Eating My Way Across Texas, Part 2: Hula Hut

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After touring the Texas Capitol, I wanted to walk along the lakefront and take a few pictures of Austin’s beautiful skyline at dusk.  But that meant I had a couple of hours to kill.  Since it was dinner time, I considered my options.  I was tempted to check out a restaurant that I kept hearing people talk about — the Salt Lick — but I discovered both of its locations were a long drive from downtown Austin.  Another possibility was a place called the Hula Hut on Lake Austin, which a friend recommended.  It was much closer, and I’m glad it was, because the Hula Hut is where I enjoyed the best meal of my vacation.

The Hula Hut serves Tex-Mex food with a Polynesian twist, or as they call it, “Tiki-Mex”.  It’s part of a complex of restaurants at Oyster’s Landing Marina on the waterfront of Lake Austin, just north of the Tom Miller Dam, which created the lake.  You can eat outside or inside…

… but most people choose to take a seat on the deck, over the water.

 

My meal started with the chips and salsa you see in the background.  The salsa was freshly prepared, and had a light and tangy (but still spicy) flavor.  The main course…

… was a Chicken & Guacamole Tubular Taco.  It’s somewhat like a burrito, only inside it’s loaded with cheese and chicken, then a guacamole sauce is generously poured in and around it.  It had a fantastic flavor.  I left the restaurant overstuffed, but completely satisfied.

As I left the restaurant, I tried to get a closer look at the Tom Miller Dam, but all I could manage was a camera shot out the car window, while driving over a nearby bridge.

The Tom Miller Dam was built on the foundations of two previous dams.  The first of which was Austin’s first dam, completed in 1893.  It was destroyed by a flood, and so was the second one, completed in 1912.  The Tom Miller Dam was finished in 1940.

The Hula Hut and Tom Miller Dam are located on Lake Austin Boulevard.  From downtown, follow 6th Street (one way), to the MoPac/TX-1 Southbound entrance ramp.  Don’t get on the MoPac, go underneath it, and 6th Street will turn into Lake Austin Boulevard.  The Hula Hut is about 1.6 miles from the MoPac interchange.

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