1224 South Congress, Austin, TX 78704
512-445-2626
This past Sunday I went to the new SoCo restaurant, Snack Bar, for brunch. Looking for something homey with a touch of exotic, a quick perusal of their online menu, Sunday morning, convinced my husband and me that we had a high chance of satisfying our desires there. Located in the old El Sol y La Luna location, Snack Bar opened quietly last month. They serve brunch until 4 pm along with a regular lunch/dinner menu and then, at night, they turn into a “Lounge …serving international snack plates”. Though I can’t really tell from the website, certain pictures therein would seem to indicate that they also have live music at that point?
In any case, back to Sunday. When my husband and I walked in we were met with a decidedly hipster vibe. The décor is a consistent nod to a ‘60s – ‘70s diner (replete with a counter and stools!) though it appears a bit worn. There is an interesting projection of a roaring fireplace on one blank wall that seemed a bit out of place… The crowd was mixed, though tending towards the urban/hipster range as well. Though the menu offers a lot of international–inflected items – global breakfast tacos and salads in five styles (American , Latino, European, Mediterranean, Asian) and vegetarian friendly concoctions (there are many paired with tempeh or tofu) – we elected to order decidedly more tame dishes as we were recovering from throwing a large party the night before. My husband went for the Petite Waffles with the lemony cottage cashew and added a side of bacon with a Mexican Coke. I ordered a bagel with cream cheese and a pot of Japanese Sencha.
The waffles were cute, if not stunning, but the cottage/cashew mixture was a unique and surprisingly quite tasty blend of flavors. Also, the bacon was really, really good. As to my dishes, being from NY originally, I am a natural-born bagel snob. For some incomprehensible reason bagels cannot be created to equal effect anywhere outside of the tri-state area. Occasionally, I will torture myself and order a bagel in TX, despite probable disappointment, and Sunday was one of those times. From the menu I gathered that the bagels were reputed to be baked by an awesome local producer – Rockstar Bagels – whom I had not yet heard of. I ordered the rosemary and salt version, toasted with cream cheese. It came to the table all crisp and warm… I have to say, that while these are not NY bagels, they are probably the best I’ve had in the Austin area to date! If you see mention of these bagels elsewhere, definitely give them a try!
So, overall, we enjoyed our meal and will be heading back there again to have a more thorough perusal of the menu.
As a final note, while we were there, I glanced over the wine/beer menu. While quite small, the selection has been edited to almost exclusively carry organic/biodynamic wines and beers. Quite intriguing!
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