And on the third day, Jesus rolled away the stone, and kfan wrestled the cap of the Austin bottle, sipping at last of a fine beverage therein. I know you’re tired of me always comparing myself to Jesus, but seriously I think there’s something there.
I had breakfast at Las Manitas on my last morning in Austin and it was AOK x infinity. My two main takeaways: breakfast without guacamole will no longer be considered breakfast, and the fact that I’m not sure where to get agua fresca in my town is going to be a huge problem on a go-forward basis.
From the reading I’ve been doing: agua fresca is a catch-all term for a low-budget beverage usually comprised of fruit juice, water and sugar. For a reason I’m not quite clear on, agua fresca can also refer to horchata, which is made from rice milk and in my mind belongs in a completely separate phylum. But I guess Mexican scientists have a different organizational schema and I’ll just assume they know what they’re doing.
So back to Las Manitas. I took the establish-a-baseline approach and ordered a limonada agua fresca. It was nice, tasting like fresh limes, was less “sweet” than “not sour” and had a quick, salty finish. As a whole it wasn’t mind-blowing, so I felt like I should also sample another flavor. I’ve had horchata and already have an opinion about it, so I tried the piña agua fresca instead. And it took me 3 minutes to find the code for that ñ and get it inserted into the WordPress system here, so let me just use it a few more times. ññññ. Ordering a second, different kind of agua fresca stretched my communication with the waiter to its absolute limit (What, why, you didn’t like the first one? What was wrong with it? No, I did like it but I want to try a different flavor, please charge me for two, agua fresca es mi amiga and so forth). Totally worth it, the piña was killer. Very sweet pineapple, but not all acidic and raw like fresh pineapple usually is, plus with some coconut in there as well. Highlight of my trip, and that includes all the drug addicts and alcoholics I had the pleasure of interfacing with as they hassled me for change on the streets.
Thanks to both df and kmel for recommending Las Manitas. Next time I travel somewhere I’ll ask for recommedations on the site before I go. Stay alert, readers of K4T/citizens of the world! You could be called upon at any minute to assist your favorite bevologists. It could be in a few weeks, or it could be tomorrow. Actually it will be right now: I’m going to Missouri in a few weeks, so if by chance there’s some local soda brew I need to know about, holla at your gents.
Please tell me you had breakfast tacos at some point. I would’ve said something earlier, but I totally forgot.
They sound gross and weird but breakfast tacos are one of the best things about Texas.
The big drink around Missouri is Fitz’s Root Beer. I’m not a big root beer person myself, but people swear by it – who knows.
There’s actually a Fitz’s American Grill and Bottling restaurant in St. Louis, MO at 6605 Delmar Blvd. It’s close to my school, is how I know the address.
Gross & Weird ?
DavidS: We’ve got Fitz’s where I live, so I guess I won’t be able to write my trip to Missouri off on my taxes.
Mmm, I’m jealous of your Austin trip, especially the breakfast-with-guacamole part.
Your piña agua fresca reminds me: When I lived in the Caribbean, we used to drink “coconut water.” That was a green (unripe) coconut that they whack the top off of, then stick a straw into. The watery stuff inside tastes kind of like coconut but not really — it’s good though. And then you can open up the whole thing and scrape out this gel-like stuff and eat that. So I guess it’s a combination beverage and meal.
This has nothing to do with Missouri; should you get down to the Caribbean, though, you have a tip.