Austin Food Favorites

Living in Austin has turned me into a foodie. I enjoy actively trying new places and keeping track of restaurants I've tried or would recommend. I use an app called mapstr every time I try a new restaurant, and I'm obsessed with it because it visualizes my food journey in Austin so far. I can add tags to categorize my places, and I can add my own pictures of food to these places, which are good to refer to when recommending places!

On my previous Gatsby website, I also had a food recommendation page, which used Google Maps and allowed clicking on the locations to expand the corresponding accordion! Unfortunately, I'm not going to implement something that advanced here, since this is just a blog post. Besides, it's probably easier for readers to digest a plain and simple recommendations list. Here are some restaurants in Austin that I've marked under my favorites!

Personal Go-Tos

Tumble22: Best chicken I've had in Austin. You can adjust the spice level on your chicken. The portions and sandwiches are filling, and the sides are amazing. They have happy hour on weekdays from 4-6pm, if you can eat a slightly early dinner. Also they have seasonal items; at this time of writing I recently had their Holly Jolly Buffalo OG sandwich! If you're a fan of hot chicken places, I highly recommend trying this.

Ramen Tatsu-Ya: Most well-known ramen joint in Austin. The ramen scene in Austin isn't known to be mindblowing, but I find Tatsu-Ya relatively flavorful and comforting, and I really like their tonkotsu, so I definitely prefer it to other ramen joints I've tried so far. I've had many social gatherings here during college and still invite friends here often.

Asian Fusion Places

888 Pan Asian: Popular Asian restaurant near Riverside (in the southeast). It serves Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai food, and has a huge menu. Portions are flavorful and pretty big too, so I think it's good bang for your buck.

Bar Peached/Peached Tortilla: Two sister restaurants that have lively bar atmospheres and serve a unique array of Asian fusion comfort dishes. At Bar Peached, I've tried their mapo bolognese, bingsu (Korean shaved ice), and steak frites (served Tuesdays). At Peached Tortilla, I've had a variety of sharable street tacos and noodle bowls. I love the quality of these two restaurants, but they're pricey... so I only go on special occasions.

Middle Eastern Places

Peace Bakery and Deli: Palestinian restaurant near the Chinatown center on North Lamar. Their portions are generous, and you get a lot of sides, so I definitely find this bang for your buck. They seem to have daily lunch specials for their meats; this picture was when their special was brisket on Monday.

Kebabalicious: Turkish kebabs in an outdoorsy setting in East Austin. The kebabs are huuuuge, definitely bang for your buck; I sometimes even have trouble finishing these in one sitting. This was a spot I went to a lot with friends during college.

Favorite Austin Pizza

Home Slice Pizza: NY-style pizza restaurant with large pizzas, Italian dishes and subs. I tried their pizza after I took a trip to New England with my roommate, and the pizza up there was mindblowingly good; Home Slice is the closest I've had so far to that experience. The pizza on the left is fried eggplant and ricotta cheese, which I loved. The large pizzas may look pricey, but they're easy to split with a friend to make it worth it.

Via 313: Detroit-style pizza restaurant with a lot of unique pizza types. The pizza in this picture is the Cadillac, which has gorgonzola, prosciutto, and balsamic glaze--definitely one of the more unique pizzas I've had. There are several locations spread throughout Austin, one of them in West Campus, where I went often with friends.

Favorite Desserts

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams: Favorite ice cream in Austin, which I always visit when I'm in South Congress (or the Domain). It's pricey, so I have to really be feeling like I deserved a treat. They have some unique flavors; oddly I'm a big fan of their popcorn-based flavor, which tastes buttery and salty. I also love their holiday alcohol flavors: I remember having a boozy eggnog flavor lately and even a cognac-based flavor.

OMG Squee: Asian American dessert shop in East Austin. They have a variety of desserts, from pastries and macarons to fruit and milk teas, but the standout dessert to me here is their mochi donuts. I love the (cute) mochi donut designs and flavors, as well as their texture. I've been to a couple house gatherings where someone brought boxes of mochi donuts by the dozen... they are just so heavenly!

Voodoo Doughnuts: One of my favorite donut shops, which I love to visit when I go to the famous 6th Street in downtown Austin. Their prices aren't ridiculous, so I don't have to commit to overspending on dessert. They have good variety, though my friend who introduced me here got me into loving their sprinkle cake donuts.

Gourdough's Big. Fat. Donuts: A donut food truck south of downtown Austin, the name says it all: these are big, freshly made donuts served hot. It's pricey, but you're also committing to a large dessert which is pretty filling. I went here with friends often during college, even though it was isolated from downtown and was a longer walk... the donuts here made the walks absolutely worth it.