Torchy's has several locations in Austin. You can count on them for fresh & creative tacos, but the star of the show is the queso. This is some of the best queso around! Spicy but not too spicy, and with all kinds of yummy stuff mixed in. Just look at it. Mmmm. Chips and queso, $4, Breakfast tacos, $2.25 each, fried avocado taco, $3, the republican taco, $3.
Ok, so Wink is a very nice, very expensive place. I don't recommend coming here unless you're ok with spending quite a bit of money- prices are high and the portions are quite small. This dinner was a belated celebration of the anniversary of our engagement. I know it doesn't make much sense to celebrate this now that we're married, but whatever. Any excuse for a nice evening out, right? 
Wink has a nice wine selection, so we chose a white & red wine to have with our meal. The prices are all over the place- you'll be happy to know that there are several in the $5-9 range for a glass. For appetizer, we tried a salad with greens, feta, and sliced pear ($11); entrees were brown butter snapper with vegetables ($28) and beef tartare ($18). All small, but good. You may not leave feeling stuffed but you do get a food high!
Counter Cafe is a tiny place with great food. When you enter you think you're in for typical, basic diner food, but they go further than that. We had the crab cakes with egg ($9) and the grilled pimento cheese sandwich ($7). The crab cakes were delicious, and the grilled cheese is a must-try if you like grilled cheese sandwiches. The flavor of the cheeses with pimentos is just delicious!
The Holy Cacao trailer is strategically placed right next to Izzoz Tacos. Since Izzoz sells no desserts, of course it's hard to resist this little dessert trailer. They sell drinking chocolate, cake balls, and cake shakes. Cake shakes sound kind of horrifying to me- cake and icecream mixed together in a blender? Hmm. We tried the cake balls, only $1.50 each. Here you see the mint chocolate and dark chocolate cake ball. It's basically a small ball of cake mixed with icing covered in a chocolate coating. Honestly I prefer solid chocolate balls to ones filled with cake, but these are a cool concept.
Izzoz is a taco trailer in south Austin. Order some tacos at the window and then relax at a table while your tacos are whipped up for you. These tacos are delicious... I especially liked the migas taco. Below you see The Padre ($3), Portabello Shroom ($3), Ramses ($3.25), and Migas ($2.25). They put shredded fresh spinach leaves into the tacos instead of the typical iceburg lettuce.
Little City is an expresso bar and cafe downtown. They're exactly what you think of when you think of a coffee bar- quirky artwork on the walls, jazz music playing, cute little tables and uncomfortable chairs. Ryan got a bottomless cup of coffee ($2.50) and didn't have much to say about it, and I got a double shot mocha latte ($3.25) which was a mistake because I was totally wired all night. It was tasty though!
If you drive past the strip on Guadalupe all the time like we do, you can't miss TerraBurger. It's the new place with the huge sign boasting organic burgers. We each ordered exactly the same thing: Turkeyburgers and half n half fries (half regular, half sweet potato). At $5.95 for a burger and $1.90 for fries it's pretty pricey for fast food, but it tastes pretty fresh and the interior of the place is nice and clean. The fries taste like actual potatoes and aren't as greasy & crispy as other fast food joints. They also have some natural cane sugar sodas which we didn't try because we're both sort of in a battle with cavities and the dentist right now.
Portabla's sandwiches will please you even if sandwiches make you yawn. Their panini bread is so crisp and fresh, and the combination of ingredients they put together in each sandwich creates a party for your tastebuds. I tried the turkeyburger panini ($6.99) which was a special for the day and Ryan tried the Santa Fe panini ($6.99) because we were told it was their most popular. Both delicious. We also grabbed some cookies on our way out- snickerdoodle and peanut ($1.50 each). The cookies were huge and chewy, and gone before we could take photos!
Blue Dahlia is one of the cutest little places I've been to in Austin. They've created a French bistro style place, complete with a small cozy interior and patios in front and back. The area in back is spacious and filled with plants (pictured below). We tried the brie with walnuts and apricot preserves tartine (in the large photo), $6.50. The best part about the tartines is the bread- it's fresh and the texture is so much better than your typical lunch sandwich. The butternut squash soup ($3.95) was also good. Other winners were the hummus with avocado & sprouts tartine ($6.50) and the bread pudding.
