One of our favorite places to eat around here is Arturo's Underground Cafe at 314 W. 17th Street. During the week, they operate as a take-out and bakery, serving sandwiches, breakfast tacos, quesadillas, and pastries. If you look on Yelp, they have very good reviews. We've never been during the week, though.
We've always gone to their weekend brunches, when the cafe is open. I can't believe I haven't written about it before, but since we did a first today, I decided to let you guys in on our secret!
The cafe is literally underground. That window in the background is just above sidewalk level. On the bar to the side, they have all of their condiments and coffee, tea, ice, etc. If you ever visit their restroom (which appears to be just past the bus sink) and see how tiny their kitchen is, you'll know why they bring as much of the cafe operations downstairs as possible!
On the weekends, they have a more limited menu than during the week, apparently. We've never had any problem with choices, whether we wanted something savory (James always does) or sweet. Or a mix. They used to have on the menu a Mexican/French toast, which was made with their cheese jalapeno bread. Although it's no longer featured, they still have the bread and they still offer French toast, so I'll bet you could talk them into it.
They do have a really good Caribbean French toast now, which is made with rum caramel and bananas. I thought I'd end up with left-overs, but no.
Today, however, due to my and my baby's feeling under the weather and our not wanting to fight the closed streets for a bike race after yesterday's Longhorn Run "fun," we ended up not going to church (and, in fact, vowing not to get in the car at all) and finally made it to Arturo's "Heathen Happy Hour."
What is Heathen Happy Hour? It's from 10-12 (church hours, typically, see?) on Sundays, and they have $3 mimosas (that's a buck off regular) or a pitcher (about four drinks) for $10, AND *FREE* chocolate chip cookies as long as they last!
I started off with a Mimosa and chocolate chip cookie (fresh out of the oven!).
The cookies were delicious and had a real "homemade" feel about them (as opposed to the cookies we get across the street, which I love, but which are very uniform in shape whereas these look like they're crafted more by hand). My husband tasted his and saved all but that bite for proper dessert, but I think he's from another planet because there was no way I could let a warm cookie cool like that.
In addition to the fun offerings on the menu, there was this:
... which is what James got. I ordered something I've had my eye on for a long time: bagel and lox. Pretty straight-forward, but we've been several places here in Austin AFTER church, and they've always already run out of lox! Since we'd gotten to Arturo's just as it was opening, I knew this was my shoo-in opportunity.
That's James' Chupacabra (with the cookie waiting on him... weird-o) and it was fabulous! There was a lot going on, flavor-wise, but nothing overwhelmed anything else. The Hollandaise was rich and creamy, and the poached eggs were absolutely perfect. The potatoes are well-seasoned with one side nice and crunchy from the pan, and the others soft. So good.
Now we just need to try Arturo's during the week. The menu looks a little cheaper, but the portion size is also smaller. James did have left-overs from his meal.
The weekend brunch, though, we can heartily recommend. I'm not telling you to skip church, either, but if you go to a church with Saturday night services or really early/late Sunday service, the Heathen Happy Hour is a fun little kick, too. Try to get there early, as the first batch of chocolate chip cookies is apparently the best!
The price for weekend brunch is a little higher than some of the other mom/pop places around here, but the food is elevated more than some of the places around here. My bagel and lox was $8.50 and James' meal was, as you can see, $13. With two mimosas and a coffee, it was about $33. We don't eat here super often, but Arturo's is tied with Clay Pit for the walking-distance restaurant we have patronized the most in the past two years.
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