re: College station trip

Here's my take on how to maximize your fun in College Station. Keep in mind, I am in my mid 30s, so it skews more towards the Night life and tailgating than the fine dining and sight seeing.

A few notes worth mentioning. Northgate is the Entertainment District in College Station. It's a 7-8 block area with 50+ bars and a number restaurants that sits on University Avenue right across from campus. West Campus is where Reed Arena, Olsen Field and the REC Center sit and a large swath of tailgating takes place in this area. This is where 90% of the RVs are parked.

Restaurants in College Station worth visiting:
Republic Steakhouse -- Fantastic selection of bourbon and whiskeys. One of the best steakhouses in SE Texas. You would need to make reservations here.
Cafe Eccell -- Personally, my favorite for the price. It's a nice dinner, but not extravagant in price. They have great handcrafted cocktails and wood fired pizzas.
Napa Flats
Christopher's -- More fine dining.
Torchy's Tacos -- Leave the bar after a big night, find yourself here.
Freebird's -- On Northgate, large burritos
West End Elixir -- On Northgate, new place with unique cocktails and great food.
Koppe Bridge -- Best Burgers in town.
Grub Burger Bar
Hullabaloo Diner -- Featured on the Food Channel. Extremely dirty (in a good way) and delicious breakfast.
Sodolaks - Comfort Food
Fuego -- Tacos!
Café Capri -- artisan mix
The Proudest Monkey
Fargo's BBQ -- Rated the #2 BBQ joint in Texas


Northgate: Bar District (I'll just go West to East down University for the ones I've frequented)
West End Elixir -- See above
Chimy's -- Deadly Margarita and Tequila selection. Fun porch and always a great place to cap off your night.
Bar 12 -- Rooftop porch, two level bar.
Shiner Park -- Dance Club
O'Bannons -- Irish Pub with great beer selection
Paddock Lane -- Same as O'Bannons
Northgate Food Truck Alley -- Explains itself with craft brew trucks
Tipsy Turtle -- New Orleans Style Daquiri Bar
The Backyard -- One of my favorites. Chilled liquor on tap and tons of games on the back porch (Beer pong, washers, darts, etc). 2 story and has a La Bodega Taco Bar in here too. Great craft Tequila shakers
Dry Bean Saloon -- Shot saloon with 200 different shots on the menu
Dixie Chicken -- College Station staple since 1974. I'd have one drink here at least. It will be slammed on Friday nights.
Dudley's -- The Chicken's less country brother
Madhatters -- 80s bar with cheap, STRONG drinks
Basil Whippets -- The "Apothecary Lounge"
Corner Bar -- Another one of my favorites. Three stories, with a large open air rooftop bar overlooking campus
Hookah Lounge -- Hookah bar that serves drinks
Foundation -- Dance Club
Kyoto Sake Bar -- Name explains itself. All sake/sake bombs all the time.
Gatsbys -- Dance Club
Logie's -- Huge beers with a porch looking at inner Northgate
Rebel Draft House -- Tons of beers and large with a wrap around porch.
Rough Draught Bourbon Bar -- Top shelf bourbon, whiskey, scotch bar. They flavor balls of ice for their old fashion drinks. It's good.
Cedar Lane -- Try a "wake me up"... Big Greek Crowd
Blackwater Draw -- Local microbrew that serves food.
Hurricane Harry's -- Dance Hall (Country centric)
Murphy's Irish Pub
The Canteen -- Attached to the George Hotel
World of Beer - Over 100 beers on Tap


Tailgating:
You'll get differing opinions on this depending on the age and tastes of the Aggie fan, so I'm going to throw all options out here.

West Campus -- This is where I tailgate and prefer. I'd suggest getting there early, and either dropping your stuff off around Reed Arena (in the grass) or around the parking garage (in the grass) and parking somewhere further out on West Campus in the pay lots. West Campus is a mix of all types, but tends to be the best collection of parties on campus. We tailgate at Reed Arena in the grass looking at the Baseball and Softball field. It is in the grass at the corner of Tom Chandler and Olsen Blvd in the link below. We have a blow up 12th Man guy, 1000+ square feet of shade and two full wet bar so stop by and drink some on us. You can drop your stuff off starting at noon on Friday.

As you know by now, the game is at 6 pm. We will be out there at 6 am (when lots open) but I'd suggest getting situated by no later than 10-11am if you want a spot on West Campus or Spence. If you just want to roll a cooler around, our fan base is a relatively friendly bunch that will offer plenty of food and drink.

The RV lots here are at Reed Arena, Olsen Field, George Bush Library, across from the intramural fields and the Steam Building. LINK






Here is the overall parking map. LINK







Spence Park -- This is the park on the East Side of the stadium. Tends to be a mix of families and students/Greek. You can't park anywhere around here, but you can drop off starting at noon on Friday. It's another good mix of students and alum, but you can't have the big trailers in Spence. You have to power up your tailgate through batteries. Again, a nice place that's fun, just a little more of a hassle to set up up and pick up.

Cain Park -- This is the Reserved tailgating. A little less rowdy and more corporate, but crowded nonetheless.

Pay Lots -- The Pay lots are on the periphery of campus and not nearly as crowded as inner campus tailgating. If you want a quieter area, this is your place, but if you're anything like me, you don't come all this way to not mix it up with the locals.


Golf:
Traditions Club -- A&M Golf Team home course and a Nicklaus course. The Stella Hotel borders this course and has 3 bars in it (one is a speakeasy style) and two separate restaurants and cabanas poolside.
Miramont -- Private RTJ course
A&M on campus course -- I actually like this course since it's been redone.
Bryan Muni -- Haha.... no.


Sights and Sounds --
George Bush Library -- 41s Presidential Library on West Campus. RV Field parking is right beside it.
Bonfire Memorial -- On the NorthEast Side of campus recognizing the 1999 tragedy.
Messina Hof Winery -- Local winery in Bryan. I love it here at dusk..


If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.



As I said before, if any of you want to crash our tailgate, we are smoking a gator and this is our annual moonshine tailgate. The more the merrier.

great post. Thanks.

I haven't been around much the past couple of years due mainly to work. I took over our New Orleans and SE Gulf Coast divisions and I simply don't have time to post much.

I'm off this week, and since LSU is near and dear to my heart after A&M, I figured I'd venture over.

quote:

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Tailgating isn't like LSU

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This should be in everyone’s mind when taking a road trip to anywhere in the country. Don’t expect it to be anything close to LSU. We tailgate on another level due to the lack of regulations, enforcement, and overall laissez faire culture of south Louisiana. It’s basically free for all at LSU for tailgating. I’ve been to other colleges and their tailgating is very different.

gravy, i was thinking about getting a burger at northgates but rx pizza looks too good to pass up. i figure the northgates restaurants will be jam packed.

Now that you mention it.. I don’t really know a girl that went to A&M that’s pretty

Ball Gravy - nice post man! I live 55 min. from CStat and my daughter lives there, so we are there often. Nice summary of food places and bars. We love Hullabaloo, Napa Flats, Christophers, Sodolaks (chicken fried bacon strips), and Fuegos. I love the Dixie Chicken to get a great burger and cold beer! Tiger fans - be a good sport and you'll have lots of fun. It's not as rowdy as Tiger Stadium, but it's a great college football atmosphere. Really nice folks there. Being a life-long Tiger fan and LSU alum, with a wife and daughter who are Aggies, we really have fun for this one! Geaux Tigers!!

Not a tailgating rec, but if you're in town the night before the game, go check out the Midnight Yell. It's basically a massive pep-rally at Kyle Field, and it's quite a sight to behold, especially for visiting fans.

Midnight Yell

quote:

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The night before every home game, Aggies hold Midnight Yell at Kyle Field. It is regularly attended by more than 25,000 people.

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have gone there the last two times we played in CS

An Aggie buddy of mine lives in Millican and we always meet up with him before the game. They are so organized on game day we drove in 30 mins before kickoff, parked, walked into the stadium and sat down before kickoff

after the gam, we walked straight to the car, got into what they call "traffic" and were back at my buddy's house in Millican in 30 min

the stadium is massive but pretty soul less. So much concrete and generic architecture, it seems like an NFL Stadium.


ETA: I fixed the awful grammar in the OP. I know this would get shared all over by those judgmental Aggies if we didnt fix the post.

You ain't looking hard enough baw