There’s ALWAYS a place the locals know that’s better than what the concierges and travel guides can recommend.
The city of Waco is about 90 miles south of here, on a main N/S interstate I-35, and one of its northern suburbs is a small town called West. I’ve passed through both goodness knows how many times over the past few decades going to & from San Antonio or Austin- occasionally even going to Waco.
And on one of the freeway exits for West is a killer little gas station & convenience store- The Czech Stop- supplied in part by the attached bakery. Once I was turned onto it in 1987-88, it became a virtual must stop for getting kolaches. Some of the best I’ve ever had.
However, our (recently retired) pastor (of Czech descent) of the last few years is FROM West, and says the Czech Stop’s food is middling average compared to other czech bakeries in the town. Not gonna argue with him!
For a few years, I used to hit this small bistro in Pflugerville every time I visited Austin that was run by a couple of aged sisters from somewhere in Central Europe. For me, it was the closest thing I had had to the food at a Hungarian/Yugoslavian/German place my family frequented in Stuttgart when we lived there in the mid-1970s. It closed a few years ago- I’m assuming one or both of them passed.