After four months in Austin, I have been trying to get a nice grasp of the culinary scene here in the hub of Central Texas. So when a friend and ex-Alice’s co-worker came to visit, here was my opportunity to strut my stuff. Noel has been to Austin many times before and as a freelance music writer, I knew she’d be showing me a bit of MY town but I knew I had my own goal in showing off the food scene. I wanted to show that Austin had more to offer beyond Tex-Mex and Magnolia Diner. So here is the lowdown of what I’ve learned and the places I’ve put under my proverbial cowboy belt:
South Congress Café:
Straight off of a plane and what better way to spend an afternoon than shopping on South Congress. In addition to some new purple flats that I’ve worn everyday since, Noel and I had a nice lunch. Cute ambience and a great place to hit mid-shopping. The kind of place where everyone is guaranteed to like something and it’s guaranteed to be good. Very similar to a New Jersey diner- but you know, cuter. We had some shrimp quesadillas to start and I enjoyed a beef tenderloin salad with apples and gorgonzola. Nice cut of meat and light dressing and I was pretty satisfied. Noel started off with some huevos rancheros in order to get her Texas on.
Bess Bistro on Pecan:
Bess Bistro is most-well known for being owned by Sandra Bullock. The place has food to back up the hype though. We deliberated over many Restaurant Week menus and this one seemed the most accessible and fun. We sat in the bar area as the dining room held a 20-minute wait but we had it to ourselves. Peeking into the dining area though, it had a nice and homey feel. The food also holds a comfort food kind of feel. We shared crispy artichokes- fried with a nice lemon zing and garlic aioli which can never go wrong in my opinion. Though, the main courses were my favorite part of the meal. I’m going to preface this by saying that I’m going through a strange risotto phase- it might be the Italian girl in me that was deprived of chicken stock for so many years or maybe because it’s just so damn good but the risotto on this menu made this girl happy. It was made with mascarpone (yum), arugula (yeah), and English peas. It makes up for the fact that they ran out of scallops and I had halibut instead. Halibut was good but I would have died over scallops. Dessert left a bit to be desired- a lemon tart and a chicory brownie. It’s sweet and tart and lovely but no better than others I’ve had.
Houndstooth Coffee:
I’ve been judged a million times at work for spending any time at Starbucks in between shifts when I have Houndstooth Coffee right down the street. We enjoyed a fresh-brewed coffee (yes, better than Starbucks, but what isn’t these days?) and a Snickerdoodle cookie. It seems as if Houndstooth has coffee tastings and a lot of fun goings-on that I’ll have to look more into but having worked at a specialty tea house, I can dig people who care about the bean if you know what I mean. Coffee was fresh-brewed and smooth and a nice window seat made for some good conversation.
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