Perhaps because of the weather, Texas has a huge Vietnamese population, Houston especially, way more than New York, even comparable to Los Angeles. During my previous visit to Houston, I had some very authentic Vietnamese dishes. Some of which the Vietnamese restaurants in New York don’t offer. Like Uchi, Elizabeth Street Cafe is highly praised by local food magazines and travel websites. I came across tons of posts of this place on the internet. The place is adorable. Without a doubt, I put it under my “absolutely must visit” list.
Category: <span>wandering</span>
(start the day with a good breakfast, TEX-MEX style)
Magnolia Cafe has been a stable in Austin. Over 50 years in business, opens all the time. If there is a thing as 24/8, this will be it. In fact, there’s a neon sign on the window highlighting “sorry, we’re open”. Obviously there’s a market, there is a need to call for the place to open all the time. This kind of dinning establishment has been dying in NYC. So happy to see that it has not extinct like dinosaurs yet. Yes, indeed, we need food 24/7. I felt like I should have a shirt made that says “sorry, we are hungry all the time” to echo the message.
People who are over 50 years old may remember a highly popular TV western miniseries called Lonesome Dove. The tales of two Texas Rangers and their adventures. The series was a great success, and won multiple Golden Globes and Emmys. My guess is Chef Tim Love is a huge fan, probably the reason why he named his flagship restaurant after the award winning series.
Chef Tim Love is best known for his “urban” western cuisine. He has several restaurants in Texas, mostly in Fort Worth area. Chef Love’s flagship restaurant Lonesome Dove opened in Fort Worth in 2000. 5 years after his success, he spin-off a sister bistro (Lonesome Dove Western Bistro) in Chelsea. It was not able to please the crowd in New York, it’s door shuttered after a brief 6 months. This Lonesome Dove in Austin is a new baby in the family, only one year old.
“Game meat” was the term when my friend used to introduced Chef Tim Love’s cuisine to me, as I am not with the term “urban” western cuisine. But the menu at Lonesome Dove is an interesting read. Terms like rattlesnake sausage, elk foie gras, wild boar, pork spinalis, certainly raised my eyebrows. Now I had to know, and there we were, sitting at Lonesome Dove’s barn-like dinning room.
(a travel journal)
Why go to Austin? Franklin barbecue of course. –
That’s my short and simple answer. Of course there are other things to see, to eat, to do in Hill country. But to any foodies, it’s to check off one of our bucket list. So here we are in Austin- the capital of Texas.
Austin is a blooming city in the dinning scene. With flourishing food truck culture, exciting coffee options, countless bbq joint, and don’t forget Tex-Mex. It is a foodie heaven.
I arrived at Austin on an early afternoon and decided to head to Hamilton pool for a drip. It is usually a long wait to get in. And in summer/ high season (march-September), it would need a non-refundable reservation as well. Since this is November, I am hoping to beat the weekend crowd. But first, one need to be fed to hike.