Eating in Austin

[bradisntclever]

Galaxy Cafe - amazing whipped sweet potatoes
East Side Cafe - great brunch menu
Teo Gelato - always has lots of flavors

I was about to be saddened no one had mentioned these three places, and Chelsea saved the day.

[bradisntclever]

Either location has the good stuff. I usually go for an iced coffee. They cold-brew it overnight. It's super-strong and delicious.

Toddy brewing should be done more often. It makes a profound difference in taste. Oddly enough, I find that BookPeople has the best iced coffee in town. Really. Caffe Medici is a close second.

After going on a quest to try most of the coffeehouses in Austin, I heartily second the recommendation for Caffe Medici. Teo is also great, but Medici gets everything right. They have knowledgeable baristas, excellent La Marzocco grinders and espresso machines, a good atmosphere in both locations, and... everything (except for that iced coffee) seems to taste a little bit better there.

In case anyone has heard of the lovely $20,000 Clover coffee machines, there is only one in Austin - at JP's Java. Starbucks bought the Clover company to try and prevent too many machines from reaching the market outside of their stores. JP's got one of the last ones before everything went internal. If you don't like your coffee black, then I wouldn't recommend making a trip over there. It wouldn't be worth your $3-$5 (depending on the roast), though the difference is quite noticeable. It mainly takes a lot of the arbitrary guesswork the average barista uses out of the process. Custom ratios are used in terms of temperature, brewing time, grind quality, etc. If I'm ever at JP's Java, I find that it compensates for issues I've had in the past with beverage quality.

I could wax poetic about little things from each coffee shop I've trekked to in the last five years, but I'll save that for another day.

[EmilyBee]

Fonda San Miguel YUM! Pricey. Don't plan eating much for the rest of the day and go for brunch on Sunday (may have to wait for the fall to do that again, though). Their corn pudding is I N S A N E and I LOVE the mole sauce.

Andiamo Again, an occasion place, for sure. Up north on burnet, past 183. It's in a strip mall. The service is stellar, and the food is gorgeous.

Chez Nous Downtown. Just off of East 5th. Very reasonable, especially for lunch, and very, very tasty. Great staff.

Titaya's on Lamar. I love Thai food and ate it constantly in San Francisco. This place is the closest I've found to what I loved there.

Teo for gelato and coffee. Ummmm.

Sarah's on Burnet for quick & fairly cheap and tasty Middle Eastern cuisine. Their zaatar is NUMMY. As is their rice pilaf.

Sunflower right next to the 183 Target at Ohlen (?) for Vietnamese. Nothing I've had there has been yukky.

Salvation Pizza
Eastside Pies (YUM!)
Blue Dalhia (Again, I've never had anything here I wouldn't have again. They ROCK)
Cucina de Consuelo on Burnet. Tasty. You can see the women making your food in the back. And VERY generous breakfast tacos.
The olives at Vino Vino. Holy god, they are amazing.

I could keep going, but that's what jumps to mind immediately

[nadine]

For interesting new food places:
Hot Boiled: Cajun & Vietnamese cuisine. At Parmer and Mopac.

There's the chicken and waffle's place that I can't remember the name of. It's a trailer, across from the Amy's Ice-cream at Burnet.

[Justin D.]

For interesting new food places:
Hot Boiled: Cajun & Vietnamese cuisine. At Parmer and Mopac.

I saw that place a couple weeks ago and have meant to go back since then. I think the full name is "Hot Boiled, Pho and Crawfish". That certainly caught my attention.

[nadine]

They have pho crawfish, and crawfish fried rice (delicious) and also just some crawfish (one of the cheapest price in town supposedly).

[djcolorblind]

Here is a google map of a good number of the restaurants listed in this thread.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&ms ... 28403&z=13

[bilbo]

Dude, do you own the Crestview MiniMax?

Man, that would be a pretty sweet gig. I need to find one of those.

Any local groceries up for sale?

[dirty baby]

Either location has the good stuff. I usually go for an iced coffee. They cold-brew it overnight. It's super-strong and delicious.

Toddy brewing should be done more often. It makes a profound difference in taste. Oddly enough, I find that BookPeople has the best iced coffee in town. Really. Caffe Medici is a close second.

I third the endorsement for Caffe Medici. Their baristas are scientists; the coffee is perfect. Unfortunately the atmosphere's a bit cold at both locations. I suggest the atmosphere + toddy-brewed iced coffee at Cafe Mundi on east 5th. If you hit it right, it's a little like leaving Austin altogether.

[scook]

there's a little place on east 12th called SAM'S BBQ that is freakin' amazing and small and super Texasy and quaint and awesome.

I was here at 3am once when a car FLEW over the hill at about 80mph going east on 12th, hit the side of the building, totalled the owner's car, and landed in the ditch on the other side of the parking lot. They got out and took off, but the cops caught them when they showed up.

Their food is also delicious.

I would also add to this list Polvo's.

[TexasImprovMassacre]

Polvo's!

If you go for breakfast you can get 2 breakfast tacos with 2 ingredients each for super cheap. Fun Trick. Get what you want in all 4 spread out over both tacos so you don't have to pay extra for all 4 ingredients in each taco. Then when your tacos come. Dump the contents out on the plate, mix, and place it back into the tortillas.