Girl v. Food v. Music (A Taste of Austin)

Note: No crockpots were actually used in the making of this post.

The Crockpot took a vacation this Monday to Austin, TX. My friends Kelly, Krista, Loriana, and I went to celebrate Lori's 28th birthday (Happy Birthday, Lor!) and to catch the tail end of the music festival SXSW. While we may not have done the best job of navigating the free music scene, we did manage to give Adam Richman of Man v. Food some competition in the eating arena. And,  all this good food gave me some ideas for future Crockpot Mondays.

To start the weekend off right we stopped by el naranjo taco truck. Food trucks these days have done for street food what Mr. Peanut did for the peanut, donning his top hat and cane, he made it classy. Mobile food trucks are making tacos, kebabs, pho, and the like classy and convenient. And the tacos el pastor and guacamole at el naranjo were nothing if not classy.



el naranjo food truck



Somebody likes their first taste of Austin!

 

Next stop was Frank Restaurant, which dubs itself the Purveyors of Gourmet Sausage. I couldn't agree more. The hotdog I had was stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon and topped with hot peppers and lots of cheese. Not very dietetic but gloriously good.

We did manage to catch some live music when we stopped at a courtyard to see The Naked and Famous.




On Sunday we drove out of the city in search of Texas barbeque. When in Rome....  eat Salt Lick Bar-B-Que. I learned of this place from Man v. Food and vowed that if I made it to Austin I would eat here. The wait can be up to 3 hours, but the brisket, sausage and ribs are well worth the drive and the wait.


Salt Lick's bbq pit
Source: NYTimes





To complete our Man v. Food tour of Austin and to enjoy Loriana's annual birthday brunch we went to Juan in a Million in the hopes of shaking the hand of Don Juan himself. Don Juan is the owner of this Mexican eatery, the namesake of the restaurant's famous breakfast taco, the Don Juan (of which Adam tried to eat 8 on the show) and was voted the best handshake in Austin. Fortunately on our way out the door we each shook his hand and grabbed a photo with him. Oh, and the breakfast tacos are great, as well as the chips and salsa!

For a sweet ending to our tour of Austin we picked up some of Amy's Icecream. My flavor of choice? Chocolate Peanut Butter Filled Pretzel. Enough said.

Add in one celebrity sighting (David Denman - Roy from The Office), and we had a well-rounded trip to Austin. I'm sure we only scratched the surface, but that's the perfect reason to go back next year.

Roy!

Keeping Austin weird. :)