Where to eat what , When in Austin!
This article in Austin magazine about how Austin became a foodie town “http://www.atxman.com/how-austin-became-a-foodie-town” triggered my memories of eating out in Austin over the years. I relate to the story with similar progression. My memories of eating out in Austin got built from our very first visit to Austin when we were visiting the city to check it out before we move!
On our first visit, almost 15 years ago, we were taken by friends to Hudson on the Bend, calling it one of Austin’s interesting and best game food restaurant. It was and still is! (check out review: http://hotsweetspicyrecipes.com/hudsons-on-the-bend-a-review/)
After our visit to Austin, we loved it so much that we decided to call it home. Over the years we have been enjoying living in Austin and breathing its great outdoor life, hiking its many trails, watching the bats on congress avenue bridge, listening its music, kayaking or stand up paddling in its lakes, flying kites in Zilker park, appreciating its art and museums, touring the Capital, checking out the 6th street Halloween parades, enjoying its theater shows, chilling in its street festivals, book fairs and poetry recitations, walking in the Trail of Lights, touched by its weirdness, participating in its hot sauce and chili contests, eating in its many landmark authentic restaurants, local must eats, newly famous trailers, interesting eateries and more….
Austin is a city with personality, it is home to various people, personalities, attributes, eclectics, eccentrics, creative’s, artists, academics, intellectuals, high-tech entrepreneurs, technologists, celebrities, musicians, writers, runners, marathoners, bikers, be local-buy local crowd, barbeque lovers, health conscious, green thinkers,……. and a very cosmopolitan population. Hence when it comes to food, restaurants and entertainment, we get to enjoy the best of everything.
The food scene was always unique and eclectic, but over the years now Austin has become a foodie destination! With the Austin chefs carving their culinary profiles in popular TV shows of Food Network, along with the pop-culture explosion in social media, Austin started getting noticed for its interesting eateries. The food trailer culture popular in New York, California, Hawaii, and big cities across the county bulldozed into Austin a whole new dimension.
Food trucks, trailers and air streamers started cropping up around Down Town and South Congress offering new innovative cuisines and trailer food, caught on fast and became very popular. Even celebrity chefs and restaurants like Paul Qui of Uchi, Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbeque, Bryce Gilmore of Barley Swine, Gourdoughs and Torchy’s Tacos started from the trailer before they became popular brick and mortar happening restaurants!
Austin of course with its conscientious people involved in the farm-to-table, local grown, organic healthy food practices promoted the food culture further, which were initiated by Whole Foods grocery, Austin’s very own creation. Btw its another great place to grab a quick lunch or dinner too!
Like I said earlier in Austin you can find the best of everything……check out the reviews below of Austin’s popular restaurants you need to dine in if you haven’t yet!
I coined up a tag of Austin Must Eats on some of my Austin restaurant reviews and these are some of the restaurants in that category.
Breakfast at Magnolias: Magnolia Café on Lake Austin Blvd is considered an Austin landmark. It’s been there since 1979! Famous for its 24/7 open service and great food for good price, this restaurant appeals to every kind of crowd, the university kids, older Austinite’s, the artsy folk, the techs, teenagers, families with little ones….
Being a popular restaurant, there is some waiting time, but what better waiting time offers fresh strong coffee on the house while waiting. The coffee was a great start for the great breakfast ahead.
I would love to eat my breakfast anytime here (breakfast is served 24 hrs), but they also have soups salads, burgers, sandwiches, and tex- mex dinner options.
2304 Lake Austin Blvd.Austin, TX 78703
Check out their review: http://hotsweetspicyrecipes.com/magnolia-cafe/
Coffee Anytime at Mozart’s
Mozart’s Cafe is one of Austin’s famous landmarks. And on our list of must see’s & do’s in Austin, especially when we have out of town guests!
Mozart’s is not just a coffee shop, it’s a relaxing weekend afternoon get away, a comfortable and peaceful place to work in mornings with coffee, laptop with complimentary wi-fi, it’s a scenic and beautiful place to watch the sunset in Lake Austin, it’s a great place to chill after dinner for coffee and desert, it’s a fun place to be on Friday nights and weekend evenings with live music,…….it’s a happening place.
… the place is simply appealing with its stimulating and refreshing ambience with great outdoor and indoor seating. If you are an ‘Austinite’, you got to know Mozart’s!
The Coffee is fresh with strong aromatic flavor. The place boasts an in-house roaster with specialty and gourmet coffees. I have had all their warm beverages, their Bottomless Coffee, Espresso, Latte, Cappuccino, Mocha, Mozart’s Mocha, Cafe Au Lait, Hot Cocoa, Hot Tea and Steamers, and all are perfect. My kids especially love their Steamers and Hot Cocoa. Their cold drinks like Mochaccino’s, Frappes and Smoothies with the seasonal fruits are equally refreshing. Lastly the desserts here are delectable with our favorites being their carrot cake, brownies and cheese cakes. These are wonderfully decadent.
3825 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin, TX 78703
Check out their review: http://hotsweetspicyrecipes.com/mozarts-cafe-coffee-roasters-an-austin-landmark/
Fancy Dining: Fonda San Miguel
Fonda San Miguel is a perfect place for special evening out for its fine dining experience. Their website with its beautiful pictures, gives a sneak preview while showcasing the dining experience and ambience of the restaurant. Large verandas with hacienda style décor, rustic wood furniture, punched tin lantern light fixtures, Mexican pottery, pink and red sponged walls, discernible Mexican art are part of the ambience.
Their food is as delicious and perfect as their artful presentation.
Check out the review: http://hotsweetspicyrecipes.com/fonda-san-miguel-a-restaurant-review/
Fancy Dining with exotic game food: Hudson’s on the Bend
Venison, rattle snake, boar, elk, pheasant, quail, duck, lobster, fish, shrimp, lamb, pork and beef,…I am not just rattling the possible game food, but listing the menu of Hudson’s on the Bend! This restaurant is famous for game food in Austin, TX.
If you have the pleasure of eating there, you know why it’s famous. The food is perfect!
3509 Ranch Road 620 N, Austin, TX 78734
Check out the review : http://hotsweetspicyrecipes.com/hudsons-on-the-bend-a-review/
Old Austin Landmark -Burger grill & Soda fountain in pharmacy!! – Nau’s Enfield Pharmacy
I have been told that this is an Austin landmark, part of ‘Keep Austin Weird’ culture; a place like this does not exist anymore. Nau’s Enfield Pharmacy, is a soda fountain and diner at a Pharmacy, an anachronism by itself.
…the place had a quaint setting. There is a curved soda bar with bar stools, old wooden booths and some metal tables and chairs, all in the middle of a pharmacy! It has an old world feeling, a diner with a grill and bar, serving malt, milk shakes, ice cream sodas and floats. There is also an old coca cola cooler. The place offers breakfast menus like tacos and omelets, and grilled sandwiches and burgers for lunch. Not forgetting of course the soda fountain, shakes, sundaes and floats.
The burger patty was hand made from fresh ground beef and grilled to perfection. The burger at this old fashioned place was juicy and delicious and can be classified in the ideal burger category!
1115 W Lynn St, Austin, TX 78703
Check out the review: http://hotsweetspicyrecipes.com/naus-enfield-pharmacy-soda-fountain-and-grill/
Austin’s Sunset Capital: The Oasis on Lake Travis
The Oasis on Lake Travis boasts to be the sunset capital of Texas. I totally agree it’s a beautiful view of the sunset on the lake, right here in Austin, Texas! It’s a must see destination and perfect introduction of beautiful Austin to every tourist in town!
Oasis has about seven to eight balconies overlooking the lake which gives amazing views any time of the day. The tables with colorful umbrellas in the balconies give it an exotic resort look. At Oasis the view is divine, the food is fine too.
Check of review: http://hotsweetspicyrecipes.com/the-oasis-at-lake-travis-a-place-with-a-view/
Keeping Austin Cool with Ice Cream- Amy’s Ice cream
Amy’s Ice cream is a popular destination among Austinites and an Austin must. It is a privately owned chain of ice cream stores in Austin and around Texas. The stores are open till midnight and even till 1 a.m. over the weekends.
The ambiance at Amy’s is lively with colorful art and Austin weird shirts, and of course the employees are playing with ice cream, doing tricks before serving you. The audience is here for the ice cream, the entertainment and the being part of the Austin cool crowd getting cooler by the scoop 😉
1012 W. 6th St, Austin, TX 78703
Check out the review: http://hotsweetspicyrecipes.com/amys-ice-cream-keeping-austin-cool/
Vegan/Vegetarian: Mothers Café
Austin is a city with personality and Mother’s Café is one such eclectic Austin original vegetarian and vegan restaurant.The café on Duval near downtown Austin gives a very happening feeling. Being near the city gives this place a more lively and hip setting.
It offers a complete vegetarian menu with a variety of options inclusive of Italian and Mexican. The food was excellent and epicurean in taste. The Spinach Lasagna was perfect, the Chile Relleno ordered spicy was scrumptious and yummy. The Szechuan Stir Fry with fresh vegetables and tofu made spicy was thoroughly enjoyable too. This place turned out to be quite a surprise!
Check out review: http://hotsweetspicyrecipes.com/mothers-cafe/
Not just Donuts: Gourdoughs
Gourdoughs- its not just donuts; these are much more than that, these are fancy, gourmet, delicious works of art in a donut form.
In front of the trailer there is a long list of donut options on the menu with different garnishing ingredients. Going through those fancy and fun names and unique toppings, one builds up one’s expectations for the donut. All the doughnuts are cooked after you order them and garnished according to your requests and served warm.
Menu has options like ‘Slow Burn’- a doughnut with Habenaro pepper jelly and cream cheese topping, ‘Black Out’- which is a donut of brownie batter, fudge icing, and chocolate covered brownie bites; ‘Funky Monkey’- grilled bananas ,cream cheese icing and brown sugar; ‘Flying Pig’- Donuts garnished with bacon and maple syrup icing; ‘Miss Shortcake’- Donuts with cream cheese dressing and fresh cut strawberries; ‘Pudding’ and more….
The foods trailers downtown and in SOCO in Austin are a cool feature to adventure with food. But some trailers who find a niche food to offer are very successful, and Gourdoughs is to one of them.
Check out review: http://hotsweetspicyrecipes.com/gourdoughs-gourmet-donuts-in-austin-2/
What’s for Lunch: Torchys Taco’s
When Torchy’s started it was a rave in this side of town of Austin. I heard lot more chatter of tacos with torchys taco loyalists spreading the word around then I had ever heard. Our taste buds too were seeking tacos after all that talk.
The restaurant has inside and outside seating, with a lighted patio. There are even Mexican blankets in baskets for chilly evenings or for kids to picnic on the grass.
The place offers interesting taco flavors like Trailer park Taco’ which is a fried chicken taco ,which can be ordered ‘trashy’ with queso; The ‘Brushfire Taco’ is a Jamaican jerk chicken taco which is yummy with fresh mangos and Diablo sauce; The ‘Baja Shrimp Taco’ is crunchy, fresh and delicious. The ‘Crossroads Taco’ is a smoked beef brisket taco with good amount of meat. While the ‘Democrat Taco’ has shredded barbacoa which has a strong taste and preferred by the adults but not the kids! The Fajita Plate had scrumptious beef fajita meat with all the fixings and enjoyed by all. The kids chicken quesadillas are yum too.
The tacos came with a variety of sauces, Diablo, Tomatilo, Pablano, Chipotle, etc but our favorite was the Diablo which had flavors of habenaro pepper and tomato.
The tacos are little on the expensive side but the quality and the taste of the tacos is very exclusive too. It seemed like a good hang out place for families, youngsters and others who wanted to grab fresh and yummy tacos at a nice taco joint.
Location: 11521 Ranch road 620 North, Austin
Check out review: http://hotsweetspicyrecipes.com/torchys-tacos/
Get in line for Brisket : Franklin’s Barbeque
Pack your laptop, homework, book, music, phones, any electronics that keep you occupied to get prepared for the famous long lines before lunch to catch America’s best Barbequed Beef Brisket as named by Bon Appetit right here in downtown Austin!
The lines are long even before the restaurant officially opens for business. People had picnic chairs, thick books, cameras, ipads, phone calls to do, groups of friends catching up, facebooking, twittering, emailing, all possible things happening to pass time.
The outside and inside decor of the restaurant is low key, with mismatched red painted chairs around odd sized wood and metal tables. The priority is best Barbeque and only best Barbeque. The Franklin couple, in spite of the incredible popularity of this place are modest, friendly folks who are involved in the restaurants’ cooking, serving and checkout process.
Yes it’s worth the wait. If you have time on hand on a weekday or weekend and love barbeque, Franklins is a good destination
Location: 900 E. 11th Street, Austin, TX 78702
Check out review: http://hotsweetspicyrecipes.com/franklin-barbeque-a-review/
Trendy Burger Joint: Hopdoddy
A trendy and popular Burger place where there is always a long line to grab a juicy burger both in South congress and Andreson/Burnet locations.
The place is known for its gourmet, hormone and antibiotic free Black Angus beef burgers, their creative variations of burgers, and their fresh and all natural ingredients. The burger options are very wide also offering , lamb, ahi-tuna, turkey, and vegetarian burgers!
Every burger looked enticing but interesting ones were El Diablo-Angus Beef, Pepper Jack, Carmelized Onions, Habanero and Serrano Chiles, Salsa Roja, Chipotle Mayo;Classic- Angus Beef, Red Leaf Lettuce, White Onion, Ripe Beef Steak Tomato, Sassy Sauce Classic Cheese;Greek burger-Lamb, Feta Cheese, Arugula, Pickled Red Onions, Tomato, Cucumber, Tzatziki Sauce; and Ahi Tuna burger-Sushi-Grade Tuna, Sprouts, Teriyaki, Honey Wasabi, Nori Chips, Pickled Ginger, Mayo.
The restaurant’s décor and ambience is modern and open with tall ceilings. Hopdoddy has a bar + burger concept, hence there is a bar with bar seating in the center of the restaurant , surrounded by individual table seating and even outdoor seating. Trendy is the word for this place.
Popular too! Just their SOCO location itself apparently sells 1000 burgers each day at average. It’s not a surprise with their creative and delicious options of burgers, catering to every eclectic Austin audience.
Location: Anderson and Burnet
2438 A West Anderson, Austin, Texas 78757
Check out review: http://hotsweetspicyrecipes.com/hopdoddy-burgers-a-review/
There are many more Austin must do’s which will be continued……
Keep Austin Weird, Keep Austin Eclectic, Keep Austin Hot Sweet Spicy 😉