South Austin Food and Music

Last week was packed full of Austin experiences.
On Thursday evening I met a couple of friends at Strange Brew, a coffee shop/live music venue.
It was my first time there, and I was impressed. Not only was the music great, but so was the crowd.
Austin is known to be the "Live Music Capital of the World", so you can hear music almost anywhere.
I'm serious, even my favorite grocery store has live music!
Not every venue is a great place to actually hear the music, however.
I've been to more than a handful of shows where the crowd is so chatty, you can't even tell there is a performer on stage.
That was not the case at Strange Brew. The crowd was there to hear music, not to catch up with friends.
It was a wonderful change.
And the venerable Van Wilks, always puts on a great show!

                                           

Then on Friday morning, I met an old friend for breakfast at Magnolia Cafe on South Congress.
I've been here a number of times, and there are two things you can count on;
                                                       1. You're going to wait for a table.
                                                       2. The food will be great.

The atmosphere is interesting (including a "Sorry We're Open" sign), and you have great people watching. Their slogan, "Everybody knows, everybody goes" is very true.
Locals and visitors, professionals and hipsters, all types of people frequent the Magnolia Cafe.
She had gingerbread pancakes, I had a breakfast taco, and we had a great time catching up.  Win!


Friday night, the family visited Full English Cafe.   

It's an odd little place just off of Manchaca Rd. 
Driving up we weren't sure what we had gotten into.   
I expected a place that serves High Tea to be at least a little bit fancy, it wasn't!
But, they were having fish and chips as their dinner special and reviews were good, so we were game.
You should know, they only serve fish and chips when they run this dinner special.
You can't order anything else, which didn't win any points with my kids.
They looked at the online menu at home and were ready to try the pasties, but no such luck.
Also, while we were there they ran out of fish and chips, so I'd recommend getting there by 7pm.
The fish was very good, the chips were just okay.
I did hear several other customers, who said they were from England, comment on how delicious and authentic the fish was.
We wrapped up dinner with a slice of Guinness chocolate cake, which was fabulous.

So, I think I met my "Only in Austin" requirement for the week. 
Next week I'll need to find some non-food/drink related excursions...maybe something outside to enjoy the beautiful weather we are having.