Austin Round-Up: Part 2

A place so nice, I had to write about it twice.  Here’s the Part 2 to my Part 1.

Sweet Ritual

I almost couldn’t believe that everything on the menu at Sweet Ritual was vegan. We have an ice cream place close to our house that offers a lot of vegan options, but I’ve never been in an ice cream shop that was 100% dairy-free, so I really had to keep myself from asking if everything was “really vegan, really?”

Yes, really, and the menu is droolworthy. Sweet Ritual offers sundaes, soft-serve, shakes, and more on top of their interesting ice cream options. I had toasted coconut and my boyfriend had spicy Mexican chocolate. I can’t write about it any more because I’m already sad that it’s not right next door, right now.

Snack Bar

Snack Bar was another place we made a point to visit again after being in Austin last year. I love a good brunch that has a menu that’s equally accommodating to people with allergies and people who get weird about allergy- or diet-friendly foods. Oddly enough, we all ended up ordering french toast, and mine just came as the vegan variety.

If you’re looking for ethical food (especially if you’re looking for humanely-raised meats) this is a great place to stop. While I can attest to their great breakfast options that I’ve had twice, everything on their menu looks awesome. There are also icons that display what can be made vegan, gluten-free, or vegetarian, for the diner’s reference.

Hotel San Jose

Snack Bar and Jo’s happen to be very close by to Hotel San Jose, a hotel that we were fortunate enough to stay at this year after enjoying many a drink at last year. Even though it was just for a night, it was tons of fun. If you can’t afford a hotel stay, or are staying somewhere different, at least make sure to stop by for a fancy cocktail, and get it in plastic so you can sit by the bamboo-lined pool area.

If you are thinking about staying there, even better. The rooms are awesome (plus we got upgraded due to staying on a Sunday night!) and you get a bottle of drinking water made from local rain on your room, so cool! You can rent lots of different things upon your stay, including a Polaroid camera, which we used to take a good amount of pictures around the hotel. You can also rent DVDs for free, so we watched Waiting for Guffman, which happened to be filmed in Austin.

Customer service at the hotel is also unbelievably awesome. I can’t say enough nice things about the room, the grounds, or the people working there. They are the. nicest. So go there and spend lots of money; they deserve it!

Trailer Food Diaries

A visit to Austin wouldn’t be complete without shopping around a bit, and I managed to score a pretty cool book at a shop on SoCo called Trailer Food Diaries. If you didn’t already know, Austin has a thriving food truck scene, and this cookbook actually compiles recipes from a lot of great trucks around the city. I’m definitely planning on making more than a few, so I’m sure you’ll see mentions of them soon.

That was our trip in a nutshell. We visited some other great places and did some other really fun things but I’d like to hear from you – where are must-stop places in cities you love?