Austin, Texas 2015, Part 2

I require fried chicken pretty regularly before I start questioning the meaning of life so after several days of eating barbecue in Austin, we headed to Gus’s World Famous Hot & Spicy Fried Chicken (117 San Jacinto, Austin). And let me tell you, Gus’ fried chicken is fricken awesome!!! I got 2 pieces of dark meat (1 thigh, 1 leg) (US$4.25/AU$6.10) that sat on fluffy white bread to soak up the juices and a side of super cheesy mac n cheese (US$2.25/AU$3.25). The batter on the fried chicken was so crisp that the sound of the skin shattering could be heard from the next table! Oh and drinks came in a souvenir cup that you could take home!

Noods went for 3 wings (US$7/AU$10.05) that came with baked beans, slaw and white bread which he absolutely devoured in the blink of an eye. The baked beans are a bit on the stodgy side but the slaw is delightfully light and refreshing.

And for dessert, a slice of Pecan pie (US$3/AU$4.30) with a ginormous scoop of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream (US$0.75/AU$1.10) holy moly that was one deeeelicious pie! Buttery crust, sweet filling studded with a generous amount of pecans and creamy ice cream ftw!

We wanted to try some Tex Mex and headed to Licha’s Cantina (1306 East 6th Street, Austin) for happy hour and the Choriqueso served in a skillet! The minced chorizo on the bottom is smothered in gooey Asadero cheese and topped with a dollop of creamy guacamole and pico de gallo. Cram a forkful into the warm homemade corn tortillas and enter cheesy heaven!

For breakfast the next day we headed to Juan In A Million (2300 E. Cesar Chavez St. Austin) and joined the 30mins queue. I was keen to go partly because it was on Man Vs Food but also because I was curious if the Don Juan El Taco Grande (US$4.60/AU$6.60) really lived up to its hype. And it was so fricken good that I’m flooded with sadness that there isn’t anything like this in Sydney. This breakfast taco beast contains a jumble of potato cubes, scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese and comes with 3 flour tortillas. The staff stop by and check my progress and offer more tortillas but man it defeated me!

Austin is known for their food truck trailer parks and Torchy’s Tacos was high up on my must eat list after hearing JJ wax lyrical about their breakfast tacos! The boy and I shared the Migas taco ($US$2.75/AU$3.95) which had a mountain of scrambled eggs, crispy corn tortilla strips, green chillies, avocado, pico de gallo and shredded cheese all piled onto a corn tortilla. And from the secret menu, the Jack of Clubs taco which had a fried egg, grilled potatoes, black beans, crispy corn tortilla strips, shredded cheese, cilantro, sour cream and hot sauce on a corn tortilla. Freaking amazing! All the flavours were fresh and light and we almost ordered a second round but we resisted because we spotted donuts in the distance.

I’d visited Gourdoughs’ previously and knew I absolutely had to get the Flying Pig (US$5.75/AU$8.25) for Noods because I mean, LOOK AT IT! The super fluffy donut came fresh from the deep fryer, drizzled with maple syrup icing and topped with super crispy bacon omg so good the salty sweet combo is so win!

And also the Blue Balls ($US$4.75/AU$6.80) which were blueberry filled donut holes smothered in blueberry icing and oh boy that was a looot of sugar we’d ingested.

While wandering home back to our air bnb we stumbled upon a food truck park (1104 E 6th St, Austin) and when I spotted the Fried and True van serving state fair food and desserts I knew we had to somehow make space in our stomachs.

We order the Sampler Combo (US$6/AU$8.65) which had deep fried Oreos, deep fried brownies and a deep fried cinnamon bun 😀 I particularly loved the cinnamon bun as the icing was on the melty side and the pastry in the bun tasted like a cinnamon-y donut.

I couldn’t resist the Chocolate dipped bacon (US$5/AU$7.20), the thick cut bacon had a crispy candy shell and was topped with smoked salt which made them ridiculously addictive esp washed down with a cheeky beverage or two.

The Deep Fried Grilled Cheese (US$7/AU$10.10) was pretty insane with the lightly battered sandwich of white bread holding melty American cheese innards, and the whole shebang drizzled in Sriracha sauce.

Aaaand Funnel cake (US$5/AU$7.20) for dessert! For those who’ve not heard of funnel cake before, it’s basically batter poured through a funnel into oil and deep-fried until golden and crisp. Be still my artery clogged heart!

I leave you with this pic of an immaculate display of cut fruit from Whole Foods. My god I love Whole Foods! We visited pretty much every day in Austin and bought so many fruits and veg in an attempt to get some nutrients into our cholesterol laden body. Stay tuned for the last part of my USA trip: San Francisco, land of chowder, hipsters and steep hills!