Living so close to South Padre Island, we have visited often in the past few months.  Last Friday we wanted to have lunch at my favorite vegan restaurant at the island, Veggie Del Sol, but were sadly disappointed. The night before they sustained damage to their restaurant and were not open yet because they were still cleaning up. We were not about to stick around “just in case,”….we were hungry! So instead we headed back to Port Isabel; there was bound to be somewhere interesting to eat.

We ended up at the Causeway Bar & Grill. Before committing to it, I had to peruse the menu just to make sure they had at least one meatless option for me. Turns out they do. So I ordered the Vegetarian Nachos as an appetizer and the Quesadilla (meatless) as an entrée. They have a black-bean patty burger, but I was not feeling it. My husband ordered the Hey Chancho burger. The food was satisfactory, but the wine was way overpriced at $9 a glass. It was a decent enough visit so we will probably be back.

Rarely do we have dessert, but I noticed an ice-cream parlor afterwards, so we chanced it – Davey Jones Ice Cream Locker. It is a small place, but there are plenty of options. I wanted something sweet, but not too sweet, so I got a cup of cherry ice cream. On the way out, I also got the butter pecan fudge. It comes in these cute little boxes to take home. Again, overpriced, but decent. I guess that is to be expected when you go to a tourist town.

It was time to walk off all the calories we just ate, so we walked over to the nearby shops. There are more than plenty of shopping opportunities but we ended up at The Cat’s Meow Vintage Emporium & Gourmet Shop. They have raw honey, hand-made soaps, unique vintage items, and over 80 vendors. It was so much fun browsing through all the cool home décor items, but I ended up not buying anything. Not this time around, anyway.

We went during the week, so there were not too many people around, the ones we saw in Port Isabel were socially distanced and wearing masks. This was not the case at the island.  Most of the tourist spots were packed in, like the boat tours, and not too many people were wearing masks. Looks like we will have to wait a while longer before we go sight seeing there.