a meaty onion interior within, coupled with a substantial breading. Unique for onion rings of this size, they are clearly breaded, and not battered. The batter itself is interesting, with the banner of clumpy breading broken up by darker spots, indicating where whole peppercorns have made it into the batter. The integration of non-grounded spices directly into the batter is a new one for me, and an exciting prospect.
Though the appearance was generally good, there were a handful of misses and gaps in the breading, which seemed almost on the verge of peeling and cracking, like the shell of some hideously delicious onion based prehistoric creature.
Taste: 1.5/5
For all the might of the robust appearance of these onion rings, the taste largely fails to deliver. The breading is crispy, but largely flavorless. The only hint at flavor in the breading comes from the whole peppercorns embedded in the batter, which does deliver a nice peppery bite. Unfortunately, as the pepper is not evenly distributed and flavored throughout the whole ring, this leaves the rest severely lacking.
The onion delivers slightly more flavor than the batter, but it's woefully apparent that the onion is undercooked. There's hardly a hint of onion grease or a juicy runoff, which is essential to letting the hidden flavor of the onion come out in an onion ring. There's a hint of sweetness, but it's not enough to make up for the deficiencies in the rest of the ensemble.
Texture: 3/5
These onion rings are both thick and massive, an impressive feat considering the use of breading in lieu of the traditional battering that accompanies rings of this size and scope. The breading takes on an almost cake-like quality, and is surprisingly smooth and light under the initial layer of hardened crumbs. The thickness of the batter was accompanied by a stellar structure, with no signs of slippage, and only minor shedding when subjected to the immense pressure of my hands trying to see if it would shed.
As noted above, the onions were underdone. This resulted in an "just barely out of the ground" level of rawness, which, in addition to failing to deliver on taste, makes for an odd and unappealing texture in the onion.
Value: 3.5/5
For $6.50, you can get a large enough serving of onion rings to satisfy four people, no doubt largely due to the gargantuan size of the onion rings themselves, in addition to the reasonably large quantity in the basket. The failures of quality, however, most obviously seen in the almost complete lack of taste, lowers their value considerably. When it comes to onion rings, Hut's Hamburgers might be more bark than bite.
Total: 12.5/20
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