La Cocina de Consuelo

Doesn't that look AMAZING? Well, it is. SOOOOO good. La Cocina de Consuelo, on Burnet and 45th, is my current favorite breakfast place in Austin. It's my favorite for a number of reasons. While I do like the fillings better overall at Mi Madre's, La Cocina de Consuelo takes the upper hand with their homemade tortillas, which are crazy killer. Crazy killer, I said.

For me, a taco is all about the tortilla. If the tortilla is rockin', it almost doesn't even matter what's inside. When I was a kid, my grandmother used to make tortillas and I'd just eat them by themselves. Growing up, I'd eat tortillas from HEB (they have a neat tortilla-making machine in their stores and the tortillas are actually really good) with just salt and butter. Yeah, I wasn't so healthy. Anyways...you'll find slightly crispy and made-with-love tortillas here, just like my grandma used to make (if not better! gasp!).

The restaurant itself is incredibly cozy. Clearly a renovated home, the building is intimate and familiar upon a first visit. You'll probably see Connie, the talented cook, and her niece or nephew or both, maybe her daughter, helping out in the kitchen or eating at a table. They are all very friendly and accommodating. You might notice a picture of Connie and her family with Ann Richards, ex-governor of Texas. She's catered for many a hotshot in her time, and for good reason. This lady can cook a freakin' meal.

Migas, Yum!

This picture is about a month old, but I just had it again this morning, so I feel like I can talk about it in confidence. While migas are often tasty in a restaurant, they are NEVER as good as how I make them at home. These, though, are at least the best migas I've had outside of my kitchen. The totilla chips are not too soggy, and the red sauce is delicious; it really makes the dish. Their aren't too many eggs, and it's not drenched in cheese, thankfully. Oh! And the potatoes and beans are SOOO GOOD! Kind of greasy, the whole thing, but a nice treat, omg, especially with the tortillas.

I go to this restaurant almost every time my parents visit town, but I usually get the breakfast tacos. One taco will suffice at this restaurant, though every now and then my hungry tummy wants more. They almost touch the burrito standard, as they are fairly hefty, and what I like about them the most after the tortilla (and, note, flour is superior to wheat here, and the corn is also good), is that they offer a lot of choices of filling. You can pick up to three things from this list: Egg, Potato, Refried Beans, Black Beans, Beef Chorizo, Turkey Bacon, Calabasita, Avocado, Machacado, Cheese, Nopalitos, and Rajas (sauteed roasted chiles and onion; I just learned this today). I can't seem to stray away from the potato, egg and avocado combination quite yet. It beckons me.

Unfortunately, breakfast tacos are not served after 11am, which is why I had the migas plate (shown above) my first visit. Everything I've had here has been exceptional, and I can't wait to try more. They just recently have become open for dinner, too! I hear the enchiladas are pretty tasty...

Check out the menu!!

Busy Month

I have been super busy this month and haven't been even thinking of posting for awhile now. I apologize. I just started a new job and will be starting another job next week, and I am starting to actually get a social life, so I've been a bit distracted. I still am thinking of food all the time, and one of my jobs has very much to do with food, so the blog is not in too dire of circumstances. I enjoy gussing about good eats and whatnots, so I'm going to continue to try and keep this blog running, despite my busy schedule!



This picture is actually of leftovers. I was so hungry at the Thai restaurant, Titaya's, and so antsy for thai food, that I just kind of inhaled the food as it hit the table. I failed to take a picture of the Tom Kha soup, of which I will talk about shortly.

In Portland, I was hella spoiled with Thai food. There are a ton of options, and they are almost all good and each one distinct and varied in prices (Baan-Thai and Khun Pic's are my all-time favorites), so I was pretty hesitant to venture into the uncharted territories of thai food in Austin. I'd been to Thai Kitchen on Guadalupe and was absolutely not impressed. There was no love in the food, not one bit, and this is an essential ingredient in Thai cooking, at least for me. Hmph.

The picture above is of the Pad Sen Mee, vermicelli noodles stir-fried with yummy things. I was pressured to get this from my boyfriend and the waitress, both of whom agreed I needed to start with something totally new and not try to judge from my staples. This ended up being a great suggestion, as each of my staples that I've tried thus far (aside from the soups) has been less than impressive and just okay.

By now I've had the Pad Thai, the spring rolls, and the Pad Kee Mao, and they were all alright, but not nearly, nearly as good as the following: The Beef Waterfall (picture below), my boyfriend gets this every single time we go, and, I have to say, it's absolutely the best thing I've had on the menu so far. It's super spicy and still very flavorfull; it makes you want to get up and dance. It's giddy-inducing good. The Green Curry is surprisingly good also. I think my parents got it once and I was reminded of why I like curries. I used to avoid green curries because they tended to be weak in a lot of restaurants, but this one is very decent. The Tom Kha and Tom Yum soups are AMAZING. Jeebus, these are essential starters; so much better than Thai Kitchen's.


I can't wait to try more here. Really, I'm happy to say that there is good Thai in Austin. There's another restaurant I've been told to try, and I'm still a total novice when it comes to restaurants here, but this is a solid place. Even the just okay food is...at least okay, though I would avoid the spring rolls and Pad Thai. Try new things here, as that route seems the most promising at this place. Yay, new things!

Oh, the house red wine was unfortunate.

Pizza Break

I am not posting so much these days, sorry! The last couple of weeks have been super busy, and the next couple will be super busy as well. Thus, my posts will continue to be a little more sparse than every other day. Or at least shorter - like this one!

The above picture is of a vegan pizza slice from The Parlour on 43rd and Guadalupe. Back in the day a friend and I had a mutual guilty pleasure of pineapple and pepperoni pizza from Papa Murphy's, and turns out the vegan version is as delicious. This here has vegan pepperoni, pineapple and vegan cheese. It still makes my tummy hurt, but, man, it seems worth it at the time. With beer, this really hits the spot after a long day. The location itself is pretty rad, too. Currently they are displaying the art from a recent pizza box art competition they had. Some neat and impressive stuff is up (like a sculptured robot!), so you should check it out if you can.

There's at least corn and mashed potatoes...

Every now and then (and this happens more often these days now that I am living near family), I am in a situation where I am hungry and in a restaurant where there is either nothing appetizing or remotely healthy that I would care to eat. What do I do? In Texas at least, I can always count on corn and mashed potatoes. Not necessarily vegetarian, but edible. It's hard to mess up corn and mashed potatoes, and I quite enjoy the taste (especially the texture) when mixed up.


I don't know why, but my family loves Furr's and Luby's. I know of no difference between the two, but I guess some do. They are both cafeteria style restaurants, with your general, run of the mill, "family dining" fare - comfort food and lots of meat that's all probably been sitting out for a little while. I used to eat at these places with no problem, but since I left Texas for college about 7 years ago, I have been incredibly averse to everything I've had there (except the corn and mashed potatoes). I don't know what happened; I suppose I could have snobbed up to it, having exposed my taste buds to tasty northwest cuisine. Regardless, I kind of cringe a little when I hear my mom say we're meeting relatives at Furr's. This last time I was there was pretty interesting. There weren't a lot of people there, but there was a lone clown at the front making balloon animals...but for whom?

I was happy to have my standby of corn and mashed potatoes at least. In fact, I found myself eating a lot of corn and mashed potatoes during my family lunches/dinners for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Do you have any standbys at awkward dinners or strange restaurants? The garden salad? Soup? Do you find an appetizer? Chips and salsa perhaps? That is one nice thing about most restaurants in Texas. You can count on there being either corn and mashed potatoes or chips and salsa. One or the other is almost guaranteed to be on the menu.

Two Meals Out

While my parents were in town for Thanksgiving weekend, they took Nathan and me out for lunch. Unfortunately, our first choice of restaurant was closed (I’ve been wanting to try Foodheads for awhile now. It beckons me.), so we went to another place I’d been curious about, New World Deli. The spelling of the name at their location is NeWorlDeli, which I hate, but I’d heard that they had decent sandwiches. And at this point I hadn’t had bread in so long, I was craving a sammich.

My dad was very happy with his meal. I believe he had a tuna sandwich. Oh, no, it was a curried chicken salad sandwich. I didn’t try it, but he looked pretty content with it. Nathan had a Reuben, my mom had a cucumber and cream cheese sandwich, and I had a turkey and havarti sandwich. I went all out, what can I say. I think Nathan’s Reuben was the star of the lunch, if not also the greasiest. My mom’s sandwich was pretty good, too. I wanted to get that one myself, but couldn’t get over the fact that I could make something like that at home pretty easily. Same thing with my sandwich, though. It was just okay. I should have gotten it toasted. All in all, New World Deli was pretty good. Next time I will have a better idea of what to get (and to get it toasted!), though I don’t see myself coming here often. Price-wise, it wasn’t too expensive, but not so cheap.


The other meal I had out was later that day, for dinner! Woo! Nathan and I went to Amaya’s, one of my favorite Mexican restaurants here, but also so, so bad for me. They have some knock-your-socks-off tacos, though. Their tortillas are home-made and fried up for their special crispy, “Village Tacos”. Yum, and way better than your run of the mill corn tortillas. Plus, the tacos are stuffed with super tender chicken, crunchy iceberg lettuce and a TON of jack and American cheese. It’s so bad, and so, so yum. Their beans and rice are also pretty tasty, their chips are fresh, salsa good, and the service is spot-on. Tummy-ache is inevitable, though, so I don’t think I’ll be going to this place much at all, but I will tell everyone I know with a tougher tum all about it. AMAYA’S TACOS ARE DELICIOUSLY BAD FOR YOU.

Currently I've been super into breakfast tacos, eating way too many eggs. My mom went to Juan in a Million the other day, a place I've been meaning to try for awhile now, and she loved it. So many places to try...mmm. There really are a TON of taco stands and restaurants in town. Not a lot of veggie options, but more than you'd think for a Texas town.

You can find Amaya’s at Village Capital Plaza 5405 N. IH-35. Austin, TX 78723.