I have to confess that more than half of my "dining-out" experience in the past 6 years has consisted of going to the Whole Foods food bars. (Is that what they're called?) Like when my sister visited a few years ago, we ate at least a half-dozen times at WF because we are both healthy picky eaters and we knew we could each find whatever we wanted there. One night we had dinner at one of their cooking stations. We bought fresh fish and then had it cooked to order, and it was fabulous. I mean, the atmosphere isn't exactly romantic, but I'm honestly not into my sister in that way. We had a top notch meal for under $15 each, and it would have cost at least twice as much at a restaurant.
Do any of you frequent any of the food trucks? I've barely sampled anything from any of them, just a bit of Indian and Thai on South First.
The Gospel Brunch tradition used to be a thriving awesome scene at several locations but I haven't been to any of them in years. For anyone who wants to gawk at uninhibited old hippies while chowing down on breakfast tacos and beer, check out Hippie Church at Maria's Taco Express on South Lamar. The music is often fantastic, but sometimes it flops due to absence of musicians.
My first and best Gospel Brunch experience was at La Zona Rosa, featuring the amazing Asylum Street Spankers ft. Guy Forsyth. When I was trying to recall the name of that location I did a search for "former music venue on 4th street in Austin" and found the name via this link:
http://www.movoto.com/blog/opinions/...er-see-austin/
Admittedly, I shed some tears as I reviewed that list of what we've lost.