Tacodeli is interesting in that it is only open from 8am to 3pm every day, making it very hard to get there when I work until 2pm, and am usually running off after work to swim or play volleyball or run some errand once I get off work. So, today was finally the day I got to enjoy some stellar tacos from this Austin-bred establishment.
Tacodeli
As I just mentioned, Tacodeli is Austin-bred, opening their doors for the first time in 1999. They have since expanded to have a few Austin locations, and there just happens to be one mere minutes from my house, so it's a mystery as to why today was the first time I made it over there. Tacodeli hand makes all of their food in house daily and uses locally sourced, organic and responsibly sourced ingredients whenever possible depending on availability, according to their website. It is locally owned and operated, and they are committed to making the best taco in town. And I am going to go ahead and say they do just that.
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Their menu is very diverse, in that they offer breakfast tacos, tacos featuring beef, pork, chicken, fish, and of course, vegetarian options. I went with a chicken taco - Mexico City Chicken - which is grilled chicken breast garnished with diced onion and cilantro, as well as a vegetarian taco - Florentino - which is spinach sauteed in olive oil and sherry with portbello mushroom, red bell peppers, and onion. I ordered both on corn tortillas, and, know you're surprised to hear that I topped both with some of their special salsa. both
I absolutely loved both of my tacos, surprisingly I probably enjoyed the vegetarian taco a little bit more - it was just that good, and it was the perfect lunch on a somewhat gloomy Saturday afternoon.
Union Bowling
After lunch, Dylan and I ran a few errands downtown before heading back to campus to cross the second item of the day off the list - Underground bowling at The Union. This is something I have known about for all four of my years here, yet never managed to actually do. I actually really love bowling, and with a UT ID, bowling at The Union is rather inexpensive. Dylan and I strolled through campus, stopping at the turtle pond to visit the turtles in their recently cleaned habitat, before arriving at The Union and setting up shop over at lane 11.
We were pleased to discover that "Glow Bowl" is all day on the weekends, so we glowed-in-the-dark while bowling. Definitely a first-time experience for the both of us.
I picked out two bowling balls - one nine pounder and one ten pounder - and Dylan used a 14 pounder. We bowled without using bumpers, and we certainly bowled a few gutter balls as a result. That being said, we also bowled our fair share of strikes and spares. I'll never know if Dylan let me win, but I squeaked by him with a score of 88 to his 85. Clearly so close to bowling a perfect game!
We were a little sillier with the second game, bowling through our legs and with our non-dominant hands, and we got even more gutter bowls this round, but we sure had a great time doing it.
Toastie's Sub Shop
We then played a couple rounds of pool - I am absolutely horrible at pool - before calling it an afternoon and heading back to Dylan's house to watch some of the World Cup. We watched a little of this and a little of that before crossing the third and final item of the day off of our list - Toastie's Sub Shop.
One of my dear friends from my WyldLife team told me about this restaurant, that first opened in Port O'Connor in 2006, probably two years ago, and I had never managed to make it over there for what were supposed to be some great sandwiches. I consider myself to be quite the sandwich connoisseur, and Austin truly has some great sandwiches, so I was eager to see how this sort of hidden sub shop would compare.
I walked in and immediately liked the feel of it. The menu was written on chalkboards, and there were old arcade games as well as an old bike in the back. But the best part was probably the shelf of games available to diners. But more on that in a minute.
For my meal, I went with the Roma Chicken Sub (sans cheese, of course), which is grilled chicken tossed with sundried tomato pesto topped with fresh baby spinach, Balsamic soaked Roma tomatoes, all on a sweet wheat hoagie.
The sandwiches were quick to be delivered to our table, and I'm not even exaggerating when I say this is one of the best sandwiches I have ever had. I'm not sure what made the sandwich so good, honestly I think the bread is what made it for me, but I loved it, and I ate every last bite.
But what really made the meal was the shelf of games available to diners at the restaurant. They had chess and Clue and Trivial Pursuit, but Dylan and I picked out a cube full of cards labeled "TableTopics for Couples," and we spent the duration of our meal, and about 20 minutes after we were completely finished eating, asking one another these questions. They ranged from silly to serious, and I absolutely love getting to know people by asking them maybe somewhat invasive questions, so this was right up my alley. We both agreed that games like that should be available at every restaurant. It would sure get people to stay off their phones!
After we'd gone through a significant chunk of the cards, we scrounged for quarters so that we could play a round of arcade games. Dylan played Galaga while I played Pinball, and I felt like I had gone back in time to my childhood, and in a time reserved for growing up, I absolutely loved it.
As I said, I had an absolutely glorious Saturday, and I am just enjoying hanging out with my roommates, trying not to feel sad about the fact that there are packing boxes taking over our living area. Can't we just stay here forever?
Anyway, I hope your Saturday was just wonderful, and I'll certainly be back tomorrow with a survey. Enjoy the rest of your evening!
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