Questions about Austin, TX

Senator

Senator

Joined
Oct 2, 1998
Messages
1,874
My best friend and I just got back from a week-long training course in Austin. The last time I was there was in 1994, and the place has really grown. The highway system was impressive - it had grown considerably over the last decade. We stayed in the Arboretum/Research area, and while we didn't have a lot of time to do the touristy things, we did drive around a bit and liked what we saw.

We'll be back for more training in a few weeks, and I'd like some suggestions on what to do while we're there. We'll only have weekday evenings free, so we'll need some recommendations for restaurants and something to do afterwards.

I'm looking for a place to get a good steak and pork chops (and I don't mean the bite-size cuts most places call chops.) A local suggested Austin Land and Cattle, but we never got around to going there.

I'd also like to find a good rock/blues place that's not overrun with the typical college-age bar crowd, just a place to spend an evening with some good music and a few beers without having to run the raging-hormone gauntlet.

Also, while the weather was hot (95-99 degrees), we were very pleasantly suprised by how much better it felt than in North Carolina, with our typical 90-95 degrees with 90+% humidity. Here in Charlotte you start sweating when you walk out the door in the morning, much less in the afternoon. Is the humidity always that tolerable in the summer?
 
I cant help you with good clubs or places to eat, when I was down there for training a few months ago it was impossible to get onto/off the freeways due to the gridlock until 7 some nights.

One thing I thought I would mention was a great book store if your into books of all types.

Its call the book people and is located on 6th and lamar.

http://www.bookpeople.com/


I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a well stocked book store that is still ran like a mom and pop store. It puts any of the large bookstore chains to shame.
 
Senator said:
My best friend and I just got back from a week-long training course in Austin. The last time I was there was in 1994, and the place has really grown. The highway system was impressive - it had grown considerably over the last decade. We stayed in the Arboretum/Research area, and while we didn't have a lot of time to do the touristy things, we did drive around a bit and liked what we saw.
You just missed the Central Texas Knife Show at the Woodward hotel last weekend. :rolleyes: Too bad.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Give me the dates, Kelly, and I'll check the entertainment calendar and see if we can't find you some good music.

Jack
 
Lots of good stuff to do in Austin

Best place for a continental dinner: ZTejas in the Arboretum
Best Interior Mexican Nouvelle: Manuels (downtown, not the Arboretum)

Don't confuse Austin Land and Cattle with Texas Land and Cattle. Texas Land and Cattle split off after an ugly divorce, and Austin Land and Cattle remains the CLEAR winner. Highly recommend.

Antones is a good place for the blues.
Cedar Street is a great place for martinis.
The Gingerman has 100+ beers on tap.

Best deli: Manny Hattans on 183 and 360; Katz's downtown on 6th.

Best barbeque: The Salt Lick in Davenport Village on Hwy. 360 or the original in Driftwood (20 minutes south of Austin)

Hope I gave you a good start.

By the way, it has cooled down in to the high 80's and low 90's since you were here, and is wetter than usual. We go in 5 year drought/wet cycles, and they say we are on about the last year of our wet cycle. During the drought cycle, look out...it gets ugly. Towards the end of the last one, we were getting 115 degree temps in late August. It's still not to late for that, and you just can't tell when it's going to kick back in.
 
Thanks for the info and links, guys. I wish the knife show would have been later in the month. I would have loved to go.

I'll be back on Sunday, August 21 and leave that Friday afternoon, August 26, so if there's any must-see stuff that week I'd love to hear it.

The storms started on Friday morning. Fortunately we got out of class in time to catch an earlier flight out, but we still got delayed by weather at our layover at DFW airport. We were still able to get back to Charlotte a few hours earlier than originally scheduled.

I'll check out The Salt Lick. We went to The County Line BBQ last week. The setting is very nice - right on Bull Creek, but the food was less than stellar. The brisket was decent, but the pork and beef ribs were way too tough. The rest of the meats were merely average. There were a LOT of turtles in the water. Cute little boogers. :D

Our trainer told us the same thing about Austin L&C being much better than Texas L&C. Guess where they took the class to dinner on Thursday? Texas L&C. ;)
 
Damn! I wish I was staying an extra night. There's a show at Antone's on Friday, August 26 that includes three hard rock/metal bands, including Grady, which includes former SRV drummer Chris Layton. I downloaded a few MP3s from the band's website and they sounded very good.
 
Senator,

I wish I had known earlier you all were going to County Line. :barf: :mad: :rolleyes: I could have warned you. To bad you won't be here a few weeks later for the Austin City Limits Festival. Anyone who's everyone is going to be there. Coldplay, The Allman Brothers, and many, many more.
 
You'll be one day late for Monte Montgomery, too. He's the one guy I'd say don't miss. Great guitar player. Antone's has their blues night on Mondays. I can't speak for the players, but it would probably be worth it for the atmosphere alone. Ex-Faces, Small Faces keyboard player Ian McLagan plays with his Bump band Thursday nights at the Lucky Lounge. It's early and I think it is free. Haven't been there so I can't tell you much about it. South Austin supergroup The Resentments play venerable Austin bar the Saxon Pub on the 21st. These guys know everyone/play with everyone. They would give you a good feel for the local music scene. Plus, it's a 7:00 start with a $5 cover. It's a bit of a slow week and without knowing your tastes exactly a little hard to recommend too much. James McMurtry usually plays the Continental Club on Wed., but he is out on tour. If you are interested in a fine whisky selection check out Opal Divine's Freehouse. A nice place to sit and visit with a wee dram. Wish I could be more help.

Jack
 
I echo the recommendation for Opal Divine's. Just about every type of obscure whisky you can name is available.
 
You've all been a huge help. Just having the names of clubs, restaurants, and artists have helped tremendously. I've been able to find websites for just about every place and artist. That's allowed me to check out the reviews, menus, and download music ahead of time to see if I would be interested before I spend my money (or my company's money.) ;)

I'm not a big drinker, but would like a few cold ones during dinner or a show.

I've a huge SRV fan. I like rock/alternative/grunge/metal, southern rock, as well as just about any style of blues. Hell, I like country, hip hop, jazz, and classical. I'll even admit to now liking the 80's new wave crap that I despised so much as a teenager. :foot: But I figure that if I'm in Austin, the rock/blues scene would be my best bet.

Austin also had a much better selection of radio stations than Charlotte does. And the numerous Austin Access channels on TV featured a lot of local bands, although some of it was pretty bad. :p I watched a Widespread Panic concert on Austin Access last week. Music's a much bigger part of the culture down there than it is here.

Thanks for all of the help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top