Dimassi's Mediterranean Buffet

Dimassi's is a simple restaurant with a variety of Mediterranean favorites served buffet style.  I believe the dinner buffet was $12.  Honestly, I feel lukewarm about all buffet restaurants since the food is often lukewarm.  I realize the appeal is being able to eat a variety of items at one meal and getting to go back for seconds and thirds, which are obviously awesome bonuses.     

The salads were nice and fresh, felafel was tasty, and hummus was so-so.  The desserts were quite tasty, made us wish we had more room for them!

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El Sol Y La Luna

More Tex-Mex.. yes!  El Sol Y La Luna was filled with the not-so-pleasant sounds of karaoke on the Saturday night we went there.  However, the food was good, the prices are reasonable, and the location on 6th is great.  Below you see their free crispy chips and salsa, the Plato Cubano ($7), chicken quesadillas with guacamole, ($8), and a tamale w/ rice and beans.  We also shared the chocolate cake with Mexican vanilla ice cream ($7), but as per usual we ate it before thinking of taking a photo.

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Maki

Fast, design your own sushi in a strip mall! Maki is like a Chipotle/Freebirds/Cabo Bob's for sushi. You walk along in front of the counter picking out your fish, veggies, and toppings. They prepare the sushi right there as you make your selections, and at the end there are a number of interesting drinks & sides to pick from.

Sake2me was $3.99 I believe, beer $2.99. During happy hour they have drink and roll specials. I can't remember the hours for happy hour each day, call them for specifics.

The interior is refreshing and just how you'd imagine a fast food sushi place should look.

We basically had a sushi feast. The rolls were mostly in the $6-8 range, depending on what you wanted on them.

Crepes Mille

Crepes Mille is a fairly new crepes trailer on South Congress.  They have very inventive crepes that are different from what you find at most other crepe places- they're asian inspired.  Below are the pork floss crepe and the chicken panang curry crepe.  I was licking the curry sauce off the paper.  It was so flavorful, and spicy without being too spicy.  Most of the savory crepes were in the $6 range and the sweet crepes in the $4 range.  We also tried the apple cinnamon crepe and the caramel cream liqueur crepe.. of course we ate those so fast that they never stood a chance of being photographed.

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Fire Bowl Cafe

I'll admit it again and again: I'm a sucker for (heavily) Americanized Asian food.  Fried wontons filled with crab & cream cheese?!  Let me meet the person who invented these and shake his or her hand. 

Anyway, Fire Bowl Cafe has asian soups, appetizers, and various types of stir fry.  They're a chain with several locations in Texas (and Colorado & Michigan as well).  Very simple no-fuss place where you order at the counter and then wait for your food to be prepared.  We tried the miso soup, crab/cheese wontons, and two types of stir fry.  What a satisfying, filling meal.  We had enough left over for lunch the next day.

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The Parlor

The Parlor serves great pizza and beer in the Hyde Park area.  It's right across from Hyde Park Theatre, so we combined dinner here with a show. The pizza crust is thick and there are some good beers on tap.  They have many topping options, including vegan cheese.

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Waffles

Waffles is a tiny food trailer right near campus, at about 24th & San Antonio St.  They sell several breakfast items- American waffles, Belgian waffles and crepes.  The toppings will satisfy any sweet tooth.  The business is owned and run by students so give them a try!

Click on the menu to see it larger:

Tiny but delicious Belgian waffle topped with chocolate:

Crepe filled with nutella and strawberries.  You really can't go wrong with this combo, but there is so much crepe competition now, there are better ones to be had around town.

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Taste No Evil Muffin Co.

Taste No Evil Muffins are served out of a trailer on south Lamar.  They now serve fruit smoothies in addition to coffee & tea.  The muffins are made from all natural ingredients and come in a variety of flavors.  You can call ahead with an order or just show up at the truck like we did.  $13 for the half-dozen muffins pictured below.

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Woodland

The Woodland in Austin serves upscale comfort food in an atmosphere that feels like a fairy tale forest.  They're in a prime location on South Congress and the prices are a little high for the type of food, but luckily we were armed with a Groupon which meant our meal was half price. 

FINO

I am so glad we finally tried this place out.  And on a perfect day, too- we sat outside and the weather was so nice. 

Come on Saturday between 5 and 7 pm to enjoy their Saturday happy hour.. $6 classic cocktails and small plates for $2 or $3.  (Click on the menu to see it larger)
The "Brandy Daisy" is apparently the inspiration for several modern drinks such as the Margarita.  It had a nice citrusy flavor, not too sweet.
These are all pre-prohibition cocktails.  People liked delicious drinks 100 years ago too.

Ok, so I'm trying this whole "after the jump" thing.  Notice the "Click here" below for seeing the rest of the food and drink!  Just click it.  You won't be sorry.

Chupacabra Cantina

Chupacabra is a new bar/restaurant next to The Jackalope on 6th street.  They've got a variety of drinks (I was excited to see that the frozen margaritas are served in real glasses) as well as some standard Tex-Mex fare.

It was a nice little place, so we hope they stick around.  Their frozen margaritas come in a variety of flavors and are $5.50 each.  From their website it looks like during happy hour you can get imported beer for $2, and $2 off all tequilas.

Bananarchy

After reading about this place on various websites, we had to give it a try. Bananarchy ("Revolutionary Desserts") sells frozen bananas dipped in various coatings from a small trailer in south Austin. I'm not sure what's so revolutionary about spending $7 on two bananas at a private business, but I'm not really going to start complaining about false marketing when there's a chocolate & toffee covered banana calling my name.

These are much more filling than I expected. The coatings are thick and the toppings are generous.. by the end I kind of wondered if I should have gone with a half banana instead of stuffing my face with a whole one. Half bananas are $2.50, whole are $3.50.

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Hot Mama's Espresso Bar

We came to Hot Mama's thinking we'd get coffee, but ended up getting food and lavender lemonade! They've got a whole menu of delicious sounding and reasonably priced mostly Mediterranean-influenced food, as well as a variety of things to drink. Sorry I can't comment on their coffee.

Unfortunately for them, there's a lot of construction going on on the apartments above the stores, so it's hard to even see Hot Mama's store. You basically have to park and then work your way through the scaffolding to their door. Hopefully that will all be done soon!

Pho Thaison

This place has 4 locations in the Austin area. Who knew hot soup could do so well year round in Texas? Pho is just that good. They have tons of choices, as you can see on their website- pho, vermicelli bowls, lots of appetizers.

Chicken pho for $6:
Steak & brisket pho, $6.95:
Fried egg roll, $1 and spring roll, $1.50. And bubble tea (pearl tea) of course! It's hard to resist bubble tea when it's on the menu. The pineapple and Thai tea were just delicious.

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Delish! Shakes

Delish! Shakes is a cute little milkshake trailer on the northeast corner of 2nd & Congress. These shakes are out of this world. Probably not so great for the love handles, but you can walk it off by taking a stroll around Ladybird Lake after your shake, right? Getting great food from trailers is an awesome part of life in Austin. Who needs to go into an actual restaurant when you could grab something great from the sidewalk?

We tried the large orange creamsicle and cookies & cream shakes.. preparation takes a little while but it is worth the wait.

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Get Sum Dim Sum

I can't say I really like the cheesy name of this place, but I do love the concept. Dim Sum all day long, served quickly, and is it good? Yes. You walk in, grab a menu, and mark all of the items you want with the quantity you want. The prices are reasonable (around $2 to $5 for most plates) and there are many options to pick from.
Now, instead of waiting for Sunday brunch time to get Dim Sum, you can have it for dinner on a Wednesday night. How could that ever be wrong?

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Green Pastures- Restaurant Week

Restaurant Week happens twice a year in Austin, and there are some amazing deals to be had. Do some menu checking though- sometimes the prices on the fixed price restaurant week menu aren't much different from what the regular prices are. We decided to try Green Pastures this Restaurant Week since the 3-course price of $25 is similar to what just an entree alone usually costs here.

Green Pastures is in a beautiful old house in South Austin. It's a popular spot for weddings, and we can see why. Peacocks roam the grounds, and the house itself is gorgeous.

For appetizers, one of the three choices was the tempura lobster tail, delicious and wonderfully prepared.

Rio Grande

Yes... more Mexican food. My mom was in town, and she literally wants Mexican & Tex-Mex for every meal of the day while she's in Texas. Rio Grande is a great downtown spot, and it's actually inside the former location of the Real World Austin house. They've recently revamped the place, and it looks much nicer and less Real-Worldy now. The interior is cozy and the outdoor area is spacious.

Queso.. how can you go wrong with queso? It looked huge when they brought it out, but somehow it was gone in minutes. ($6.95)
For entrees we tried the enchiladas de espinaca (spinach enchiladas) for $11.50, the grilled veggie fajitas ($13.50), and the enchiladas verde (with chicken), $11.50. Everything is served with rice and beans of course. On the pricier side for this kind of food, but the quality and atmosphere make it worth it.

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