The turning point of my Las Vegas adventure (the day before Bouchon), was dinner with a group of twelve of my colleagues at Lotus of Siam, a restaurant OFF the Vegas strip. Thanks to Mike of Austin Food Carts for telling me about this place, where the chef tied Tyson Cole for Best Chef in the SW at this year’s James Beard Foundation Awards.
The cab ride from our hotel was around $25 and the restaurant was located in a really ugly-looking strip mall. It wasn’t the kind of place that …

Here’s the scene from yesterday morning, when I ate the last of the Terrine de Foie Gras de Canard (duck liver) and the two epi baguette’s my waiter packed up for me the night before. Can you think of anything more fabulous than sitting in a Las Vegas hotel room eating fois gras with a fresh baguette from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro while watching re-runs of Sex and the City?
I stopped by Bouchon Bakery when I visited Napa Valley with my mom and Jane last year, and we picked up some …

If you haven’t yet been to Cuban Sandwich Cafe, add it to your “to try” for breakfast and lunch list. This mom and pop shop is unassuming, located in a strip mall in the Windsor Park area of Austin next to a storefront church, and makes truly memorable breakfast pastries and sandwiches.

Below is a selection of the breakfast pastries that a group of us shared. I can’t remember what the total price was for these, but I do remember being surprised by how inexpensive they were. We sipped our Cuban …

Last weekend, Adam and I decided to visit Arancini, an Italian comfort food trailer on S. 1st and Live Oak. Arancini shares space with Fried Green Tomato, another trailer serving the eponymous menu item, sandwiches, and a refreshing gazpacho and crab ceviche that they brought over for us to taste.

While we waited for our food, Adam poured wine into our glasses (all BYO), and caught up on his Twitter reading. I caught a shot of him “in the wild” on Arancini’s patio.

Arancini are fried rice balls filled with cheese, peas, …

My friend Jan was in town last month for a wedding and of course, she wanted to check out the food truck scene. I had recently tired of food trucks because to be totally honest, most of them are nothing special. However, I did have a handful that I wanted to try, and we decided to have dinner at Love Balls.
Love Balls is located in the lower part of the East Side Drive In, next to Progress Coffee.

They serve takoyaki, a Japanese street food that is classically fried pancake balls …