Team Favorites

Baptiste’s Fave
Alamo Drafthouse’s Royale Burger: As a Frenchman, having a burger will always be a guilty pleasure, so why not double the fun and watch a movie alongside this towering assortment of delicious foods? The Alamo Drafthouse’s Royale Burger with cheese never disappoints, unlike the last Star Wars trilogy, and the fries are always nicely warm and perfectly crispy.
drafthouse.com/austin | 1911 Aldrich St #120, Austin, TX 78723

Chris’s Faves
Can’t Believe It’s Vegan Burger: Nom Burgers serves up savory selections of ‘vegan junk food,’ and their Double OG Cheeseburger tastes as good as it looks, even if you’re a carnivore. Two juicy patties and lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onions are topped with American cheese and house made ‘nom sauce,’ all within a tasty brioche bun. Add pickled jalapeños and pair with sweet potato fries for the ultimate treat.
eatnomburgers.com | 2324 E Cesar Chavez St, Austin, TX 78702

“No-Nonsense” Street Tacos: Oye Taquito offers specialty mini street tacos perfected in the Mexican city of Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville. Six small corn tortillas are packed with well-seasoned beef, garnished with cilantro, onion, fresh avocado, and a generous handful of queso fresco. With salsas, lime wedges, and grilled onions on the side, these mini tacos are authentic, delicious, and reliably filling. 
instagram.com/oyetaquito956 | 1704 E Cesar Chavez St, Austin, TX 78702

Jessi’s Faves
Este’s Fish Tacos: The showstopping tortillas that are Suerte’s calling card also make a splash at Este where they are featured as a pairing for fish tacos. The delectable tortillas hug rather large chunks of masa battered swordfish – yes, swordfish – and then those two ingredients are tastefully dressed with habanero-piquín hot sauce and salsa Mexicana. Simple, straightforward, delicious – there’s no need for more. 

Taco Mex’s Vegan Taco: There is every reason that a drive down Manor Road should include a pit stop at the Taco Mex window. Whether crispy tacos or breakfast tacos are the objective, it’s hard to go wrong here. The made-to-order tacos maintain all the quality one expects but at the prices we remember from high school. Try a bean, potato, and nopales taco. It may be vegan, but add some green salsa, and this three-(now-4) ingredient masterpiece has all the flavor necessary to start the morning off right.

Meher’s Faves
Nitxta’s Beet “Tartare” Tostada: This taco at Nixta makes me feel like I’m eating a meal from a cartoon. It’s vibrant with magenta hues from the roasted beets, lime green fluff from the avocado crema, a dark green bouquet of microgreens, all piled high on a blue corn tortilla. It tastes as exciting as it sounds. And let’s be honest, a tostada is essentially a taco with a tad less packaging.

Arlo’s Frito Pie Burger: Even those averse to vegan meals should be able to appreciate the creativity of this menu item. Marrying tradition with innovation, this plant-based food truck serves a meatless burger topped with vegan cheese, chili, Fritos, chipotle sauce, pico de gallo, onions, and lettuce. It’s messy, packed with flavor, and guilt-free.

Eric’s Fave
Joe’s Bakery’s Breakfast Tacos: If I do eat in Austin these days, it’s usually breakfast on a photo shoot day, and I always go to Joe’s Bakery for home-style tortillas and tacos that remind me of my abuelita’s cooking. It’s the real deal and as authentic as it gets.

Tanya’s Faves
Veracruz’s La Reyna: Rightfully called ‘The Queen,’ this taco is jam-packed with a sumptuously sautéed veggie blend of mushrooms, spinach, onions, carrots, and red bell peppers, all mixed with scrambled egg whites and topped with freshly sliced avocado. Get it on a freshly prepared corn tortilla and add a little zing with their verde jalapeño salsa. 

Gobble Gobble: You’ll gobble up this delicious grass-fed beef burger from the food truck outside of Icenhauer’s on Rainey Street. Freshly-pickled pickles and gooey cheese from Antonelli’s are piled onto a sweet brioche bun. Don’t forget the seasoned potato rounds, a cross between a French fry and a potato chip, served with a creamy, homemade buttermilk dill sauce.

Deven’s Faves
Salt & Time’s Butcher’s Burger: This burger is not messing around. For a butcher shop, it should go without saying that their burger is beyond a typical patty, but even so, Salt & Time’s myriad of flavors tickles the tastebuds. They take steak trimmings and grind them into a burger so rich with flavor it packs a punch. As a pro-pickle-on-burger person, the salty, sour kick with the creamy mayo in between those brioche buns is what dirty dreams during a diet are made of. Coupled with their beef-fat fried fries, is there any competition elsewhere?

El Secreto de la Abuela’s Beef Fajita Tacos: The only way to find your favorite taco in Austin is to trust someone’s advice, and I’m beyond grateful I did. The Beef Fajita Tacos at El Secreto de la Abuela taste exactly how you’re fantasizing they will. Perfectly charred tortillas with a smoky, savory cut of fajitas lying inside leave you questioning why you waited so long to listen to your friend’s advice. Basically, it’s a damn good taco.