Best queso in Austin?

You can hardly go into a restaurant here in Austin and not find chips and queso on the menu. But where do you go for the best queso?  To find the answer, I began a quest and valiantly put my palate to the test! My journey took me all over Austin, from the Alamo Drafthouse (Who doesn’t want queso while watching movies?  You can’t see when it drips on your shirt until later!) to Magnolia Cafe.   The Drafthouse’s queso will do in a pinch, although the slightly burned flavor may have come more from the chips than the cheese itself.

Magnolia Cafe’s Mag Queso with chunks of fresh avocado and pico de gallo was delicious, and the waiter kept the fresh hot chips coming.  The chunks of avocado added a nice counterpoint to the tangy cheeses, but kept breaking my chips.

After trying queso all over Austin, my favorite by far was Kerbey Lane Cafe’s.  From the Kerbey Queso, with it’s cheese and pico covering a mound of guacamole, to the queso covered Migas, Kerbey Lane delivers up a consistently delicious ode to the melted cheese.  Kerbey’s got all the traditional peppers, onions, and tomatoes, but whatever it is they do to it, sets it apart from some other run-of-the-mill offerings you find around town.  If you’re looking for something that goes that little extra mile,  Kerbey Lane is the place to be.

And for those looking for a more traditional take on queso, Manuel’s divine mix of melted cheeses, tomatoes, onions, and peppers served up with scrumptious home-made tortillas is sure to please.  Don’t bother talking when this is delivered to the table, however.  Manuel’s Chile Con Queso is meant to be savored hot from the oven, wrapped up in a nice warm tortilla with the juices dripping onto your plate.

Now, for the best chips to go with that queso?  Chuy’s fresh crispy chips are my favorite, hands down.

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