austinized

I spend 3-4 mornings a week working in a coffee house, so I am making the rounds in Austin to see what’s out there. I’ve been to several, but have held off from posting about any of them until I’ve had 2-3 visits. Coming from Seattle, I was spoiled as far as coffee goes, but I think I’m going to be okay…

Up first in the grand coffee tour is Genuine Joe. It’s a good sized shop with an outdoor patio, three different indoor rooms, and a variety of furniture. This means you can usually find a spot to fit your mood, from a couch in a quiet corner to a table amidst all the action. The music I’ve heard is a decent mix…which means it doesn’t include any oldies or country.

Out of three visits, I’ve had one average drink, and two pretty good drinks. The latte I had on my second visit just seemed like hot flavored milk. Today, my latte had a nice texture to it. I have visited a few places where I like the lattes better (which I’ll share in time). But, I don’t like to be confined to one or two spots, so Genuine Joe is a place I’ll visit often.

One of my new Austin friends took me to lunch at Austin Diner this week. On first glance, it looked like, well, a diner. After a while, I realized it was a diner with some contemporary Austin feel. I wasn’t forced to relive decades past with oldies that I tired of long ago. The music was subtle, but modern, and the decor gave it an Austin flavor while holding on to a throwback diner atmosphere.

The waiter was helpful, the Dr. Pepper glass was large, and the food didn’t take long. Most important was what I ordered. I figured that I was in a diner, so I could have breakfast for lunch. More importantly, I was in Austin, so I could have breakfast tacos for lunch. I ordered Oscar’s Favorite, and I’ve got to tell you, I think I Oscar and I could be friends. Each taco was two corn tortillas filled with fried potatoes, bacon, pico and cheese. I probably shouldn’t eat that every day for lunch, but I know I will be eating it again!

After about a week of unpacking, our family needed to get out and unravel a bit. We met up with some new friends for live music, a playground, and some ice cream on a Saturday evening at Central Market on North Lamar. It was almost perfect…a weak iced latte was the only damper on the evening. Still, we unraveled.

One look at the parking lot as we pulled in told us that we weren’t the only ones ready to enjoy this evening. Once we got in, it wasn’t that bad. Sometimes I don’t like huge crowds, but this one didn’t bother me at all. The wait for ice cream was short and there were plenty of tables both inside and out to choose from.

After engorging their bellies and enlarging their smiles, the kids were ready to play on the playground. Again, it was full of kids, but not so much that they were climbing on each other. Well, there were one or two instances… The kids ran and slid and danced and hid while we were serenaded by the Marshall Ford Swing Band.

Central Market offers live music every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening and a movie in the park every other Wednesday night. Visit their events page for the full rundown.

Last week, I met another friend for lunch who had also just moved to Austin. We had planned to meet at Mighty Fine Burgers which has been recommended to me several times but it had a long line and no space to sit. (This was the second time I’ve tried Mighty Fine…one of these days I’ll enjoy one of those burgers.) Since Red Brick Pizza was right across the parking lot, we decided to try that.

I wasn’t familiar with Redbrick — it wasn’t something we had in Seattle. But, since I ate there, I’ve discovered it’s a franchise that’s opening around the country. I’m always up for pizza, so I as more than willing to give it a shot.

The setup for RedBrick is great with TVs all over the place showing SportsCenter or the NFL Network. Best of all, there are remotes around coded to each TV, so you can change the channel at your table if you feel the urge. The menu had a good selection and was reasonable priced for pizza and a drink.

I ordered one of my standards — a BBQ chicken pizza. I was a little confused that it had mushrooms on it, as I don’t think I’ve seen that before. I ordered it without the fungus. They left the mushrooms on and left off the red onions. When I took it back up to point out the mistake, I wasn’t impressed with their suggestion for me to just pick off the mushrooms. They did agree to remake it and the person who brought it to me seemed more apologetic.

Overall, I’d be willing to go back. But I’m sure there are lots of pizza places to try in Austin, so I might need to wait until I’ve made the rounds to see what else is out there.

On our first weekend in town, we were ready to get our whole family out for a relaxing evening after the stresses of moving. We met some friends for dinner at Chipotle and then headed over to The Domain.

Part of our motivation was to give our little ones some idea of consistency. Our family regularly visits bookstores and the Apple store. Seeing the Borders and the Apple store at the domain gave our kids a sense of something familiar in a new place. (And to be honest, I needed to scope out the Apple store to make sure it would be up to snuff. It was.)

We settled in at the little courtyard and play area near Starbucks. Our kids played with our friends’ kids and made many new friends along the way. We settled in for some great conversation and enjoyed the warm evening while live jazz played across the way. Knowing that there are plenty of outdoor evening activities like this was part of why we wanted to move to Austin. We came home that evening reminded of how happy we were to be here.

We had our first family outing in Austin last week while we were looking for a place to live. After looking over the Triangle Apartments, we decided we’d catch lunch there in the Triangle. Three years of living in Seattle has left us hungry for good Mexican food. That made Sago Modern Mexican our immediate choice.

We have a few allergy issues in our family, so it is always interesting to see how different restaurants handle that. Sago did okay, but it seemed like the restaurant was new enough that this isn’t an issue they had dealt with much. The server got the manager involved, and he was helpful.

I think the most notable thing for us was that it wasn’t a very kid friendly restaurant. They had high chairs, but no booster seats. There was not a kids menu or anything to occupy our kids like the crayons and coloring pages that many restaurants offer while waiting for food. The chips kept them happy…but ruined their appetites. Maybe Sago isn’t geared to be kid friendly, or maybe it’s just the reality of the general clientele of the restaurants in the Triangle.

The food was okay, but it didn’t wow us. It certainly wasn’t bad, but with all of the options for Mexican that we’ve seen in Austin, I don’t think we’ll be rushing back.