Austin for 36 hours

Matt's El Rancho or Guero's for Mexican. Home Slice for pizza. Pirhana Killer for sushi. Z Tejas for Southwestern. Threadgill's for southern comfort food. Salt Lick for BBQ. The Oasis for the view.

Here are a few spots we visited in and around Austin.


::::: FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER :::::

Lenoir - this is a small house that the owners converted into a boutique eatery. The pre fix menu changes as frequently as the weather. Everything we ate was kick arse. Here is the menu and the items we ordered were:

Appetizer - kazu sesame bread
Field - toasted almond & chevre mezzalune
Sea - peach ceviche
Sea - royal red shrimp curry
Sea - olive oil poached fish
Land - 5-sprice fried quail
Land - antelope heart















Outside beer garden to relax before/after your meal. We ate dinner at 7pm, as this was the only timeslot available. the restaurant only holds about 20 people.



Inside of the restaurant.





::::: FRIDAY NIGHT HONKY TONK :::::

We went to the Broken Spoke to listen to some live good-ole-boy country music. These guys were legit. It has been around forever and some might call it a tourist trap, but we stayed there for 3 hours and listened to their songs...many which were their own and most had lots of fiddle... my fav.







The bathroom even sold rings to buy your GF jewelry if you wanted to.





::::: SATURDAY BREAKFAST :::::

Counter Cafe - we went looking for a dive spot near our hotel and found this joint. Little did we know it had been featured on DDD and luckliy it wasn't packed. Guessing it aired a while back and the novelty has worn off...which I was certainly OK with. I ordered the "quail and eggs" and my wife got the "crabcake benedict". Both were kick arse and I will say their biscuits and gravy were the best I've ever had.











::::: SATURDAY DAY TRIP :::::

Blue Hole in Wimberley, TX - It is about an hour drive SW of Austin through some beautiful hill country...it certainly did not feel like an hour at all. The park is small and they only let around 150 in, so get there early (about an hour before opening) to ensure you get a spot. Aside from the swimming, they have some great trails to hike up and down the stream.













This is what max capacity looks like.




Wimberley Valley Winery - stopped by here for an hour or so. We actually ran into a girl (no pics) we went to HS with which was crazy, as we hadn't seen or talked to her in 20 years. The place certainly had that central Texas hill country feel and as you'd might expect, the staff were super friendly and seemed to really enjoy working there. My wife only ended up with 3 bottles of wine so that was a major victory for my wallet. I don't drink anymore so I enjoyed a cold Topo Chico. The place backs up to a private farm where some of their animals come over to the fence for attention, so that was pretty cool.


























::::: SATURDAY NIGHT 80's COVER BAND:::::

Cedar Street Courtyard - the band we saw was called Skyrocket. We got here at 9pm when their show started and it was KICK arse from start to finish. The band members pretty much rotate and play every instrument, sing different songs (to ensure the songs sound just like they were recorded by the actual band/artist). The courtyard felt very NOLA-ish with the ivy on the walls and brick floors.








...and last, but certainly not least, I had to stop by here and snap a photo of this beautiful thing.




...and also this beautiful thing.

Downtown is a manageable Uber from the airport. There are literally bars and restaurants every 100 ft DT, though, so if we don't have some sort of idea what kind of place you are looking for, it's easier to tell you to throw a rock and hit something than to make an actual recommendation.

Any particular type of food in mind? Do you have a preference in regards to a style of bar? The East side has some gems if you like dive bars, and it's just past downtown, east of I-35.

quote:

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Man, I'm sorry, I love you, but those places suck

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Funny. All my local friends who have lived down there for 20 years take me there. I'll take their recs.

Just looking to see the popular sights, take some good pics. Nothing special in mind. Maybe some good bbq or possibly hit up the best food trucks.