Austin Eats

Bernt and I have been in Texas on a working vacation. After biding our time eating free breakfasts and dinners in San Antonio, we have finally arrived in Texas' culinary mecca. We stopped in a beautiful town named Wimberly to eat at a cozy little cafe named The Leaning Pear (http://www.leaningpear.com/). It was eerily familiar- the kind of place I might have run if I had decided to run a cafe. Simple, tasty menu. Cheerful surroundings. Good prices. Just perfect for today.




Delicious cremini mushroom soup

Liam loved the soup

BBLT with brie, applewood smoked bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes on grilled sourdough

Buttermilk and vanilla panna cotta with grapefruit and tangerine

Liam made off with the bread


Along the way to Austin from Wimberly, we ran across Driftwood Winery and tasted 6 different wines. Several were tasty, but we settled on a beautiful orange blossom muscat dessert wine as a gift for tomorrow night when we will have dinner with my college RA and his wife and 2 kids.

Once we arrived in Austin and checked into our hotel, we ventured out to see the Congress Bridge bats at dusk. Apparently 1.5 million bats migrate every year from Mexico to Austin, where they roost in the 16x1.5 inch ruts in the concrete under Congress Bridge. Unfortunately, they really don't arrive in Austin until mid-March with best viewing time in August when the babies start to fly. We hung around for a while but saw neither hide nor errant wing of those tiny bats. It must be incredible to stand under the hoards of bats 1.5 million strong heading out for the evening hunt. I already like them- they eat mosquitos!

In front of the Congress Ave. Bridge


We ate dinner at a place featured in Bon Appetit magazine called House Pizzeria (http://www.housepizzeria.com/). An unassuming little place, it used to be a KFC that is now transformed into a local pizza joint serving high quality organic food. We sat right by the jukebox and conveniently close to the bar. On tap were a bunch of tasty beers in addition to a raspberry lambic and Maine root beer (I met the owner of this company and his brother a few days ago at a food convention). We tried the Pecan Porter, (512) IPA, Big Oak Amber, and a tasty rye beer whose name I forget. One of our appetizers was roasted olives, which arrived sizzling in oil with garlic.

Starting with a spinach salad with crispy salami, shaved parmesan, and lemon wedges. Liam enjoyed the parmesan.


But he enjoyed the roll even more...


Pizza with broccoli rabe, homemade Italian sausage, and hot peppers


All in all, a gastronomically delicious day!