Discover the Best Things to Do in Austin, Food & Drink deals and more!
Austinites loved the stuffed hamburgers at Your Mom’s Burger Bar, so the news hit hard when the owners announced the closing of their only location on Airport Boulevard in May 2014. After a year and a half hiatus, Ryan and Gina Blackmore are back with a fresh concept under a familiar name. [Read more…]
Combozola Black with Sweet Onion Jam and Saba at Driskill Grill. (Credit: Susannah Haddad)
Roll up to The Driskill Hotel and try not to feel giddy. I dare you.
Located smack in the heart of downtown, this stately, behemoth of a hotel woos even the most cynical hipsters among us. The Driskill is the luxe southern darling here in the Capitol City, and the Driskill Grill is its culinary heartbeat. [Read more…]
Discussion before dinner in the dark during The Blind Cafe (Credit: The Blind Cafe)
Standing outside the American Legion, watching the sun set against a showy peach sky, I am equal parts hungry and excited. I have arrived with fifty other Austinites for a multi-sensory pop-up dinner at The Blind Cafe.
I have to admit I’m just a bit nervous, though. I eye my plus one, Lisa, secretly praying she’s excited and not about to bail before we head in. Our chef-prepared vegetarian feast, complete with an after-dinner concert and discussion is going to be amazing, but it will be enjoyed in utter, complete darkness.
The Blind Cafe facilitates unique, pop-up dinner events across the United States that promote positive social change and host legally blind keynote speakers. What that means is that dinner guests are guided by blind waitstaff into a pitch dark dining room where tables of six to eight people sit together. There they enjoy dinner, listen to gorgeously curated live music, ask questions about what it’s like to be blind and listen to the experiences of the blind facilitators hosting the event. All of this in the dark without a single glimmer of light or distraction. [Read more…]
The Tasty app allows you to pick the food category that fits your mood (Credit: Tasty)
It’s safe to say I’m a foodie. When I’m not trying a new restaurant, I’m drooling over online menus of restaurants I wish I could go to. We can’t have too much of a good thing, but at the rate new restaurants are opening in Austin, it’s challenging for this humble foodie to keep up!
Thankfully, an inspiring group of young engineers has created an app called Tasty. It puts my foodie problems to rest and has the potential to change the way we all experience dining in Austin.
As coworkers and housemates, Mokshika Sharma, Federico Galarraga and Dimitar Dimitrov spend a great deal of time together. They have two things in common: passion for food and interest in technology.
“We are all from cultures immersed in food,” notes Sharma. “I’m Indian, Fede is Spanish and Dimitar is Bulgarian.” Their culinary [Read more…]
What do Michael Caine, Clint Eastwood and Leatherface have in common? They’ve all wandered into an old general store 23 miles outside of Austin, called Cele Store.
This location has been the backdrop for several movies, including Secondhand Lions, A Perfect World and Texas Chainsaw Massacre I, II and III.
So if you’re into Hollywood, horror and/or smoking hot BBQ, you might want to buckle up and drive east to Manor, TX. [Read more…]
Alamo Drafthouse’s Crispy Buffalo Cauliflower
Guest article by Colin Gray
Want to reduce or eliminate meat and animal products from your diet, but still love the junk food that makes Captain Planet sad?
Well, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is, um, not all vegan alternatives are made equal (one of the fake meats I tried is best described as “squidgy”). The good news is there are plenty of vegan junk food options in Austin that delete the guilt, but keep the pleasure.
Here is a list of my top five favorites.
Pick a dish, any dish. You can’t go wrong at Churro Co. (Credit: Churro Co.)
If you close your eyes, spin around and throw a rock in Austin, there’s a good chance you’ll hit a Mexican restaurant. From down home Tex-Mex to authentic eateries, cuisine from south of the border is well-represented.
Now, thanks to Churro Co. on Riverside, dessert is covered, too. By taking a traditional pastry and applying an ATX twist, Churro Co. is bringing an authentic Mexican classic to the local foodie stage. [Read more…]
There are plenty of wood-fired places to try in Austin, such as Summer Moon Coffee (Credit: Justin Terry)
High-tech may reign supreme in Austin, but nothing will ever beat the classic taste of wood-burning fire mixed with the delicious ingredients included on this list of “hot spots” around Austin.
So in case you forgot that cedar and mesquite are good for more than congestion, we’ve compiled a guide to four of the smokiest local places to clear your sinuses and entice your appetite. [Read more…]
Check out Sugar Mama’s Instagram for great pics of tasty treats!
Guest article by Angela Bowers
Imagine a world in which cupcakes, icing, cookies and sweets of all shapes and sizes fill your horizon. They taste as sweet as they look and live in a space equally as precious with comfortable couches, inviting music and adorable red and Tiffany blue décor. [Read more…]
A look at the Chi’Lantro food truck in Austin
I’m new to this whole food truck thing. The Boston idiot in me always ignorantly associated food trucks with low-quality, 2 AM sausage carts one accidentally staggered upon amidst a night of heavy drinking. Since moving to Austin, I stand corrected.
I now associate food trucks with magical, utopian dreams filled with unicorns and happiness. Seriously though, I’d approximate that food trucks now represent over 90% of my diet. Where have they been all my life?
As if I couldn’t be more captivated by the enchanted universe of street food, I recently sat down with Jae Kim and Eric Silverstein, founders/owners of Austin’s Chi’Lantro and The Peached Tortilla, respectively. Now with brick and mortar locations as well as food trucks, both Jae and Eric offered an insightful behind-the-scenes take on what it’s like to grow a successful business, through a long road of early struggles in a relentlessly dense market.
More insightful than the business side of things, however, was the story of their friendship, and how the competition between one another was perhaps the most critical ingredient to their shared success. [Read more…]