A Weekend of Fun and Good Food in Austin Texas, plus BlogHerFood 2013!
Back when I was a relatively new digital camera user, I used to do a blog feature called Friday Night Photos. I was taking lots of photos then partly to learn to use my new camera, and it was fun sharing some of them on the blog. Then I guess it started to feel like work, because I quit doing the photos and started Phase One Fridays, a feature that might be more useful to most of my readers. But fast forward a few years and now I’m the proud owner of a brand new iPhone5, which takes amazing pictures. I’m having so much fun snapping photos with my phone that I decided to share them on the blog once in a while. This first batch is from my visit to Austin, Texas last weekend, where I was attending BlogHerFood 2013 and hanging out with a few of my favorite blogging friends.
I went to Austin a day early so I could spend a day with my blogging BFF Lydia and her husband Ted, and we had a great time visiting the LBJ Presidential Library (a must see) and eating lunch at Hillside Farmacy (where apparently I didn’t take any photos, but the lunch was great.) On the walk back to the hotel we passed this famous Austin eatery, where the “sold out” sign was on the door.
That night we couldn’t get into Uchi, so we switched gears completely and ended up at Curra’s Grill, where the Mexican food was wonderful. I can’t remember what this was, but the black refried beans looked good.
This was my plate of cheese enchiladas with Verde sauce, Mexican rice, and refried pinto beans. Two thumbs up.
Ted had one of the mole dishes, served with refried pintos and Mexican rice. Our only regret about this restaurant was that none of us had the avocado margaritas!
Curra’s Grill 612 East Oltorf Street Austin, Texas 78704 (512) 444-0012
Friday night I went to La Condesa with Ted, Lydia, Donna, Sandy, and Stephanie. We shared two of the Guacamole Tasting samplers, and I especially loved the guacamole with crab. (How could that not be good?)
The Mexican-Style Street corn was amazing. DO NOT MISS THIS if you ever eat here, whether it’s on your diet or not!
La Condesa 400A West 2nd Street Austin, TX 78701 (512) 499-0300
Saturday most of the conference attendees went on a food truck excursion. That sounded pretty hot to us, and Stephanie had a car, so we drove out to Driftwood and went to The Salt Lick for lunch. Here’s the big open barbecue you see when you first walk in the door. The Salt Lick is really a destination more than just a restaurant, and there was a huge crowd there for lunch on Saturday afternoon.
This is definitely a down-home place with melamine plates, and a standard barbecue menu. This was brisket with potato salad and beans.
There’s also sausage (very good!) if you’d like that with your brisket, potato salad, and beans.
This was my plate with a smaller portion or brisket, coleslaw, and beans. I skipped the potato salad, because by now I had definitely been overdoing it on the diet splurges.
And if you can possibly manage to save room for it, the peach cobbler was excellent.
The Salt Lick 18300 FM 1826 Driftwood, TX 78619 (512) 858-4959
Saturday night we wandered out of our hotel for a final dinner and ended up at El Sol Y la Luna where the food was excellent (if only we had been a little hungrier!) This was a plate of Tacquitos, reportedly very good.
If I went back I would definitely try these Fish Tacos that both Ted and Lydia ordered.
El Sol Y la Luna 600 E 6th St Austin, TX 78701 (512) 444-7770
The final closing party for BlogHerFood 2013 was at another famous barbecue place. We made a short appearance, but didn’t manage to stay for much of the food, music, or dancing. Guess we’ll have to try this next time we make it to Austin.
Have you been to Austin and sampled the food and local culture? If so, please leave a comment and let us know about places where you had some good food there!
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Kat, what a fun place for your daughter to go to school. We had a great breakfast at The Driskill Hotel and a good lunch at The Farmacy. And you MUST go to the LBJ Presidential Library; loved seeing that.
My daughter is fixin to head to UT Austin in August. Will MISS her—but thank you for Austin food recommendations, as I hope to get up there monthly to keep her from cafeteria coma and bring fresh laundry!!! Now I have a few tried and true places to try. Any more Austin suggestions???
Great trip report, Kalyn! Love that you got to spend extra time with Lydia and her husband. Also love the names Hillside Farmacy and The Salt Lick. The food at all your stops looks great!
10 Comments on “Capturing Austin Food Photos by iPhone: Curra’s Grill, La Condesa, The Salt Lick, and El Sol Y la Luna”
Kat, what a fun place for your daughter to go to school. We had a great breakfast at The Driskill Hotel and a good lunch at The Farmacy. And you MUST go to the LBJ Presidential Library; loved seeing that.
My daughter is fixin to head to UT Austin in August. Will MISS her—but thank you for Austin food recommendations, as I hope to get up there monthly to keep her from cafeteria coma and bring fresh laundry!!! Now I have a few tried and true places to try. Any more Austin suggestions???
Thanks Shirley; we definitely did have a great time!
Great trip report, Kalyn! Love that you got to spend extra time with Lydia and her husband. Also love the names Hillside Farmacy and The Salt Lick. The food at all your stops looks great!
Shirley
Annalise, I know what you mean, but I am a firm believer that when you're on vacation, that's no time to worry too much about your diet.
LOVED that corn from La Condesa! Steve and I went Thursday night. Such great food in Austin, I'm still recovering! 🙂
Joanne and TW, it was a great conference. Hope to see you both next time!
Lydia, we certainly did have some memorable meals. Worth the splurge, but now it's back to reality!
What great photos! And a lovely reminder of how well we ate in Austin.
Wow! What a Texas-sized feast! That street corn looks amazing, and all of the photos are mouthwatering. Looks like it was great fun!
I REALLY wish I had gotten to go to Austin now! Everything looks so delicious.