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Eatocracy’s got boots on the ground at the annual South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, and we’re prepping for the third edition of our Secret Supper. While we're down here, we're immersing ourselves in the local tastes that not only “keep Austin weird” but also make it uniquely delicious. Here’s what’s on the menu. Despite only being available in about a quarter of the nation’s supermarkets, Blue Bell ice cream is consistently found in the top three best-selling ice creams in the United States. It offers year-round flavors like Cookies n' Cream and Homemade Vanilla, and seasonal or rotational flavors like Chocolate Covered Strawberries or Southern Blackberry Cobbler. Breakfast tacos - The traditional taco - a corn, or sometimes flour, tortilla folded and stuffed with a mixture of meat, vegetables and/or cheese - gets a scrambled eggs and breakfast meat (bacon, sausage) filling. Brisket - This is the cut of meat from the breast or lower chest area (between the two front legs) of a cow. Just as pulled pork is king in Carolina barbecue, brisket is the meat of choice in Texas. In the Hill Country of Central Texas, brisket is typically slow-smoked over post oak with a dry spice rub. Carnitas – While the literal translation means “little meats,” carnitas are first slowly simmered until fork tender, before the chunks get crisped in their own fat for crispiness. The resulting meat can be served as is, or used as a filling for tortillas. Unless otherwise noted, carnitas are typically made of pork shoulder. Ceviche/Seviche – A dish of raw seafood and/or shellfish that is essentially "cooked" by the acid of a citrus juice marinade - typically made of lemons and limes. Depending on the regional variation, finely sliced onions, peppers or other vegetables and herbs are tossed with the seafood mixture. Chili con carne - This hearty dish consists of chopped chile peppers, chili powder and chopped beef all stewed together. Some will vehemently argue that true Texas chili does not contain beans or tomatoes. Texas food writer Robb Walsh traces the origin of chili con carne to San Antonio, but the stew is seen on menus all across Austin. Cowboy (Texas) caviar – No fish eggs in sight: this type of "caviar" is a black-eyed pea salad of diced onion, peppers and garlic that is tossed with Italian dressing. It is typically marinated in the refrigerator for 24 hours and then served cold. Some recipes also add black beans. Enchiladas - A savory filling of beef, chicken, beans and/or cheese is rolled up in flour tortillas. The stuffed tortillas are then placed seam side down in a dish before being covered with a red chili sauce and cheese and baked. Flautas - Flour tortillas are rolled tightly around a typically savory filling before being deep-fried. The finished product resembles a flute, hence the translation. Kolaches – This lightly sweet Czech yeast bun can be savory, with a meat and cheese filling, or sweet, stuffed with fruits like prunes and strawberries and cream cheese. Huevos rancheros – Fried eggs are placed atop warm tortillas and smothered with Ranchero sauce, a red chile sauce. Some adaptations include a layer of pico de gallo, refried pinto beans or Cotija cheese. Machacado – Dried spiced beef, or beef jerky. Menudo – This red chile-based stew of beef tripe and hominy is also a popular hangover remedy. Michelada - This spicy beer cocktail of tomato juice (often Clamato), lime, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, hot sauce and ice, with a salt and chili powder rim is an Austin wake-me-up staple. Migas – In this popular breakfast dish, eggs are scrambled with tortilla strips (often leftover and stale), jalapeños, cheese and tomato salsa. Mole – This long-simmered, laborious sauce is used to lacquer meats. The most recognized version is mole poblano - a deep, brown sauce of chiles, spices, seeds, nuts and chocolate. Mole (pronounced mo-lay) often contains more than 20 ingredients and comes in many hues, including mole verde (green), mole negro (black) and pipián (burnt orange coloring). Nopales – These are the green pads of the nopal, or prickly pear cactus. The spines are carefully removed with a knife or peeler before the cactus can be consumed raw or cooked. Queso fresco – This "fresh cheese" is a white cheese, made with cow's and/or goat's milk, with a somewhat salty taste. Its crumbly texture, similar to feta, is sprinkled on dishes as a finishing garnish. Tamale – Various fillings of meat and vegetables are surrounded by a masa harina-based dough (a golden corn flour). The dough is then wrapped in corn husks (or sometimes banana leaves) and steamed until the dough is cooked through. Avoid a rookie mistake: the corn husk is not meant to be eaten. Texas praline - Similar to the New Orleans praline, Texas pralines are sweet patty candies made with Texas pecans. Texas-style pralines are chewier and more caramel in nature, as opposed to their Big Easy counterpart which are a bit more grainy-textured. Did we happen to overlook your favorite taste of Austin? Trot on over to the comment section. Also – What's Next? CNN@SXSW |
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I have researched the origin of many basic foods of Mexico including tacos and enchiladas, and have compiled it in a book The Buen Provecho Book, available on amazon.com. It explains the historic, cultural and linguistic origin of of terms like taco and enchilada and tamal and salsa through Mexican food sayings. It is humourous and enlightening, with many color photos. Many people even here in Mexico do not realize there is a right side and a wrong side to a corn tortilla! Y se creen muy salsas! meaning they think they are such "big wigs"! or even "know it alls". I hope a few of you check it out!
Sounds like Spam-A-Roni to me!!
Only one glaring omission for me: Fried Okra! I moved away for several years and searched everywhere for fried okra. They had fried pickles and zucchini, but fried okra seems to have a much bigger stronghold in Texas. I grew up in Austin, so I consider it a local food.
Other mentionables (and I know this is post-SXSW but it's a fun conversation): Tito's vodka, Hill Country wines, Fireman's #4, Treaty Oak Rum... we have a pretty decent hometown liquor cabinet in ATX you know!
The quintessential Austin meal would be a post-gig 2am flour-tortilla breakfast taco with a side of kerbey queso or mag mud, a swig of Lone Star or Shiner Bock, and a scoop of Amy's Mexican Vanilla ice cream over Fredericksburg peach cobbler for dessert. And fair-trade organic coffee. All with your band's drummer and those European tourists who you just met after the show but you're already making plans to hang out with on the Greenbelt tomorrow, if you call in sick to your Dell job...
see more here now
http://machahir123.blogspot.com/
Ay ay ay... Enchiladas and flautas are made with corn tortillas. You *can* make "enchiladas" with flour tortillas, but that's technically a chimichanga.
Good list, though. I'd add queso (from Magnolia Cafe, Torchy's, or Kerbey Lane) and snow cones with chamoy or chile (The Snow Cone on Far West has the best in town)to round things out a bit. :)
I have researched the origin of many basic foods of Mexico including tacos and enchiladas, and have compiled it in a book The Buen Provecho Book, available on amazon.com. It explains the historic, cultural and linguistic origin of of terms like taco and enchilada and tamal and salsa through Mexican food sayings. It is humourous and enlightening, with many color photos. Many people even here in Mexico do not realize there is a right side and a wrong side to a corn tortilla! Y se creen muy salsas! meaning they think they are such "big wigs"! or even "know it alls". I hope a few of you check it out!
I'm sure some people use oak to barbecue, but really it's all about Mesquite for barbecue in Texas! They even sell mesquite charcoal briquets at the grocery store! (I've heard LBJ's bbq man preferred hickory, though. )
Man, all this talk about Texas and Austin is making me so homesick – tears are splashing on my keyboard right now! I've been in Seattle for three years now and if there is anything I miss about Austin, TX it's the food and arguing about it like any decent Texan! Keep it weird ya'll!
Franklin's BBQ on E.11th St. has the best brisket I've ever had. It's now in the old Ben's Long Branch Saloon location.
I think the moral of the comments is - Dont Mess with Texas... or its food!
nothing beats a good plate of mole over shredded chicken with a side of ceviche!
AMY's ICE CREAM MEXICAN VANILLA
bluebell is good but Amy's is the best of Austin full stop.
Blue Bell is the cheap Walmart version of ice cream. It's mostly sugar & water and is the most flavorless ice cream on the market. Häagen-Dazs is the best ice cream in the grocery store – followed closely by gelato from Talenti.
Chalupas / Tostadas are another staple of Tex-Mex Fare. It is a flat fried corn tortilla filled with refried beans (that works like a paste to keep all of the ingredients in place) ground meat, steak or chicken, and topped with cheese, lettuce, sour cream and salsa. Chalupas resembles a Tex-Mex taco inside. However, it is not wrapped like a taco. It is served open faced.
The name for the dish is interchangeable either Chalupa or Tostada.
Tostadas are not a staple of Tex Mex. They are actually authentically Mexican and brought over to Texas. The name chalupa was adapted here to replace the name tostadas. In Mexico, tostadas are part of the the sopes, tlacoyos, and huraches family. All a form/ version of corn masa fried and topped with re-fried beans, a type of guisado (carne en salsa roja, pollo en salsa roja, tinga, etc) or rajas con queso, queso fresco and crema.
Check out your own slideshow above, CNN - photos 4 and 5 show tacos and flautas wrapped in, heh heh, corn. But go on; tell us they're flour.
Masa Herina is Corn FLOUR Numnuts. Get your shite straight before making another stupid comment!
Should be Masa Harina-Didn't do well in Spanish class.:)
masa harina is flour dough.
"masa" translates to "dough" and "harina" to "flour"!!! Mar-z, you definitely did much better in Spanish class than numnuts RichardHead!!!!
Corn Flour,Puhleeeeeeeeeeze!
Arina de Maiz or commonly known by the brand Mazeca... come on, you can't be that stupid?!
Can I at least get points for passing Spanish class? :)
There is an amazing movement of haute cuisine out of trailers and trucks in Austin. Some of the chefs from some of THE FINEST restaurants in town have trucks and trailers that serve amazing food and cheap prices...
Because they are so frickin good...Torchy's Tacos. Nuff said.
Holy Cacao was named the best hot chocolate in the US, and they have Smores on a stick and Cake Balls (how can you go wrong?). Cutie Pie Wagon was named the best buttermilk pie in the south and was featured in Martha Stewart mag. Oh, but then there is the serious food...
1. East Side King – incredible trailer food from the chefs who also work at Uchi (the best sushi in Austin). I love the fried brussel sprout salad and pork belly and cucumber kimchee on steamed buns.
2. Turf N Surf – You just didn't know how good a shrimp po boy could be outside of Louisiana, but these are awesome.
3. Coreanos – Korean meets Mexican. Yep, I said it. Awesome marinated tofu TACOS. Korean food srtuffed into tortillas and Tex-Mex spices and ingredients added to the lot. It is INCREDIBLE.
4. Odd Duck Farm to Trailer – Finer Dining in small portions but small prices and all fresh from the farm. Awesome.
5. The Mighty Cone – From the owners of Hudson's on the Bend, the Hot n Crunchy Avacado and Chicken Cone. There are no words.
good list! I'm thrilled that we have such a cool food trailer culture here. I can't get enough of the East Side Kings brussels sprouts! And Cutie Pies– now that one is opening a brick-and-mortar cafe soon with her new business partner, the owner of Torchy's (on Burnet Road)... but she says she'll hopefully still have the SoCo trailer!
Please, clear up this mistake – Enchiladas are made with CORN tortillas not flour tortillas. I am a Texan that moved up North. Good tip on the tamale husks as they are not available in many places. Texas has the best Mexican food!
Thank you!!!!
Heh. Asking a taco truck (?) what's authentic to a place (!) is all kinds of laughable. I mean, come on - they Just Drove Up. But there's hope for them yet: start those trucks right up, fellas; drive out west; buy an actual brick n mortar house in El Paso; and get yer study on. (Can't wait for your return! - with flautas and enchiladas appropriately bedecked in their proper corn fineries.)
Trucks and trailers in Austin will give you a food experience like you never dreamed of. I've been to El Paso, I think you should try going to Austin.
Mizz Carol: Not saying trucks ain't serving up good, I'm just saying they've got no claim to tortilla truths. And if you're holding up Austin as an exemplar of Mexican food that bests the border region, then you ain't really been to El Paso - you've just been through it. Which is ok, too, since it sounds like it's been through with you.
Hey – this made me nostalgic....away from Austin but gave me a warm feeling ..Thanks The List is mostly TexMex. Austin is famous for BBQs....Rudy's BBQ....and other BBQs and everything has king sized portions !!
I think someone more familiar with Austin should have written this article. #1 Brenham is EAST of Austin. A glance at a map would have cleared that up. #2 I wouldn't call Blue Bell's followers a "cult". It is so delicious, but mainstream in Texas. #3 ditto all of the comments about which types of tortillas are used on which types of food. #4 Ceviche?! Austin is not on a coastline! #5 the queso mentioned is tasty, but not what you get when you order "queso" in a restaurant. #6 what about guacamole, margaritas (hooray for mentioning the michelada, though). Still, this article is kind of pathetic overall. Defer to local writers when reviewing local foods.
Agreed. AND WHO EATS BLUE BELL IN AUSTIN? It's all abvout Amy's Ice Cream! Amy's Mexican Vanilla is a favorite of just about everyone in this town. And you said margaritas...the AVACADO MARGARITAS at Curra's Grill, which is awesome authentic Interior Mexican as well and damn good Tex-Mex.
Yes, Carol Mc- it IS all about the Amy's Ice Cream in Austin!!!! Mexican Vanilla and Strawberries are my FAVORITE!
Those insisting that "tacos" are only made with corn tortillas are incorrect–tacos can be made with either kind of tortilla, although typically in Texas, only breakfast tacos and fajitas are served with flour tortillas. The "truck taco" phenomenon is a recent thing that's been influenced by a lot of non-Texas food concepts (especially Californian), so I wouldn't look there for your authentic Texas tacos. I also want to agree with the chorus of Texans who have pointed out that enchiladas are NOT made with flour tortillas–those are the enchirritos at Taco Bell! Traditional Tex-Mex enchiladas are always made with corn tortillas, sharp cheddar or a cheddar/jack mixture, and a red sauce. My family also puts a little raw onion inside the enchiladas to melt in with the cheese!
My favorite enchiladas come with a green tomatillo and sour cream sauce.
tomatillo + sour cream = suizas, in case you're ever curious about that on the menu. My favorite– Polvo's or Curra's.
Austin's got the Tex-Mex; yes San Antonio has better but don't generalize. Austin has the variety too, and wish so many restaurants of all kinds all over town, you're sure to get something you'll love and try something new. Y'all missed discussing GUACAMOLE. The clean version has ripe avocadoes, cilantro, lime juice, and salt, but you can add any number of ingredients to personalize it: a half shot of tequila, tomato, onion, chopped jalapeno, a dollop of cream cheese (for body and tang), chopped mango. Add or don't add, it's the Dip of Texas.
I love the food in the Austin area; though, a lot of these are Mexican and San Antonio has better Mexican food. Also, mole can sometimes be hard to find. It's a traditional Mexican sauce, so it's most likely to be found in more authentic restaurants or in more expensive restaurants that serve interior Mexican food. Brisket, kolaches, and Blue Bell are truely Texas items and not always easy to find out of state. Though, the small towns around Texas are best at these – brisket in Lockhart and Luling and kolaches in West or La Grange.
OMG.... Been away for too long and I miss the 'land of milk & honey'! These posts remind me my old favs like the beef ribs at Ironworks, The Don Juan at Juan in a Million, burgers at Players or Dan's Hamburgers, King Ranch Casserole (or anything from the menu) at Threadgill's, Mexican Vanilla at Amy's, anything from the menu at Kerbey Lane, and peanut butter pie from Magnolia.... Mmmmm..... Yes, I left my heart and stomach in Austin.... Must go back for both. ;)
Outback Steakhouse uses Blue Bell ice cream for their desserts :) it's delicious.
What I wouldn't give for a Juan in a Million breakfast taco (The Don Juan). It's not just a breakfast taco, it is a feast! And while Blue Bell is the choice ice cream of Texas, I would say Amy's ice cream is uniquely Austin.
From a Texan that has been to all regions of the Texas cuisine. Enchiladas-corn toritillas rolled or stacked like in El Paso or New Mexico with a fried egg on top. Chile Colorado-cubed pork meat in a savory and spicy red chile sauce with refried beans and corn tortillas. Finally, with exports from our friends in Hatch, New Mexico how can you go wrong in roasitng those amazing chiles to make a green chile stew and downing it with your favorite local brew. Welcome to Austin!
I'll second the review of Coyote Cafe – I've been to the original, and the Austin branch failed because the food and the service were feeble, not because we don't like peppers. Besides, we have Jorges for New Mexico style Mexican and Fonda San Miguel for interior – both local thank you very much
I wouldn't expect to see ceviche as a top dish...I've rarely seen it on menus in Texas, and have had it at someone's home once.....chicken fried steak (from Threadgills!) would've been a better choice.
Ok, kids, listen up. A TACO is the same as a sandwich. A sandwich is ANY bread with your choice of fillings. A TACO, is a tortilla, CORN or FLOUR, with your choice of filling. Got it? Good! Now go and be confused no more.
Not in the context of an article about Austin it isn't.
Every single truck taco I've gotten since I got to Austin last week has been served in a flour tortilla.
And there have been a LOT of truck tacos.
Geez . . . could you have at least gotten *half* of it right? Whoever wrote this would have been better off giving a review of a NYC delicatessen! Maybe you shoulda gotten s local to write this little summary of what's special about Texas, not to mention Austin. Then again, what do I know? I'm just a sixth-generation Texan whose ancestors came here in the first wave of immigrants because they heard there was a heck uva fight brewin' and they wanted a piece of it!
Ceviche/Seviche is technically from South America (Peru). I would only eat homemade if I were you.
Take it from this Austin girl:
flautas-corn tortillas
enchiladas-corn tortillas
breakfast tacos-flour tortillas
I think you captured most Austin favorites - another is CFS: chicken fried steak
I'm an ex-pat Texan who has been living in Australia for 19 years. It ALL sounds so good. The food is the one thing that I really miss. Sigh.
Interesting, seeing that Austin is the town where "The Coyote's Kitchen" restaurant failed because the locals couldn't handle real New Mexican chilies! Nothing in Austin restaurant-wise that bears comment beyond this!
The restaurant that failed in Austin was "Coyote Cafe". It failed because, unlike Mark Miller's original location, the Austin branch had horrible service and mediocre food.
Not really! Sorry about the miscall on the name, however, Coyote Cafe and Mark himself said Austinites couldn't take the chili. Then again, no Texan knows what real chili tastes like anyway!
Frito Pie!
In El Paso we don't have breakfast tacos. We have breakfast BURRITOS because we know a taco is only MADE WITH CORN TORTILLAS!!!!
Well, in Austin, breakfast tacos are made with FLOUR tortillas...to each his own, buddy!
Well, now we know where to draw the line when Texas implodes, "corn Tejas" vs. "flour Texas" LOL !
Frank, I appreciate your enthusiasm and you're correct, in El Paso/ Juarez and the surrounding areas, a taco in a flour tortilla is a burrito. Simply because the burrito was invented in Villa ahumada. A town about an hours south of Juarez between Chihuahua and Juarez. And culkturally, in that area, that's how it is. I was born and raised in Chihhuahua, and would agree if I had never traveled outside of my state. The reality is that if you travel to other parts of Mexcio like Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas and other north east Mexico states, tacos there are served in corn or flour tortillas. hence that's the influence that east Texas has. Most of the immigrants of East Texas came from this parts of Mexico and that's why the breakfast tacos are so popular and also served in flour tortillas. I went to school in Monterrey and used to stop at a taco stand every morning at 8am that had breakfast tacos and served them in flour or corn tortillas. the flour tortilla tacos were more popular at that time of the day( and they were breakfast tacos, the stand was only opened from 6am to noon). What i'm trying to say is that the culinary culture of Mexico is too immense to generalize and unless you understand every gastronomical corner of Mexico, generalizations should not be made based on what one knows about their region. One thing that I will agree is, enchiladas are never made with flour tortillas. Enchiladas verdes, Enchiladas rojas, enchiladas poblanas, enchiladas suizas, just to mentiona few of the many varieties of enchiladas, are always made with corn tortillas. What most tex-Mex and "Mexican" restaurants serve in Texas, are, for the most part, a small fraction of the vast dishes that make the gastronomical culture and language of Mexico, except they are Americanized in one way or another.
Good call! Eventhough I still dontk now when to call a taco a burrito or vice versa. Ahhh...one of these days.....
Two corrections to the descriptions:
Breakfast Tacos are normally made with flour tortillas unless otherwise specified. They're everywhere - an essential part of the Austin experience.
Enchiladas are normally made with corn tortillas and come with a choice of sauces. Try chicken enchiladas with verde sauce - a green sauce made from tomatillos.
And for the last time, ENCHILADAS ARE MADE WITH CORN TORTILLAS!!! The red chile sauce turns a flour tortilla into mushy dough! You fry the corn tortilla until it is still pliable, then dip it in boiling red chile sauce (dried chile pods boiled then pureed with garlic, water and salt [THAT'S IT], sprinkle a tablespoon of grated muenster cheese in the middle, roll it up, pour a 1/2 cup of the chile sauce on top of 3 enchiladas and sprinkle with one tablespoon of grated cheese and chopped onion. Serve with shredded lettuce and diced fresh tomato. That is truly all you need.
You were sounding very credible until you mentioned "muenster cheese"! Since when does Tex-Mex food use muenster?! Texans use sharp cheddar or Monterrey jack for enchiladas–maybe a little cotija on the tacos. And all this nonsense about not using flour tortillas or black beans or yellow corn is also a lot of hogwash–all of those ingredients are used in Mexico as well as Texas (black beans are a staple throughout Latin America). Flour tortillas are ideal for breakfast tacos, fajitas, and quesadillas; corn tortillas are for most other tacos and enchiladas, as well as for making nachos. This is true all over Texas. El Paso is a backwater border town–Austin IS Texas!
Muenster cheese has a consistency and mild flavor much like Queso Chihuahua. It melts beautifully. Corn tortillas are authentically Mexican. NEVER has El Paso claimed to be a Tex-Mex city. We in El Paso know the truth about Mexican food. NEWS FLASH! We are on the border. FYI, Not every chef is a good cook...hence bad reviews and closed restaurants. Try muenster cheese, only IF you can't find Chihuahua. Cheddar
Also, no need to try to make me feel like I don't know what I'm talking about, lol. I am 3rd generation Mexican-American with lineage deeply rooted in Durango, San Luis Potosi, and Chihuahua. I neither ingorant nor a bad cook.
Backwater? You obviously haven't been to El Paso. MUCH better Mexican food. Have a great day!
Also, we really don't ever claim to be REAL Texas...we know that we are more New Mexico than Texas. I used to live in Dallas and would go to San Antonio and Austin quite often. The "Mexican" food was gross, yukky, improvised muck. You can keep real Texas. Comida nortena is what El Paso is known for...nopalitos, menudo, chile verde (New Mexico chile), chile colorado, frijoles de la holla (simple...no beer, ham, jalapenos, or any of that other stuff), chicarrones in chile verde, tortas de camaron en chile colorado, capirotada, rinones (kidneys), a deliciouos number 7 steak over the grill served with onion, cilantro, and freshly roasted New Mexico chile picked the same day, asadero cheese from Licon dairy in San Elizario, caldo de rez served with CORN tortillas, bone marrow from the same soup smeared on a CORN tortilla with green chile, a little salt and lime, picadillo, tripitas (blech),sopa de arroz, entomatadas made with CORN tortillas, albondigas...I could go on and on. My colleagues are here yelling out different traditional El Paso food and laughed their patooties off when I read them your angry retort.
OK, this is from them, not me: AND ANOTHER THING, if your flour tortillas stand up to being soaked in red chile sauce, they must be very hard and chewy...not a sign of a good flour tortilla dude, sorry.
franc, don't show your ignorance! No, flour tortillas do not turn into mush unless they are not cooked right. I was a chef for many years, you obviously can't cook. And Muenster cheese? Uh, yea, just keep telling yourself that.
As I told Jack (sorry, Jack :) ), if your flour tortillas stand up to being soaked in red chile sauce, then they must be hard and chewy...not a good characteristic in a flour tortilla. Also, not all chefs are good cooks at heart. They may be trained, but they may not have talent. Cooking is an art, and one we have perfected in El Paso.
For your information, Chihuahua cheese is the most delicious cheese for enchiladas (menonita runs a close second), and muenster cheese is a well-known secret for a great substitute for these cheeses. It has a mild flavor and melts beautifully. Try a over-medium fried egg over your enchiladas. You'll never eat them any other way again. Try the muenster cheese. I know what I'm talking about.
Moonshine has a great brunch
Matt's El Rancho, Neuvo Leon, and Polvo's are the best Mexican food restaurants in town. Esp. Matt's– you HAVE to get the Bob Armstrong dip. It's queso with guacamole and ground beef in it. Delicious! And Polvo's has amazing fish... Fish Ala Plancha is amazing and their fish fajitas are great too. Nuevo Leon is the place to go for enchiladas, nachos, or Menudo. Nuevo Leon also has tasty sopapillas for dessert.
Torchy's Tacos has several locations and is a laid back place to get delicious tacos.
If you are craving pizza, Home Slice is the best place to go for New York style pizza which you can get by the slice or a whole pizza.
Guero's is overrated!!! Don't waste your Mexican food experience eating there...
This list could go on and on... I hope this helps any travellers who are in Austin right now or in the future!
Mole is NOT pronounced mo-lay. In Spanish, the letter "e" is ALWAYS pronounced "eh" like in the words bed, red, and Ned.
Looks like a lot of these relate to TexMex generally and are not truly Austin-specific, so here's my Austin list...
MagMud from Magnolia Cafe. Basically cheese covered refried beans, onions, and everything else good about TexMex you'd want thrown in there.
Anything from Bakerman's Bakery and Patisserie at 7th and Brazos, especially their everything-bagels and polish-sausage kolaches, not to mention the incredible pastries.
Milt's Barbeque and Los Vega texmex in Kyle. Both literally in small shacks serving killer food very reasonably priced.
Roast chicken at the Belmont.
Beer-battered asparagus and Bloody Marys at Moonshine Grill.
Italian food at Romeo's.
I could go on and on, but won't. Hope you try some of these – each one is a treat.
Thanks for a list of places to go. This helps us to know exactly where to head on our trip this coming week!
Last I checked enchiladas were made using corn tortillas. Mmmmm. :)
Give me a break....no one does the "Mexican" food on this list like El Paso does. We've been eating Menudo in El Paso since Texas belonged to Mexico. And for goodness sake!!!!! Tacos are made only with CORN tortillas, as are quesadillas!!! The second I read on a menu that their "tacos" and "quesadillas" are made with flour tortillas, I know not to order what they call Mexican food. And NEVER does our food in El Paso include taco seasoning, black beans, or yellow corn! Another thing, we usually use cheese as a garnish for our Mexican specialties, not as the staple ingredient!. I am having a nopalito omelet for dinner. Mmmm
Tacos = corn tortillas; Enchiladas = corn tortillas. Burritos = Flour totillas!!! CNN, get your facts right and do some research before you start generalizing Mexican food. A taste of Tex- Mex in Austin would be a better name for this "article"!!!!
agreed!
If tacos = corn tortilla and enchiladas = corn tortillas, then tacos = enchilladas???
I eat my girlfriends taco all the time. She is from Nuevo-Laredo and her name is Flower! So Flower or Corn?
THIS –
weak list! where's the Mexican martini, chips & queso (different from what is listed above), borracho beans, stuffed avocado, Shiner Bock, Amy's Mexican Vanilla ice cream, etc?
Mention the KITCHEN: Austin specializes in "Food Trailers", which fond neighbors hope to emulate. Picture your favorite food, just about anything, served from a trailer parked along the street instead of all that sitdown trouble. Now that's Austin!
You left Fajitas off the list. Orinally skirt steak, but now beef, chicken or a combination, grilled with onions and peppers. Served with
flour tortillas, lettuce, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, pico de gallo.
kmn8 knows of which they speak!
Where's the queso (& chips)? The Shiner Bock? Stuffed avocados? Stuffed jalapenos (God intended jalapenos & cream cheese to be paired)? Lordy, I sure miss Austin food!
Keep it Weird, folks!
weak list! where's the Mexican martini, chips & queso (different from what is listed above), borracho beans, stuffed avocado, Shiner Bock, Amy's Mexican Vanilla ice cream, etc?
Hey there! That's exactly why we prompted you at the end to share your favorites. Consider this list your amuse bouche – we always know there's more and want to hear from you.
I have traveled the states from East Coast to West Coast/North to South and can honestly say the Mexian food in Texas is El Rey! (the King!).
I was raised (yes, I'm a white boy) on homemade flour tortillas, tamales and Arroz con Pollo and can't imagine life without it. My favorite snack as a kid was a fresh made flour tortilla with just about anything I could roll up into it.
I've tried Mexican food from other states but it was rarely even close to what I grew up with here.
For those of you who want some authentic home-style mexican food, avoid the chain restaurants and find you a little hole-in-the-wall joint, enjoy the local scene and sample as much as you can. It don't get better than here!
So THAT'S why that band was named "Menudo!"