Is there any type of food that Dallas/Austin/Houston is known for besides BBQ? I’m gonna be driving around those cities after new year and I can’t eat exclusively BBQ!
Tex-mex, Mexican
I find this offensive.
Also photos of Franklin BBQ in the photo thread please.
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Got any recs?! The Tex-Mex I’ve had in Dallas has been pretty vanilla.
I know I know, it’s not very Texas of me to not be throwing back 2 lbs of brisket every meal!
Shit I miss barbeque.
I mean it’s here in Prague but it’s not ingrained in the culture the way it is in America. It tastes good but there are levels when it comes to BBQ. By Euro standards, the BBQ joints here are pretty good.
But they aren’t America.
So Austin has options beyond BBQ.
It is absolutely mandatory that you eat nothing for breakfast in Austin except for breakfast tacos. If you need to be fast and hit a drive thru this is as good as you’re going to do, but if you have time to kill I can’t recommend Valentina’s (yes the BBQ place, it’s also my recommendation for BBQ if you’re anywhere nearby… I live in the northern suburbs and will drive almost an hour to get this food because it’s that good) highly enough. There are probably 30 great places to get a breakfast taco in Austin, but the real deal Holyfield is how I would check off BBQ and breakfast tacos in one meal if I was in town for one day. This place is extremely busy on the weekend which is why going on weekdays is so amazing. You shouldn’t be able to get food that good without an hour wait.
If you’re into Ramen my go to place is https://ramen-tatsuya.com/
If you want sushi this is my go to place but I’ll freely admit there are lots of good sushi places and this is so far north it’s not technically in Austin anymore. This is great for me, maybe not so great for others.
My thai place closed and I’m not a huge fan of fermented foods so my Korean roster is both thin and super suspect. That being said it’s very obvious that there is plenty of Korean food to be had in Austin… you’ll just have to ask someone else.
If you want Italian these people are fantastic.
And if you want BBQ but don’t have hours to wait these guys make pretty good food. Rudy’s is even faster but loses some quality. Rudy’s is for sure the best BBQ you’re going to get at a gas station though. (Don’t worry it’s a BBQ joint with a gas station attached to it for some nonsensical reason not the other way around… and yes it’s a little charming)
Austin is a pretty good food city so there’s a lot of options. Unless you’re far up north it probably makes sense to just eat at well reviewed places close to where you are rather than commuting all over town looking for food.
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Unfortunately they have picked up quite a bit of hype. The lines are pretty long now I believe. This was an elite recommendation before 2020 and wouldn’t get you into any trouble now. It’s in the same category as the other competitors for best BBQ in Austin. You can argue that it’s better than Franklins with a straight face for sure. If it had short lines it would be an easy win.
Very helpful, thanks! I’m actually going to be in Georgetown first, then Austin, so the North Austin stuff works out great for where I’m staying. Breakfast tacos (and burritos) are the best tex-mex has to offer imo. I’ll hit Valentina’s on the way out.
If you’re going to be in Georgetown the area you want to look for food is Round Rock. This place is actually a fantastic place to get lunch. and Salt Trader’s is also really good. If you were going to eat something that wasn’t a breakfast taco for breakfast in central texas that thing should probably be a donut/kolache. And that is basically the best place that serves that as it should be served in Greater Austin IMO. This is pretty good Jamaican food within 25 minutes of Georgetown I’m pretty sure. Also if you’re going to get a breakfast taco in Round Rock don’t try to be clever… just go to Veracruz All Natural. It’s on all the lists because it deserves to be.
Definitely make the trip for Valentina’s but think about when you want to get there semi carefully. You really will save a lot of your time hitting them off peak.
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Goddamn my test certificate is not being accepted for some reason through Lufthansa mobile app. Keep scanning the QR code but nothing. Did accept the vaccine certificate information though.
Wonder if the antigen test wasn’t the right one or something.
EDIT: Gonna get to the airport uber-early in case for some reason my COVID test is the wrong one (which shouldn’t be possible). Support says it’s a bug in the app.
Unpopular opinion: The Tex-Mex in Houston is unremarkable. If you want so-so taqueria food (by Mexican standards) Houston has some options, but I’ve never seen a white person in such a place.
Houston does however have one of the most elite coffee shops in the US: a place called Tout Suite.
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Dallas seems similar, the highly rated Mexican places in N Dallas with tons of reviews are literally only middle aged+ white people customers, no mexicans. Not great.
Tex-Mex kind of sucks.
Although authentic Mexican food is the nuts.
What you really want is the latter and not the former.
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Mostly agree, except TexMex breakfast, which is the nuts
You might be right. I have an aversion to eggs. Just can’t eat them. So, pretty much all of that stuff is off the table for me.
Good Tex Mex is good. Very good Tex Mex is very good. What isn’t good is crappy Tex Mex… which is absolutely a regional specialty that isn’t at that high of a level outside the region (with exceptions I’m sure much in the way that I’ve had good Burmese food and have never been to Burma).
Isn’t this true for ~any regional cuisine?
Yes.
If you are going to Austin, don’t eat at any restaurant that doesn’t have an autographed photo of Willie Nelson hanging up.
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