New to Austin?

I recently met a couple who is new to Austin. I started thinking about all the about things I love in the city. Especially eating out! Which restaurants should they go to first? We do love to eat out - a lot.... so to say we know a bit about Austin dining is probably a fair statement.

So, I thought a few posts with some of our top 10 lists would be a good place to start. My first list is going to be...

My Pick for the Top 10 Restaurants in Austin

Not in any particular order... just how fast they came to my mind.

1. Madam Mam's - Thai - close to home, (walking distance actually), cheap and GOOD! Our favorites include the Pad Spaghetti w/ beef... ummmm. I am hungry already!

2. 888 - Vietnamese/Chinese - a great late night asian place on the east side. Open till 2am most nights. Fulfills several of our needs: Ethnic. Late, and not far from where we live.

3. First Chinese BBQ - Chinese (what else would it be??) a favorite haunt of ours that comes from Dallas. Whenever we are in North Austin, this is one of our lunchtimes stops for sure. Our favs are the Curry Noodles (used to be called Singapore noodles, so look out on the menu for either one), Wonton Soup with noodles, and of course the BBQ pork

4. Polvos - Mexican - hands down the BEST interior mexican food in the city. Located in the south which is close to home for us. Order the Cerveza Fajitas (enough for two - trust us... after the chips and salsa... you get the point), the Puerco Adovado, or the Carne Guisada.

5. Homeslice - Pizza - Another SoCo success story. Just downright good pizza. Nothing else needs to be said

6. Alborz - Middle Eastern - A place we try to hit up when we are in North Austin. Our go-to place when it comes to some good babaganoush and make sure you try their chicken and veggie kabob plate.

7. P. Terry's - Burgers - Close to home. Naturally raised, hormone free etc burgers with a drive through and a outdoor seating area. Cheap. Good... and hey, if you are going to eat a burger, at least it makes me feel a tad bit better knowing I am not ingesting the bad stuff too.

8. Silhouette - Sushi - Not necessarily the best sushi in town, but it combines some of my favorite elements.

Cheap sushi if you go during happy hour.
Bubble tea
Open late
Central Location (they are downtown right on Congress b/w 9th and 10th

9. Tomo Sushi - Sushi - Probably the best sushi place in the city. We have our friend Marc to thank for introducing us to this place. They are way up north, we don't get to go very often... but we can highly recommend it!

10. Mars - Fusion - a perfect 'special night' place. Higher on the price scale, but for those few nights that call for an upscale (but not snooty) celebration for 2 or 4... one of our favs.

And one more that we HAD to include.

11. Shanghai - Chinese - DimSum! We haven't been there for anything else, but the 5 times we have been and taken friends is always a winner. Hot DimSum, friendly staff, centrally located for both our North and South friends (near the Highland Mall). Expect a wait if you go during peak time.

Couple observations about our list:

5 of our 10 are Asian selections - yup we do love Asian food, and are not as drawn to traditional American cuisine
Due to where we live, most of the locations are in the south/central region

Have your favorites? Totally disagree with some of our selections? Have some more you think we should check out? Post a comment and let me know.