Visiting Austin TX

[camel]

I have an acquaintance of mine visiting Austin TX sometime next year. They are planning their trip so I tought I would ask for recommendations of what to do. Her and her husband are specifically looking for BBQ. And A rodeo.
They are from England. So. It’s totally new to them.

[Le Français]

This place has excellent brisket. It was recommended by a native of Austin when I moved to TX, and it delivered.

https://www.labarbecue.com/

San Antonio isn’t far, and the riverwalk there is very pleasant. As for rodeos, I only went to a small one in far West Texas (and ran into people vacationing from France!) so no help there.

[HeavyDuty]

What month? I’m grilling my Austin contact.

Salt Lick in Driftwood (older pit at this location is mo betta), Valentina’s in South Austin, Franklin’s in Central Austin, Stiles Switch in North Central Austin, anything in Lockhart for BBQ.

Rodeos are seasonal.

[camel]

What month? I’m grilling my Austin contact.

Salt Lick in Driftwood (older pit at this location is mo betta), Valentina’s in South Austin, Franklin’s in Central Austin, Stiles Switch in North Central Austin, anything in Lockhart for BBQ.

Rodeos are seasonal.

Yea I knew rodeos are seasonal. I’ll find out. But I think it was March-April

[shootist26]

My friend who lives in Austin says Franklin's BBQ is legit good, but not worth spending an entire day waiting outside especially if you are only in town for a limited amount of time. FWIW, I went with him to Terry Black's BBQ which was great. Salt Lick is decent and famous on TV, but is far away. See if your friend's are comfortable driving that far, especially with the driving on the other side of the road deal.

Valentina's BBQ is some awesome TexMex/BBQ fusion. Taco More is a dive with great Mexican food. The mexican/TexMex food in general was off the hook.

[HeavyDuty]

Yea I knew rodeos are seasonal. I’ll find out. But I think it was March-April

Austin Rodeo is around spring break time in March.

[camel]

Austin Rodeo is around spring break time in March.

Thanks

[JclInAtx]

Austin Rodeo is March 12th-26th next year https://rodeoaustin.com/

Franklin's was good but not worth a long wait to me.
Terry Blacks was good, so is style switch.
Heard good things about la barbeque but haven't been myself. The family loves it when I make brisket using John Lewis's recipe.
The Salt Lick in driftwood has been hit or miss for us before.
Lockhart might be worth the trip for bbq.

Not bbq but Chuy' s and Kerby Lane Cafe are Austin institutions, but not necessarily great food.
Torchy's makes damn good tacos.

There's plenty in central Texas besides bbq and rodeos...
Maybe the Capital or the Bullock state history museum https://www.thestoryoftexas.com would be of interest.

The Bats under the Congress street bridge probably won't be back from Mexico in the spring.
The wildflowers will most likely be. They could try the Ladybird Johnson wildflower center, take a ride through the hill country, or even just up 360.
They can go to the range at Austin and rent a machine gun.

[camel]

They can go to the range at Austin and rent a machine gun.[/QUOTE]

Ohhh. They would like that I think.

[HCM]

This place has excellent brisket. It was recommended by a native of Austin when I moved to TX, and it delivered.

https://www.labarbecue.com/

San Antonio isn’t far, and the riverwalk there is very pleasant. As for rodeos, I only went to a small one in far West Texas (and ran into people vacationing from France!) so no help there.

labarbecue is owned by a member of the Mueller family so I'm not surprised it's good.

If the OP's people are willing to make the trip to Taylor TX (NE of Austin) the original Louie Mueller is as good as it gets.

https://www.louiemuellerbarbecue.com/

[HCM]

Austin Rodeo is March 12th-26th next year https://rodeoaustin.com/

Franklin's was good but not worth a long wait to me.
Terry Blacks was good, so is style switch.
Heard good things about la barbeque but haven't been myself. The family loves it when I make brisket using John Lewis's recipe.
The Salt Lick in driftwood has been hit or miss for us before.
Lockhart might be worth the trip for bbq.

Not bbq but Chuy' s and Kerby Lane Cafe are Austin institutions, but not necessarily great food.
Torchy's makes damn good tacos.

There's plenty in central Texas besides bbq and rodeos...
Maybe the Capital or the Bullock state history museum https://www.thestoryoftexas.com would be of interest.

The Bats under the Congress street bridge probably won't be back from Mexico in the spring.
The wildflowers will most likely be. They could try the Ladybird Johnson wildflower center, take a ride through the hill country, or even just up 360.
They can go to the range at Austin and rent a machine gun.

Chuy's is awful.

If you want Mexican food from an Austin institution Joes Cafe and Bakery is a much better choice.

https://joesbakery.com/

Torchy's is good too.

[Dave Williams]

Iirc my son waited in line three hours at Franklins, he says it was amazing BBQ though.

[jh9]

Will 3rd or 4th Terry Black's. It's not cheap, though. I think they raised their prices during covid. FWIW if it's a weekday and you swing by between 4pm and 4:15pm it's pretty dead recently and there's no line (with actual parking spaces available). I'll occasionally hit it after work and it's nice to get something that good without standing around forever.

2nd or 3rd The Range as well. If they're from England then it does touristy gun stuff pretty well. It's a boutique kinda joint as opposed to the dive bar feel a lot of indoor ranges have. They will probably find it more "accessible" if they're not gun people.

Phoebe's on 1st and Oltof does the traditional American bacon-and-eggs thing well. It's like 5oz of slab bacon. Kinda seems like they might want to try that if they're from England. Plus it circumvents the breakfast taco fight that's inevitable since there's so many people from San Antonio posting here. :p

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Are they interested in firearms as there are nice modern ranges that rent in the area? Whether they would have problems as non-citiizens, I don't know.

My suggestions depending on non gun things and their interests:

1. Good private book store on Lamar and 6th - Book People
2. Across the street the Whole Foods mother ship store.
3. Going up Lamar - Central Market - great foodie store
4. If cheese foodies - Antonellis - 4220 Duval St ATX - free samples!
5. Syfy, collectible figures, comics fans - Austin Books and Comics, 5002 N. Lamar - great store
6. If they want to see an old Fudd type gun store - McBride's on Lamar

Since when I went to London and Edinburgh, when not doing the academics, I did the foodie and bookstores - that's my suggestions.

BBQ already covered. Some good Asian places but that's not really local color and my favorite Mexican place folded.

[banzaijohn]

I was at Franklins last month. You have to place an online order, then pick up your order and enjoy it elsewhere (Their COVID protocol). The line wasn’t too bad, maybe a 20-30 min wait in your car. It was great and worth the wait. The Riverwalk and the Alamo were nice, but many places were closed due to COVID; don’t know if they’re open now. A visit to Capital is recommended too, the inside was closed, but all the monuments are open.


looks like Franklins is closed until Aug 5. https://franklinbbq.com/

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Another gun thought -would they like to see crazy Americans at a gun match - here's an Austin Area faq

https://krtraining.com/FAQs/AustinGunFAQ.HTML

When I was there, we had some folks from the People's Republic of China and Iraq come visit.

Texas Tactical is a friendly outfit. Some of our member shoot there.

[Shotgun]

Not a single person has mentioned County Line BBQ yet. There used to be two locations. One was on a hill with a good view as I recall, and the other is down on the river, which is also fun. The atmosphere at both is proper Texas BBQ which will add to the experience for a couple from England.

[rob_s]

My favorite BBQ in Austin is Iron Works (https://goo.gl/maps/DsStr9SZQgpvSeiUA).

Not BBQ strictly speaking but I also enjoyed Banger's Sausage House & Beer Garden (https://goo.gl/maps/yVe4RyZR9AFNPv6p8).

My other favorite place in Austin was Easy Tiger (https://g.page/EasyTigerEast?share), but they moved so can't vouch for that new location (link is to new location).

Wife and I did a wine tour that left from City Hall and then out into the country and we really enjoyed that.

Also, tour the capital. it's neat.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

All this talk of BBQ - CHICKEN FRIED STEAK!

That is a must eat with mashed potatoes and green beans. If the Brits eat mushy peas, they will eat green bean.

Need to Yelp or Google a good place for it. There was a great place in Elgin, also with awesome pie. But that was a few years ago.

[HCM]

Not a single person has mentioned County Line BBQ yet. There used to be two locations. One was on a hill with a good view as I recall, and the other is down on the river, which is also fun. The atmosphere at both is proper Texas BBQ which will add to the experience for a couple from England.

County Line is a chain in multiple cities. It’s ok but nothing special.

[HCM]

Will 3rd or 4th Terry Black's. It's not cheap, though. I think they raised their prices during covid. FWIW if it's a weekday and you swing by between 4pm and 4:15pm it's pretty dead recently and there's no line (with actual parking spaces available). I'll occasionally hit it after work and it's nice to get something that good without standing around forever.

2nd or 3rd The Range as well. If they're from England then it does touristy gun stuff pretty well. It's a boutique kinda joint as opposed to the dive bar feel a lot of indoor ranges have. They will probably find it more "accessible" if they're not gun people.

Phoebe's on 1st and Oltof does the traditional American bacon-and-eggs thing well. It's like 5oz of slab bacon. Kinda seems like they might want to try that if they're from England. Plus it circumvents the breakfast taco fight that's inevitable since there's so many people from San Antonio posting here. :p

74993

[HCM]

My favorite BBQ in Austin is Iron Works (https://goo.gl/maps/DsStr9SZQgpvSeiUA).

Not BBQ strictly speaking but I also enjoyed Banger's Sausage House & Beer Garden (https://goo.gl/maps/yVe4RyZR9AFNPv6p8).

My other favorite place in Austin was Easy Tiger (https://g.page/EasyTigerEast?share), but they moved so can't vouch for that new location (link is to new location).

Wife and I did a wine tour that left from City Hall and then out into the country and we really enjoyed that.

Also, tour the capital. it's neat.

IronWorks is good. As is Stubbs BBQ.

[camel]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Sorry for the hit and run.

[medmo]

My favorite BBQ in Austin is Lockhart, TX. 😁 After all, it is the BBQ Capital of Texas. It’s a short ride from down town Austin, and they’ll get out to see real Texans, in actual Texas, and taste historic, genuine Texas BBQ. Black’s, Kreuz, or Smitty’s. For great Tex Mex in Austin, my recommend is El Mercado, smoked carnitas, off of S. 1st St. For “gun tourism” I’d recommend they check out The Range at Austin. Excellent variety of rental firearms, plenty of good staff, pretty new facility that was built from the ground up to be an indoor range.

[Sig_Fiend]

Agreed, Black's, Smitty's, and Kreuz are some of the better BBQ candidates in the area. Black's and Smitty's are kind of small, hole-in-the-wall places. Kreuz is larger and more of an experience. Another +1 for Stubb's in Austin. Franklin's is okay but, IMO far too hyped, nothing amazing, and not at all worth the trouble involved.

San Antonio has a far larger selection of good BBQ places IMO. The names escape me at the moment, but there are at least a few between Austin and San Antonio that are the outdoor massive pit BBQ style places. A proper experience. In SA, I think Alamo BBQ might be one. I think also Two Bros and Smoke BBQ+Skybar.

For Mexican food, some of the better places in the area are in San Antonio, though names are escaping me at the moment. In Austin, Texican is good. Also, Matt's El Rancho, Fonda San Miguel, Z'Tejas, Pappasito's Cantina. Of the bunch, I'd say Matt's El Rancho and Fonda San Miguel provide a much better and more authentic experience.

Chuy's and Torchys are local favorites, mostly by people from out of state, and IMO highly overrated enough that I'd recommend against them. I felt the need to mention them because they frequently pop-up if looking for local Mexican food options.

The Range at Austin is probably the nicest range in central Texas. By far the nicest in Austin. Shady Oaks in Cedar Park is nice, but smaller, fewer rentals, and not nearly on the same level as The Range. I'd recommend avoiding Red's (indoor) and Eagle Peak (outdoor). Red's is archaic, and the south location is oppressively loud. Eagle Peak is unreasonable and highly unprofessional enough that I refuse to ever go there again.

There's this weird phenomenon in Austin, seemingly from out of state transplants best I can tell. You'll frequently see people talk about how "amazing" various restaurants, food trucks, etc. are. I've found fairly often that a lot of those places end up being highly overrated. A lot of those people end up being the types that rarely venture outside of Austin as well (beyond typical tourist spots). Hell, some of them I've talked to sound downright terrified to venture too far outside of Austin for fear of this vision of rural Texas they've concocted in their minds. A lot of Austin lifestyle is unfortunately pathological.

[rob_s]

Kreutz, I believe, had a downtown location when I was there. Did the whole metal tray, point at what you want, buy by weight, etc.

Our wine tour took us to a winery right across the street from OG location for one of the Salt Lick (The Salt Lick BBQ (512) 858-4959 https://goo.gl/maps/sSMsfbXZ5xfgTA9W6). You couldn’t get me in there for a million dollars. Massive parking lot, crowds, tents…. Nope.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

If you go to a Mexican restaurant, please go beyond the enchilada, beans and rice plate, special. My favorites were a poblano pepper stuffed with cheese and seafood, a good mole, street tacos, chile rellenos, lengua, some cabrito, a good quesadilla etc. See how they like the local and Mexican beers. Always a Shiner and Modelo fan.

[medmo]

Dang, can’t believe I forgot about Güero’s Taco Bar on Congress in Austin. Excellent place to sit outside under a canopy of old oaks, enjoy some live music, beverages and tacos.

[HeavyDuty]

If you go to a Mexican restaurant, please go beyond the enchilada, beans and rice plate, special. My favorites were a poblano pepper stuffed with cheese and seafood, a good mole, street tacos, chile rellenos, lengua, some cabrito, a good quesadilla etc. See how they like the local and Mexican beers. Always a Shiner and Modelo fan.

I looked casually for lengua, but didn’t find any. I think I need to go to a very different part of town.

And the fact that nobody has horchata is a crime.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

The supermarkets in San Antonio, carried it. Can't say that I've seen it here. LOL. One thing, I found in SA was that the Middle Eastern restaurants used to serve a mint, yogurt drink that wasn't sweet. The brand is here but the mint version not in the stores, so far.

[HCM]

Agreed, Black's, Smitty's, and Kreuz are some of the better BBQ candidates in the area. Black's and Smitty's are kind of small, hole-in-the-wall places. Kreuz is larger and more of an experience. Another +1 for Stubb's in Austin. Franklin's is okay but, IMO far too hyped, nothing amazing, and not at all worth the trouble involved.

San Antonio has a far larger selection of good BBQ places IMO. The names escape me at the moment, but there are at least a few between Austin and San Antonio that are the outdoor massive pit BBQ style places. A proper experience. In SA, I think Alamo BBQ might be one. I think also Two Bros and Smoke BBQ+Skybar.

For Mexican food, some of the better places in the area are in San Antonio, though names are escaping me at the moment. In Austin, Texican is good. Also, Matt's El Rancho, Fonda San Miguel, Z'Tejas, Pappasito's Cantina. Of the bunch, I'd say Matt's El Rancho and Fonda San Miguel provide a much better and more authentic experience.

Chuy's and Torchys are local favorites, mostly by people from out of state, and IMO highly overrated enough that I'd recommend against them. I felt the need to mention them because they frequently pop-up if looking for local Mexican food options.

The Range at Austin is probably the nicest range in central Texas. By far the nicest in Austin. Shady Oaks in Cedar Park is nice, but smaller, fewer rentals, and not nearly on the same level as The Range. I'd recommend avoiding Red's (indoor) and Eagle Peak (outdoor). Red's is archaic, and the south location is oppressively loud. Eagle Peak is unreasonable and highly unprofessional enough that I refuse to ever go there again.

There's this weird phenomenon in Austin, seemingly from out of state transplants best I can tell. You'll frequently see people talk about how "amazing" various restaurants, food trucks, etc. are. I've found fairly often that a lot of those places end up being highly overrated. A lot of those people end up being the types that rarely venture outside of Austin as well (beyond typical tourist spots). Hell, some of them I've talked to sound downright terrified to venture too far outside of Austin for fear of this vision of rural Texas they've concocted in their minds. A lot of Austin lifestyle is unfortunately pathological.

There are some good BBQ places in San Antonio but the only one which is on par with those surrounding (not in) Austin such as Lockhart, Taylor and Driftwood is Texas Pride BBQ in Adkins TX outside SA proper in SE Bexar county. B-Daddy’s BBQ in Helotes (SA suburb) is close.

2 brothers in particular is over rated. Top 3 in SA itself ? 2M BBQ on WW white, Smoke Shack on Broadway (or the truck they started from) and surprisingly enough any of the HEB grocery store locations which have their “True Texas BBQ” restaurants.

The Big Bib BBQ on Austin Hwy is Excellent but more a mix of southern style and Texas style.

Two other excellent BBQ places are Coopers BBQ in New Braunfels and Hays County BBQ on IH 35 in San Marcos, both are located between SA and Austin.

Now for Mexican or even Tex-Mex, it’s no contest, SA > Austin. From DF style fine dining to Mariscos, to Taco trucks and trailers SA is THE spot for Comidas Mexicanos.

Torchy’s is ok, it’s kind of like the Rudy’s BBQ of Tacos, good but kind of boring if you live here.