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Beautiful Buckets

January 23, 2013 by Kristin

I knew very well that as soon as I dropped Val off at the airport, I would stuff myself full of the greenest of greens with the sole hope of coming out of this week-long food coma as quickly as possible. But first? We’d meet another weekend visitor, my best pal Nathan, for our most gluttonous meal yet at Lucy’s Fried Chicken.

Slurping on a $3 greyhound and eating a few bites of Nathan’s wedge prepared me for the final feast. It was seriously as if the prior week of acting like a vacationer never happened. I was momentarily guiltless and oh so ready for fried chicken.

Beautiful buckets… Of fried chicken. Our cheerfully chatty table of seven silenced immediately as we dug in. The chicken was so super juicy and crispy and a tad spicy – all the things you want your fried chicken to be. Paired with outdoor picnic tables with the greatest of friends on a surprisingly sunshiny, winter day? Sweet bejeeze, it was wonderful time!

Beer & Cheese School

January 22, 2013 by Kristin

The second Val booked her flight, we started compiling a list of fun activities that would vary her vacation. I mentioned to her how much I enjoyed visiting a brewery during my Austin apartment hunting trip and could tell by her reaction that this would be at the top of our list. We came across the NXNW Brewery’s beer and cheese class and signed ourselves up. And then it hit me… Perhaps a brew tour is the precursor to a move to ATX!

We arrived a bit early and waited at the bar with a few other “students”. Shortly after, a server led us to a back room where Don and Mary Thompson were all set up to school us on beer and cheese. Don started us off with the definition of beer (which I can’t for the life of me remember), gave us an overview of how beer is made, and then took us on a tour of their brewery equipment.

When we returned, Mary took over by introducing herself, the beer, and the cheeses.

I knew just by looking which beers I would favor as I’m a light beer drinker when it comes to both color and body. And I was right, I totally dug the Light, Pale Ale, and Dunkelweizen. But what surprised me was that my favorite beer/cheese pairings were with the darkest beers on the menu! Black Ale with Le Marechal and Hey Joe Coffee Stout with Cabot Clothbound were the pairings on the list that I asterisked and starred. And what surprised me even more was how many of these cheeses picky, picky Val tried and liked!

Overall, this class is a wonderful way for an Austinite to change-up a Saturday afternoon!

.@EastsideCafeATX

January 20, 2013 by Kristin

Val and I spent her 9th day in Austin continuing the adventure. And since I hadn’t shown her much of the East Side, we headed that way. We pulled up to a the Eastside Cafe, greeted by a simple sign in front of an understated bungalow, wanting more than just a delish brunch. Seriously, I wanted to move in. If I had to settle on a dream home, this would be it.

We showed up just before 11 AM and were seated immediately in a cozy dining room. The friendliest of servers brought us our coffee and tea, delivered a basket of unexpected and delicious jalapeño corn muffins, and steered us in the right ordering direction.

Val went with the apple almond Belgium waffle, which had a presentation that couldn’t be beat. A mound of freshly whipped cream, a bowl of apple compote, a mini pitcher of pure maple syrup – beautiful I tell ya! I reached across the table and snagged a bite. An A-Mazing bite for a savory breakfast lover and an even more A-Mazing meal for the sweet loving kind.

This savory breakfast girl ordered the eggs florentine, which was served with a heaping stack of homefries. They won me over with the use of fresh spinach that was only slightly wilted from the heat of the egg. And the homefries, well, each square was cooked to homefry perfection.

Eastside Cafe quickly became my favorite brunch spot in Austin. The food, the service, the atmosphere – the place was spot on in every instance. The cafe alone is worth venturing over to the East Side, but the fact that they have such awesome neighbors makes the trip even more exciting!

I’ll be seeing you soon, Eastside Cafe!

Gospel Brunch

January 15, 2013 by Kristin

Now that the holidays are over, it’s time for the ATX visitors to start rolling in again! This past weekend, Val and Katie flew from sunshiny Tampa to experience everything I raved about when I was home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We went to some of my tried and true favs: La Condesa, Midnight Cowboy, boutiques on South Congress, the lake house. And then we checked out a few new things, one of which was Gospel Brunch at Stubb’s BBQ.

We followed the crowd to the buffet line and filled up our plates with a solid mix of southern goodness and Tex-Mex. I snapped a shot of Katie’s plate as it was much more fun than the rest our ours. My plate looked something like cheese grits, cheese grits, biscuits and gravy, cheese grits. Fifty shades of white is about as uninteresting as it gets. But let me tell ya, the cheese grits were where it was at.

As we crossed over to the full-bellied side, the band came on and an instant energy filled the room.

We clapped along and waved our arms and all the while our smiles grew. Gospel Brunch was certainly the most uplifting brunch any of us had ever experienced. I think it’s safe to say that everyone in our group would gladly go again!

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