Hot dog, Austin style.

Austin is, as you likely know, hardly lacking in the Mexican food department. Taquerias abound, breakfast tacos appear on most menus, and you can get chips with queso and jalapenos at the Alamo Draft House movie theatres. In short, this is a town rolling in quality Mexican (which makes this good Mexican food-deprived New Yorker very, very happy).

One one of my first afternoons in Austin, we decided to pay a visit to La Condesa, an upscale, not-so-traditional Mexican place that sits in a super-cool space right downtown. (I've already asked Louisa to take me there for a cocktail one night before I leave, because the bar looks capital-A awesome.) We stopped in one afternoon for a late lunch, and proceeded to order very, very well.

First up were some superlative tortilla chips with excellent guacamole and a series of different salsas. One of them was a sort of grainy grey color and was positively redolent of black pepper. It was my favorite, for sure. I also had a cocktail: watermelon with St.-Germain and agave nectar. I broke my no-vodka rule to try out the melon and elderflower combination, and it was pretty tasty, if a bit too sweet for my usual cocktail routine.

My lunch, though, was pretty ridiculously good, and kind of over-the-top. After all, this is Texas. I ordered the Perro Perron, a Wagyu beef hot dog wrapped in bacon and served on a toasted brioche bun. Also on the bun? Chipotle mayo, queso fresco, jalapenos, crema and avocado. I was in spicy-beefy-porky heaven. This is the Mexican equivalent of a good lobster roll: open-faced, but anchored nonetheless by a perfect piece of toasty bread.

Happy times. Happy, happy times.