Austin Eats: The Finale

I really have to give more credit to David for this blog.  Not only does he brighten up and make fancy our pictures and write once in a while, he also motivates me to write when my motivation is lacking.  This is no small task.  So, thanks to him, here I am after a few weeks with some things to catch up on.

Hey Cupcake.  This is yet another one of Austin's little gems.  It started out as a shiny silver trailer on the side of the road, selling delicious cupcakes.  It continues as a silver trailer, and has expanded to other locations around Austin as well.  Of course, we chose to visit the original trailer location.  The cupcakes did not disappoint.

The week before we left, there were still many places to check off on David's list of places to eat.  We chose the very best ones and David would be very disappointed if I left any of them out, so let me breeze through our last few Austin restaurant reviews.

Matt's El Rancho was sort of an upscale Mexican restaurant compared to some of the trailers we've eaten at.  Their big claim is that they make everything absolutely fresh from scratch, right there in the restaurant, including the chips they serve in abundance before your meal comes.  The freshness was evident and the food was good.

Franklin's Barbecue.  If you're ever in Austin with a craving for BBQ, and have a few hours to wait in a line for food, Franklin's Barbecue is absolutely the best.  It opens every day at 11 a.m. and stays open until they sell out of food, usually around 1:30 p.m.  If you go on a Saturday, be prepared to arrive early in the morning and wait in line until it opens.  On a weekday, you can arrive slightly later, which is why we waited till David's internship ended, so we could go on a Tuesday.  We got in line at 9 a.m. and there were two people in front of us.  By 9:30, quite a line was forming, and by 10:15, the line looked like this, wrapping around the building.

 They started taking pre-orders around 10:45 to get an idea of how many people they would be able to serve, and for those unfortunate souls who were too far down the line, they would have to come back another day.  You might be thinking, 'What food is really good enough to stand in line for 2 hours in the Texas heat with an antsy toddler for?'  And here is your answer: Franklin's Barbecue.  It certainly won't be a place we visit regularly, but we're definitely glad we stopped there while we had the chance.

The smokehouse out back.   It may not look like much, but magic happens here.

You may notice a small family in line with a little boy, sitting on chairs.  Paisley discovered this little boy in her wanderings and played with him for a few minutes.  Then, worn out from all the walking around and waiting, she climbed up on the boy's father's lap, snuggled herself into a comfortable position against his chest, and threw her arms back in a 'woe is me' manner.  I might have been very uncomfortable if it wasn't so funny.  Needless to say, Paisley's not shy.  

Franklin himself.  

And the food.  WAAAAAYYYYY too much.  It ended up serving the three of us for two days, including when we had our friends over for dinner the next day.  

Austin Cake Ball.  The day before we left, we remembered David's co-worker mentioning a place called Austin Cake Ball, and thought if we were going to try it, now was the time.  They were amazing.  Way too expensive, but amazing nonetheless.