Football weekend in Austin, TX - Day 4

This morning we went on a food tour of South Congress with "Austin Eats" and it was fantastic!

Our tour guide, Brian, met the group in front of Jo's Coffee with iced coffee from Jo's & pastries from La Patisserie. After brief introductions, we crossed the street for our first stop.

At Snack Bar, we tried the Tamago Yoko which was a hash cake with leek, cabbage, scrambled eggs, shrimp, bacon, and shiracha as well as a vegetarian version without the shrimp and bacon. Both were delicious.

Next was Guero's Taco Bar. We sampled their house margarita made from fresh squeezed lime juice & agave nectar, the Al Pastor Taco - their specialty of marinated pork, topped with chopped onions, cilantro & pineapple sitting on a hand-made tortilla, and their queso and chips.

At Hopdoddy's, we sampled their classic burger, Parmesan truffle fries, and salted caramel milkshake.

By this time, the Texas heat started to turn up as it was nearing noon & our next two stops would be outside.

You Gonna Eat or What? Food truck.

We sat at picnic tables with umbrellas so there was some relief, but not much. We sampled the Shiner Bock beer battered monte cristo made with smoked ham, turkey, cheddar and provolone cheeses, and a raspberry-fig dipping sauce.

OMG...It was like Christmas in my mouth.

Our last stop was Home Slice for NY-style pizza. We sampled the mushroom & pepperoni pizza, the vegetarian pizza and the Fireman's #4 blonde ale.

We sat on their shaded patio out back but the heat was starting to get to me so I didn't get pics of the pizza...only Eric enjoying his beer.

We really enjoyed the tour. The restaurant owners/chefs were very passionate and everything we ate was delicious. Definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

Afterward, I had planned to do a little shopping on South Congress which is full of fun and quirky boutiques but we opted for some air-conditioned relief back at the hotel. After the game last night, I was nearing my sweat limit for the week.

Later in the afternoon, we ventured over to the University of Texas campus to tour the tower.

That evening we decided to check out the bats. All we had to do was walk across the street from our hotel to the Congress Avenue Bridge, home to North America's largest urban bat colony. There are 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats that live underneath the bridge in its crevices. During the summer months, at dusk, people gather on the bridge and below on the bank to watch them emerge by the thousands for their nightly flights.

I didn't really get any good pics of the bats but it was neat to watch them fly out in waves. Afterward, we decided to head back to the hotel to get ready for our flight home on Monday.