Keep Austin Weird

My experience at Rudy's began a full three days of nothing but Tex Mex and Barbecue- in other words, a LOT of meat.

I went to the Taco Shack for breakfast. I would compare it to The Flat in Charlottesville- a hole in the wall that looks fairly sketchy from the outside, but is actually a delicious Creperie.
Win # 1- Very inexpensive: Less than $1.75 per taco.

Win #2- Breakfast of champions: I got a Fajita Burrito- which had eggs, cheddar cheese, and beef.

Next was to experience the FLAGSHIP Whole Foods. If you are a Whole Foods fan, it's pretty much heaven.
I used to be strictly a Trader Joe's fan- but Charlottesville does NOT have one- I avoided Whole Foods for the first year of living at UVA, but what can I say- my first time in, I got hooked.
And now, every trip I go on, I find the Whole Foods-
We went on track trips to Seattle and to New York this past Indoor track season, and the Seattle one was way better quality.

At the Seattle Whole Foods, I requested possibly the best sandwich I have ever had: Pretzel bread: One side spread with olive tapenade, the other side with fig spread (Sweet and Salty)- Roasted Turkey, Brie Cheese, Lettuce, red peppers, and tomato. WINNER.

My only problem with Whole Foods is that it's addictive and expensive- I knew that the Whole Foods Warehouse in Austin would be bad news for me, so I left my wallet in the car.


I am addicted to their bulk bins- Their bulk bins are dangerous, because I love to stock up on sesame sticks, chocolate and peanut butter pretzels, chocolate covered espresso beans, and their Chocolate Lovers Nut mixes.

The Austin Whole Foods Bulk Bins were outrageous- Walls and walls of everything you could possibly want in bulk. I had absolutely no more room to bring stuff back.

Why do you always seem to have more stuff to bring home than you brought? Oh, that's right- shopping happens.


I was lucky that we got to spend the day in downtown Austin before coming back to reality (in the form of  a mountain of makeup schoolwork resulting from missing Thursday-Friday classes for three straight weeks...)

Both the atmosphere and the people in Austin were warm and vibrant. The sidewalks were lively, and full of people strolling with coffee, going in and out of vintage shops. There was a market across the street where locals were selling jewelry and t-shirts, and my favorite: Cowboy boots.

On South Congress Street there was an incredible store called Uncommon Objects- There are some strange, strange things in there- for example, there were old Ledgers that weren't dated, but inside were attendance sheets written in calligraphy pens.

My favorite part of Austin was probably The Salt Lick. It was an outdoor barbecue restaurant in the country, about 25 minutes outside of town on a vineyard.  There were TONS of people there- it is BYOB, so people sat at the tables drinking wine or beer, and enjoyed the wait.

We decided to play Bocce Ball because they had a real court for it, and 8 balls. In case you are unfamiliar with the sport, the Egyptians are credited with inventing it, but it is very popular in Europe. Whenever I visit my grandfather in France we play a LOT of Bocce.

There is a small ball that someone throws a chosen distance away- All the players have 3 larger balls that they are aiming to get as close to the smaller ball as possible. You get points based on how many balls you have closest to the target before your opponent(s).

MEAT PIT

Obviously I chose the all you can eat option, which came with sausage, brisket, and ribs.
Normally I'm not a fan of Cole Slaw because mayonnaise frightens me- I'm sorry, I can't help it. But their slaw had a non-mayonnaise dressing and it was fresh.

There were pinto beans and mashed potatoes which ad an unfamiliar spice- Maybe Cumin? It was odd at first, but it ended up growing on me and I ate the most of those than the other sides.

I don't know what else to say about the meat besides that it was delicious- their sauce was delicious- sweeter than Rudy's Sauce- and less spicy.

One thing about the people in Austin is that they are just Cool. They are just ready to hang out and talk to people, get lunch get coffee... It is different than the East Coast because we are often all business here.

I saw some crazy things, eccentric people, but they are unique- Austin, "You do you-, Stay weird". I would definitely go back.