Cafe Blue

So, unfortunately I was too distracted by the beautiful view to take photos of the food.  Cafe Blue has a great menu with a variety of standard fare, like sandwiches, burgers, seafood, etc.  You eat in an outdoor dining room that's literally right over the water.  On this Saturday evening we were able to get a table at the edge, and watched the gorgeous sunset!

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Galaxy Cafe

I've written about Galaxy Cafe before, and usually don't like to blog twice about the exact same restaurant, but just had to share a photo of their "french toast deluxe" ($7.99).  Yummmmm! 

Galaxy Cafe has several locations in Austin, and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.  You can order from the breakfast menu until 4 PM on the weekends, which is great. Below is a mozzarella and tomato sandwich with a side of sweet potato fries ($7.29).  If you haven't yet jumped on the sweet potato fry bandwagon, you must!

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Joe's Bakery

While waiting for a table at Joe's, you're forced to gaze into their bakery display case.  Of course, we all had to buy something.  They have a bunch of breads, cookies, etc. for cheap.

Mmmm, queso ($4.09).  Why does it always look so insurmountable when it arrives at the table, and yet is gone so quickly??

You can order from the breakfast or lunch menu.  The migas were pretty standard, a yummy mess of grease and eggs. ($5.79)

The chicken quesadillas ($6.69) came with rice and sooo many beans.  Everything came with a lot of beans.

Seriously, beans were eating our meal.  Oh well, they were pretty good.  This is the enchilada plate ($7.39).  I love Tex-Mex, but when I look back at the photos I sometimes think "wait... why?"

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Thai House

Thai House took the place of the Thai Passion location on Research Blvd.  Strange thing is that the food seems to be exactly the same, and at the time of our visit, the "Thai Passion" sign was still up.  The only thing that seems to have changed so far is that the menus say "Thai House" on them.  We're not complaining, we liked the food when it was Thai Passion and still like the food now.  Red Curry is shown above, and below is fried rice.

The fried jasmine rice balls with curry are spicy and delicious.  Is there anything that can't be made better by frying it?

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Thistle Cafe

We came here because we had a coupon, and ended up really liking it.  There's a nice outdoor seating area that was practically empty.  For starters, the tortilla soup... just the right amount of spicy. 

And a cranberry-goat cheese-candied pecans salad.  Yum. 

The BBQ chicken wrap was good, a nice mix of ingredients.  It came with a side of sweet potato fries. 

The house salad was a little more exciting than a typical house salad because of the feta cheese. 

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360 Uno

Look! It's an Italian cafe!  Oh wait, no, we're still in Texas.

This little shop serves gelato, desserts, coffee, and wine.  The guy at the counter warned me that the cake might be dry and if it was I could bring it back for something else, which I thought was weird.  Why didn't he test it to see if it is dry and if it is, throw it out so that people aren't tempted by that delicious looking chocolate cake in the case?  It was a little dry, but I wanted the chocolate!  

Another shot of the interior:

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Chowing in Houston

We had an amazing weekend getaway last month to Houston- saw a free performance of CATS at Miller Outdoor Theater, went to a free electronic music festival at Discovery Green Park, and attended Japan Fest, which was a free Japanese festival at Hermann Park.  Oh, and did I mention everything was free? :-)

Didn't go too crazy with the eating out- went to a few cute places around the areas we were sightseeing.  CoCo's crepes was a must-visit for me because of my love for crepes.  They had all kinds of both savory & sweet crepes... and delicious fruit smoothies.

Mmmm... spinach and ricotta crepe with a sun dried tomato sauce, and a strawberry mango smoothie.

Must leave room for a dessert crepe!  I was so stuffed but managed to enjoy this anyway.  Nutella & strawberries inside and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

How can you not stop at a place called TART cafe?? 

Chicken pesto tart with a side salad.  

Mushroom tart with a side salad.. both great.  Perfect meal after walking around all morning.

Only had room for mini dessert tarts.  Coconut & margarita.  The margarita one was better.

CoCo's Crepes

TART cafe

Hudson's on the Bend

Yum. What an awesome meal.  I'm so glad we snagged two livingsocial.com vouchers for $20 3-course meals at Hudson's on the Bend.  There's no way we would have come here without them!  I still can't believe we got these multi-course meals for just $20 each.  The regular price is $39 for the 3 courses. 

To start off, we were served delicious warm bread with some flavorful butters.

For the first course, we both selected the chipotle lobster bisque with puff pastry.  The soup was flavorful and amazing and the puff pastry was crisp and perfect for soaking up the soup. 

Yes, that is a flower on my meal.  I got the pecan crusted snapper served with corn bread pudding.. it was wonderful.  I wanted to eat a bucket of that corn bread pudding. 

The other entree option was the pecan grilled venison served with ancho mashed potatoes, also delicious.  The presentation of these dishes was just awesome. 

For dessert, we each ordered one of the two options and split them.  We recommend this strategy!  The desserts on the 3-course menu were warm berry flambe...

and chambord chocolate mousse with legs of fudge.  We were practically licking the glasses to get every last bit. 

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Sweetish Hill Bakery & Cafe

I love little places where you can sit outside and snack on light lunch/breakfast items.  Unfortunately it was windy when we went, but I insisted on eating outside.  We just had to do a little maneuvering to keep stuff from flying away. 

We had two soup/salad combos, both with the pesto chicken half-sandwich.  The soups for the day were a corn chowder and a vegetable soup.. both good.  

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Annie's

I have been looking at and drooling over Annie's happy hour menu for a while now, and just had to go and check it out.  Above is a French 75- all cocktails are $3 off at happy hour, which made this drink $5. 

Prawns, $5.

I enjoyed the margherita pizza ($5), but wanted a little more cheese.

The truffle fries ($3) were the best part, I have a weakness for skinny fries! 

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Sugar Mama's Bakeshop

How can you not love a place that specializes in cupcakes?  Sugar Mama's has delicious, cute cupcakes, and their variety of flavors include several vegan options.  A box of these makes an easy gift.  Below are the black & tan (top left), the southern belle (top right), Jack's lemon (bottom left) and carrot cake (bottom right).  Would recommend all of them! 

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Bess Bistro

Sandra Bullock's restaurant is warm, cozy, underground, and has an interesting menu that seems to be a compilation of one person's favorite dishes.  

Everything from seafood to steak to chicken pot pie can be found on the menu.  

Union Park

Perfect spring weather means spending as much time outside as possible.  Tons of restaurants and bars in Austin have outdoor patios, put them to use!  Union Park downtown has a great rooftop deck.. very relaxing, and as you can see not very crowded during the day. 

Jasper's

We had to try Jasper's in the Domain after seeing their $5 drinks and edibles menu (available all day every day in their bar & patio area).  These are quality drinks, and very tasty appetizers.  It's a great way to try this place out without breaking the bank.  Above is the Dirty Blue martini, below are the prime rib carne guisada flautas. 

This pizza (thick crust tomato mozzarella with veggie sausage) was just great.  I liked it that the crust remained light all the way to the edge, instead of becoming too chewy at the edges the way some crusts can get. 

The tortilla soup wasn't on the $5 menu, but it was only $6 and I love tortilla soup.  This one did not disappoint.  Very flavorful and with a good kick to it. 

House cut french fries, also from the regular menu, were just right.  Hot, crispy, salted.  And such a large portion! 

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