TRAVEL THERE: AMAYA’S TACO VILLAGE – AUSTIN TX
On our way out of Austin a few weeks ago, we breakfasted with my cousin and her husband at one of their favorite spots, Amaya’s Taco Village. It’s right on I-35, making it easy off/easy on.
What Decor? What Atmosphere?
Amaya’s is all about the food, because there isn’t anything else. Oh, there’s a spacious parking lot and a very clean building, but you have to bring your atmosphere with you. The walls are beige with basic orange peel texturing and the floor in linoleum. The tables are Formica. Most of the dishes are of either white or beige melamine. The flatware was really flat (you know what I’m talking about). In other words, we wouldn’t have been there if my cousin hadn’t taken us.
But my oh my oh my, are we ever glad my cousin took us. I ordered the Ranchero Deluxe. I knew I could eat the eggs and some carne guisada. I even planned to take a few bites of the chorizo con huevo. Yum, yum, yum. My cousin and her husband got huevos this and that, but Mr. Bill was not feeling very brave. He ordered the Pancake Plate.
When they delivered the food to us, they seemed to put about a million dishes on the table. There was queso with carne, salsas of every description, tortillas and on and on and on.
I tucked into the eggs first and they’d gotten them perfect. I order my eggs hard, because I don’t like the runny stuff, but I really don’t want hard yellow disks in the center of my whites. The guy in the kitchen knew that somehow. Nothing ran, but the yolk had just gelled the very second he took them off the gill. Then there was the carne guisada. Tender beef in a perfectly spiced sauce. Nothing to take the top of your head off, just delicious. I even had a few bites of the chorizo. If I’d had any room, I might have eaten more, because they were good, but I was full. The refried beans and potatoes looked tasty, but they didn’t seem to mesh with my South Beach Diet.
Bill seemed to forget that he’s on the South Beach Diet with me. Yes, that’s a piece of sausage peeking out from under that huge pancake and that’s real syrup he poured on there. Way to support me, Pancake Man.
With a hearty breakfast under our belts it was time to head further south. We discovered the wonderful little town of Gruene, so come back next week so I can tell you all about it.
jane sadek 