Perla's

We were down in Austin this weekend, and had some fabulous food! My favorite place was Perla’s on South Congress. The restaurant has a huge deck upfront with plenty of misters and oak trees. All of the décor outside is red, white, and blue. Perfect for the season!

We were seated and brought a bowl of corn hushpuppies and tartar sauce. They were pretty good- not too big and not too greasy. Our waiter was extremely friendly, and coaxed us into trying their frozen watermelon cocktail. We both decided it sounded perfectly refreshing, and it was! Served with a hefty sprig of mint and an umbrella- this drink is surely a reminder of summer.
I have never had a raw oyster before in my life, and decided that this would be a good start. We ordered ½ a dozen of 3 varieties. Our waiter was very knowledgeable on the various kind that the restaurant had to offer, and I was pleased with the selection . Paired with a cracker and a dot of sauce, it was a nice combination.
For the meal, we decided to split the soft shell crab BLT sandwich served with fries. This was a huge sandwich served on toasted buttery bread with Lambert’s bacon. The fries were sprinkled with sea salt and parsley and were a nice compliment to the sandwich. We also tried the potato pancake piled high with sour cream and chives! This was very good and reminded me of a creamy linguini. Finally, we ordered some cheese grits. These weren’t my favorite, but they were still satisfactory.
Overall, this place is a lovely addition to the SoCo area. If you are in Austin, put this on your list of stops!