| Subject: Experienced Austin Writer |
| From: "Barrett Brown" <barriticus@gmail.com> |
| Date: 8/28/07, 19:15 |
| To: gigs-408415070@craigslist.org |
Back To School Special: Dining
Learning to dine out like a true Austinite can be a long, time-intensive process, much like pursuing a liberal arts degree, although it is also very much unlike pursuing a liberal arts degree insomuch as that it is of real and demonstrable benefit and does not cost tens of thousands of dollars. Thus it is that we provide this comprehensive cheat sheet to the city's most iconic culinary mainstays.
Starting out each day with a big, nutritious breakfast is allegedly very important. Austin has two local favorites on that front Kerbey Lane Cafe (multiple locations, check KerbeyLaneCafe.com) and Magnolia Cafe (2304 Lake Austin, 478-8645; 1920 S. Congress, 445-0000), both of which are open around the clock and serve pretty much everything that anyone could possibly want to eat, from gingerbread pancakes to sour cream omelets to hummus, though Kerbey also offers a separate vegan menu and makes a point of getting much of its produce from a nearby organic farm, whereas Magnolia manages to cultivate a more pleasingly living room-ish atmosphere.
We've also got plenty of Mexican food, natch. Matt's El Rancho (2613 S. Lamar, 462-9333), for instance, has been around for some very long period of time, perhaps even forever. Like all truly great Mexican restaurants, Matt's operates from a ridiculously long menu filled with everything that rural Mexicans like to eat, plus plenty of things that they don't, like Atlantic salmon. On the more unorthodox side, you've got Trudy's Tex-Mex (multiple locations, check Trudys.com), known for its crab enchiladas, Mexican martinis, and attractive people who have been drinking lots of Mexican martinis. The first location is within stumbling distance of campus.
No, no, there's more. Chango's (3023 Guadalupe, 480-8226; 3005 S. Lamar, 416-1500) is the place to go for fish taos, particularly when you're in a hurry to get back to class or another restaurant that doesn't serve fish tacos. Polvo's (2004 S. 1st , 441-5446) is the place to go when you want some interior Mexican and have plenty of time to sit around and smoke. Chuy's (multiple locations, check Chuys.com) is the place to go for fajitas. It's also one of several places where the Bush twins were busted for trying to use a fake ID. This is a very important thing to know.
We've also got pizza. In fact, Austin has about the same number of places with "pizza" in the title as Dallas does and a fourth of the population. It's a saturated market, but Conan's Pizza (603 W. 29th , 478-5712; 2438 W. Anderson, 459-3222; 2018 W. Stassney, 441-6754) has thrived for well over thirty years thanks to its eternally-nifty, Chicago-style deep dish.
Likewise, our things-served-between-two-pieces-of-bread infrastructure is second to none. Thundercloud (multiple locations, check Thundercloud.com), Austin's resident sub sandwich chain, caters to local tastes in a way that others don't by way of such ingredients as avocado and hummus. Meanwhile, Opal Divine's Freehouse (700 W. 6th , 477-3308) ranks among Austin's finest pub-eateries, stocked as it is with Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, award-winning fries, and several dozen sorts of whiskey. Hut's Hamburgers (807 W. 6th , 472-0693) rudely monopolizes all of the local burger-based awards by way of the sheer quality of its patties, the maddening quantity of its potential ingredients, and the charmingly archaic monikers of its individual items the Richie Valens Burger comes with guacamole, chulo. And Stubb's BBQ (801 Red River, 480-8341) stands out in a crowded field by virtue of a sauce that's sold nationwide as well as for being one of the most storied and perpetually relevant music venues in a city brimming with such things.
If one gets homesick, we're here to help. But so is Threadgills (6416 N. Lamar, 451-5440), which has long been Austin's foremost spot for southern comfort food specialties of the chicken fried streak persuasion, and which is second only to the state capitol in the extent to which local history seeps from its walls back in 1933, it was the first venue in the city to obtain a post-Prohibition liquor license, and in the subsequent decades it played host to the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis before eventually reinventing itself as one-part restaurant and two-parts civic museum. And if one gets homesick for ice cream, whatever that means, an Amy's Ice Cream (multiple locations, AmysIceCream.com) is never more than a short drive away.
No need to thank us.
***
Bossa Nova Coffehouse and Bakery
A neighborhood that can support its own Brazilian-themed coffee shop may truly be said to have crossed into the initial phase of eventual gentrification; congratulations are in order, then, to the good people of East Sixth Street. Being a coffee shop, Bossa Nova meets the obligations inherent to that particular genre by dealing out vanilla latte with soy milk and flavor shots and whatnot, but where the soon-to-be-staple really shines is quick cuisine care of Rio de Janeiro. Much of this manifests itself in the unassuming form of a sandwich; those of the "quente" category come hot-pressed and filled with such things as roast beef, tomatoes, and mozzarella, whereas the "natural" varieties are heavier on the veggies (spinach, cucumbers, and sprouts make several appearances) and further accompanied by mistura, a sort of yogurt-mayo spread. Even those sandwiches designated by the menu as "regular" are in fact nothing of the sort, being instead made up of rare-ish ingredients like fresh tarragon, roasted walnuts, and sun dried tomato mayo. Other offerings are similarly flamboyant; pizzas come covered in broccoli (hell, why not?) and catupury cheese, and almost everything else seems to include hearts of palm, with the probable exception to the rule being the resident selection of Brazilian soft drinks, unless we're wrong, in which case hearts of palm apparently make for damned good sodas. As a nominal bakery, Bossa Nova also offers an admirable array of yeasty goods tracing originating from Brazil, Mexico, and parts unknown. Open 6:30 am to 7 pm on weekdays, 8 am to 6 pm on Saturdays, and 8 am to 2 pm on Sundays. 2121 East Sixth Street. 512-478-8700.