Arturo's Underground Cafe

  I always have that dilemma about whether to share or not to share my most favorite secret places. There's always that tension, right? I'm sure that's what people living in gorgeous tropical places feel. "Share this gorgeous location with the rest of the world because how can you keep this beauty to yourself?! Also, they'll probably come because it's so beautiful & it would really help us locals financially." This is the the very serious, hard dilemma I'm in right now, people. But I just can't keep too much of a good thing to myself, so I'll spill. Arturo's Underground is the best, THE BEST, brunch you will ever eat in downtown Austin on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Don't listen to any other list of "best places to eat brunch". If Arturo's isn't on it, just exit the page. This is the best! Just trust me!    Most people I ask, "Have you ever been to Arturo's?" answer no. Most have never even heard of it. Of course, this makes the lines shorter to just a 10 minute wait vs the gajillion minute wait of other downtown Austin brunch spots. It also keeps that special feel to this hole-in-the- wall coffee shop by week brunch spot by weekend place. It feels like our own little brunch spot where we can tuck away from the rest of the world. Part of me wants to keep it this way. But then there's this other part of me that wants to stand out on the street & insist to all who drive by to come in & taste of the deliciousness! It must be shared! And, a locally owned business making such good food, don't you want to support that?! Don't you want their business to grow? They deserve it. They're making masterpieces. I want them to succeed! And so, I'll shout it from the rooftops, metaphorically that is. Go to Arturo's Underground Cafe. Just go. Also, did I mention that they have mimosa carafes? And free hot cookies Sunday mornings? Here's what you must, MUST, order. Their El Diablo & their Carribean French toast. The El Diablo combines everything that you could ever want in a Texas brunch; thick buttery toast, spicy jalapenos, poached/fried? eggs (don't know, just good. good eggs), hollandaise sauce & delicious home-style potatoes. The Caribbean french toast consists of thick slices of bread, toasted pecans, caramelized/bourbonized (What is this delicious syrup?) & bananas foster. Zachary & I get both & split the two. We can never decide what we like best. They're both just too good. You eat a little sweet & long for the spicy. You eat a little spicy & long for the sweet. You just want it all.    Check it out your next Saturday free! You won't be disappointed. :)    314 W. 17th Street  Austin, Texas Brunch is Saturday & Sundays  
**As a side not, we've only ever ordered these two dishes. They're so good we never want anything else! So, that's all I can really speak on. I'm sure the other food is great, too.

Eat Austin: Takoba

Takoba is a delicious East Austin taco joint. They have delicious tacos, chips, guac, salsa & drinks. Takoba puts pride in their quality & freshness of food. They support local vendors & farmers but still directly import chiles, beans, and herbs from Mexico for that authentic Mexican flavor.
Appetizers that sound amazzzzzzing include; the queso fundido with oaxaca & monterrery jack cheeses, roasted poblano, chorizo, with warm flour tortillas or their guacomole!
Some taco favorites include; the fish tacos with crispy tilapia, shredded cabbage, pineapple, chipotle mayonnaise, the pork shoulder tacos with slow-braised pork shoulder cooked over wood-burning fire pits & the veggie tacos with sautéed zucchini, caramelized sweet potatoes, roasted corn, green chiles, queso fresco, chipotle mayonnaise and salsa secreta. Yum!
I also really love their salads! Their Ensalada de la casa is delicious with baby spinach, toasted pecans, jicama, oranges, goat cheese and house vinaigrette.
They also have brunch! I'm dying to try some of their brunch items, especially their breakfast tacos with housemade chorizo & their brunch desserts! The Nube de Coco which is a  frozen coconut soufflé with fresh pineapple & their chocolate truffle cake with fresh cinnamon whipped cream, sound to die for! Yummmm!
Get there early for dinner & snag a spot on the patio. If you're lucky  it will be a night they host live music! Ay yi yi < (like the Mexican Xena call)!  Also, bonus, there's plenty of parking! If you can't find a place in front, there's a parking lot off the back alley way in the back. 

1411 East 7th Street
Austin, Texas 78702
For reservation inquiries: events@takobarestaurant.com
 512-628-4466

7th Street Dining Room & Terrace

Monday-Thursday 11 am - 10 pm

Friday-Saturday 10 am - 11 pm

Sunday 10 am-10 pm

Visiting with David

 Since coming home we've had the opportunity to catch up with so many people! It's been amazing to hear about our friends and families lives the past 4 1/2 years. 4 1/2 years is way to long! Thankfully we have some amazing friends and family & we're able to skip all the awkwardness of being away so long, and get straight to catching up, right where we left off! It's funny how many of our conversations have started with, "Okay, so 5 years ago you were here (insert place), so where'd you go next?" Then the past 5 years' stories begin! We got to meet with David during one of our first weeks back in Austin. David was Zachary's best friend growing up and his Best Man in our wedding.
 We met at a local favorite, now not so local as this dellllicious burger joint is popping up all over Texas, Hopdoddy. I got a refreshing kale salad and Z got a mushroom-swiss burger.
Look at all those delicious burger choices. Nom nom nommm.
After lunch, we went and picked up David's girl-dog and made our way to Zilker park.
We spent hours in the sun, under the trees just talking, catching up on life. We have such a great time with David! After, hours in the sun, we were parched, so we headed to Radio City Coffee for some ammmmmmazing iced coffee.
Do you see the foam on top of that coffee? Love their cold brew! You don't need to add anything to it.
Austin! After dropping David and his pup-pup off, we grabbed a gyro (from the little gyro food truck in front of Spiderhouse, for the Austin peeps.) Those gyros, which as I found out that day, pronounced gee-row, not jie (long i) -row. Did you know this Readers? I think it's pretty much common knowledge. But knowledge that I never learned.
We had a great day outside, enjoying the Texas weather, Austin food & friends! Love you David!

Harley Girl's Birthday Weekend

My sister Harley turned 21 in March. 21. Crazy. It's weird when your younger siblings start turning into legit, full out adults, right? Thankfully we still have little Sophie-sister, who's 3, to keep us all thinking we're still young. So! The weekend after Harley's birthday, she came into town to the parents house, and we all went out to dinner at Chuy's. Waiters and waitresses sang, she got to flash her new ID, and there was free ice cream with chocolate syrup. It's fun they still do that. Though she's 21 and had a baby next to her. YOLO. ;)
In Heather style, Harley and I spent Saturday down town, drinking way too much coffee and consuming too many calories. It was awesome. I loooooove my sister! This cuteness of a baby is my nephew. Nephew!! I'm an aunt! His name is Sebastian. He's the happiest. I love it. Sebastian really digged Houndstooth coffee where mommy got a latte and auntie got a cold brew. Fancy. Because we had only drank one cup of coffee and I knew Zachary would probably want me to spend more money ;), we headed to my favvvorite place, Beware Coffee. That's Beware Coffee. It's cute & serves the one of the best lattes on the planet. IMO. If your an Austinite or wannabe, like me (I'm from Cedar Park...lame. If only you'd bought a house 10 miles further parents!-actually, whatever. I'm a Greater Austinite. Which is really better, because it means I pay (or my parents do) less taxes. So. Ya. ), it's in the Spiderhouse back parking lot. Next door to Beware is Maggie's Waffles food truck. They serve delicious waffles. Obv. We split the SXSW special (SXSW was that weekend) Oreo, Coconut whip cream filled waffle. Yomyom.Also, should you be in this area, like we were, you can take photos of spackled (a word? yes?)  chairs & pavement. You can also view all the local wall art. It often changes & is always colorful. Usually I like to stand against walls like this and take selfies & cool photo back drop pictures but for some reason I just wasn't feeling the skull & pig demon back drop for my cute selfie. ;)There's the birthday cuteness enjoying the waffle. We're super cool and hard core. Oh there's a photo of Harley's Chuy's birthday festivities. It was a great weekend! Happy Birthday SisterLove!