Trost’s Do Texas

Adam and I try to take a long weekend to a new city each year just the two of us. While we love a week at the beach and our weekend trips to Chicago, going somewhere completely new and experiencing the history, culture and, of course, food of a neat city has become one of our favorite things to do.

The idea for this trip is thought to be an end of harvest celebration because Adam’s work hours are crazy long throughout the late summer and into fall. By November, we just want to be together.

Last year we went to Denver and another year we checked out DC right before Thanksgiving. But, this year harvest ran long and before we knew it, it was Christmastime and we didn’t have a free weekend to plan a trip.

So, instead of a “Post Harvest Trip” we kicked off 2015 with a long weekend in Austin, Texas!

It was hard to choose a destination, but after a few conversations with friends and some Pinterest research, we booked flights and lined up accommodations at The Driskill Hotel for a weekend in the middle of January.

The Driskill is a historic landmark in Austin and has elements that showcase the city’s culture.

It also couldn’t have been more perfect for our stay.

The moment we walked through the doors we were impressed. The lobby was STUN-ing. The staff’s hospitality game was on point. Every single employee we encountered was incredibly kind and helpful. The bar was swanky with a bit of Texas flare. (Proof of this? A massive Longhorn adorns the fireplace and the bar is complete with decorative revolvers.)

And the food.

Oh. My. Gosh. The food.

Before getting to town I had read that hotel is home to an award winning restaurant, The Driskill Grill. At The Driskill Grill, the chef sources fresh ingredients from local growers and meat from farmers in central Texas to create his continually changing chef’s menu.

I made reservations at The Driskill Grill for our first night in town and both of us opted for the six course chef’s menu of the night.

It was spectacular.

Each portion was paired with a glass of wine (Note: This is a little dangerous. This means there are six glasses of wine…) and were just the right size leaving us satisfied yet excited for more.

It was tough competition, but we dubbed the seafood course our favorite. The scallop was like butter and it was deliciously paired with a cauliflower puree.

We also had a great breakfast at 1886 Cafe and Bakery, right in the hotel’s lobby, the morning we left.

The cafe was adorable complete with ornate, yet rustic pieces that made me feel like we had stepped back in time. The cafe also sources local ingredients. I had a phenomenal bacon and gruyere quiche which was served with a salad while Adam had “The Hangover” omelette which packed the right amount of heat for my spice loving man.

We can’t say enough great things about The Driskill… but don’t worry, we did leave and see the city!

Austin’s “claim to fame” is that it is the live music capital of the world, hosting festivals throughout the year that bring in major musicians and lots of newbies. It seemed like almost every bar is equipped with a stage and plenty of space to hold a crowd. Many of these stages, and even the bars, are outdoors as the weather is typically pretty mild.

But, of course, the bitter cold Midwest just HAD to follow us. The weekend we were in Austin, temperatures barely reached 30 degrees and a misty freezing rain fell. So much, but not all, of the live music was cancelled.

It didn’t stop us from having a great time exploring the city. Here are a few of our favorite stops and restaurants from our trip.

The Lyndon B. Johnson Museum at The University of Texas: First of all, UT is really neat. Adam and I enjoyed walking the grounds and checking out the Greek neighborhood.

The university’s library is also home to LBJ’s Presidential Museum which was wonderful. We spent hours in this museum and I felt like I learned a lot.

There were lots of different pieces of memorabilia from his presidency as well as the time period. So much happened during his presidency from the start when he unexpectedly found himself as the nations leader after JFK’s assassination to the Great Society to the war in Vietnam. I was captivated the whole visit.

Whole Foods: Yes. I can easily go to Whole Foods in Indiana. (Okay, actually… easy is relative. The closest one is about 45 minutes away.) But, it’s not every day that I can go to the flagship, numero uno, so big it takes up a whole city block, Whole Foods.

And, surprisingly it never hit me that Adam had never been to a Whole Foods until we walked through the doors to the amazing Downtown Austin Whole Foods.

“This is an event!” Adam exclaimed.

Oh it was. It really was. It was my Disney Land. My Heaven. My happy place.

The selection was great. There were individual stations like pizza and barbecue where you could get lunch, not just the typical deli/salad bar.

And the beer aisle was out of control.

It was a long, refrigerated tunnel with automatic sliding doors. Inside, I didn’t recognize one label until I spotted a bottle of cider from an orchard less than five miles away from my parents home on the west coast of Michigan.

24 Diner: Located just across the street from Whole Foods so it made for a good brunch spot the morning we visited the flagship store. It was Saturday morning, so it was busy. Adam and I opted to sit at the bar versus wait for a table which worked out just great.

The bartenders were busy popping bottle after bottle of champagne for mimosas but Adam and I both decided to do Bloody Mary’s instead. In addition to breakfast cocktails, the bartenders were also whipping up massive milkshakes that looked super tempting.

I mean really, when was the last time I had a milkshake…?

For food, I chose a tomato and goat cheese frittata topped with a lightly dressed arugula salad. I loved the combination of the warm, gooey frittata and the crisp, spiciness of the arugula. I will be remaking this one this spring with my own arugula. Adam had a loaded hash topped with a sunny side up egg. After seeing the massive regular portion he went with the half portion which was plenty of food.

As we ate and I thumbed through the copy of Edible Austin I picked up at Whole Foods we noticed the diner pays tribute to the various local farms they work with on the wall just behind the bar. Locally sourced food was HUGE in Austin.

Rainy Street: It was really rainy the night we went to Rainy Street, but our Uber driver assured us that this isn’t normally the case. Rainy Street is an area of the city where old bungalows have been refurbished into fun restaurants and bars.

We were headed to the unique part of town to have dinner with a fraternity brother of Adam’s at Bangers, a restaurant with a large variety of sausage and beers on tap. Bangers almost looked and felt like a cabin with it’s long wooden tables and cozy atmosphere. It has a huge backyard, which must be great for live music.

Our next stop on the street was Icenhauer’s, a bar with a little bit more of a urban, glitzy feel. Icenhauer’s features unique cocktails that are all named after girls. I asked if they made a “Claire” and they told me they could! It wound up being a gingery cocktail, similar to a Moscow Mule, but worked well as my first name is VirGINia.

One of the most “weird” places we went to in Austin was on Rainy Street. It was an entire bar made of shipping containers and was appropriately named “The Container Bar.”

The State Capitol: When they say everything is bigger in Texas, they are talking about a handful of different things. Steaks, cowboy hats, trucks… and the State Capitol building. It is huge.

The Texas State Capitol is the largest of all the fifty states and surpasses the National Capitol by nearly fifteen feet.

We joined a great, free tour that was incredibly informative and took us through the rotunda and up to see the Senate and House of Representative’s rooms. Everything from the chandeliers that spelled “Texas” in marquee lights to the eight pound, ornate “Texas” door hinges was over the top and very “Texas.”

Eastside Cafe: Being the investigator that I am, I did a bit of research before our trip and was really excited to check Eastside Cafe out. It was just on the other side of the interstate from the university so we had to get an Uber to get there, but it was worth it.

Eastside Cafe was a cute old home that had been transformed into the restaurant. Tables were placed in different rooms of the house so it didn’t feel crowded and were decorated in the way that made you feel like you were actually at someone’s home.

But what I really loved was the fact that Eastside Cafe had a huge garden and pastured chickens right in it’s back yard. The greens, produce and hen’s eggs are used right in the restaurant. It really doesn’t get any more local than that!

I ordered the Spinach Eggs Benedict while Adam picked the Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict.

He is a sucker for lox.

I’m a sucker for a place where the eggs in my breakfast may have been laid that morning.

There were many other places that we loved like Jo’s Coffee, The Bullock Museum, Perry’s Steakhouse and Stubb’s Barbecue… All fun, just not enough room or time to mention them all!

And, there were many places we didn’t get to that we would love to see next time we are in town like Franklin’s Barbecue, Justine’s, Uchi for -apparently- out of this world sushi, or one of the major festivals in town like SXSW or Austin City Limits!

Any suggestions for our trip next year? We are thinking either Portland or Seattle.

… And, maybe we will actually get a picture together on that trip!