Austin this weekend - recomendations?

[IndianaJones]

If anybody is coming to town soon and has been confused about transportation without Uber/Lyft I've got good news for you: Lyft will be back on Monday (Memorial Day). Uber I'm sure soon to follow.

The state house passed statewide rules for TNCs a week or two back, overriding the decisions the City of Austin made a year or two ago, so the big boys follow.

Great to hear for more nights of debauchery on dirty 6th or Rainey st

 

[Dbijnagte]

Heading to Austin end of February. My list of spots to hit so far is:
LA BBQ
Louie Mueller
Live Oak
Jester King
Pinthouse Pizza
Hops & Grain
Draught house
Whichcraft
Torchys

Any recommendations on what to add/cut? Sites we need to visit?
Staying in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

 

[ExPimp]

Heading to Austin end of February. My list of spots to hit so far is:
LA BBQ
Louie Mueller
Live Oak
Jester King
Pinthouse Pizza
Hops & Grain
Draught house
Whichcraft
Torchys

Any recommendations on what to add/cut? Sites we need to visit?
Staying in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

Oddwood - Great mixed fermentation and blended beers, solid lagers, and good cheap bar food.

Micklethwait BBQ - they do BBQ barbacoa, Beef ribs, and also have some of the best sides in Austin.

Torchy's - People will fight you about it being your taco choice... I worked for them for 6.5yrs and still love them. I recommend going to the South 1st/El Paso location which was the OG, has original employees who have been there over 10yrs, and it's BYOB. Other notable tacos places.... Tyson, Veracruz, Taco Deli (the most hipster over priced small tacos in Austin but people ******* love them for some reason). El Primo on South 1st is also a nice authentic places that also does Tortas and healthy portioned cheap breakfast tacos.

 

[Lutter]

Heading to Austin end of February. My list of spots to hit so far is:
LA BBQ
Louie Mueller
Live Oak
Jester King
Pinthouse Pizza
Hops & Grain
Draught house
Whichcraft
Torchys

Any recommendations on what to add/cut? Sites we need to visit?
Staying in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

Honestly I'd say dump Hops & Grain.... The taproom is also really claustrophobic to me (very few/no windows?) and it just isn't that interesting of a place to go to (it's in the back of an industrial building). I also don't particularly like a lot of their beers other than A Pale Mosaic. Someone will really hate this take, lol.

Dump Whichcraft. It is a cool spot, but also pretty expensive and hard to park at. You're gonna be in Hyde Park, so I'd go to Central Market Lamar for packaged beer to take home, which has a much bigger selection.

Draught House is a great bar that I'm at weekly.... place is legendary around here.

Maybe add Austin Beerworks? They have one of the nicest/newest taprooms in the city and it's a pretty large brewery and they always have taproom exclusives on.

I'd also check out St Elmo Brewing. They're an offshoot of Austin Beerworks alums and in particular, in February, they're having a bottle release every weekend:



Their Kolsch (Karl) is also one of the most fantastic I've ever had.

In that same general area is The ABGB (Austin Beer Garden Brewing), which I honestly thing is the place that needs to start being at the top of these lists.... world class lagers and pilsners.... 3-time GABF Brewpub of the Year (in a row.... 2016, 2017, 2018). Great pizza and great music at night if you're into that sorta thing.

 

[Lutter]

Torchy's - People will fight you about it being your taco choice... I worked for them for 6.5yrs and still love them. I recommend going to the South 1st/El Paso location which was the OG, has original employees who have been there over 10yrs, and it's BYOB. Other notable tacos places.... Tyson, Veracruz, Taco Deli (the most hipster over priced small tacos in Austin but people ******* love them for some reason). El Primo on South 1st is also a nice authentic places that also does Tortas and healthy portioned cheap breakfast tacos.

I always love getting the Monk's Special at Torchy's. That thing is like $2.75 and has maybe 5 eggs in it? lol. I also used to live literally a block from that S First location so I'd stop there for breakfast a lot of days. Amazing how much they're expanding now (I couldn't believe it when I saw one in Denver last year).

Otherwise I'm a taco truck guy. Las Trancas over on Cesar Chavez gets most of my business. The tripas tacos there are killer!

 

[reverseapachemaster1]

Honestly I'd say dump Hops & Grain.... The taproom is also really claustrophobic to me (very few/no windows?) and it just isn't that interesting of a place to go to (it's in the back of an industrial building). I also don't particularly like a lot of their beers other than A Pale Mosaic. Someone will really hate this take, lol.

I agree it's worth skipping. They used to put on some really interesting beers in the taproom but as their lineup gravitated towards IPAs and lagers they gave up all the things that made them interesting and worth visiting. Now it's just middle of the road IPAs and lagers. You can get better IPAs at Pinthouse and better lagers at Live Oak, ABGB and Austin Beerworkers.

In that same general area is The ABGB (Austin Beer Garden Brewing), which I honestly thing is the place that needs to start being at the top of these lists.... world class lagers and pilsners.... 3-time GABF Brewpub of the Year (in a row.... 2016, 2017, 2018). Great pizza and great music at night if you're into that sorta thing.

Great beers but I just couldn't get over all the kids running loose and throwing rocks at my wife and me. Maybe not as bad during the week or the winter but I'd take a claustrophobic taproom in an industrial building over ABGB any day.

 

[Lutter]

Great beers but I just couldn't get over all the kids running loose and throwing rocks at my wife and me. Maybe not as bad during the week or the winter but I'd take a claustrophobic taproom in an industrial building over ABGB any day.

I’ve only ever gone during the week and there were very few kids.

 

[ExPimp]

Maybe not as bad during the week or the winter but I'd take a claustrophobic taproom in an industrial building over ABGB any day.

If nothing else, he should just stop into ABGB and grab their three award winners in crowlers. They’re only $8 iirc.

 

[Dbijnagte]

This is all great. Thank you guys so much for the help. If any of you need/want anything from MN let me know and we can bring it down with us.

 

[Dbijnagte]

On our way to FTW after spending 3 days in Austin. Definitely did a lot in those 3 days.

Beer:
ABGB - The pils and helles, yes! So good. Grabbed crowlers.
St. Elmo - kolsch was the highlight for sure, tried the BW and sours which were fine.
Austin Beerworks - nice stout and good ipas, enjoyed the collaboration with PHP
Pinthouse Pizza- IPAs were best we had in Austin, wife loved it. Pizza was good and cheap as well.
Live Oak - everything was fantastic as expected. Grounds were great for hanging out as well.
Jester King - it was cold when we went yesterday but was great to walk around the grounds and have a few beers. Everyone already knows how good they are. Brought home some SPON
Draught House - cool spot to hang out, play darts. Great beer selection and atmosphere with some solid in house options. Didn’t care for the tv boards being the only beer menu but that’s a minor complaint.
Whichcraft - kind of fancy spot but friends of ours know the owner who used to live in Minneapolis so we stopped and enjoyed it. Good bottle selection and a nice list. Trivia was going on so it was a little loud.

Food:
Las Trancas - yes. We need some good tacos in MN. Went for the tripe and wasn’t disappointed.
Torchys - went for the breakfast tacos and again for night time tacos. All delicious.
Terry Blacks - beef rib was the highlight, sides were meh
La BBQ - best brisket of the trip. Ribs were also fantastic.
Salt Lick - definitely an awesome experience. Great everything.
Mickelthwaite- best sides. Great meat.
Valentina’s - fantastic

Wife was super impressed by all of the suggestions and we had an amazing time in your city. Thanks!

 

[ExPimp]

On our way to FTW after spending 3 days in Austin. Definitely did a lot in those 3 days.

Beer:
ABGB - The pils and helles, yes! So good. Grabbed crowlers.
St. Elmo - kolsch was the highlight for sure, tried the BW and sours which were fine.
Austin Beerworks - nice stout and good ipas, enjoyed the collaboration with PHP
Pinthouse Pizza- IPAs were best we had in Austin, wife loved it. Pizza was good and cheap as well.
Live Oak - everything was fantastic as expected. Grounds were great for hanging out as well.
Jester King - it was cold when we went yesterday but was great to walk around the grounds and have a few beers. Everyone already knows how good they are. Brought home some SPON
Draught House - cool spot to hang out, play darts. Great beer selection and atmosphere with some solid in house options. Didn’t care for the tv boards being the only beer menu but that’s a minor complaint.
Whichcraft - kind of fancy spot but friends of ours know the owner who used to live in Minneapolis so we stopped and enjoyed it. Good bottle selection and a nice list. Trivia was going on so it was a little loud.

Food:
Las Trancas - yes. We need some good tacos in MN. Went for the tripe and wasn’t disappointed.
Torchys - went for the breakfast tacos and again for night time tacos. All delicious.
Terry Blacks - beef rib was the highlight, sides were meh
La BBQ - best brisket of the trip. Ribs were also fantastic.
Salt Lick - definitely an awesome experience. Great everything.
Mickelthwaite- best sides. Great meat.
Valentina’s - fantastic

Wife was super impressed by all of the suggestions and we had an amazing time in your city. Thanks!

Enjoyed watching your pictures on instagram! Glad you had a good time on your visit!

 

[reverseapachemaster1]

On our way to FTW

Sorry for your loss

 

[Lutter]

Las Trancas - yes. We need some good tacos in MN. Went for the tripe and wasn’t disappointed.

I love Las Trancas... I work just a few blocks away. They've got the best tripas tacos you can find in the city.

Draught House - cool spot to hang out, play darts. Great beer selection and atmosphere with some solid in house options. Didn’t care for the tv boards being the only beer menu but that’s a minor complaint.

When I first came to Austin they had gigantic chalk boards on the wall that were always out of date....

Then for YEARS they had no menu. You had to stare at the taps. Lots of "Do you have x?"

One thing I didn't realize is that you can actually bring up their menu on your phone with real-time listings now. I hate that they only display half the menu on 2 projectors that switch back and forth. But it's a marked improvement from nothing? lol.

Their brewer (and now owner) Josh is legit. He was one of the brewers at The Bitter End, which was the most famous brewery in town before the craft beer bubble burst in the late 90s. They make some of the best beers in town on the DL.