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4 Warning Signs to Look for to Ensure You Find the Best Italian Restaurants Austin Offers

Italian food is the most popular cuisine type in America because it offers something for any occasion, any palate and is suitable for adults, children, date nights, business meetings, birthdays, and everything in between. But there are so many Italian restaurants Austin has placed on the map, that knowing how to find the high-quality eateries and identifying the horrible ones worth ignoring can be a time-consuming task, and in most cases, people don’t even know what to look for that signifies a bad Italian restaurant Austin has to stay away from. Therefore, this article is intended to help people identify the best Italian restaurants Austin TX has placed on the map by knowing what the bad restaurants offer so that diners can make an easy comparison. 


  1. Pasta Isn’t Fresh

How often do you make fresh pasta from scratch in your own kitchen? How often do you boil dried pasta? According to Food and Wine Magazine, more than 95 percent of people from the average household boil dried paste for Italian-inspired meals. They report that making pasta is too time consuming, messy, and requires skills and kitchen equipment they simply don’t have. So why pay good money to eat an Italian restaurants Austin offers that serves dried pasta boiled back to life when you can do the same thing at home? Instead, seek an Italian restaurant in Austin that makes homemade, fresh pasta using traditional ingredients. 


  1. Ingredients are Not Authentic or Even Processed 

Avoid eating at Italian restaurants Austin has that uses misplaced ingredients, or worse yet, processed ones. There are a lot of Italian restaurants out there that use a processed tomato base for their pasta sauces, and even processed pizza sauce. Instead, look for Italian restaurants Austin offers that use authentic ingredients like sauce made from ripe, fresh San Marzano tomatoes, fresh local basil, and fresh mozzarella cheese. 


  1. The Wine List is Worthy of a Food Chain’s Bar

We won’t mention names here, but there is a big chain of Italian restaurants with the slogan “where you are treated like family”, but in reality their wine list is something you would give to black sheep family members with the palates of eight year-olds: their wine selection is terrible, because they get the best ROI from distributors. The best Italian restaurants Austin offers will make careful wine selections that excite and delight guests, and that pair beautifully with their cuisine. That said, avoid Italian restaurants with lackluster wine lists and instead look for a well rounded representation of reds, whites, pinks and bubbles from every major region of Italy. Also, look for affordable bottles, mid-range ones, and rare, exclusive bottles for those extra special occasions. 


  1. No Stone or Brick Oven

If you want an authentic Italian pizza in Austin, then look for an Italian restaurant that has a stone or brick oven, and the older the better. Avoid that conveyor belt oven that fast food pizza chains use. Stone and brick ovens lock in flavor, give that great texture that offers a slight crunch on the crust with a soft texture, and that adds that slight hint is smokiness that people love.

How to Find the Best French Food Austin has on the Map

Austin, TX is a top culinary destination in America for people with all types of dining palates. In fact, Austin is known as one of the top cities in the country for offering a wide variety of cuisine. While barbeque and Tex Mex may be what the city is most commonly known for, Austin, TX is renowned for having a wide variety of restaurants offering a broad range of cuisine thus making it an ideal place for adventurous eaters who want to experience new menus. One rising favorite is French food. Finding the best French food in Austin, TX can be challenging because the cuisine type isn’t naturally associated with Texas. However, Austin is being associated with the best of the culinary world, and with a few options in the city for French food, knowing what to look for to ensure you get the best of the best French food in Austin is crucial. This article is intended to help locals and tourists find the best French food in the city, and potentially your new favorite brunch Austin TX has to offer.

The Best French Food Austin Offers has an Authentic Menu

If you are seeking French food in Austin, TX, then you clearly want to try something outside the box, special, and exotic. That said, the menu needs to deliver in these areas. High-quality French food Austin offers will have a full menu of hors d’oeuvres, a raw bar, soups and salads, and classic entrees that offer fish, red meat, poultry and a vegetarian version of a classic dish for non meat eaters.  For example, escargot, ratatouille, steak tartare and French onion soup are expected, as are frites whether with mussels or steak. 

Authentic Ingredients are a Must

The best French food Austin offers will use local fresh ingredients, and ingredients imported from France. For example, a good bouillabaisse could use local fresh seafood from the Texas coast, of fresh frozen seafood that’s bene flown in from the south of France. But the base of the dish needs to use fresh, authentic, regional seasonings and ingredients true to France. Make sure when you search for French food Austin restaurants, you ask about their ingredients, and how and where they are sourced. 

Who is the Culinary Director and Chef?

The best French food Austin TX will offer is cuisine that stands alongside a skilled chef and culinary director. Mastering French food is an art and a science, and in order to create a menu and prepare the cuisine at an expert level, a chef needs an abundance of training. That said, a graduate from the French Culinary Institute would be very sufficient, or from any top culinary schools in the world. In fact, if you see The Culinary Institute of America on the chef or culinary director’s resume, then you can rest assured you have found a place to experience world-class French food in Austin. 

Follow these tips, and you will find amazing French food Austin offers that rivals all others, and that could become your new favorite spot for girl’s night out, brunch Austin rituals, or a place to take your loved one for a romantic date night.