Austin Recap {Part 1} Where to Eat & Drink

Neil and I traveled to Austin, TX last month for his cousin's wedding.  We decided to book a couple extra days to make it a long weekend and to have time to do a little exploring.  I'm so glad we did, because we fell in love with the city.  We'll definitely be planning another trip there in the future-- there's just so much to do and see and we definitely didn't get to do everything we wanted in just 4 days!  If you're looking to stay in the city I would suggest staying south of Lake Austin, which is not quite downtown, but still in the heart of Austin and a little cheaper.  We booked an apartment from AirBnB and the complex we stayed at was on South First St. in a great location (a 5 minute drive to downtown), had a POOL, and was reasonably priced.

Part 1 of our Austin Recap is where we ate and drank.  The best part about eating out in Austin is that almost every single restaurant has great outdoor seating AND you can bring your dog to a lot of these places.  So cool!!  

We certainly tried as many places as our time in Austin allowed, but this is by no means a comprehensive list ... just the places we went to and liked!  Enjoy ...

::Where to Eat::

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Hula Hut:: We had the best Tiki-Mex {Mexican food with a Polynesian twist} here, and the best part of dinner was being right over the water and the beautiful view of Lake Austin.  I spent most of dinner counting how many turtles would swim by the dock in the water ... ;)

Jo's Coffee:: Right on SoCo Ave across the street from Amy's Ice Cream.  The "i love you so much" graffiti is on the side of jo's coffee so we snapped a pic there after enjoying vegetarian BBQ sandwiches and Arnold Palmer iced teas on the covered patio! Yum!

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SnackBar:: This place serves locally-grown and organic fare.  We had a great brunch with lots of veg options and perfect bloody mary's -- can't complain about this place!  And the best part was that people could bring their dogs on the patio with them! 

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Elizabeth St. Cafe:: Such a cute little cafe just down the road from where we were staying.  This place is a Vietnamese cafe and French boulangerie all in one and so so cute.  We enjoyed our summer rolls and grilled tofu vermicelli bowls at a bistro table on the patio.  This restaurant was one of Bon Appetit's 50 Best New Restaurants of 2012 and I could tell why!  Also, all the waitresses were wearing the cutest keds with hand sewn floral dresses in different patterns as their uniforms.  Adorable.

Hopdoddy Burger Bar:: Get here EARLY {as in as soon as the doors open} or don't bother coming at all.  An hour after opening the line was out the door and around the building {which you can see in the photo}.  Luckily I do my research when traveling and we got here right around opening time {and still had to wait 20 minutes in line to order}.  Cannot recommend the truffle fries to go with your burger enough!! Soooo good and well worth the wait!

South First St. Trailer Park & Eatery//Torchy's Tacos:: Food trucks {or trailer parks if there's more than one truck} were eeeeeverywhere in Austin and we ate at a few of them, but my all time fave was definitely Torchy's Tacos.  They've opened my eyes to the world of tacos and I could eat there everyday-- if only I lived in Austin.

Amy's Ice cream & SnoBeach:: Two of the best places to get dessert in Austin.  Amy's is the place to go for ice cream in Austin and with a location on SoCo Ave. near all the shops this was a nice treat on a hot afternoon after walking up and down SoCo Ave in the brutal sun.  SnoBeach is this great SnoCone truck near Zilker Park with over 50 flavors that you can mix and match into one SnoCone, which actually comes in a huge cup.  Brainfreeze!

::Where to go for a Drink::

Broken Spoke:: We went to this honky-tonk bar one night for beers and two-step lessons.  It was kind of expensive for what it was {$20 for a lesson plus the cost of drinks}, but it was all about the experience!  And now we can two-step {well, kind of...}!

Hula Hut:: Even if you're just looking for drinks and not food, I would still recommend Hula Hut.  You can't beat the ambiance of sitting at a tiki bar as the sun is setting on Lake Austin.  Plus ... their margaritas come in FISH BOWLS.  

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Rainey Street Bars:: Saving the best for last ... one of my favorite nights in Austin was when we crossed Lake Austin to go into downtown to Rainey St.  It's a quieter and more indie alternative to the downtown 6th Sreet bar strip. Container Bar was my absolute favorite.  It's constructed from 7 stacked shipping containers each of which is decorated differently and in the center of all the containers is an open-air bar.  The drinks were actually reasonable priced and it was just such a cool atmosphere.  There are like ten bars on this street, but we just went to one more-- Lucille Patio Lounge, which had a completely different feel to it than Container Bar-- more of a sophisticated, southern-charm, speakeasy vibe.  Outdoor patio drinking {dogs allowed!!} and hammocks! 

I had a Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka at Lucille's and fell in love.  Deep Eddy is a local vodka distillery right in Austin and is pretty famous for it's sweet tea vodka.  If you like vodka I would definitely suggest you check out Deep Eddy Vodka!

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow - Things to do and see in Austin!

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