Visiting Austin TX

[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.

[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.

Not BBQ strictly speaking but I also enjoyed Banger's Sausage House & Beer Garden.

My other favorite place in Austin was Easy Tiger, 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.