Home » Restaurants

South Congress Cafe

8 November 2008 294 views View Comments

sign_012I highly recommend South Congress Cafe for lunch, dinner, brunch, and drinks. They have the BEST bloody mary in Austin (if not the world), scrumptious baby corn muffins to whet the appetite, and a great varied menu. The atmosphere and clientelle are fun, the place settings are asymmetrical and awesome-looking, and the glassware makes everything you drink taste special.

I can’t recommend their happy hour enough — it’s 2 p.m. – 7 p.m. every day of the week and features $3.50 margaritas, mojitos, and beer. Their house margaritas are made with Jose Cuervo Tequila and they can be served frozen or on the rocks. The two varieties of frozen are strawberry-pomegranate and lime.
bloodymaryIf you go at brunch, you MUST try the infused bloody mary. It’s $6.50 and we were able to sweet talk the bartender into sharing the recipe with us while waiting for a table for brunch this morning.
They marinate lemons, limes, jalapenos, garlic, shallots, bell peppers, and celery in Austin’s own Titos Vodka for at least 24 hours. Their bloody mary mix is added and includes Worcestershire, Tabasco, A1, garlic, celery salt, and tomato juice. Garnishes are a pimento olive, lime, a pepperocini, and a stalk of celery.

This drink will cure what ails ya.

Some recommendations from the menu — Crab Cakes, Warm Goat Cheese Salad, Very Bleu Salad, Wild Boar Red Chile Pozole, Eggs Benedict, Crab omletteCakes Benedict, Trout Almondine, Carrot Cake French Toast, and more. You can’t really go wrong.

I recommend calling in advance if you plan to eat at South Congress Cafe and they will add your name to the waiting list over the phone.

Tags: , , ,

  • Brittney

    Ohhh LORD--SoCo Cafe's carrot cake french toast is God's gift to me. Seriously. He probably thought to himself "You know what Brittney would like? This." and then planted that idea in an Austin chef's head. The he conveniently put Emily into my life so that she could tell me about it and I would try it out for myself.

    Well played, God. Well played.

  • ivette

    I'd like for you to challenge thei bloody Mary to the one served in San marco's Showdown right off the square. Make sure to ask for olives :)

  • Jodi

    Laura -- You are a genius. I face that same struggle at brunch time and usually go with the savory because when I get pancakes or french toast, I feel exhausted. Just a taste is all I would need!

  • double tonic

    If you're anything like me, you're usually torn on your brunch outings between something rich and sweet (french toast, pancakes) and something salty (eggs, crab cakes).

    I tend to want something salty and high in protein, but I always wish I could have just a few bites of something sweet.

    So here's a little-known tip about South Congress Cafe. Their carrot cake french toast can be ordered by the slice, as an a la carte item. (The brunch portion is 3 pieces for $10. You can get one piece for $3.)

    My girlfriend and I each tried the migas special recently (migas stuffed inside a croissant, served with applewood bacon, fruit and a potato pancake with a dollop of goat cheese). It was a bargain at $11.

    But we were really craving something sweet when the waitress recommended the french toast by the slice. We split a slice, each getting just a few bites -- and it was more than enough. It's delicious -- I'm talking OMG, WOW, your eyes just might roll to the back of your head -- but terribly sweet, served with a side of rich cream-cheese-and-pecan frosting as well as your traditional syrup. So you've got to try it if you haven't already. And at $3 ($1.50 when you share!), you have no excuse not to.

  • Jodi

    One last thing -- SoCo Cafe's rail bloody mary is $0.50 cheaper at $6 -- you'd be a fool to skip the infused version in an effort to save money.

  • Jordan

    I was hoping you'd elaborate on your Facebook status. We need to go to lunch soon, lady. It's easier for me to get away these days.

  • rachf

    What a delicious meal! Wish I could brunch with you every week.

blog comments powered by Disqus