People who don't like Austin......because of the restaurants??? (Houston: house, organic)

[TexasHorseLady]

It depends on where you get your kolaches and what kind how sweet they are. The sausage or ham kolaches in West (to kolaches what Lockhart purportedly is to BBQ) are not so sweet. Nor are the ones down in La Grange.

[love roses]

True. I've even had kolaches where jalapenos are baked into the bread, so there's no sweetness to those for sure.

[MJinAustin]

Originally Posted by Mike78613

Then you have to watch this:

I've seen it...I just mean, I think their burgers are totally disgusting and since I didn't grow up with them, I have no emotional ties (eating them as a kid or whatever), so to me they are just nasty overfried tiny patties on a dinner roll bun with smelly diced onions. I don't get it.

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by pbnj07

I've read numerous posts lately from people who don't like or are leaving Austin because they don't like the selection of restaurants in the city/area.

Granted, we don't have the variety or volume of restaurants of a city like New York, but we also don't have the crime, astronomical real estate prices, or poor school systems.

What is this obsession people have with restaurants? I like to dine-out as much as the next person, but I just don't need 500 Italian restaurants to choose from.

If you can't find the type of cuisine you're looking for, experiment with something new or maybe even pick up a cookbook.

As you can tell, restaurant selection was pretty low on my priority list when it came to finding a residence.

Just venting.

This reminds me of the roadhouse bar scene in the Blues Brothers

"We have both types of music, Country AND Western!
But, in Austin, its

"We have both types of food, Fried and BBQ'd!"

Seriously, I think they complain because of the size of the metro, and the aforementioned lack of diversity in food for that size. While Austin has a bunch of cool little places, like Chuy's and such, they are almost all high-caloric, and variations on a theme of fat, BBQ'd, fried food of one kind or nother.....on the other hand, if you like your food high-caloric, fried, or BBQ'd, Austin would be heaven incarnate.....

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by schoenfraun

I had just posted three times on the thread about an Illinoisan's take on Austin, he had posted about food, and I did the same.

Restaurants do not make a city--the geography and topography do, the people and local customs do, the architecture and landscape design do...but don't you think that restaurants are part of local culture? What local people eat is important.

Nothing beats home cooking, ever, I don't think. We eat at home more often than not, my husband loves to entertain, and he is a baker.

But our single friends here always want us to go out to dinner with them. They don't like to eat at home alone, I guess. We have yet to find a restaurant that bowls us over. But we've only just started to look--we have only lived here for 11 months.

But if restaurants don't matter to local culture, what does? What plays an important role in the everyday of Austin? If restaurants and bars and coffee shops don't matter, then there'd be no 6th Street or Drag, right?

I'd stay at home with my stuff all the time, and it would be just like I was living somewhere else, like Nebraska, in a building with all my stuff.

Food and local culture are necessarily intertwined. Again, I'm not saying that restaurants make or break Austin, but they are an important part of what Austin is.

So many people I know rejoiced at the reopening of Mother's. They have lived in Austin all their lives. This restaurant matters to them, for some reason.

Well, they say you are what you eat....think about it....now, there is nothing wrong with a city's "claim to fame" food as having high-caloric content. That is the case with most cities. For example, Chicago's claims are several, and all over 2000 calories.....a full-sized Vienna Beef Hot Dog(Mustard only please, no ketsup), Deep Dish Pizza, Cheesecake, Ribs.....But, if the city had ONLY vienna hot dog and deep dish pizza places to eat in, it would not be a great culinary capitol......add 5,500 ethnic restaurants to the mix, and it becomes a different picture, with the high-caloric stuff just an addendum for fun and tourists......

Now, the problem with Austin is they have no FALLBACK from those high-caloric, limited places......and that is what people are complaining about.
This is not 100%, but shamefully lacking for a metro of 1.65 million and growing. I've lived in Indianapolis, and I would put Austin about on that level. Both cities have a great lack of ethnic diversity, which filters down to the very real and vital food offerings of the same.

[achtungpv]

white suburban people = bland uninteresting restaurants

It's true. Admit it.

[TexasHorseLady]

Depends on the suburbs and the people.

Just like all the broad-stroke characterizations one reads on here.

[TexasHorseLady]

Now, the problem with Austin is they have no FALLBACK from those high-caloric, limited places......and that is what people are complaining about.

What about the numerous Vietnamese restaurants? What about the numerous vegetarian restaurants? (Just two examples right off the top of my head without even having to think about it.)

Again, don't go where everybody else does, explore a little, look beyond the surface (and not very far at that), and you'll find lots of options.

[schoenfraun]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

It depends on where you get your kolaches and what kind how sweet they are. The sausage or ham kolaches in West (to kolaches what Lockhart purportedly is to BBQ) are not so sweet. Nor are the ones down in La Grange.

Because I travel the state a lot for work, I have already had kolaches in West and in La Grange. Not so delicious to me....

Likely part of the problem is that I am vegetarian, so typically only sweet kolaches are available to me. I have several times in different towns been tempted by what is labeled as a "cheese and jalapeno" kolache, and when I ask if it has meat in it, the answer is always "yes, it's just not labeled like that." Usually all the "cheese and ---" kolaches have sausage in them, unless bacon is specifically called out, it seems. Weird. In my mind, sausage is not a universal given or "understood" thing, but I guess it is in kolache-world.

But... in Taylor, there is a sweet little Czech bakery where everything, the cakes, doughnuts, pies, sweet rolls, and kolaches, are all made from scratch on premises. I was just talking to one of the bakers there last week, and she said that, traditionally, kolaches are ONLY sweet, fruit-filled things (except for cream cheese-filled, which is a new, Americanized thing). She told me that cheese, egg, sausage (i.e. savory) kolaches are not traditional, but a recent American thing. Recent being decades and decades old already, but still....

Interesting.

Another interesting thing, I found: I asked some co-workers for their opinions about the Monument Cafe, as I know they like to eat out a lot. They both told me it's nothing special and they wouldn't go out of their way to eat there. But then it occurred to me that they are die-hard Austinites, in the sense that they are curious about the outside world, but they don't want to live there. They'll just pass through, thank you. (When I told them several months ago that I was moving to Taylor, they couldn't believe it!) They like the hip, happening stuff of Austin. They recommend restaurants in Austin, and in San Antonio, but according to these two, there are no places worth checking out in Williamson County. I'm incredulous, because these are smart people! But Georgetown is "far" for them, I guess, in Rosedale and Crestview.

It reminds me of the saying that New Yorkers are the most provincial people in the world, because they truly believe that New York has everything, and if it's not in New York, it's not worth much. A museum exhibit that's not from New York, or doesn't travel to New York, is not much of an exhibit, for example. Couldn't be good. The best opera, theater, etc., is from the city. Nothing in the hinterlands except a big WHOOOSH sound of the void. That attitude drives me nuts. I kinda do think that dyed-in-the-wool urbanites are just as provincial as the "hicks" they decry.

But I ramble and rant. Sorry.

Another coworker recommended an Italian place in Williamson County called Nonna's, I think. So I've got two places to check out at some point....

I don't think I can eat another enchilada for a while. I'm Tex-Mexed out.

I would love anyone's recommendations for Thai and Vietnamese in the Austin area.... Texas Horse Lady, you've recommended one.

Oh, and the bialy at Sweetish Hill, is also not a good bialy. I guess we need to import them.... They have a very particular texture, it cannot be compromised! It doesn't matter where it comes from, NY, Chicago, Boston, Florida, Alabama, it just needs that texture!

[gigi927]

I've lived both in Chicago and San Francisco - great eating cities. I consider myself an equal opportunity eater - I love everything from White Castle and good Chicago Italian beef to high end stuff. Having lived in other cities, I think Austin is doing a pretty good job of trying to build a thriving and diverse restaurant scene! It actually was one of the things that drew us here from Phoenix, where I feel dining of all types is pretty seriously lacking.

Now, I have tried some of the Austin places that have been raved about and been a little underwhelmed: Hut's, The Omelettry, and a highly disappointing meal at Austin Land and Cattle last Friday night, to name a few. But we've had several great surprises as well - Sampaio, Wink, Cafe Lago, Starlite, Eddie V's (not really a local place, but still good), Mikado....I really am very encouraged by what is going on with dining and hope that it continues!