Austin’s Food, People, Hot Spots and Vibe
Austin Food and Wine Festival at Butler Park
A foodie and wine lovers paradise, the Austin Food and Wine Festival gathers the top chefs in the country to participate in food competitions and cooking demonstrations.
Combine this with live music, countless food samples that make you melt, and the most exquisite wines and spirits and you have one hell of a party. [Read more...]
Rogness Brewing Company celebrated its one-year anniversary on May 12, 2013.
The brewery kicked off this intro to a new year in the traditional Austin way: with a party.
Vendors and artisans from across the Austin area showed up to congratulate the once-tiny brewery…and it wasn’t just any party. [Read more...]
An earlier prototype of Mug Muscles
This guest blog post is by George Hillhouse.
Growing up in Alabama, one of my favorite sayings was, “Hold my beer and watch this.” In fact, if that’s not the State Motto, it ought to be. Beer, or the consumption thereof, has inspired many otherwise rational people to do things they would never have thought possible. Sometimes subsequent hospital trips confirm they were right in the first place.
But do we demonize beer after one of these episodes? Hardly. Beer gets a pass, a get out of jail free card, even when we know we won’t get out of jail free for things we did on a beer binge. Beer may be unique in this regard. No one says, “Hold my meth pipe and watch this!” thinking that subsequent events will be explained away and forgiven. It takes a beer, or two, to get that kind of a pass. [Read more...]
Raising a glass to Groovy Sunday at South Austin Brewing Company
This guest blog post is by Edgar Barguiarena.
Sometimes Friday and Saturday don’t give you enough time to take full advantage of the weekend. You’re left wanting more for your Sunday, but you want to try something different. After you go to brunch and get started with a few mimosas, you want to enjoy the last few hours of freedom you have left. If you’re still jonesing for live music and great beer, South Austin Brewing Company has your solution.
South Austin Brewing Company got their start in late 2010 with two signature brews that are still selling strong today: the Belgian Style Golden Ale and their Saison D’Austin. Each brew is featured in a hand-corked 750-ml bottle that looks almost as good as it tastes. Sound familiar? You may have seen these beers at your local grocery store or liquor shop.
South Austin Brewing has done an impressive [Read more...]
Not a straight ramen joint
In the interest of being hungry fair in my assessment of Austin’s Ramen Offerings™, I’m trying places that don’t necessarily specialize in ONLY ramen.
So for my next foray in the Yummin’ Austin Ramen series, I checked out Kome Sushi Kitchen, located at 4917 Airport Boulevard.
Kome is mostly famous for their fresh, delicious, sushi. With the surge in ramen popularity, however, they opened up a ramen-only “sister” restaurant called Daruma this year (review forthcoming). [Read more...]
This guest blog post is by David Thomas.
As the typical male, when I first became a beer drinker I went for the cheap stuff first: malt liquor.
Gradually, I developed taste buds and grew a taste for dark beers. Ambers, bocks and stouts have this flavor that I dig.
I have a buddy named Jim who’s also a beer fan. He recommended a beer called Bootlegger Brown by Independence Brewing Co. here in Austin. I gave it a shot and immediately became a fan. Jim also told me about First Saturday, an event that Independence Brewing Co. hosts once a month. Four years later, I finally decided to go.
Getting to the brewery is easy. It’s located in a business park on Todd Lane, just south of Hwy 71. Normally I might’ve had difficulty finding it. But on First Saturday, the throngs of people waiting to get in were a dead giveaway.
With a line like this, First Saturday must be awesome
“Glamorous” exterior
Ramen. Ramen, ramen, ramen. It’s all I can think about. Or tweet about. Or eat about.
After being introduced to Austin’s red-hot take on the Japanese noodle phenomenon at Ramen Tatsu-Ya, I immediately started scouting out other local ramen places, to see how they compare.
I conspired with my Austin Twitter posse, coordinating a group lunch expedition to Michi Ramen at 6519 N Lamar Blvd. [Read more...]
Busy line at Ramen Tatsu-Ya
You’ve heard your friends talking about it: RAMEN FEVER has come to Austin. It’s appropriate, considering our feverishly hot season is coming too. Will delicious hot Japanese soup sustain its hype during the summer months?
It is our clear CULINARY RESPONSIBILITY at the Austinot to examine EVERY ramen place in Austin (with our stomachs), and so I took the “great burden” upon myself to visit Ramen Tatsu-Ya at 8557 Research Blvd. in Austin. [Read more...]
Unassuming exterior at Apothecary Cafe & Wine Bar
Not every evening in Austin calls for beer and BBQ. We at the Austinot aim to find some of the town’s great wine bars too, where one can go after a rough day at work and just sit for a quiet glass of vino.
Which led me to Apothecary Cafe & Wine Bar one evening after work. Located in the Rosedale Village Center at 4800 Burnet, close to 45th Street, Apothecary is a bit difficult to find. The signage along Burnet are blink-and-you-miss-it. It was, in fact, my failure to find Apothecary that originally led me to Gusto. [Read more...]
Firehouse Hostel and Lounge in the West Sixth District of Austin
This guest post is by Cris Mueller.
Firehouse Hostel and Lounge is a morsel of Austin history sitting quietly amongst the hustle of our fondly regarded West Sixth district and the bustle of our downtown office high-rises.
Business partners Kent Roth and Collin Ballard have tastefully occupied the legendary Washington Fire Engine Co. No. 1 with a boutique style hostel that offers seasoned backpackers and first time hostel goers a unique Austin experience.
Already have a place to sleep tonight? Even locals love Firehouse Lounge
Cover 3 outdoor patio
If you’ve been looking for the best burgers in Austin, you’ve come to the right place. This post is part of a series on the Austinot.
Remember, I’m looking at not only the burgers, but the experience as a whole.
You’ll always get an honest take on the burger joints I visit. I’m not on any burger joint’s payroll.
After you’ve read my review, agree or disagree with a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
When I published my most recent burger joint review on Opal Divine’s Freehouse location on 6th, a few personal friends told me, “If you liked Opal’s, you are gonna love Cover 3.” Over time, quite a few folks have commented that this spot is a “must” for my burger joint review series. Finally convinced that I needed to pay Cover 3 a visit, I was pretty excited to check this place out. [Read more...]
Thai Cuisine Austin on Parmer
We recently relocated to the area near Parmer and Mopac, so we’ve been spending more time exploring northwest Austin. Ever since the conversation around our Titaya’s Thai Cuisine article, I’ve been wanting to visit a specific Thai restaurant that’s located in our new neighborhood.
Sitting at the end of an unpretentious strip mall on Parmer, Thai Cuisine has a colorful, welcoming interior that smacks of cleanliness. Our first visit was for a late dinner on a week night, but we returned a few weeks later for the unique lunch experience (also on a week day).
There were some commonalities across our two visits. But overall, lunch and dinner dining experiences at Thai Cuisine are extremely different from one another. And I do have a strong preference between the two, so keep reading for the inside scoop. [Read more...]
Halcyon by night
We categorize most coffee shops as appropriate for a specific purpose, at a specific time of day: late night chill hangout with friends, outlets-galore study spot.
But I long ago discovered a local staple that is all things to all people. Located in the Warehouse District of downtown Austin, Halcyon manages to wear a typically chaotic persona with magnetic flair. [Read more...]
The Buzz Mill recently opened on the eastside, off of Riverside
Beavers coming out of the woodwork (literally), subdued mason jar lighting hanging from the rafters, a huge outdoor yard, BBQ from one of the most famous pits in history, fruit-infused liquor, all-you-can-eat flapjack breakfast for $5, free Wi-Fi, full bar, coffee, open 24/7…should I go on?
Anyone who keeps up with the Austin scene has already heard the clamoring about this new joint on East Riverside. But the chatter shouldn’t surprise anyone. When the owner of Bootleg Coffee gets together with the manager of Emo’s and the marketing director at Antone’s for a project, you know something special is on tap.
And they’re just getting started.
Since the grand opening of The Buzz Mill on January 19, 2013, we’ve had numerous Austinot readers ask us to pay them a visit. And so we did. [Read more...]
Enjoy Pecos Tacos after a night out on West 6th St.
The Austinot is consistently asked about where to find the best Austin food trucks. So we’ve decided to start a search for the best in town. As we run across Austin food trucks that we feel should be on this list, we’ll let you know. All of the posts in this series will start with “Best Austin Food Trucks.”
If you have a food truck to recommend, leave a comment at the end of the article. Tell us the name of the joint, what you like most about them, and where we can find them. We’re always willing to check out something new.
Austin food trucks abound. With a nearly endless variety of trucks comes the overwhelming task of choosing which one to check out for yourself.
Well, you can never go wrong with a taco. Many Austin food trucks serve them up, but few serve them up like Jesse Catano, owner of Pecos Tacos. The tough decision here isn’t deciding which food truck to get your taco from. It’s finding Jesse and his illusive Pecos Tacos truck. [Read more...]
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