One of my favorite parts of Austin was all the food! Here are some highlights:
Launderette (2115 Holly St, Austin, TX 78702)
What a way to start our Austin trip off! Took an early flight from Newark and landed in Austin right around lunch, so we decided to stop at Launderette, a place that was on everyone’s list to try.
Launderette is a casual New-American restaurant- what’s cool about it is that it is a converted laundromat!
Menu was small, but everything we ordered was delicious. We got the deviled eggs, butter lettuce, French fries with manzano and garlic aioli, and the fried chicken sammie. Everything was amazing. I was so hungry after our flight, and this meal and Launderette was just what I needed.
Picnik (4801 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX, 78756)
We went to Picnik for brunch the next day, as recommended by Ted, our awesome AirBnB host (who by the way recommended like 80% of the restaurants we ate at… lol clearly we trusted his opinion).
Another very cute, trendy restaurant with a lot of unique options. For those with dietary restrictions, I’d highly recommend this place (also for those without because the food is TASTY) because everything here is gluten, corn, peanut, and soy free.
I had the Harvest Hash with roasted sweet potato, spinach, Brussels sprouts, grass-fed beef breakfast sausage, currant, onion, sage, apple, toasted pecan, chile flake, maple vinaigrette, and a poached eggs.
This dish was SO flavorful- a great combination of spicy and sweet with a lot of different textures. If I could figure out how to make this, I would… and I might try haha.
Fixe (500 W 5th St, Austin, TX 78701)
Another recommendation by Ted- Fixe. Definitely the fanciest restaurant we went to all trip. This restaurant’s style was to order family-style or tapas style.
So… what we ordered: Fixe Biscuits with whipped Steen’s butter; Crispy Beef Tendon Chicharrones-style w/ Fixe Hot Sauce; Roasted Sweet Potatoes w/ whipped Burrata and Hazelnut; Charred Broccoli w/ smoked Apache bleu cheese fondue; heirloom tomato salad; and grilled shrimp w/ white beans, ham shank, arugula.
Seems like a lot, but the dishes were portioned in a way that made it perfect for two to share. I think my favorite overall was actually the shrimp; it was cooked really well and seasoned perfectly to bring out its naturally delicious flavor :)
Odd Duck (1201 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704)
Surprise! Another recommendation by Ted. Odd Duck is another amazing New American restaurant in Austin (seems to be a lot of them!), but what I would say made this restaurant was the service. All the wait staff were extremely down to earth and very knowledgeable about the menu and the food. All the food is locally grown and hand picked each morning by the chefs.
What we ordered (again tapas style! Which in my opinion, is the best way to go when you want to try a lot): daily bread w/ green garlic chimichurri; sour cream & onion dip w/ spring harvest veggies and honey garlic; redfish ceviche w/ tiger’s milk, beet, olive, sweet potato curry, and chips; roasted beets w/ black bean mole, masa fried cheese curds, radish, pepitas; and smoked chicken pizza, beet-b-que, feta, red onion, tomato, basil. And for dessert- watermelon popsicle w/ goat cheese cheesecake.
My favorite? Probably the roasted beets w/ black bean mole. Everything was amazing though! Definitely the most unique dishes I had while in Austin.
Torchy’s Tacos (Various locations around Austin)
One question: Can Torchy’s open a location in NYC? Best QSR tex-mex restaurant I’ve ever had. They have a variety (and when I say variety, more than like 20 different types) types of tacos and the best queso I ever had. Didn’t even know queso was a “thing” until I got down here!
What I ordered: Monk special (had to try a breakfast taco!), green chile pork taco, baja shrimp taco, green chile queso & chips, and street corn (which was super delicious and very convenient to eat since it was already off the cobb!)
My opinion on Torchy’s? We need one on the East coast!!
Terry Black’s (1003 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX 78704)
Last but not least, we HAD to try a BBQ place while in Texas. We had heard of the famous Franklin’s (which unfortunately has extremely long lines), but everyone from Ted to our many Uber drivers told us about Terry Black’s, another very popular BBQ place in Texas.
What a great way to end our trip. Not only was the food amazing, the atmosphere and people there were great as well! We did have to wait in line for about 20 minutes… however we made friends with people all around us. Not only that, they serve beer while you wait in line :)
What we ordered: brisket, beef rib (which is HUGE), potato salad, macaroni, cole slaw, and green beans
Highly recommend coming here, it’s so great!!
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Overall, the food in Austin was AMAZING!! (no other words to describe it, but I should probably find some other adjectives in the future ) If anything, my favorite part about visiting Austin was all the delicious and unique food they have to offer.
Questions? Let me know!