Comments on: What to do in Austin

Question: What to do in Austin

unccivil — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:06:35 -0800

What should I do in Austin, TX? I'm there for one week for a conference...

...which pretty much means I'm on vacation. What are the best music spots for blues & jazz? Good local "dive" restaurants? Places within car rental 1/2 day distance?

By: jayder

jayder — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:26:10 -0800

Eat at Guero's. My favorite Mexican restaurant ever.

Elephant Room for jazz. It's a basement bar downtown, on Congress, near the intersection with Second Street, with terrific jazz 365 days a year. If you have a chance to see Blaze play there, don't miss them.

I love Texas Chili Parlor. The hottest thing I have ever eaten, which had me crying for at least an hour, was their hottest chili. It's a dive, near downtown.

By: jayder

jayder — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:39:38 -0800

Also --

Visit Sixth Street. I prefer Sixth Street on weeknights over weekends because the bars were too packed and crazy on the weekends. On weeknights things are quieter, and there are better drink specials and no cover charges. There's a bar for everybody on sixth street.

Check out Alamo Drafthouse downtown, a movie theater that shows interesting independent films and has a full food and alcohol menu.

If you like swimming ---

Swim at Barton Springs. It's a natural, spring-fed swimming pool in downtown Austin, cold as hell, but wonderful. It's called "the crown jewel of Austin" for a reason.

Swim at Hamilton Pool (I think that's what it's called). It's an isolated swimming hole, not far from Austin (half hour drive) that is under a dramatic rock overhang, with water dripping over the overhang, that is quite nice.

By: caddis

caddis — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:50:33 -0800

who knows?

By: Pants!

Pants! — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:55:53 -0800

blues: Antone's. It's THE place for blue's in the south that's not in the Mississippi Delta.

By: wildeepdotorg

wildeepdotorg — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:56:41 -0800

Going to NACAC by any chance?

...meet up with me!

By: popechunk

popechunk — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:39:40 -0800

Within an hour's drive of Austin, you can find the world's best BBQ. I have been trying as many as possible, and listing them here:

http://www.nansi.org/austin_bbq/

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:43:36 -0800

Check out the outlandish Whole Foods (underneath their corporate headquarters) on 6th at Lamar Street downtown.

By: MyDocuments

MyDocuments — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:52:17 -0800

if you do make it to 6th street, make sure to stop at a hot dog stand called "the best wurst." grab some extra moist brisket from rudy's bbq. if you're going to make the drive out to hamilton pool (which is beautiful, by the way), please call ahead to see if they're open. i've been burnt twice going and them not being open. mozart's is a great place for coffee and desserts lake-side.

By: bluishorange

bluishorange — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 20:00:47 -0800

(pssst: alamo drafthouse downtown is closed while they move it to its new location, also downtown. try one of the other locations.)

By: booth

booth — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 20:10:24 -0800

Every time I'm in Austin I get breakfast burritos at El Sol y La Luna.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 20:18:33 -0800

For day trips: Pedernales Falls is about an hour away. Enchanted Rock is about two hours away.

By: nonmyopicdave

nonmyopicdave — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 21:22:56 -0800

My former band has gigs everywhere. Check them out if you like authentic 40's lounge w/crooner. 50% originals 50% covers.

If I were in Austin, I'd go to Sam's BBQ on East 12th. For the full effect, do it at 2 AM.

If you like museums, the Harry Ransom Center has some good stuff. A Gutenberg bible, and Charles Dicken's dinner plates are two things I recall.

The LBJ Library is cool too, if you're into politics/history.

Both of those are on the UT campus. If you plan to stroll it, read this.

By: yehaskel

yehaskel — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 21:38:16 -0800

Antone's has stopped being "the place for blues" a long time ago. Good Blues is hard enough to find in Austin, let alone Antone's (not trying to be a snob, but I miss the old days). I have seen some of the best newer music at The Mohawk and even at Club Deville next door.

You may want to ask again right before you come down to Austin. We can look in The Chronicle (local small-form weekly) for you and make some better recommendations.

As for food, my personal favorite dives are:

Mexican: Arandas and Taco Deli.
Vietnamese: Tam Deli - sandwiches are unfreakinbelievable
Japanese/Sushi: Maru

Ask again about a week before your conference.

By: apetpsychic

apetpsychic — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 23:12:34 -0800

Eat breakfast tacos at Mi Madre's. Go swimming at Hamilton Pool. Eat BBQ at Salt Lick.

By: sanko

sanko — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 23:40:43 -0800

Jazz: Elephant Room
Blues: Continental Club

Dive Bars: Lala's, Poodle Dog Lounge, Carousel Lounge, Ginny's Little Longhorn*

Barton Springs for swimming if you don't want to make the drive to Hamilton Pool.

* If you're here on a Sunday, you MUST go to Ginny's. Great music and chicken shit bingo. Get there before 4:00 or so if you want to sit.

By: brujita

brujita — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 00:04:33 -0800

Drive to Lockhart and compare Kreuz's brisket with Smitty's (two siblings inherited the business, two inherited the building). Go to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center. Nthing the Texas Chili Parlor--but their degrees of heat are exponentially more than what the rest of the US thinks. You can also tour the LBJ ranch near Johnson City, but the house isn't open to the public.

By: Mister Cheese

Mister Cheese — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 02:11:55 -0800

Visit the Bastrop State Park in Bastrop County just a half an hour east of Austin. If it isn't sweltering. If lots of pine trees are your thing. Bastrop itself has become a bit more developed over the years; its main BBQ attraction is Cartwright's. Used to be on Main Street, but now it's off highway 71 and a bit more commercialized now. That's speaking for my hometown. McKinney Falls State Park is in south Austin and is quite beautiful. There is a good Mexican restaurant near going west on Burleson after intersection of Burleson and Montopolis Drive. Can't remember the name though I was there about a month ago.

By: busboy789

busboy789 — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 04:59:56 -0800

get on one of the boats on the former Town Lake and check out the bats in the evening. You should probably make reservations. It's about an hour tour of the lake and they get you to Congress St. bridge to see the bats flying out.

By: ArgentCorvid

ArgentCorvid — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 06:30:02 -0800

Check out The Oasis. It's a restaurant that overlooks Lake Travis, with lots of outdoor deck seating and makes for some great sunset shots. I grabbed a few 2 weeks ago. They had a fire out there a while ago that destroyed their indoor seating, but it wasn't a problem. The food and drinks were pretty good too.

By: 23skidoo

23skidoo — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 06:39:29 -0800

Every time I take people to see the bats, they walk away unimpressed. I've started taking them to see the birds at Highland Mall instead. If you time it right, you can drive (slowly) through a carless parking lot covered with grackles on Sunday around dusk.

I'm going to second Arandas #3. It's a dive (but not a dump), and they excel at stuff like meat tacos (their fajitas and al pastor are awesome) and enchiladas with green sauce.

By: n2linux

n2linux — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 09:52:03 -0800

Hit up Antones for sure, and the Elephant Room if you're into jazz. There's always a good show going on at either place.

Seconding eating at The Oasis - the wife and I always enjoy watching the sunset over Lake Travis.

No one has mentioned my personal favorite bbq place - Rudy's! Actually, I go there just for their sauce. I think about half of the plastic cups in our cupboard are take-home cups from Rudy's. There is also a Rudy's outside of Austin, in Round Rock.

By: caddis

caddis — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 14:41:59 -0800

Seconding Rudys. I suggest the brisket.

By: unccivil

unccivil — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:40:32 -0800

Thanks to everyone!!! Great answers! I'm here now, so I'm making my lists!

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:35:29 -0800

For real barbeque, go to Sam's on E. 12th street. Fo' serious.

By: spiderwire

spiderwire — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:16:20 -0800

Sullivan's for lunch burgers. Eddy V's for upscale seafood. Roy's for weird seafood. Ruth's Chris for steak. Ruby's for in-town BBQ (much better options out of town). Dirty's for in-town burgers (again, much better options out of town), though Casino el Camino downtown has the best burgers, hands-down. Guero's, pollos for Tex-mex. The Whole Foods mothership is worth investigating.