While in Austin we tried to adopt the mantra of "Never Waste a Meal." Meaning no boring fast-food or repeating restaurants, unless they were just that good. We had two exceptions to this rule, In-n-Out and Via 313 Pizza. The first broke both rules but it was too good to only have once and only sort of counts as fast food. Okay, so it totally counts but still, how could we only have Animal Fries and a Double Double once?
The first night we got into Austin it was a little late for either of us to want to eat so we got checked in to the hotel and decided to skip dinner so we could go in super hard at In-n-Out the next day. I had the Double Double and Alexa got the regular cheeseburger and we shared some animal fries, fries with melted cheese, diced grilled onions, and thousand islands sauces. This was the day that we went to check into our campsite but the reservation was for the next day, so we went back to the hotel and worked on reorganizing our van. For dinner we took a trip to Torchy's Tacos where they had some of our favorite tacos in Austin. I got the Trailer Trash (fried chicken), Dirty Sanchez (Fried Poblano pepper and egg), and The democrat (Barbacoa); Alexa got the Democrat, Fried Avocado, and the Crossroads (Smoked Brisket). The tacos were huge and we both could have definitely been fine with just two, but when in Rome. My favorite of the three I had was the Dirty Sanchez, I still can't get over the fried poblano, and Alexa really liked the Crossroads. The next day we ended up grabbing the same In-n-Out lunch out of ease and deliciousness, and headed out to our camp site.
That night we grabbed our favorite dinner in Austin at Chi'lantro, a Korean BBQ twist on Latin and American cuisine. They are most well known for their loaded Kimchi fries, so we grabbed an order with spicy pork and added bacon. They top the fries with cheese, kimchi, special sauce, Sriracha, bacon, spicy pork and cilantro, and holy crap were they good. I grabbed one of their rice bowls with their bbq ribeye beef and Alexa got a salad with the spicy chicken. Once we started eating neither of us said much other than "Oh my goodness" and "Can you believe how good this is??" in between bites.
The next day we got up and went on a hike around the campground and decided that pizza sounded easy and delicious, so we looked up the best spots around town and decided on Via 313. Via is a Detroit style pizzeria so all of their pizza is cooked in rectangular pans and has a deep dish style crust that is crunchy and buttery, without being soggy or doughy. We ordered one of their smaller pizzas with salami, cured and uncured pepperoni, and bacon. We were really glad we ordered the smaller of their sizes and ended up skipping dinner because we were so full. This thing was thick and loaded with toppings, half of which they artfully placed under the cheese. Via 313 was the only other restaurant we ate at twice, we ordered a large version of the aforementioned pizza the next night and took it back to our campsite.
Before we went back to Via the next day we got up and headed into town to try out some more tacos at Tacodeli, a local staple in Austin. I grabbed the Fontera Fundido sirloin, Al Pastor, and Pollo Fantastico tacos while Alexa got the Al pastor, Carne Asada, and Puerco Verde tacos. These were very authentic street tacos in comparison to Torchy's. Where Torchy's was adventurous with flavor pairings or meat selections in tacos, Tacodeli was parred down to more traditional flavors, both incredibly delicious in their own rights, but with more differences than similarities.
After we finished our tacos we headed over to Jo's Coffee on South Congress for some Iced Turbos and to start our mural hunt. Jo's on Congress is known not only for its awesome coffee, but also the "I Love You So Much" mural on the side of it, well less mural more phrase written on a wall, but still, if you look up Jo's on IG you are likely to see a picture of this wall. From Jo's we headed on to the Austin Postcard mural, then to a series of Daniel Johnston murals (listen to his music if you haven't already), he has several around Austin from the time he spent there in the height of his folk career. There is the "Love is the Question, Love is the Answer" mural, the "HI, how are you" mural, and the "Livin Life" murals, and probably a few more but these were the main ones we found. After checking out those we searched for the Butter Half mural and then grabbed our pizza for the night and headed back to the camp site.
The next morning we got up and headed into town for one last round of Iced Turbos from Jo's and then headed over to Veracruz All Natural to try their famed Migas tacos and Agua Frescas. Alexa grabbed a Migas taco and another breakfast taco of her own creation with a pineapple Agua Fresca, and I grabbed a Migas, Carne Asada, and Al Pastor with a mango Agua Fresca. The taco's at Veracruz are incredible, their tortillas are handmade and the food is cooked to order out of a decommissioned school bus. I would highly recommend this place for any meal, especially since you can get breakfast tacos all day.
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| Shorty after we unloaded all of the contents of the van. |
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| Teo Gelateria and Espresso |
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| TacoDeli, L to R : Al Pastor, Sirloin, Pollo |
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Top: Jo's mural
Bottom: Daniel Johnston Mural |
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| Queso at Torchy's |
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| The Torchy's Taco turn up was real. |
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| Ben in his happy place. Coffee Oreo gelato & an Americano |
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| THE kimchi fries |
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| Alexa's Chi'lantro Bowl |
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| VIA 313's smaller size |
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| Alexa's Tacodeli tacos |
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| It's true! |
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| Aguas Frescas at Veracruz All Natural |
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| Alexa's breakfast tacos at Veracruz |
