The family-run Joe's Bakery & Coffee Shop is an East Side staple that’s been around since 1962. If you’ve never been, or it’s been a while, you should immediately make plans to go. Now that you’ve done that, more about Joe’s: It’s a breakfast and lunch spot that’s basically a Tex-Mex/Mexican diner, with a counter and booths and dishes like pancakes, huevos ranchero, crispy tacos, and enchiladas. The breakfast is phenomenal and served all day - which is why there’s often a wait on weekends, when the place is filled with East Side regulars, UT kids, construction workers, city officials, and families after church on Sundays, and a jukebox delivering Tejano jams in the background.

People are waiting for the breakfast tacos made with fluffy house-made flour tortillas, especially the miga taco con todo, which adds in pico de gallo to their excellent migas taco. The super-crispy bacon at Joe’s defies the laws of pork belly physics - either order it as a side or add it to your breakfast taco, where it’ll hang out on top like the tortilla is a hammock that’s too small. And don’t miss the carne guisada taco, with tender stewed beef that rivals anything a fancy French restaurant is braising. Joe’s is also a bakery with a huge variety of pan dulce – get some pink cake and conchas on the way out.