Mother’s Day weekend, we took our little family on a road trip to San Antonio; yesterday you read Matt’s post about his tried and true favorite when we visit, Alamo Cafe. As we made our trek back north to DFW, we decided to try a completely new restaurant. Austin is known for its weird vibe, congested traffic, and many original restaurants; our drive through Austin happened to coincide with lunch and we wanted to avoid some traffic headaches, so perfect! Let’s eat in Austin!
In a post about creating itineraries, I previously mentioned that I love to use Yelp to find new restaurants. Being in the mood for a sandwich (at the time), and still about a half hour away, I plugged in a couple keywords and conducted a search. Gourmands Neighborhood Pub came up second on the list. Whoa! 4.5 stars on Yelp with 307 reviews?! No way! After looking at the menu and preemptively deciding what to order, both Matt and I started to get excited about trying something new. Ultimately, we chose Gourmands over the number one option because of its location, just tucked in the east side of Austin on Webberville, and the menu, which even reading online made our taste buds water.
Gourmands is a total (unexpected) dive. I’m not sure what I had imagined before arriving, but it was not what I thought it was going to be. A red cinder-block building in the middle of what seemed to be an older neighborhood, it is literally a “Neighborhood” restaurant. Ok, let’s try it! Parking is available on the east side of the building or on the street; we arrived about 12:30p on a Sunday and easily found a place.
As we walked in, we noticed that Gourmands is also heavy on the “Pub” label. You could almost inhale the revelry that had taken place about 10 hours before we walked in. With ample empty seating (presumably because who goes to a pub on a Sunday morning), we found a booth easily and took a seat. Pool tables, a juke box, and the vibe of Austin permeated the establishment. It was very dark inside, but it was what you’d expect from a dive bar that caters to the neighborhood crowd.
After perusing the menu (again!), I kept going back and forth between their weekend brunch special or a salad. The brunch special was choice of two-meat or vegetarian breakfast sandwich with a mimosa for $10, which I completely wish I had ordered. The reason I didn’t get it: no choice for gluten-free bread :(. Instead, I opted for the salad. Gluten be darned and all that stuff–it could have been worth it. Obviously I was really hoping that gluten-free bread would have been an option for the sandwiches offered, but since it wasn’t, my choice was made for me. I opted for the chicken tortilla salad. I asked our server what dressing patrons normally ask for with it and she suggested ranch or the vinaigrette. I got ranch (on the side), but in the end, the fajita chicken seasoning with the other toppings didn’t even need additional flavor. While sad that I hadn’t selected a sandwich, I was still very happy with my salad option and it kept me full for a long time.
Matt selected The Last Supper sandwich, complete with “roast beef, bacon, queso, sliced tomato, shredded lettuce, and shaved onion”. He said the sandwich was very tasty and filling. All of the sandwiches are served with the house-made pickled carrots and cabbage, a pickle, and your choice of house-made chips or fries. Matt opted for the chips, which he said were pretty good, and raved about the pickled slaw, adding it to his sandwich.
Couple other notes: Primarily because of the pub atmosphere, it isn’t particularly family-friendly, so be aware of that if you try to take kids. I didn’t notice any high chairs (Eva can’t quite use them yet), but they may exist.
Overall, we really enjoyed Gourmands; they have a great variety of sandwiches with some interesting and flavorful combinations at a reasonable price.The service was great, the food was tasty, it was in a convenient and quiet location that was easy to get too off of the highway (even if it was about a mile east of 35), and we can see why Gourmands is so highly favored among the Yelp reviewer crowd. If you’re in Austin and looking for a good sandwich with a dive bar feel, try it out!
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