Where You Can Actually Eat Your Money’s Worth in Austin (For Less)

Let me paint a not-so-pretty picture for you.

You’ve seen this restaurant on social media and the food looks amazing. You wait months and finally get a table. To your surprise, after that long wait to try out the restaurant, your food was okay, the service was awful, and you walked out still hungry after spending over sixty dollars. If this has ever been you, then you’ve probably experienced what I like to call a “Bill Burglary.” 

Now, you’ve got to be tired of handing your money over to these underwhelming culinary criminals. That’s why I put together some of the places I’ve been able to “pig out” without breaking my piggy bank. I even included their Yelp reviews and scores so you can see what the hype is all about.

Juan in A Million - Con Queso Breakfast w/ Bloody Mary - $20.80 

4 Out of 5 Stars

Before we start, yes, they have menudo.

Serving breakfast and lunch, Juan in A Million is as welcoming as it is a punny place to be. Opened by former school teachers, Juan and Myrna Meza in 1980, this is where you need to be after a long night out. Not only is the food incredible but you might leave with a to-go box.

At Juan in a Million, you can expect homemade recipes in a family-style atmosphere. My experience at this restaurant couldn't be further from the 5-star reviews that others have left on Yelp. You feel like you’ve been welcomed into someone's home shaking the owner, Juan Meza’s hand as he makes his rounds to greet each of his guests personally.

Let’s talk about the food

What you’re looking at here is two eggs covered in queso alongside a serving of carne guisada, refried beans, potatoes, and two flour tortillas. This feast (with a bloody mary and some mimosas) only came out to about Twenty-five dollars. Try not to fill up on the complimentary chips and (very spicy) salsa first. 

Also, if you’re reading this and wondering when I was going to mention it, this section is for you. For those who’ve never heard of Juan in a Million, there's a little ongoing contest that I have to tell you about…

This is the Don Juan El Taco Grande. A combination of potato, egg, bacon, and cheese in a hot tortilla that costs $6.98. There is an ongoing contest to see who can eat the most Don Juan Tacos in one sitting. The current record for the men’s competition is nine tacos, and the women’s record is five tacos. If you think you can do better, then I’d encourage you to on the weekends because the mimosas are also $2.50.

If you’ve been looking for a great way to cure a hangover or just eat until you can’t anymore, I’d seriously recommend stopping by Juan in a Million.

Tumble 22 - ½ Mixed w/ Dirty Mac, Collard Greens, and an Adult Lemonade - $24.40 

4 Out of 5 Stars 

Tumbled precisely Twenty-two times for the perfect crunch, you’ll find more than one reason to love it here. Tumble 22 is a five-unit Nashville Hot Chicken joint with their first physical location on Burnet Road. If you’re familiar with the Austin area, then you know this means you can go from a quick swim in Deep Eddy Pool to a picnic in just a few steps.

The trick here, however, is to make sure you’ve gone swimming first because it might be a little hard to swim after devouring all of this comfort cuisine.

Let’s talk about the food

Truthfully, this stock photo doesn't give my meal any real justice but I already ate everything before I could take a picture. I ordered the ½ mixed with two breasts, and two legs, with a side of collard greens and regular dirty mac. For my people who love spice, I would consider starting at “Dang Hot” and going up because the spice is no child’s play. Spicy or not, the chicken is crispy, juicy, and, very flavorful. The sides were just as good as well.

In fact, the chicken here was so good that I went back and ordered the same thing just two days later. 

The ambiance in Tumble 22 is great as well. At their Burnet location, you can choose almost any spot to watch a game (even their full bar), enjoy the patio after a swim, and eat some of the spiciest chicken that’ll definitely give you your money’s worth. 

De Nada Cantina - 2 Pollo, 1 Carnitas w/ 1 Classic Margarita - $26.25 

4.3 Out of 5 Stars 

Opening its doors in 2021,  De Nada Cantina serves more than authentic tacos and tortillas. You’ll feel at ease as the lush greenery of indoor plants, soft ambient lighting, and, of course, a water fountain in the middle of the restaurant helps you relax even before you get your margarita. This is your personal invitation to dine in an upscale modern Mexican cantina.

If I were to rate my experience, food aside, this restaurant felt like a vacation. You know that late dinner you have after a long day on the beach? That’s how it feels to eat here. Now, in full transparency, you could blame that feeling on their margaritas but in a room full of laughs, smiles, and stuffed mouths, it’s hard not to get what I mean. 

Let’s talk about the food

Cooked on a Mexican Comal, these blue corn tortillas are handmade. Choose any of their slow-braised meats that range from barbacoa to shrimp (they even have veggie options and vegan cheese). 

After convincing the richest person at the table to grab queso for everyone, I ordered three tacos. All three juicy and tender carnitas and pollo tacos were packed with their own unique and very distinct flavors. I’m not kidding when I say that each taco was special in its own way and I haven’t even covered the rest of the menu here. I’d talk about their Mexico City Quesadillas or their happy hour… but maybe another time.

Also, I didn’t forget about the margaritas. On their menu, you’ll find “*Limit of 2 large margs per guest” written in the corner which is more of a warning than a rule. These traditionally handcrafted margaritas, along with their bar’s large tequila section, will definitely have you feeling the vacation I mentioned earlier on your way out.

Just make sure you have a designated driver.

Are you hungry yet?

After all this talk about great food, I bet you’re wondering where or what you’ll be eating soon. Instead of wasting your time with weird restaurant hours, terrible service, and “Bill Burglars”, use Yelp to look up restaurants and make reservations. You can even look at the locations of restaurants near you and the reviews that go along with them.

No matter what you’re in the mood for, check out Yelp and actually eat your money’s worth for a change here in Austin.

What You Need To Know About Adult Learning

Daydreaming during a well-built lesson plan, doodling into your notes, being saved by the sound of a bell that offered a moment of freedom. As a kid, the classroom was the last place you wanted to be found and unfortunately you didn’t have much of a choice. Once you graduated, the feeling of having to sit through long complicated classes were over as you believed you would never have to sit through another class again. However, as an adult, and you will learn this quick if you haven’t yet, learning goes beyond the classroom and continues to present new challenges as you get older. In fact, learning as an adult is full of newer, bigger, and bolder challenges. If you plan on instructing a class of adults, you’ll need to know three important steps to doing so.

Learning seemed like your only job in this world as a kid. You were required to go to school, sit through classes, and take tests on different subjects. As an adult your job is your actual job, not to mention, bills, kids, family, and every other curve-ball and hurdle adult life has to offer. As the giant to-do list of adult life grows, it’s easy to say that the biggest challenge to adult learning is motivation. As a child you had no choice but to do as you were told and go to school, as an adult you could quite literally have Doritos for breakfast while doing nothing and no one could tell you no. According to an article on alabamapathways.org, “The best way to motivate adult learners is to simply enhance for enrolling and decrease barriers where possible.” These barriers are the responsibilities of adulthood. For example, timing, money, and family can leave little to no room for energy and motivation to learn. To get an adult motivated they must know the “why” which remind themselves of the reward of learning at expense of their finite energy.

Once you’ve explained the “why” the next step is to create engaging content to keep the adult’s attention and allows them to retain information. In school, you were forced to complete the learning guides and do long complicated assignments however telling an adult to do the same just won’t work anymore. To keep an adult’s attention, you’ll need to create content that specifically speaks to the learner’s individual needs if you want them to retain information. A great way to build your adult training content is to use the Addie Model. The Addie Model is a 5-step approach to building effective training content and is a useful tool most instructors use to improve adult the learning experience.

These 5 steps include:

Analyze the instructional goals and resources.

Design a learning solution the aligns objectives and strategies with instructional goals.

Develop learning resources, validate and revise drafts, and conduct a pilot a test.

Implement the learning solution by preparing the learning space and engaging participants.

Evaluate the quality of learning resources and how well they accomplish instructional goals.

From listing instructional goals to making evaluations, the 5-step Addie Model can be considered as the building blocks to content creation for instructors.

The final step is something most adults lose as they get older and that is confidence.  In fact, Learnkit.com lists the 5 Ways Adults Learn Differently Than Children and number 5 on this list claims that adults are afraid to fail. The article states that “Children don’t have the same social filters and are more willing to experiment. Adult learning needs to be scaffolded (built on in small pieces and supported with extra learning) or they risk losing their intrinsic motivation and focus.” Adults just have more to lose and the idea of failure seems a lot more intense than it did as a child. Most adults have already lived through the worst parts of school which could include bad report cards and failing important tests without having major consequences. Now as an adult the weight of failure is heavy and can cause fear and doubt in an individual’s desire to obtain new information. If you plan on keeping your class of adult learners motivated, you will need to give continuous reassurance to enforce the “why” they chose to learn the information in the first place.

Motivation, creative content, and confidence are the three steps to a successful learning experience. Adults do not learn like children and will need to be approached differently or the learning facilitation will likely fall apart. It’s not easy instructing adults because there are more challenges and barriers to overcome but with good training and determination, anything can be learned.