Where to Eat in Austin

-


Food Trucks:
Chil'lantro : Korean tacos, burgers, rice-bowls, and other happy stuff. Also has a store-front now.
East Side Kings : Several trailer locations, owned by Paul Qui.
LA Barbecue : As good as Franklin's BBQ but without the insane lines.  (ps there is another place called John Mueller which is different and not as good).
Patrizi's : The food is good. Not great, but good.  The ambience is classic Austin, something that is slowly vanishing.
Three Little Pigs :  Excellence in pork products (usually asian inspired) right next to the Aristocrat Lounge - which has great cocktails.

Breakfast 
TacoDeli - If in Austin, Breakfast Tacos are the thing to do.  And there are few places that do it better than TacoDeli (quite a few locations in the city)

Lunch
Elevation Burger : Several locations, all with olive oil fries!  Sure, its just a burger, but its pretty damn good regardless.
Epicerie : Awesome for brunch/lunch.  Hard to classify the place, but their sliced meats and cheeses are really pretty good!
Kome Sushi : More of an izakaya by evening. Yes, there is sushi, but the small plates encourage nibbling and drinking (sake).

LA Barbecue : Excellence in bbq, and usually a much smaller line than at Franklin
Micklethwait BBQ : A trailer / stand - some will claim this is the best in town right now.  Arguing over the best BBQ in town is like arguing over beer.   It is easy to agree on the crap but the best is a matter of context and preference.
Noble Sandwich
Salt & Time : Sandwiches, cured meats, and cheeses oh my!
Turf and Surf : Used to be a truck, now co-located next / in a bar.  Quality po'boys and tacos.
Dinner
Asia Cafe : Chinese. Good. Just...Go...
Backspace :  If you are looking for some pizza and antipasto, which will, basically, make youhappy
Baguette House & Cafe : If you're up in Northern Austin, on the way to Round Rock, this is excellently located, with Banh-Mi's (and desserts!) wirthy of the streets of Hanoi. Seriously
Buenos Aires Cafe :  Very very authentic BA/Hipster, in the uniquely Argentinian way (think Empanadas + Steak + Italian + Hipster). Excellent selection of Argentinian wines, and friendly friendly peoples.
Chago's : Really really good Puerto Rican cuisine, including the best Mofongo I've ever had.  Mind you, the calory count is - quite literally - heart-stopping, but it is really really good stuff!
Dai Due : Their bread-products are great, and their (frequently changing) meat-products are even better.  As for their brunch, I'm not a brunch guy, but I'll make an exception in their case :-)
Fonda San Miguel : Upscale-y, but simply the best Mexican (from all over) place in town.
Hopfields : Gastro Pub, with an eclectic and widely-varying menu.  Their specials - whatever they are - are invariably rocking, and they have an impeccably curated (argh! i said it!) beer and wine list
Jacoby's : There is an excellent outdoor area here, scenic, pleasant, and very very chill.  The food is pretty damn good to.
Jinya Ramen : The best Ramen in Austin, and the best noodles in the US (rivals Sawtelle).  The current "go-to" place for me.
Juliet : "New Italian" - no idea what that means - but an excellent cheese plate, good pastas, and a pleasant atmosphere.  Great place to hang out in.
La Traviata : Surprisingly good northern Italian food, done Italian-style (i.e., not "red-sauce").  The portions are Texas-sized though, so be warned!
Laundrette : Another place somewhat reminiscent of "Foreign & Domestic" above.  Crazy high quality, exceptional service, but a totally hipster-y environment, all making for a seriously fun time.  Be aware though that the portions are slightly larger than you would expect - till you get a handle on it, prepare to leave overstuffed.
La V : Provencal, with quite probably one of the best sommeliers around...
Live Oak Barbecue : Austin...Barbecue... (avoid the lines at Franklin's, and go here instead). And oh, those pickled Japapenos!
L'oca D'oro : The best italian food in Austin. Also, the loudest dining room in Austin. Stay in the bar/kitchen area if you value your hearing (and also 'cos it's a heck of a lot more fun there)
Michi Ramen: The 2nd best Ramen in Austin.  Not up to Sawtelle standards, but still really very good...
Royal Jelly: Quiet, low-key, excellent cocktails, even more excellent small-plates.  All in all, totally happy-making
Salt & Time: Awesome-ness in meat products - its a butcher shop by day, that also does lunch & dinner.  The menu varies but invariably has salumi platters, offal (don't gag. great stuff!), and more, along with the usual Burger / Steak / Chicken / etc., in different forms.
Salty Sow : Pork! Smashed Potatoes! Even More Pork!  All that said, the food is incredibly good, in a "we're a gastropub with the pub part" kinda way.
Sway : Modern Thai. Upscale. Awesome.
Taco Flats : Current favorite taco place in Austin. And that is saying a lot!
Tatsu-Ya : (Tied for the 2nd best Ramen in Austin). Pork tonkatsu available only w/ dinner, but the chicken (tokyo style) is still, by far, the most unctuous version thereof that I've ever had
Thai-Kun : Excellence in Issan-style Thai. Quite authentic. Go for dinner mind you, longer menu, and better eats.
Bars / Drinks
Contigo : (also solid snacks)
Wonderland : An East Side Kings is onsite) may make a nice after work trip if weather is good.
Mezcaleria Tobala
Coffee
 Houndstooth
Thunderbird
Misc
Antonelli's : Best cheesemonger in Austin
Draught House : Excellent selection of beers, all consumable outside with much happiness during the stellar happy hour
Epicerie : Salumi, cheese, jam, etc. etc.
Jacoby's : From above, but excellent for brunch too.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Erlang, Binaries, and Garbage Collection (Sigh)

-
Image
The nice thing about garbage-collection is that it is makes memory management absolutely transparent to you Of course, the above is true right up to the point when it stops being transparent, at which point it does a phase change from nice to clusterf**k of biblical proportions .  There are entire posts, books, and suicide notes that have been written about this, and I have no great desire to add to them, save with the minor comment that paranoia about garbage-collection is still justified , albeit only in the edge-cases for most people. That said, I'll give you that Erlang GC is in many ways much, much better positioned in this regard than, oh, Java, but it still rears up and bites you in the butt when you least expect it. ( More information about Erlang's GC vis-a-vis Java here , and Jesper's truly excellent description of Erlang's GC here ).  A story from the past should serve to illustrate this. Once upon a time, in a magical land far far away - well, Her
Read more

Visualizing Prime Numbers

-
Image
From Jason Davies , we have El Patron de Los Primos , probably one of the coolest prime number visualizer that I've seen.  For every Natural number, he draws a periodic curve that intersects at that number and each of its multiples.  Needless to say, prime numbers are touched by only two curves (itself and 1 ). You can scroll to the right, and move up the prime food change. (The image above is a screen grab.  Go here to see the actual thing)
Read more

Its time to call Bullshit on "Technical Debt"

-
Image
Seriously. You know what " Technical Debt " is, right? Ok, heres the (official?) Wikipedia definition   Technical debt   (also known as   design debt   or   code debt ) is a   neologistic   metaphor referring to the eventual consequences of poor or evolving   software architecture   and   software development   within a   codebase . The debt can be thought of as work that needs to be done before a particular job can be considered complete. As a change is started on a codebase, there is often the need to make other coordinated changes at the same time in other parts of the codebase or documentation. The other required, but uncompleted changes, are considered debt that must be paid at some point in the future. And in this - somewhat purist - sense, " Technical Debt " is absolutely valid. The problem arises in the way it is almost invariably used, viz., as an excuse to not do something. Herewith a simple exercise - the next time you hear someone cite &quo
Read more