Howdy from Austin, Texas!

Austin is such a unique and wonderful city. It is someplace I wouldn't mind living, and it's always a treat to visit. Filled with ladder-climbing yuppies, geeky IT types, long-haired hippies, forward-thinking musicians, extremely wealthy, homeless indigent, whites, blacks, hispanics, and every other color, plus lots of politicians (it is the capital city of Texas, after all), it is truly a melting pot of cultures.

I am spending the afternoon alone in Austin while JJ is going through the paces of a forever-long job interview. Keep your fingers crossed, it is an promotion within the company he works for and merits a healthy raise. He would still be located in Dallas, but the main core of his co-workers would be here in Austin. Sounds like a wonderful reason to plan a ROADTRIP on a regular basis!

Anyway, I am sitting in a Barnes and Noble, enjoying free wi-fi, in an upscale area of Austin. Quite a change from my lunchtime digs. Which is why I am writing this blog entry.

A few months ago, JJ and I watched a clip on the television show Texas Country Reporter about this woman, Lola Stephens, who has lived a hard scrabble life (please take a moment to read her incredible story here). However she got to where she is today, we have to be thankful. Filled with joy, determination, faith in her Lord, and a giving nature, this woman can also cook up one heckuva meal!

I was bound and determined to drive out to Taylor, Texas today and hit up our favorite BBQ pit stop, Louie Mueller's, but I remembered this morning that Nubian Queen Lola's was in Austin. And guess what? I had time to fill and a hearty appetite! So there was a change in plans.

I plugged the address into my iPhone and easily made my way there. It is in a lower income part of town, but I felt comfortable there. The tiny apartments were neatly kept, the roads were wide and well marked, I saw mother's pushing strollers, men waiting on buses, and there was a well used park just a block away. How can you not like a restaurant that is painted so colorfully as this?



Please excuse the quality of the photos, they were taken with my iPhone.

I walked in and was immediately greeted by someone back in the recesses of the kitchen yelling out that she would be up to help me in just a moment. There were two other customers there, both young men dressed in business casual. I also noticed a couple young men at the back door when I was walking up to the building. When I was seated and looking around, I realized that these men were probably homeless and she was providing them with food. She runs the restaurant by herself six days a week and closes on Sunday to the public in order to feed the homeless. Plus she doesn't turn them away during the week when they come to her for a meal. Lola is a wonderwoman!

Her menu is jam packed with soul food and Cajun delights. And according to the reviews, her hamburgers are pretty darn tasty too. She told me her special today was crawfish etoufee. How could I say no? I also opted for two truly southern, soul food sides - yams and collard greens. Oh my goodness! Was I in for a treat!



Served on a disposable plate with simply a fork and couple disposable napkins, the food was heavenly. The etoufee was creamy and spicy and filled with tasty, tender-chewy morsels of crawfish. The collard greens (which I have had a few times before and never liked) where tangy, a bit vinegar-y, and delicious! It's true that there is a secret to making those edible and she knows the secret! And the yams, oh-so-sweet and tender. It also came with a moist square of cornbread and I opted for the "Cajun" Iced tea which was a sugary-sweet beverage with what tasted to me like orange kool-aid mixed in. Surprisingly good and refreshing!

The surroundings are kitschy and certainly suit the proprietor. Filled with painted canvases of President Obama, some statuary, lots of bits and pieces or paper taped and tacked to the walls, even handwritten messages marked directly on the walls, with mardi gras beads hanging from the ceiling, it felt like you were looking through Lola's eyes at how colorful and bright the world really is.





And you certainly couldn't find a more welcoming and warm hostess. She gleefully posed for a picture and chatted with me while busily running back and forth filling a to-go order.



When I was leaving, I asked her what she needed most right now to help her serve the homeless and continue her calling. She said she couldn't say what the plan was, but she really needed a karaoke machine. Sadly, one had already been donated, but it was stolen. I am going to see if I can find a karaoke machine for her through the Freecycle lists I follow. If you happen to have one you don't need, please consider sending it to Lola so that she can follow her path and keep doing the great things she is doing.

I can't wait to go again. If you are ever in Austin, you should stop by and feel the love in the air and in the food.

Nubian Queen Lola's Cajun Soul Food Restaurant
1815 Rosewood Avenue
Austin, Texas 78702
512-474-5652