Staying pleasantly crispy is never hard at Bacon, a hippy-chic eatery on the north-east corner of Lamar and 10th Street in Austin. Upon first glance, one might notice the huge pink pig resting on top of the restaurant, proudly claiming domain and uttering the words “Abandon hope all ye who enter here, for within lies all things bacon!” OK, so the pig doesn’t really talk, but really, you need to loosen belts and wear baggy pants when eating at this porkcentric eatery.
The concept is at once simple, and confusing. You step in and are greeted by the bar and the cash register, and a mounted menu. Order at the bar… um, counter, then pay and get your number and one of the staff will bring you the bacon. The menu has a variety of starters, all-day breakfasts, tacos, burgers and sandwiches. So it’s not the biggest menu in town, but where else can you order by the slice one of three daily house-made kinds of bacon? We’re not talking grocery store type bacon which is flimsy and more fat than meat. Oh no, we’re talking thick, meaty and delicious. When we went, we could choose between Vanilla & Pepper Bacon, Hickory Bacon and their house bacon. Order it by the slice or choose it to top whatever you order.
We started with an order of the Hushpiggies. OMG. These balls of tender, juicy and flavorful pulled pork goodness were enveloped in a thin, tasty batter that fried up crisp and they were delivered to us hot and fabulous. The dipping sauce, a sweet ‘cue sauce, was the perfect choice for these spheres of goodness.
Hubby ordered the Double Grind Burger featuring a patty made from ground beef AND ground bacon. While a little on the dry side, the smokiness of the bacon was perfect, and as you can see from the picture (forgive the quality and blame my iPhone) it was a colossal burger. Like other reviewers stated, the accompanying fries were a sad pile of lukewarm, unpotatoey sticks next to this towering pile of burger-yum.
I ordered the Dublin Pulled Pork Sandy and it was a fabulous pile of the same sweet and juicy pulled pork piled high on a (lackluster) bun and topped with several pieces of their amazing bacon. I tossed the top half of the bun and consigned my fries to the to-go box for duck fodder at the local pond.
So, my final word on Bacon is ya, check it out, it’s a neat kind of novelty restaurant – but in a city that is starting to burst with locally owned and operated culinary wonders, this (almost) overpriced eatery has decent food and a neat spin, but I probably won’t go back.
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