Austin, TX

Last week my friend Rosie from England was visiting Austin,Texas and I definitely got on a plane to join her for a few days! I've been to plenty of places all over Texas, but strangely never here so I was excited for a new city to visit and explore! Side note - you should definitely follow Rosie's lifestyle blog (is that what they're called?) it's always a great read and actually (I would guess) has way more views than this, but still worth me mentioning.

OK, on with Austin!

Firstly, I have to talk about how I found it strange that Austin wasn't particularly GF friendly. I'm not sure why, but I honestly thought everywhere I'd go there would be symbols on the menus and bakeries galore etc and there just really wasn't anything of the sort. Maybe because people likened it to hip places such as Portland I thought it might be my friend, but it seemed to not really acknowledge GF and I was very surprised by this. I obviously was still able to eat everywhere (as you'll see) it just wasn't as easy as I had imagined.

Snooze

I ate here once when visiting Colorado last year & loved their ability to make things GF (especially their pancakes), so when I saw that there was one in Austin I asked Rosie if we could head there for breakfast one day. Luckily for me she agreed and we decided to do this before hitting Mount Bonnell (which we thought was a giant hike & figured we'd fuel up for. Spoiler Alert - it is not a big hike, it's 100 steps up and although a nice view, quite disappointing!) Anyways, we went & ordered a ton of food, and life was good. I ordered the Snooze Classic (3 eggs, bacon, hash browns & toast) & the Pancake of the Day, which was some lemon mascarpone crumble thing with blueberry sauce and lots of other delicious flavours. I died once I tried it. True story. I will always tell people to go here & eat the pancakes, it's all you'll need to live in life. So, make sure to pay them a visit!

La Barbecue

I guess there are really only two places to eat real BBQ in Austin. One is Franklin BBQ (which apparently is a whole day affair because people queue up from 7am to make sure they get food) or this place. Queues are still long, but it won't take you all day to get fed (although no idea what it's like at the weekend!) and the BBQ here is very, very legit. The only thing can I say about this place is YUMMMMMYYYYY. I absolutely love BBQ food & brisket is one of my fave things to eat and this definitely did not disappoint. The brisket was wonderful, melt in the mouth perfection and exactly what you want when eating BBQ; it wasn't dry at all. For sides I got the chipotle slaw (hello spicy) and some potato salad because I love to have potato with my beef. Both were fine, but the real star of the show was the meat. Rosie had the brisket sandwich & said it was one of the best things she's ever eaten - she wanted to get back in the queue to get another one. haha! It would be a mistake to head to Austin and not stop by here to say hello.

Wild Wood Bakehouse

Pretty much the only fully gluten free bakery I could find in Austin (bar PicNik) and what a find! It has a full kitchen but we visited this on the morning of my last day in the city & didn't have time to sit down and eat, which I didn't mind as I went here determined to just get myself some cinnamon rolls. I haven't had a cinnamon roll in years. Surprisingly, they are restricted to 1 per customer because they must be very in-demand (but I had Rosie pretend one was for her so I could buy 2 *naughty me*.)  I also got a couple of cupcakes that were from the day before to try as I wasn't really there for cupcakes so didn't mind if they were particularly fresh or not (if there's one thing we get to eat a lot, it's cupcakes). I actually didn't try the cinnamon roll until I had got home that night - the suspense was killing me and it was definitely worth the wait. Firstly, it was giant. Secondly, the texture and taste were spot on. Thirdly, I warmed up some of it just slightly & it was absolute heaven. The frosting was cream cheese, which I'm not sure is classic, but I love cream cheese frosting so I was all for it. I cut it in half and ate it over two days & I still have one more in the fridge! These things are so big, you could easily eat it bit by bit like me and be fine. Absolute delight - and a must have to buy when here.
- Side note - be careful if you're visiting on a Saturday; for some reason their website said they would be open at 9am (& kitchen at 10am) but the entire shop didn't open until 10am.

Random Places

Juice Land 

Whilst we were waiting for the bakery to open we wandered down the street to a juice cafe, as I was actually craving some fruits and veg in my life after a few days of eating bad, bad food. I chose the Berry Godmother (pineapple juice, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, goji berry & camu camu) and it was THE BEST! Tart, the right amount of thickness and just all round deliciousness; the perfect start to the morning. If you're looking for a juice around that area I would recommend heading to this place. They actually had a bunch of vegan and GF snacks and options which I didn't get to try, but it was nice to see!

Torcy's Tacos

We originally decided to go here for breakfast tacos, but by the time we got our act together & made it there, we had definitely crossed into lunchtime, so I opted for one breakfast & one normal. I chose a Monk Special (scrambled eggs, bacon, green chiles, cheese & I added potatoes & requested a corn taco) & a Democrat (obv. lol) which was shredded barbacoa, fresh avocado, cotija cheese, onions, tomatillo sauce on a corn taco. Once again the menu didn't have any symbols on it, but I always feel pretty safe ordering Mexican, it tends to be one of the safer options for us celiac sufferers.

I really loved my tacos but they are large, so if you're not particularly hungry I'd only order one. I ended up leaving most of both of them. I did encounter a bird attacking my food between mouthfuls, which was a bit of a shock the first time & then mildly amusing & in the end I just left my food on the end of the table so he could take some. The birds must do it a lot as it definitely wasn't scared of me. Overall, I'd eat here again. The food was ridiculously delicious, I'm just sad I got full so quickly!

In & Out

Of course, it wouldn't be a trip to the west coast/Texas if I didn't stop at In & Out. I know a lot of people think it's overrated, but I just really enjoy their food and it's always such a novelty when I'm near one. I ordered a Protein Style (lettuce wrapped) Animal Style Burger (with their famous "spread" and onions) and then Animal Style Fries (melted cheese, grilled onions and "spread") and couldn't have been happier. I will say eating the burger protein style is definitely hard work - it falls apart and gets a bit (a lot) messy, but of course it's worth it to be able to eat a burger here. I think it always tastes so good because everything is made from scratch here - even the potatoes are cut up in front of you, which is an absolute joy and unheard of for fast food. I'll never stop eating In & Out. We also picked the perfect night to eat it, because it was the one night that it was absolutely pouring & we didn't want to go anywhere exciting in the rain. Job well done. 

Picnik

Whilst waiting for our table at Snooze, I saw that opposite was a place I'd seen listed online as being GF & vegan - Picnik! It was a lucky coincidence and so I went to see what was on offer. I ended up buying a Lemon Poppyseed Muffin which I loved (anyone else just loved lemon poppyseed?) and a packet of mini choc chip cookie bites, which I didn't try until I got home (& actually didn't love - they were obviously made with unusual ingredients and there was an after taste I didn't especially love.) So, I would recommend definitely trying the muffins! Once again, I didn't get to eat anything off their full menu, because I was obviously waiting for my table at Snooze, but if you're vegan I am sure this would be a great spot to check out!

 That's about it for Austin. I am sure there were other pieces of food I ate that I just haven't mentioned... I tend to eat a lot don't I? My next trip will be to Nashville as Caleb is there finishing his album, so if you have any recommendations, I am open ears. I'm also trying to plan a few days in Napa Valley in June because I am determined to see some vineyards and get back to California ( I haven't been in aaaageeesss), so will also take recommendations for there too! Until next time everyone! Ps. Let me know if you visit or have visited any of the places I mentioned in this piece.  Pps. I visited this mural because I saw it posted on another GF Instagram & loved it. I didn't know it was on the wall of a bakery... a non GF bakery. Sad times!