More: What I've Been Eating

Greetings from South Austin! I've been doing my best to try to support South Austin restaurants, with a few exceptions. Here's a look at what I've been making and getting for take out in the past two months. Caution: may make you hungry! 😂

Homemade: pasta in light cream sauce with asparagus, bacon, pine nuts and parm.

Homemade: coconut cream tarte

Bouldin Creek Cafe veggie burger

Homemade: chili (with beans!) and skillet cornbread

Vespaio canneloni, arancini, beet salad. These were fabulous and I got about three meals out of this.

A dear friend sent me this Bokksu box of Japanese snacks! So much fun!

Homemade: air fryer churros! Easy and yummy!
 (Though not as good as the nearby Churro food trailer!)

Habana pollo salteado, empanada, tres leches

La Patisserie morning bun, croissant, almond macaroon

La Patisserie chocolate hazelnut cake

Homemade: pasta with corn pesto

Bao'd Up BBQ chicken bao

Slab BBQ pork ribs

Tarka's lamb biryani and chicken korma. I can't not get the korma! 

Homemade: raw beet salad, with fennel, red onion and haloumi

Beet issues 😀

Soup Peddler: grilled cheese + salad

Sugar Mama's carrot cupcake and bourbon pecan bar

El Dorado beef enchiladas with calabazas (squash). This was a fabulous evening, being socially distant with friends in north central Austin. Food and friends were excellent! 

A friend and I both ordered carry out from Fat Dragon, coordinated our pick up times, and sat in the parking lot with our cars dovetailed together so we could eat and talk.  Delicious lamb cilantro dumplings and below, dry fried green beans.

Coffee bourbon browned butter blondies. See my previous post!

Artipasta: bolognese + lemon cream sauces for another evening of social distance with a friend.

Thai Fresh pad thai, tom yum soup, veggies

Elizabeth Street Cafe banh cuon and pesty cat.

Oh my. This Queen Beak (fried chicken biscuit) from Bird Bird Biscuit is one of the finer things I have eaten lately! This is the naked version, as I got my chipotle aioli and hot honey on the side, and as I was eating (and photographing) this from my car, the pics with the sauces on them aren't super. This was messy. But worth every bite.

Dolce Neve gelato

Homemade: pao de queijo (Brazilian cheese balls)

Loro: bavette, corn fritters, won ton chips + dips. The bavette is quite good, but somehow I can't get these lightly seasoned won ton chips with peanut sambal out of my mind.

I've heard the buzz about La Tunita 512, and had to go check it out. The consume with birria is delicious! Should have gotten the torta special to dip in the consume -- next time! 

Hungry? Yeah, me too. Time for my next meal! And I should add (and had mentioned in my May post), I've been doing intermittent fasting, so eating all these lovelies, and I am down 20 pounds total! 

What's on your menu?

January's Best Bites: From the Tried + True to Brand New

If you've been following my Instagram account (hint, hint!) you may have seen some of the places I have eaten this month. Here's a recap of a few of the stellar things I have had; maybe I'll make this a monthly feature!

This is a special order lamb and prune tajine is from my favorite trailer, The Flying Carpet.  The lamb was incredibly tender and just melted in your mouth. Check their website for items that can be ordered 24 hours in advance; they also have an indoor eating space that will transport you to Morocco!

Here's the Hot Chocolate Gianduja Cake from Red Ash, a chocolate lover's dream! The crunchy bits added a nice textural contrast, along with the ice cream. We also loved the hot bread with garlic, but the burrata and gorgonzola gnocchi left me underwhelmed. But I would certainly go back for this and a nice glass of Italian red wine.

Award-winning Confituras, long a staple at area farmer's markets with their seasonal jams and canned goods, has finally opened their forever-home on Goodrich, off South Lamar.  Get fresh hot biscuits with butter or a rotating jam selection, along with coffee or tea. As a community kitchen, they will soon be offering classes and an expanded menu, stay tuned!

I was invited to the media preview at Fareground (at 111 Congress Avenue) the first urban food hall in Austin, and their opening is a reason for rejoicing. Six purveyors (Easy Tiger, Antonelli's Cheese, Henbit, Contigo, Ni-Kome, and Dai Due) plus a bar all operate seven days a week. Pictured is the wild boar taco al pastor from Dai Due Taqueria  that had amazing flavors and a housemade blue corn tortilla.

Also at Fareground, these chocolate chunk cookies from Henbit (offshoot of Emmer + Rye) were warm and delicious.

Recently opened in Lamar Union, TLC Austin seeks to bring Texas comfort food with a coastal influence to the masses. This vegetarian sandwich called The Enlightenment was just that! Stuffed with watermelon radish, cheddar, carrots, cukes, avocado and pesto, it was held together by a sturdy grainy bread. And only $8. Raw oysters and boils also available.

What have YOU eaten recently that you loved? What do I need to check out? Share in the comments! Happy eating!

El Burro: New Fresh and Casual Mexican in Lamar Union

Editor's note 7/12/2017: El Burro closed in early July. {That didn't last long!}

I met a friend last month at the new El Burro, sibling to VOX Table, both in Lamar Union at 1100 South Lamar Blvd. Having just opened earlier this winter, I was curious to try it and hopefully include them in my guide to the Best Mexican Food in Austin, and they did not disappoint! Plus they recently started a happy hour program, which will certainly encourage my return.

We sat outside on the patio, which did have heaters (and hopefully those will turn into misters as the weather heats up), and fortunately since we were on the driveway side, the noise from the Lamar Blvd. traffic wasn't too bad. Also fun to people watch at this new, hip complex.

I started with a lovely sangria and my friend a classic margarita.

Okay, admittedly it's been a month since I was there, and I didn't write down what my friend had, but I think this is the carnitas taco plate with green salsa. She was rather pleased with it!

Mine is definitely the al pastor! Decent corn tortillas, very nice flavor and tenderness to the pork. I almost always feel that al pastor tacos should have a teeny bit more pineapple than what they come with, but the pickled onions were a nice addition. Now the menu calls this avocado salsa, but it was certainly more of a sauce than salsa. But I would still order them again!

The El Burro website mentions free valet parking, and also has an online ordering feature that's coming soon. So whether you are planning on dining in or getting food to go, you've got options on how to get your El Burro fix!

Best Bites of 2016

It's been a bit since I've blogged, and now I've decided to scramble and put together a post on the best things I ate this past year. There's some places I've been meaning to write about, but time has just sped along! Here's my recap of another very tasty year. All photos © South Austin Foodie 2016.

Rockman's Basque Cake at Cafe No Se

Duck confit tacos on jicama tortilla at Vinaigrette

Potato churros at VOX Table... their bread + cultured butter are outstanding too! 

Proscuitto and apricot jam crepe at Crepe Crazy.... sweet and savory.

Ceviche at Alcomar  (no filter!)

Pork arepa from Four Brothers trailer

My biscuits!

Ippudo ramen in Kyoto

Eel donburi bowl in Oyabe, Japan....so amazingly fresh.. best meal of the trip.

Opie's BBQ in Spicewood, still my regional fave

Vietnamese crepe (banh xeo) from Sunflower

Parker house rolls stuffed with pork at Odd Duck

Sue's lobster roll, Kittery, Maine...lobstah!

Kao soi at Tuk Tuk

Sesame balls at Wu Chow...also the amazing soup dumplings

Butternut squash toast at Forthright

Catfish po'boy at Deckhands, but don't forget the Thai dishes like the Crying Boar salad!

Happy New Year, thanks for reading, and keep on eating!