Picnik Burnet Road
So on Wednesdays I have the morning off. So this past Wednesday I went to the first of many places suggested to me for gluten free food. This place was called Picnik.
Picnik serves food that is free from multiple allergens including gluten. This is what drew me to them, and made me choose to visit them first. They serve food all day, but I decided to go for breakfast. I saw on their menu they had pancakes, and I love me some pancakes. Except I need to start making them at home because multiple family members in Texas have bought me pancake mix. I’ll probably be eating pancakes forever, but I don’t know that that is a bad thing.
So I drive to Picnik, and from where I am living it was about 25 minutes. I’m still getting used to the everything is bigger in Texas thing. In Ohio if I drove 25 minutes from Columbus I’d be halfway home. In Austin I’m just to the other side of the city.
Atmosphere
I get there and am seated right away. It is fresh and clean with its modern interior. It made me feel very comfortable and relaxed. Many people were by themselves and working on laptops. A couple were visiting with friends. I loved the simplicity of the interior and all the little details.
Drink
One of Picnik’s big things is butter coffee. I have heard a bit about it before, but have never looked into the science behind the thought process. Despite that I went all out and got a Mayan Mocha. It was their signature butter coffee with cacao and many different adaptogens added in. I had no doubts it was going to taste good, but it was better than expected, especially because it had ashwaganda in it. Ashwaganda has many health benefits, but it also has a very distinct taste that can be hard to get over if you use it in a powder form.
Food
For my meal I got the salted caramel banana pancakes. They were very good and very sweet. I could not eat them all in one sitting, but did take them home to finish later. They reheated ok, not as good as when they were first made. Anyways I don’t know that the salted caramel flavor was my favorite that I’ve tried on pancakes, I would personally be curious to see if this rotates, or if this is the flavor that is always on the menu. They also had plain pancakes, or pancakes with add ins such as chocolate chips, and blueberries.
Their menu is very extensive so anybody would be able to find something that they like, even if they are not like me and love pancakes.
One thing I thought was awesome about this restaurant was how they recognized the people they bought products from. The menu listed the names of all the companies for all to see. Many of these producer were also local which is so cool in so many ways.
Something that may turn people off from this restaurant is their price. To me, someone who does not eat out that often, and has a dietary restriction, I did not think it was too terrible. I also recognize that they use quality products and take care in making the final product and I appreciate that and am willing to pay for that.
Overall my experience at Picnik was great. I will definitely be back. They also have two food truck locations that serve butter coffee and a limited food menu. I would be interested in going to one of those as well in the future. I am really just so intrigued that Austin has so many food trucks. And that the Picnik food trucks are gluten free so I do not have to worry.
Picnik Food Trailer
Atmosphere
I finally made it over to the Picnik location on South Lamar and my experience was amazing. It was a perfect day to go out to this location as well. It was sunny, and warm but not absurdly hot.
The location itself is super cute. They have a large amount of seating around the trailer. Some of it is shaded, while some of it is not. The trailer has so many different pops of color and character it is just super fun. And the employees were super awesome and seemed to be having fun at their job and genuinely like the work they were doing. I like when I see that. It makes me think the owners and operators are treating them well and that it is a business I should continue supporting.
I had hoped to work on some schoolwork while I was sitting around here. They do have wifi, but it was password protected. I ended up not asking if they give it out because there was construction work going on nearby. I grew up always doing schoolwork or more focused work in super quiet environments. Because of this too much noise distracts me. So I decided to just enjoy my time in the sun, eat my food and then headed home and worked there.
Food
At this location they have a condensed menu, but everything is still 100% gluten free. As with many restaurants with large amounts of options it took me a bit to decide what I wanted. I was not super hungry, and just wanted like a snack.
So I ended up getting the avocado toast. Something I honestly have never ordered before in my life. The best part in my opinion was that the avocado toast had pesto. I love pesto. I was a bit surprised looking at the menu. The avocado toast is vegan, meaning the pesto is vegan. And as far as I know that is not very common. Despite it being vegan it was delicious. And to note I have nothing wrong with vegan food. I honestly don’t eat too many animal products. But I just know that some people see a vegan label and therefore avoid those foods like the plague.
For my drink I went with the familiar Mayan Mocha. I am still so impressed with this drink, and still cannot believe it is made with ashwaganda. When drinking it you cannot tell at all, and ashwaganda has a distinct flavor that is hard to cover up. I was glad I went with this again. After the fact I wished I would have tried it over ice, but there is always next time.
I definitely imagine I will be back to this location again. It is South of the river, so definitely a good option if you are on the south side of town like me. I am still really bad at directions and reading maps, so that is all I can say on that. I imagine it would be a nice place to meet someone for coffee and just hang out.
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