Austin's Salty Sow is dedicated to "swine + wine + beer," and features mindfully sourced food and hand-crafted drinks.

This gastropub had some fine ratings, so it was one of my first stops.

Salty Sow is an American Gastropub that serves contemporary farmhouse fare. Hand-crafted cocktails and entrees are served fresh daily, mindfully sourced from local farms and purveyors. 

Modern and unpretentious, Salty Sow's chef-driven menu delivers clean, farm-to-table eats in a rustic-contemporary setting, making it a trusted "neighborhood gem."

It's a cute, trendy place where you sort of walk into this curtain as you enter. It certainly sets a scene.

We started with an appetizer - the Salty Sow Charcuterie & Cheese Board. It had all sorts of interesting sausages and cheeses.

It was all quite good, but I especially liked the pate - very creamy.

We also got a side of brussels sprouts, which came with golden raisins and pecorino cheese, and it was absolutely amazing. Show somebody who doesn't like brussels sprouts this dish, and you'll make a believer out of them. Crispy, sweet, savory. Everything all at once, and it was amazing.

For my main entree, I went with the duck breast, which was just OK for me. The skin was fatty, and the meat itself was a bit rubbery and more gamey than I would've liked. I did enjoy the turnips, though, and the sauce was delightful. I just wasn't totally on board with the meat itself.

Overall, a cool vibe. Some neat things here, and that charcuterie board and brussels sprouts were winners.

Grade: B

While summer isn't typically the time for soup, on those chilly, rainy days, it just hits the spot.

The Soup Shack, located in Centre Market, has a straw hut overhang, a chalkboard and some other odds and ends that truly give meaning to that "shack" part of its name. But, it's welcoming.

The owner, Frank Warren, is down-to-earth and greeted us warmly when we began looking over the menu. He carefully explained ingredients for my friend, and made a pun of his name - that he'll always be "frank" with us. I dig it.

The soups all sounded amazing - lobster bisque, 16 cajun bean, basil tomato, chicken gnocchi - but I went with the lobster bisque.

There are also some nice sandwiches - grilled cheese, burger, egg salad - to go with the soup, but I had some cheese from the shop at the end of the market which paired perfectly. He also had little bits of bread he gives out for free to accompany the soup.

The lobster bisque was delicious. Perfectly creamy, rich, just hit the spot. This place is an all-around good one - from the tasty soup to perfect experience. Frank said if it's bad, let him know and if it's good, let everyone know. So, letting everyone know, Frank :)

Grade: A

SPUN Ice Cream is a locally grown ice cream shop cofounded by two sisters from Austin, Texas. We specialize in fresh, seasonal ice creams, spun to order using liquid nitrogen. All our handcrafted flavors and “pairings” are dreamed up and made from scratch, by Chef Christina Cheng. 

Watch our base ingredients – including local dairy, fair-trade chocolate, and organic spices and produce - transform from bottle to scoop in minutes. We buy the best quality milk and cream Texas has to offer - which is non-homogenized and low-temperature pasteurized from healthy cows fed on grass and GMO/corn/soy-free feed and never given artificial hormones. Faster than traditional freezing techniques, spinning ice cream with liquid nitrogen produces smaller, more condensed ice crystals and thus an intense purity of flavor and the creamiest, smoothest frozen treats science has to offer. 

A craft ice cream experience from top to bottom, Chef Christina offers a rotating menu of house-made original pairings, such as chocolate waffle cones, Texas pecan brittle, corn cookie crumble, citrus confetti, pickled jalapeño glass, and caramel popcorn sprinkles (ABOUT).

Spun Ice Cream is a delicious little spot in an up-and-coming area of Austin that makes ice cream with liquid nitrogen.

We make our ice cream using liquid nitrogen not just because it’s fun and we like to play with our food (although we do), but because, to put it simply, it tastes better. 

The beauty of liquid nitrogen ice cream is that the science can go into the process and not into the ingredients. We make your ice cream fresh to order, so we don't add preservatives, emulsifiers or stabilizers. Our custom flash freezing technique brings out the purity of the organic and local ingredients we work hard with our farmers to source for your ice cream too! 

At negative 321°F (that’s more than five times colder than Barton Springs), liquid nitrogen helps us deliver a velvety smooth, creamy texture without the need for added milkfat. Plus, some food science experts say flash freezing preserves the nutrients in foods better. We go from raw ingredients to finished product in minutes right before your eyes (ABOUT).

The menu items change often, but the Butter Pecan special had my name written all over it. IT was made with sweet cream ice cream, pecan praline and brown butter powder.

Chef Christina's flavors and pairings menus shift seasonally and include local and organic ingredients as often as possible, which include organic spices and fair trade chocolate. All our ice cream bases are made in-house with fresh milk and cream (from Texan cows free of antibiotics, hormones, GMOs, corn and soy). We don’t add any emulsifiers, preservatives or stabilizers to our ice creams – just sugar and spice and everything ice. Check our shop blackboard for the most up to date menu and list of local and organic ingredients we're cooking up in the SPUN kitchen! We have a limited menu at the ice cream truck location (MENU). 

And, man, was it good. If there's a way to make ice cream even better, it's combining some texture - which this did SO well between the crunchy praline and soft powder. Rich, slightly salty and very sweet. Phenomenal.

Grade: A

Making my way through Centre Market, I stumbled upon Valley Cheese.

Valley Cheese is a cheese counter with lots of other odds and ends, too - cookies, meats, sandwiches, prepared cold salads, and hot dogs.

Cheese is one of my passions in life, so I needed to try something here.

While the sandwiches all sounded good, I wanted something a bit lighter.

After looking around the case, I really wanted to buy like an entire wheel of cheese. But, in a rare moment of self-restraint, I resisted.

Instead, I went for a small platter of cheese and salami.

The platter I choose had baby swiss, pepperjack and a pepper colby too. They also threw in some honey mustard and some crackers! Very accommodating.



And yummy! I loved the spicy cheese, and it was a nice little sampler for just $5. I would have this for lunch often if I lived here!

SXSW had a little food truck roundup called "SouthBites", and one of the most famous food trucks in Austin was in attendance.

East Side Kings dubs its menu Japanese street food with a touch of Austin soul.

On this day, they had a few tasty options - but the frontrunner for me was "Thai Chicken Kara-age" which is deep-fried chicken thighs in a sweet chili sauce with fresh onion, jalapeno and herbs.

East Side King offers globally influenced Japanese street food. Created by Paul Qui and Moto Utsunomiya during their time at Uchi/Uchiko, East Side King provided a space for creative freedom and fun with food. East Side King has grown from a food truck behind the Liberty Bar to include a brick and mortar on South Lamar, a catering department, and talent like Thai Changthong, Executive Chef of Thai-Kun. 

East Side King is inspired by Asian cultures, rock bands, art and Austin's laid-back, fun-loving vibe. We use quality ingredients like certified awesome Tender Belly Pork, 100% vegetarian-fed pigs raised without antibiotics, hormones, or crates of any kind.

Wow, was this good! Bold, fresh flavors. The cuisine in this town is just so much different than what I'm used to. It was light, but filling and satisfying. Even giant fresh onion and jalapeno just tasted refreshing. That sauce was so flavorful. Just, man, I'm missing this right now.

As a side note - Avocados from Mexico sponsored the event, so they were giving out free guac! You could customize it, so I got cranberries and cojito cheese on it. Win.





Grade: A