Tears of Joy is an awesome shop that sells only hot sauce and salsa. This place is perfect for picking up a local gift for an out of town guest, or for indulging yourself if you're a hot sauce lover. Any flavor and level of hotness you want can be found here.
Mmmpanadas is a food truck that serves a bunch of different kinds of empanadas. They've got both sweet and savory varieties, all for $3.25 We tried the peach cobbler empanada and the soy chorizo & brie empanada which were both very tasty. The truck is in a great central location downtown for grabbing a bite on your lunch break. They're also around in the evening on weekends for those drunken food cravings.
The beginning of the row of flavors:
This place was a very pleasant surprise. We didn't know what to expect, and the food was absolutely amazing. Definitely try this place out if you're a fan of Italian food. The Tiramisu is pretty much the best we've ever had.
Puttenesca: Fettuccine, Tomato, Kalamata Olives, Artichoke, Capers, $15.
Mellow Mushroom is a great spot for cheap and tasty pizza in the UT area. It's right on the drag, so walk off the calories by windowshopping afterwards. You can buy a regular slice of cheese pizza for $2.25, or add ingredients for 75 cents each. They've also got small, medium and large size pizzas with all kinds of toppings and bases. See their Austin menu for all the options.
This coffee shop is up north near the Arboretum. They've got desserts, gelato, lunch items, and lots of coffee drinks, including coffee cocktails. We ordered an Americano ($1.95) and a Chocolate Dream, which is Cappuccino with Govida white & dark chocolate liqueur. ($6.75).
Like all coffee shops you can enjoy wifi, and in the evening they turn the lights down to give it a relaxing, lounge-y feel.
Freeb!rds is like Chipotle, only much better. The chips and queso are perfect- fresh crispy chips with delicious queso that's just hot enough. You get to pick the size of your burrito, from 4 different size choices. We recommend the "Monster" size... it's between $6 and $7 (depending on whether you pick veggies, chicken or steak) and it's so huge that you can save half of it for lunch the next day.
This is the place we go for our cheap, greasy Chinese food needs. They deliver in the north-central Austin area, and you get free fried wontons if you spend at least $19.
Bombay chicken curry, $11.95. Roganjosh, $13.95. The entrees were served with Basmati rice. In the background: Riata, $1.95
The Cookie Lounge is a brand new place near campus. It was started by Mark Chapman, who is one of the best pastry chefs in the US. These cookies are on the pricey side, but delicious and the concept is so unique it is worth the visit. You get to pick a cookie dough flavor, then pick from an extensive list of "mix-ins," and then pick a cookie size. Cookies can be ordered by themselves or with milk or ice cream. Your personal cookie is baked just for you and delivered hot out of the oven in about 10 minutes.
The salads at Leaf were delicious. Even if you aren't a salad fan, you might appreciate the huge variety and interesting salads they have. The salads are large and filling, and they also have bread, soup, and a variety of drinks including wine available. We were there near closing, and the owner was nice enough to come out and ask the few remaining diners if we would like a cup of soup for free, since it would just be thrown away otherwise. So Ryan had a yummy cup of lobster bisque on the house.
The fries are fresh and delicious hand-cut potatoes, the burgers are great, and the milkshakes are quite tasty. The only thing we don't recommend is the grilled cheese sandwich, because for some reason they forgot the "grilled" part of grilled cheese. Looking at this photo now, it looks pretty gross. But that's just how fast food looks. Trust us, this is better than the standard places.
Jorge's Deluxe: cheese enchilada, beef taco, pork tamale, beans and rice. $11.79. Flautas de Pollo: Two chicken grilled flautas topped with Salsa Espanola, beans and rice. $10.79.
Mozart's is the awesomest place. It's right on Lake Austin, and has several huge decks overlooking the water. What better way to spend a beautiful fall afternoon than relaxing at Mozart's with a good book, coffee, and something chocolate?
Shanghai Restaurant is the 4th Dim Sum restaurant we've blogged, and I'm sure all 2 of you who are reading this blog have had about enough of this. Sorry! We really love Dim Sum. Shanghai is our favorite in Austin, partly because it's so close to our house we could walk (if we weren't so lazy) and partly because it's just amazing. So much selection, and the quality is fantastic. The prices are great too, you can expect to spend about $15 or so per person and feel like you've just had a feast. The Austin Chronicle seems to agree with our love of this place.
Inside the main dining room:
