Austin area info?

September 21, 2005 12:48 PM

Austin-filter: I just moved to Austin, TX and am looking for input on various 'Austin Staples', including hip spots for the independent-minded, good/bad wireless phone carriers (I have Cingular and it's horrible here), points of orientation, etc. Any and all feedback is appreciated!

I've gone through the other Austin tagged questions, so I'm all over Zilker Park and Magnolia Cafe and Stubbs. Other than that - what else do you love about Austin? :)

posted by skechada to travel & transportation (10 comments total)

Restaurants:
Hoover's cooking (best bbq); Kim Phung; El Chile; Chango's; Shady Grove; Casino el Camino (best burgers); The Parlor (best pizza).

Movie theaters:
Alamo, esp. the original downtown. Galaxy Highland has the decency not to run ads, but smells funky.

Phone service:
Sprint seems to have good coverage. I've currently got Tmo, which is better than it used to be, but not great.

Coffee shops:
Flight Path; Bouldin Creek; Quack's on 43rd (Quack's on 38th isn't quite up to speed yet); Flipnotics; Pacha (try the Pacha Latte); Jo's; Spider House. I avoid Mojo's. Most/all these places have free wifi (actually, free wifi is all over the place).

Things to do:
Barton Springs, especially on hot Sundays, especially on the hippie side. Free admission after 8 (or is it 9?). Take in First Thursday on S. Congress at least once. Watch the bats come out of Congress Ave Bridge at dusk. Reminisce about how much better Austin used to be, even though you just got here.

Bars:
Lovejoys; Draft House; Carousel Lounge (beer/wine/setups only).
posted by adamrice at 1:01 PM on September 21, 2005

Yes! More answers just like the first one!! =) Thanks adamrice.
posted by skechada at 1:08 PM on September 21, 2005

Oddly enough, there are no staples in Austin.
posted by delmoi at 1:30 PM on September 21, 2005

More like the first...

Restaurants:
Mothers; Kirby Lane; Matt's El Rancho; Hut's; Clay Pit; El Luna y La Sol; Rudy's BBQ; Angie's

Movie:
Definitely Alamo; Arbor is not bad; Dobie

Phone service:
I've had sprint for years and it's always been good

Coffee shops:
Ditto on Pacha; Little City (at least at its old location...); Halcyon (a bit fru-fru, perhaps); Ruta Maya (much more than a coffee shop now)

Things to do:
Tons of great disc golf courses; informal classes at UT (really); canoe on town lake; a good band at Stubb's

Bars:
BB Rovers; ditto on Draft House;

These and the other great suggestions will at least get you started...Austin is a great city :)
posted by abingham at 1:42 PM on September 21, 2005

Avoid Kerbey Lane. Repeated reports of food poisoning. 'Nuff said.

Shoal Creek Bl is nice for in-town bike riding (both for getting around and just going for a spin), despite the city's best efforts to screw it up.

Orienting yourself:

Get out a map for this.

Here's a good map of the downtown area. Downtown is still kinda dead, but is livening up.

In the broader picture, Austin uses a grid-plan addressing scheme with the intersection of Congress and Town Lake as the zero point. E-W streets north of the river are (with a few exceptions) numbered. Confusingly, there are some N-S streets south of the river that are numbered, so S. Fifth has nothing to do with E. Fifth.

Central Austin lacks good E-W thoroughfares, but Koenig (say "kaynig") on the north side is being pressed into that role. Farther north you've got Anderson. On the south side, you've got Oltorf, but that's a deathrace, and better avoided. 183 on the north and Ben White on the south would be E-W highway corridors.

I-35 and Mopac are roughly parallel N-S highways; Lamar is a major N-S surface street. I-35 was designed by sadists and is heavily travelled by crack-smoking zombies.

Like 'em or not, you're probably going to wind up at a mall for some things. There's a big cluster of malls at the 360/Mopac/183 interchangeland. Central is Highland (on Airport Bl), and to the south you've got Westgate. Plus, you know, a bunch of others, but those seem like the majors.
posted by adamrice at 2:25 PM on September 21, 2005

Food: After you've gone to all the hipster hangouts around downtown, try the great Asian and Mexican places that can be found. For Mexican, just drive into East Austin or down Stassney. Swad's a great Indian place on N. Lamar, and there's a lot of Asian restaurants in that area in general, including Tam Deli and Cafe, which has tasty and cheap vietnamese sandwiches. Go to Noodleism (tres hip) downtown for the mochi balls, and Casey's on Airport for snowcones.

To do: See the bats under the Congress Ave. bridge. Go to the lookout spot on N. Capital of Texas Highway (I think) to see an amazing view of downtown Austin. I second the Alamo drafthouse. If you can, just drive into the hill country and have fun.
posted by lychee at 2:50 PM on September 21, 2005

Move to Hyde Park and pretend the rest of Austin does not exist. After a year or so; you realize much of Austin is NOT Austin, it is merely paved spread for tax purposes.

Mother's has great veggie food. Ask for the raccoon special, or if they have any of the snakes you saw in the garden area last week. The Pronto station (across street) has consistently cheap gas and beer prices, and free air. Go into station, get some beer, slam hand on counter "service, Pronto! Pronto!!!" Heehee. Quacks is across street also, continue E of Quacks to mulched area and drink beer. Beware of friendly locals, prepare to meet residuals of ?real Austin?. "Asti' is consistenly commented on having small portions and high prices. I have never actually heard anybody say anything about the actual food. 43rd and Duval; N of the UT campus.

Central Market has freshest produce (and 5/8 mile walk/run path around lake behind it), EZ's across street has finest kind cheeseburgers and onion rings. Hancock HEB is the only clean one in central area.

Verizon has never failed me in Texas.

For a splurge that will redefine what a buffet is, Fon da San Miguel Sunday brunch (~$30) will redefine the 'interior Mexican food' experience. Memorable.
posted by buzzman at 3:33 PM on September 21, 2005

I last lived in Austin ten years ago, but at the time I liked the waterfalls at McKinney Park and stomping around that dormant volcano or whatever it is that's near the park. (I remember it really just being a hill with a fun backstory.)

The "pauper's cemetery" is definitely cool. Unfortunately, I can't tell you how to get there unless I shut off my mind and let my hands drive, and it's been too long to do that from a sofa in Las Vegas. I originally got directions from a newspaper article that ran in Julyish of 1993, if that helps. It's somewhere on the east side. Nifty homemade grave decorations. The well-maintained biker's plot (complete with fence and gate) is especially intriguing. (If you like this sort of thing.)

Does Mayfield (?) Park still have the amazing free-range peacocks?

Everything else I remember about Austin has to do with eating enchiladas verdes, standing under the Pagan Alliance of Central Texas' adopt-a-highway sign, shopping Whole Foods when it was just a tiny store, and hitting the jillion boutiques for beads, antique parasols, and make-yer-own feminine products. I suspect any advice in those directions would be uselessly outdated in many senses of the word. :)
posted by Liffey at 3:35 PM on September 21, 2005

Nice - thanks so much again everyone for the suggestions. It tough getting oriented and dug in to a new town where you don't know anyone, and hopefully these suggestions will make it a bit easier. Any other thoughts/suggestions are appreciated!
posted by skechada at 7:45 AM on September 22, 2005

You should be careful. I've heard rumors about Austin girls, none of them good.
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 8:22 PM on October 4, 2005