La Condeza in Austin, Texas

This place is apparently one of the most highly rated places in Austin (400 West 2nd Street, 499-0300). Yet somehow I seem to have ignored it every time that I was in town, perhaps because I assumed that any "Mexican" place in Texas was going to be Tex-Mex instead. So it was to my surprise tonight to find that this place was much more traditional than I had thought it would be, and in fact was a bit reminiscent of Rick Bayless. Nice.

Granted, the cocktails here probably skewed my opinion a bit (the alma bianca was my favorite with its corn and habanero-infused tequila), but nonetheless, I was happy to be gobbling down snacks like the elote above as well as some kind of mini crab tostadas that had just the right spike of salt on them to keep me interested. I think I'll have to make another run here next time.