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Machete with beef fajita at Machetes Doña Leova food truck on North Lamar. (Sonia Garcia/Austonia)
As new food trends reach Austin, it seems that the bigger the better, and machetes are not an exception.
Stretching as long as 2 feet, a machete is essentially a deliciously huge quesadilla wrapped in a long sheet of corn masa and filled with cheese, different types of meat and various toppings. The size and appearance of the dish resemble its namesake, a machete blade.
Since the 1960s, machetes have been a popular dish in Mexico City. Luckily for us Texans, the giant quesadillas have reached the Austin food scene and are perfectly large enough to share with friends.
Here is where you can try machetes in Austin.
Machetes Doña Leova, 10600 N. Lamar Blvd.
Don't let this huge machete intimidate you. Machetes Doña Leova has all the proteins and toppings available to make the best flavorful machete. With pastor, beef, chicken, shrimp, vegetables and many other traditional Mexican meats, Austinites can try an authentic machete right on home turf. The food truck also offers tacos, burritos, quesadillas and gorditas if you're not up for the massive food challenge.
Authenticos Michoacanos, 4329 S. Congress Ave.
Authenticos Michoacanos is another location in Austin where you can find the traditional Mexico City dish of machetes. The food truck offers several different types of proteins such as beef, pork, chicken, suadero, pork carnitas, chorizo, campechano, tripa and chicharron. You can fill up your belly with delicious machetes, or other traditional staple foods such as tacos, gorditas, quesadillas all with fresh ingredients.
Casita Nicole Antojitos Mexicanos, 9618 Menchaca Road
Another food truck in the Austin machetes game, Casita Nicole Antojitos Mexicanos has over 18 ingredients to make machetes perfect for you. You have the option to order a mini version or the real deal, which is a 2 foot long machete. From fish and shrimp, to chicharrones and vegetables, the food truck has all the ingredients to make a machete for any food lover and more. You can also find Mexican burgers, burritos, sandwiches and more at Casita Nicole Antojitos Mexicanos.
Aparicio’s Cafe, 9310 Georgian Dr.
As far as giant food dishes go, Aparicio's has you covered. The food truck offers traditional machetes, but as most Austin places do, brings a fun and different twist to tradition. Aparicio's has seven different types of machetes: carne asada, pastor and pineapple, carnivore, pizza, hot Cheeto, barbecue chicken and philly cheese. The uniquely made machetes are original in size and filling in nature, so make sure you round up some friends before ordering.
Taqueria Casita Vizuet, 10014 N. Lamar Blvd.
Adding to the list of machetes in Austin, Taqueria Casita Vizuet has the gigantic quesadillas on deck. Located down the street from Machetes Dona Leova, the food truck competitor puts itself on the map with fresh ingredients and a list of traditional Mexican proteins and sauces.
Next: Explore Austin's BBQ scene
Meat, smoke and sauce: A guide to the best Austin barbeque
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Popular
Miami and Austin are going head-to-head for tech transplants. (Pexels)
California expats and industry experts say Austin remains the bigger draw for Californians, especially those in the tech sector, but warn that this advantage could shift to Miami if the city doesn't address the policy challenges that prompted the migration in the first place: housing affordability.
"If Austin doesn't accommodate this influx, I think all the talent will come to Miami," said Peter Yared, a tech entrepreneur who moved to Miami from San Francisco in September. "I think Miami's going to be the one that sucks it all up."
Push factors
Both Texas and Florida promise business-friendly state tax policies, and their governors tout the relocations of companies such as Tesla and Oracle from California. But Darien Shanske, a law professor at the University of California Davis whose specialties include taxation, said this is a red herring because corporate taxes are based on where sales occur rather than headquarter locations.
This is not to say other state policies are irrelevant. "The area in which California regulatory policy has been, in my opinion, not a complete failure but problematic … is housing policy," Shanske said. Austin and Miami can offer "not cheap, just cheaper" housing than what is available in Silicon Valley. Plus, both cities are developing a critical mass of talent, which further draws Californians in. "If you're a software engineer, you want to live near other software engineers," he added.
But not every Californian is motivated to move. "San Francisco is a fantastic place to live if you can afford it," said Brandy Aven, a professor of entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. As a result, it's more common for what she called the labor—engineers, programmers and even company founders—to relocate to cities such as Austin and Miami than the monied venture capitalists. Burgeoning tech cities may find that they need to develop homegrown investor networks to support local ventures in the absence of Californian transplants, but she believes this is doable.
Pull factors
Paul O'Brien, CEO of the Austin-based MediaTech Ventures and a startup veteran, moved to Austin from California in 2009, during the Great Recession. "I'm a firm believer that the world has been seeking an alternative to Silicon Valley for a long time," he said, pointing to Austin as the natural heir for myriad reasons.
Austin has regional appeal as the epicenter of three of the country's largest cities—Houston, Dallas and San Antonio—and their respective industry niches. Tech entrepreneurs could cater to the local consumer goods industry or Houston's oil and gas sector. Plus the city has cultural appeal, thanks to the Red River District and South by Southwest, which made it attractive to job seekers. "The whole reason everyone moved to Silicon Valley is opportunity," O'Brien said. "The whole reason people are now looking beyond Silicon Valley to somewhere else is opportunity."
It's less clear what Miami's key industries are, O'Brien said, but the city offers other selling points, including the mayor's buy-in and "a tremendous depth of wealth" to support a technology and startup ecosystem.
Although Yared didn't consider moving to Austin, he is aware of its appeal to engineers, especially now that their hero, Elon Musk, has moved there, shunning California. "Austin has a lock on tech," he said, but Miami draws a different crowd, including financiers from New York. This parallel migration, coupled with the city's more outwardly pro-growth building policies, gives him hope that Miami could supplant Austin in the coming years. "In the end, communities get to choose what they want," he said.
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