Austin Improv

This should be called "Where are you eating?", but I wanted to keep with the trope of "What are you listening to?" and "What are you watching?"

Austin has lots of great food places-- trailers, restaurants, drive-thru, delivery, take-out, and all that.

Today Mike introduced me to Mel's Meals, a joint on Lamar near Book People that sells refrigerated microwaveable healthy, delicious meals. I took home and microwaved a turkey lasagna and I loved it. http://melsmealsaustin.com/

Speaking of healthy, there's a brand new small cafe on W. 6th St called Talkhouse (edit: they changed their name to Ambrosia). It's all raw, fresh, gluten-free stuff, including some delicious desserts. http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Talkh ... 930?ref=ts

I'm curious what other great food places Austin improvisers are privy to. They don't have to be healthy. They can be anything. Just, what are you eating?

Maybe a couple months' worth of this thread could help out this year's OoB visitors as well.

After a show, if nobody's going anywhere, I'm more than likely heading to the Kirby Lane Cafe on Guadalupe. I also drop by the northwest location on 183 on the occasional late night.

If it's an afternoon before a show, I drop by the Tokyo Steakhouse on North I-35. It's only $4.33 for fried rice and a drink there, and it's walking distance from a Barnes & Noble/Starbucks if I feel like reading/dessert.

When I can, I try to visit Flip Happy Crepes http://www.fliphappycrepes.com/ and grab a chicken, goat cheese, aoili crepe and whatever dessert crepe they have.

When my niece visited she was very excited to go there as she is a Bobby Flay fan and they beat Flay in a crepe-off on the Food Network.

Be forewarned, the place is cash only.

I recently just discovered Food Heads on Guadalupe & 34th.
http://www.foodheads.com/

I do not like cold sandwiches, therefore avoid most sandwichy places, but Food Heads delivers super fresh, hearty, hot sandwiches. I had their squash and mozzarella sangwich and hoooollllyyyy cow, it was good. The pulled pork is also good and their salads = yum yum town. Vegetarians & Vegans would love this place.

To top it off, they have like 5 flavors of lemonade and iced tea.

Tonight if we can get in, we're going to take advantage of the Uchiko soft opening... reportedly, 1/2 price appetizers! 5 p.m. See you there?

I believe the radio-serial cast can vouch for A Taste of Ethiopia (up in Round Rock) being v. v. good.

(Note:  order less food than you think you need, unless you desire copious leftovers.)



--
peter rogers @ work | http://hujhax.livejournal.com

Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could.  Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
      -- Emerson

Yes! Taste of Ethiopia! And Titaya's on Lamar south of 2222. And East Side Pies on Rosewood. And Frank for awesome coffee, dogs, sausage, and rally nice drinks.

Damn, the food in Austin is good.

When Emily said East Side Pies on Rosewood, that reminded me that I absolutely love NUBIAN QUEEN LOLA'S, also on Rosewood. It's adjacent to The New Movement theater.

NQL is awesome homemade Cajun cuisine, and the menu changes all the time. The inside decor, if it was lit more darkly, could look like a scene from Angel Heart.

Only thing is, the hours are wonky and it's easy to show up when the enchanting and philanthropic Lola has closed for the day, so it's a good idea to check the hours on the website or call ahead.
http://nubianqueenlolas.com/index.htm

EmilyBee wrote:Yes! Taste of Ethiopia!

Aster's is also quite good as well, and pretty close to SVT, near 35 and Manor. Can't recommend Karibu, though. Guh.

What? You want to know my favorite Austin coffee shops?

ONCE OVER http://www.onceovercoffeebar.com/ - Awesome coffee, good wifi, great patio

BOULDIN CREEK http://www.bouldincreek.com/ - Awesome food, terrific Austin culture hub, awful wifi

CHERRYWOOD http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cherrywoo ... 4343365554 - awesome food, good wifi (great burgers!)

THUNDERBIRD http://thunderbirdcoffee.com/ good wifi, good patio, near SVT

BENNU http://www.bennucoffee.com/ - open 24 hours, sweet ambiance, decent wifi

EPOCH http://www.epochcoffee.com/ - open 24 hours, great wifi

GREEN MUSE http://www.facebook.com/pages/Green-Mus ... 2248875463

FRANK* http://hotdogscoldbeer.com/coffee/ - Awesome coffee, awesome beer, awesome food, downtown *not a coffee shop so much as an upscale tavern with great coffee drinks

MEDICI (pronounced "MEH-dih-chee") http://www.caffemedici.com/ - awesome coffee, good wifi, on the drag across from UT

FLIPNOTICS http://flipnotics.com/ good food, good beer, great patio, less dependable wi-fi

My fave coffee shops are Once Over (I have proven to many of you how they have the most awesome coffee and will continue that mission) followed by Bennu.

Medici, Little City and Epoch have also proven to be good coffee experiences.

Least favorite coffee: Dominican Joe's

I recently ate at India Kitchen on east Riverside. It was delicious and filled me up with energy.

Trudy's is still my favorite restaurant in town. Followed by Zen.

THAI FOOD!

I think Thai Kitchen is my favorite, because their food is awesome, the owners are the nicest people, and the prices are pretty reasonable. http://local.yahoo.com/info-19400487-th ... stin%2C+TX I like that they're open till 2am on Fri and Sat, and till midnight all other nights.

The Thai place I've been to the most times is Thai Noodle House, which apparently changed its name to the clumsy, Thai Noodles Etc House. http://www.yelp.com/biz/thai-noodles-etc-house-austin

Thai Passion is great, across the street from The Hideout. Sometimes I forget they're actually open until 3am every day. Probably the priciest of the three I've listed, but the food's very good. http://www.thaipassion.com/

There are probably like ten great Thai restaurants in Austin that I haven't even tried yet.

thai kitchen has the best thom yum soup ever. And Thai Noodles etc. house has been Thai noodles etc. house as long as I've been in Austin. I remember joking about what the "etc." was my freshman year of college.

Apparently you guys eat EVERYTHING! Austin is the #1 city for food expenditures.

http://contexts.org/socimages/2010/07/0 ... s-by-city/