Coffee, Fried Avocado,Tacos and Burgers Oh my!

Hey Again, 

After the amazingly lucky discovery of pizza right across the street from my Austin apartment, I had loads of more noshing to do. 

Let's start with my least favorite meal of the week at Tacodeli. Someone recommended Tacodeli after I told them how much I enjoyed Torchy's. This meal included two tacos: the Tacoloco: Adobo braised brisket, caramelized onions, mushrooms, guacamole, cilantro, queso fresco and the Pollo Fantastico: Free range chicken, roasted green chile sauce, crema mexicana, green onions. It also came with a side of rice and beans, naturally. The Tacoloco was actually pretty delicious and juicy but I really only noticed the beef and cilantro. The supporting actors in this taco failed to perform. The Pollo Fantastico, was a little less fantastico. The chicken is stewed and was also very juicy, but the extra toppings stood out, but not in a great way. I didn't really care for the green onions as they overpowered everything. The rice and beans here are pretty throw away. I'd spend the extra change on an extra taco. Also important to note, that these tacos are only one corn tortilla. Other places usually give you the goodies served in two tortillas since it gets so saucy that the tortillas usually break. 
Verdict: Torchy's is still number one in my tummy book. 

Next stop: Twisted Root Burger Co. This place is a fast food chain, but not the Mcdonald's kind. It's more like Bareburger but way more fun and way less expensive and way less shi-shi. The setting at the North Austin location is like a Barn decorated with fun Caddy Shack velvet portraits. When you place your order, instead of giving you a number they give you a celebrity, so it's kind of fun hearing them call out "Lisa Simpson" and "Fergie" to come pick up their burgers. I ordered a classic burger with cheddar cheese, straight cut fries, and a Chocolate Hand Spun Custard Shake. The burger was classic, juicy, well seasoned (YESS!) and the leafy greens made the burger a bit herb-y. It tasted very fresh and I loved it. The fries were perfect, with the little bits of skin on it and nicely salted. I was a little disappointed with my custard, because my brain thought I was getting a milk shake, with chocolate ice cream, and instead I got basically a Frosty from Wendy's. But once I got over my mistaken expectations, I was able to enjoy the custard shake for what it was. They topped it with whip cream and fudge sauce. Yummy! I will definitely revisit this place often. 

This next place is tied with Twisted Root. Monkey Nest Coffee. I can't really judge burgers vs. coffee and dessert, but I'll probably visit them both a lot. Right off the bat, I did not need to add any sugar to my Iced Latte ($3.29). Amazing. I take this as a sign of excellent coffee. Accompanying my caffeinated beverage was a Monkey Muffin. I've seen many Pinterest recipes on how to make monkey bread, but it's Pinterest, so I never actually made it. I jumped at the chance to get it from this place. DELICIOUS! I had it twice on this trip. It's like french toast, but denser, and not wet or goopy, and that you can eat with your hands. And to think, I almost defaulted to the chocolate cake they had that also looked amazing. Sometimes it's worth eating out side of the box. 

Photo Credit: KM, Yelp User

I love that Austin does get a little nippy at night in January. I don't want to leave NY and miss the cold, that would be ridiculous. So on this chilly night I went to Doc's Bar and Grill. It feels like a garage, except clean, and with food. The front patio section has those garage type rolley doors. (I'm terrible at describing mechanical ambiance. I'll work on that.)  To share we ordered Pulled Pork Nachos: Pulled pork, Cotija cheese, green chilies, roasted black bean corn pico, Monterey Jack cheese & refried beans. (~$7 for a half order of 3). The bad news is these are not nachos in the sense that you don't get a bowl full of chips and then a bunch-a-junk thrown on top. The good news is, that you DO get tostadas with a prettily arranged menagerie of ingredients that compliment each other and basically just have a party in your mouth.  My entree was a doozy! I ordered the Chicken Fried Avocado: Fried avocado stuffed with cheese & shredded chicken topped with avocado cream sauce. Served with cilantro lime rice & refried beans. The rice wasn't anything to write home about, and while I don't love refried beans I didn't dislike these. Now the Fried Avocado... that was a culinary Easter egg. It had a delicious, crispy, non-greasy crust on the outside. Then when I 'cracked' it open, cheese and sauce and chicken came flowing out in a delightful deluge of yum. 

For the record I'd probably revisit all of these places (except maybe for Tacodeli). But my favorite place of this trip was Santa Rita, which I liked so much I'm giving her her own post here. 

Cheerio!

Esther