Local Foods –– The Iconic Houston Based Restaurant in Austin
Imagine coming into a restaurant, ordering your favorite food and having the most delicious, satisfying food delivered to you in under ten minutes. That was my experience at Local Foods. If you haven’t heard yet, Local Foods is a Houston based restaurant that is now making its first debut in Austin. It’s a health focused, quick-service restaurant that seeks to create fresh, hyper-seasonal food with the highest quality local ingredients––hence the name. More than this however, they also seek to create meaningful relationships with its team, guests, and communities.
Clean and Aesthetic Vibes
As a Houston native, I’ve heard about Local Foods for quite some time now but have never had the chance to visit. So when I heard about the pop-up location in Austin, I knew that this was my chance. Coincidentally though, I also had the chance to visit the restaurant in Houston a few days afterwards as well. So now I have visited this iconic restaurant twice––once in Houston and once in Austin.
Before getting into the actual food, let’s talk about ambience. Because let’s face it, in today’s Instagram-worthy environment, where you eat is almost as important as the food itself. Fortunately for Local Foods, their ambience is on point. When entering into any Local Foods location you’ll find yourself in a beautifully designed space that has a diner-like atmosphere. There are booths, tables, and high top tables. Local Foods’ color scheme is also visually appealing showing vibrant blues, yellows, greens. The restaurant just gives off good vibes altogether.
Fresh, Fun Food
As for the food, it was better than I could have imagined. On my visit to the Austin location, I ordered the crunchy chicken sandwich, the truffled egg sandwich, the garden sammie and the spring harvest salad. Everything was absolutely amazing. The crunchy chicken salad was filled with plenty of chicken, chips, and a delicious buttermilk ranch dressing. The truffled egg salad was so good, it actually made my boyfriend regret cutting out eggs from his diet. The garden sammie was every vegetarian’s heaven. And finally, the spring harvest salad was surprisingly delicious as well. Even though I kinda hate salads because they never fill me up, I enjoyed this salad more than any of the sandwiches.
On my visit to the Houston location, I ordered the vegan spinach dip, the garden sammie again, and the vegan taco salad. The Spinach dip wasn’t officially on the Local Foods menu––it was the chef’s special of the day––and it was so delicious. My boyfriend and I devoured it in under ten minutes and we both agreed that it was the best spinach dip we had ever had. As for the garden sammie, it was just as delicious as I remembered. The sandwich was packed with brussel sprouts, curried cauliflower, hummus and avocado. It had all of my favorite foods. Finally, the vegan taco salad was filling and satisfying as well. It was a classic taco salad but with the highest quality ingredients I could taste.
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As for the sides, I was a HUGE fan. Local Foods is one of the only restaurants I’ve been to where they actually serve fruit as a side. I don’t know why more restaurants don’t do this! I ate watermelon and a kale salad on my first visit––which was delicious––and chips and potato salad on my second visit. The chips were crunchy and had lots of flavor to them. The potato salad was extra filling and savory.
Although I’ve only visited Local Foods twice, I think it’s safe to say that this is my new favorite restaurant. The environment is so calming, the food is amazing, and the service is top notch. Most importantly, they have options for every type of diet. So whether you want locally sourced high-quality chicken or vegetables, Local Foods is the place for you.
