South - Willie Nelson's Texas Roadhouse

Another wonderful adventure to Texas Roadhouse! This location in particular is owned by the one and only Willie Nelson. Complete with memorabilia on the walls and occasional country tunes. We enjoy the lively atmosphere and excellent service here.

We always come for the rolls, and stay for the steak! Specifically the Dallas Fillet, their specialty cut, which is divinely tender and juicy. I order medium rare and it always comes out as intended. 

I used to order the sirloin, but it was a hit or miss cut. Now that I get the Dallas Fillet, my steak is always delicious. 

My side of chili was on the spicier side - not toddler approved,  but I quite enjoyed it and as an adult would say it had a kick but was very yummy. I got it topped with the cheddar and onions at no additional charge. 

My mashed potatoes were delicious and buttery, fully loaded with bacon, butter, and cheddar for a dollar and a half extra. 

The salmon was very tender/flakey and well seasoned with lemon and butter. The green beans were likely canned and then cooked with bacon, also really good, but probably my least favorite side. 

The other side is Nathan's special - a baked sweet potato fully loaded like a regular potato which was excellent. Asher enjoyed the fish, mashed potatoes, and steak the most, but he had some green beans, and sweet potato. 

This location is popular, and we had a 35-45 min wait on a Thursday around 7:30PM. The estimated wait was accurate and we were sat shortly after checking in. The hostess seating us was very kind and asked if we were celebrating anything, to which I replied "life!" 

The waitress, Maria Garcia, was wonderful. She communicated well, made sure our drinks stayed topped up, upsold but not in a pushy way, and then she went above and beyond! She got me a to-go strawberry lemonade (on the sweet side and very good) and it accidentally got bussed off the table so she made me another and met me on the way out! Thank you Maria!! Definitely top service at this location and we really enjoyed our meals.

Thank you for reading!

South - Field of Light Illuminates Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center After Sunset!

What an amazing experience! WOW! Come one, come all! Tell all of your friends about Field of Light at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center! You can buy tickets HERE!

We just got back from touring the LBJ wildflower center during an event called “Field of Light”. Not to be confused with “Trail of Lights” hosted in South Austin at Zilker Park. Field of Light is a little further south on Loop 1 (Exit Lacrosse). A beautiful display of 28,000 solar powered fiber optic orbs that blanket 16 acres with light after the sun goes down!

Our reservation was for a little bit before sundown and I appreciated that because we were able to stay for as long as we wanted to after we arrived. We walked around the trail and found the best spots to view before the sun set and we got some wonderful pictures; it was absolutely incredible.

If you want to get your own photos (noncommercial use only) and you're like me, bring a consumer grade DSLR camera. At least one that you can control the shutter speed and turn OFF the flash. Don't try to bring a tripod, monopod, selfie stick, drone, or professional camera.

You can find a full list of rules HERE. You can also buy tickets HERE!

In low light it's really important to be still to get sharp pictures, and flash puts light where it doesn’t need to be. I didn't think of this but I was still able to get pretty sharp pictures by setting my camera down on the stumps and lights along the path.

The freehand shots I took have a very new age long exposure look to them, which is cool in its own right but not really what I was looking for to capture the magnificent beauty that is this light display.

Absolutely worth it, take this last 2 weeks to enjoy this spectacular exhibit by talented artist Bruce Munro. It runs from September 9th until Friday, December 30th. Closed Christmas Day, and New Years Eve. You can buy tickets HERE!

If you are interested in presenting this beautiful work of art in your city, you can contact in7fo@br7ucemunro.co.uk without the 7s because spam.

South - Hacienda Arandinas Mexican Bar and Grill

Today we enjoyed Hacienda Arandinas Mexican Bar and Grill.

We picked our food up to go and the service was quick and courteous! I arrived right as Mariachi Internacional was about to perform, they are there every Friday 7-9pm!

Today we ordered through GrubHub because a friend of ours said you could order the lunch enchilada plate during dinner for $5 cheaper because they had done it before.

 I guess the place caught on because when our friends got it they said it was much less food than when they ordered it last time! Zing!

Next time I would just call it in because the resteraunt makes more money when you call them direct so they have more incentive to "Load it up".

We are trying to support local business here!

The street tacos were great, we got the Al Pastor.

Taco salad was delicious and it came in a giant perfectly fried tortilla! It was a good ratio of meat to salad. 

The 3 and 4 year old kids LOVED breaking the fried tortilla and making their own little chips topped in salad!

The Tamales were covered in shredded cheese and were wonderful!

Last but not least, this is what you get when you try to order the lunch enchilada plate during dinner!

Still possible, it just doesn't measure up to the dinner plates! 

Taco Cabana, A Texas Original

Another great visit to Taco Cabana!  

Service was wonderful and really fast despite our huge family order. We didn't try the drive through margaritas this time, with so many flavors, and the fact that it's DRIVE THROUGH MARGARITAS that will need to be it's own post. Stay tuned!

Kids pick: Asher, 3 years old, liked the bean and cheese tacos the best, he took one bite of the bacon and egg taco afterwards and handed it back! I guess he is a crunchy bacon guy too.

I thought the bean and cheese tacos were great, made with real cheese and handmade tortillas. 

Really the tortillas are worth mentioning on their own, these handmade tortillas are awesome. Definitely one of the best parts about coming here.

Austin's suggestion is to get a 4 oz queso and then order 7 tortillas and just dip the tortillas like chips essentially, or roll a tortilla up and then dip it. 

Knock on wood, but we have NEVER had bad tortillas from Taco Cabana. Their tortilla consistency is top notch.

The bacon on the bacon and egg tacos was on the chewier side, but nice and thick and still deliciouscoming from a crunchy bacon guy.

Amber got one of her egg and bacon tacos a little more wet than she would like. She felt like her taco was steamy and it condensed on the foil which made the tortilla a little wet. It was only one taco out of the pile that we ordered so it was no big deal.

The bacon egg and cheese had a good amount of cheese no regrets there.

The Chorizo egg and cheese was wet and oily but show me one that isn't. It was very delicious.

Austin is from Austin, currently lives in Houston, but is moving back to Austin, and is an explora like Dora.  He says "Delicious, nutritious, new couch." Among other things.

Until next time!

Thank you for being here.

Tarka - Awesome Americanized Indian food

Another delightful adventure to Tarka. Knocking it out of the park again this time introducing a new drink: Strawberry Rose Lemonade! Which at least temporarily, is replacing my all time favorite drink at a restaurant, the mango lemonade that we come here for.

For the main dish we had the Chicken Korma, it is a cashew curry we ordered it medium spicy and it came medium spicy, little bit of a kick but not too much. This dish is DELISH! Seriously delicious, it's creamy, it's chickeny, it's hearty, it can range in spiciness from 0 to authentically Indian level spicy depending on how you like it. We had ours with the garlic naan, which was a nice addition, we kind of made little garlic naan tacos and they were absolutely wonderful. Will get again.

The service was quick and courteous! 10/10, 100% fresh, however you slice it, the Chicken Korma and Strawberry Rose Lemonade at Tarka is a solid reccomendation.

You would be remiss to not come check it out. The Mango lemonade (the previous and still close second all time favorite non alcoholic drink at a restaurant) is on the tangy side while the strawberry rose is on the sweet and floral. 

One thing we really like about tarka is we really feel good afterwards. It's a good body feeling. We don't feel sick or bloated or anything like that, it's really nice and we can say that consistently because it's one of our favorite restaurants.

We weren't paid to post this, we paid for our meal as usual.

North Austin - Brentwood Social House

TLDR: Brentwood Social House is a neat little low sugar coffee shop in North Austin with a great chicken pie and a four side fenced playground!

This is a great spot if you are going light on sugar or need a nice place to meet with a playground that has a fence on four sides!

That being said, for somewhere with a playground the menu is not the most kid friendly. (Maybe I just missed the kids menu?)

The service was wonderful, everybody was very kind and mindful, I didn't feel upsold or pressured to get anything.

We ordered a chai latte, a mocha latte, chicken pie and a yogurt parfait with a chocolate milk for the kiddo.

As far as kid friendliness goes the yogurt parfait was a little tart and the blueberries were quite tart as well. I thought it was alright but I wouldn't get it again. Total pass from the 3yo who otherwise likes unflavored unsweetened yogurt.

The chicken pie was very good. Well seasoned chicken and a cream sauce with a great crust! Not really any vegetables that I could tell but the flavor was awesome, I would definitely get that one again. The 3yo enjoyed some but was too distracted with the huge pirate ship to stay for long.

 Drink-wise the chai latte was good, but on the unsweet side and more clovey than I am used to.

In my opinion, the mocha latte could have also used more mocha, but I like my chocolate with a little coffee on the side.

Both were good, but unsweet. 

The playground is very secure with a fence on all sides and shade so you can have a conversation while your short stacks enjoy exploring the ship themed area with two slides , gymnastic ring swings and a fire pole into the belly of the ship where there is a clubhouse with a bench and lookout holes, perfect for playing shop or even climbing through!

Asher had a great time and momma enjoyed a nice time with other adults!

Thanks for reading!