I must say that your response resembles mine after decades of of eating in Austin. I tend to prefer good breakfast places like Frisco's, of which there are not many left in Austin, for an old fashioned American breakfast, and Curra's Grill for Central Mexican, not TexMex breakfasts, and if you want caldo de pollo that looks like it came directly from Mexico, try Casa Garcia's Cantina y Grill. Of course, SFLonghorngirl mentioned San Miguel. Most people don't know that the doyen of Mexican cooking in the USofA, Dianna Kennedy cut her teeth with an extended stay at San Miguel here after she discovered Central Mexican Mexican food. Of course, she had a big problem with the local proclivity of offering chips and salsa at every meal. We can see where that got her, now that is a standard everywhere, even in a lot of places in Mexico.
I usually do not do this, but i am going to tell you two restaurants that you should avoid at all costs. We gave both two chances and the food was uninspired to just plain old bad and the service was lacking. Both seemed to have an undeserved high opinion of themselves. The restaurants are Winflo and Olivia. I am not a snob when it comes to food, but I am a very good cook in my own right and I tend to find the foodie movement in Austin a tad lacking. What is good? The recent remake of Jeffery's is still good after all of these years, though it is expensive. Jeffery's also opened a place around the corner, Josephine House, that offers lunch, snacks and evening drinks while waiting for a table at Jeffery's. My wife and I had a long lunch a while back that was delightful. They told us that they were holding a steak night once on Monday evenings, once per month - reservation only. My understanding was that you should call ahead of time and that the seating for everyone is all at once. Everything comes out of the Jeffery's kitchen. We haven't tried it yet, but we are going to. Apparently, it is a good value for the dining buck.
