Let’s just wrap up the weekend by covering some good eats I had in Austin.  I may have eaten more of some things simply because I can’t easily get them in New York.  Fresh corn tortillas?  Queso? Migas?  I had to make it to Bess Bistro. This is Sandra Bullock’s Austin restaurant. I tried to get in on a Friday night and it was a 1 1/2 hour wait. They said they were booked in full Saturday night. So I tried again the following week, tried to sneak in quick after work on my way home. Still 45 minutes but I wasn’t going to turn away this time. I had to visit, just for my friend LG!

I will admit I looked up Brad Womack’s bars but couldn’t bring my self to really go that far down the celeb food establishment path.  The wonders of Facebook allowed me to connect with CF. We started out at the same company after undergrad over 10 years ago. We explored Trudy’s and then Polvo’s for Mexican. She didn’t lead us wrong. We just over ordered and couldn’t make a dent in the nachos or fajitas. I love how colorful it all is.

And she introduced D and I to Quack’s Bakery, where the beginnings of Valentine’s Day treats were on display. We couldn’t resist the Tollhouse pie or cupcake.

Refreshing beverage at the San Jose Hotel with AD.

Breakfast afforded me another opportunity to sample Austin cuisine. Jo’s coffee was just a quick walk up the street from my hotel, and where I ventured my first weekend in town. I finally tried the Migas breakfast taco here. Migas are scrambled eggs mixed with tortiallas and cheese. A Migas breakfast taco wraps it all up in a tortilla! The cinnamon roll was tasty, but say I like the Joe NY version better (doughier).

I couldn’t get enough of the soft tacos. The freshly made corn tortillas did it. In fact, I went to Guero’s twice, sat at the same Taco Bar and watched the same woman roll dough, flatten it out and grill it for two nights. First night on the left, second night on the right (different hats).

I even had the same waitress (how embarrassing!). She assured me it was ok, she had people come in 3-4 times a week. First night was the Pork al Pastor and grilled fish taco. I LOVE fish tacos and couldn’t get enough of them when I lived in California. The “al Pastor” is like the Mexican version of the shwarma, a spit-grilled meat. The second night I had to go back for the fish taco and Chicken al Carbon where the chicken is marinated in anchiote and orange juice. Yum! Honestly, I’m already missing the tacos.

How could I not end the evenings with some sweets. Amy’s is the local ice cream place and it’s a little bit like Coldstone. The very friendly ice cream scooper said his favorite was the Mexican vanilla and crushed Nutter Butters. Of course, I had to try the regular and Mexican vanilla side by side, just to be sure it was what I wanted. He didn’t steer me wrong.

And my very pregnant waitress at Guero’s insisted the Tres Leches cake was well worth it, even if it was a big piece. I could only eat half. The cake is a traditional Spanish dessert made of a sponge/butter cake soaked in 3 kinds of milk: evaporated, condensed and heavy cream.