Lift Cafe

Lift Cafe is tucked into an apartment building just south of downtown.  You can't miss it due to the massive size of the sign on the front window.  They've got free parking at the building, and the interior of the shop is really cute.
Just look at that stool. I told you it was cute.  The menu is filled with coffee, coffee smoothies, fruit smoothies, and some basic food items.

Zuzu's

I dream about queso all day and all night. Have I admitted this before? I barely had it before moving to Austin. Now that I'm here, it's a constant inner battle to keep myself from eating it at every meal. Zuzu has basic but tasty queso and crisp chips. $3.95.

Kneaded Pleasures

Kneaded Pleasures is a breakfast and lunch/bakery/gelato place.  They've got a lot of basic soups, sandwiches and salads along with breakfast pastries and a variety of desserts.

Yes, I did stick all the olives into Ryan's sandwich.  Roma tomato & mozzarella sandwich with chips, $5.95:

The breads were probably the best part.  I didn't really like the chips, not salty enough!

Eatin' Cheap in 2010

A couple of new discount sites have entered the scene in Austin since 2009.. which is really exciting for me as a discount queen. 

The first is Groupon.com.  This site offers a daily discount to a restaurant, store or services in the Austin area.  For example, today for $10 you can buy a groupon that entitles you to $20 worth of food & drink at Chango's.  That's 50% off!  Check the details to see when your groupon expires and if anything is excluded.

Next is LivingSocial.com.  This is a very new deal site and I haven't yet seen them post a deal for a restaurant (so far it's been deals for services and stores, like today's deal for a 90-minute massage for $39) but they do say that restaurants and bars will be among the deals they offer.  LivingSocial is similar to Groupon in that you purchase the deal immediately and use it later. 

An oldie but goodie and favorite of mine:  Restaurant.com.  I can't even tell you how many times I've used this site.  You can get certificates here for $10 off a $20 meal,  $25 off a $35 meal, $50 off a $100 meal, and so on.  The certificates are listed as costing $4 and up, but don't pay that for them- get on their mailing list for emails with promo codes that entitle you to up to 80% off the price of the certificates.  You can end up buying a $25 certificate for only $2!

Finally, something that you probably know about if you have kids but have forgotten about if you don't:  Entertainment books.  Remember selling these in school as a kid?  If you don't know any kids you can easily buy the book through their website.  They are chock full of coupons and discounts to various restaurants, stores, theaters, museums, and services around town.  After using just 2 or 3 coupons the book will have paid for itself!

Chowing in San Antonio

Any time we're in San Antonio, we always have to come and eat at the Riverwalk. It may be a little touristy, but it's gorgeous and nothing beats relaxing with some food and drink on the water.  There are a number of different restaurants to choose from, everything from fine dining to the requisite Tex-Mex.

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La Boite Cafe

Yes, this really is a coffee shop inside a shipping container!  La Boite Cafe is the first ever shipping container cafe in Austin and we had to check it out.  The coffee is great, and the pastries are downright delicious.  So flaky and fresh and hot (popped in the oven briefly before being given to us).  This place is promising and we hope it sticks around.

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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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