ladybug98

Thanks to all who provided us with the suggestions that helped to make out trip to Austin and San Antonio incredible!

Despite our flight being delayed 3.5 hours out of NY due to bad weather, we managed to eek out 5 hours of sleep from 4am - 9am and then got ready to go out on the town for the day. First stop, Juan In A Million for breakfast. YUM! The breakfast tacos were delicious. We sampled three kinds and loved each one more than the other. My favorite was the beef and potato taco. We then spent the day wandering the UT campus seeing the replica oval office and the various exhibits of LBJ, NASA & JFK in the UT museum as well. Beautiful campus. Then headed to the SoCo area and did some shopping. That night we headed out to the Continental Club where we saw two Rock/Country bands that were both great. Also made out way to the Speak Easy and caught a Reggae band...they were OK...LOL. Seemed like a few college kids up on the stage but the crowd was all up and dancing and having fun so it was a good time.

Next day: Drove to San Antonio, saw the Alamo and the River Walk...very beautiful. Picked up my guitar pin at the Hard Rock, cause I collect them then headed over to the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. Now THAT was fun I bought some cowboy boots, we saw a pig auction (which my girlfriend almost threw up from the smell of the pigs) and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the fair-like atmosphere. The Rodeo started at 7:30 PM and lasted until 11:00 PM. Saw bull riding, cattle roping, bareback horse riding and mutton bustin' (the cutest 6 year olds riding sheep and falling off...adorable). We were exhausted after the rodeo but stayed for 3 songs sung by Jason Aldeen and then made our way back to Austin.

Day 3: Drove down to Natural Bridge Caverns and went spelunking. Saw some beautiful cave formations and got some good pictures. Next to the cavern was a African Safari - Texas style. We fed Emu from our hands and my girlfriend screamed "oh no your not" as one of them approached the car trying to stick his long neck into the car. It was hysterical...ya had to be there... So then we made our way back up to Austin and stopped at Barton Speings to have a quick look. The air was too cold for a dip, for us, but there were people swimming, the water is crystal clear. Afterwards we went back to the hotel and relaxed for an hour until it was time to go out. First we went over to the Capital building and got some beautiful pictures of it all lit up at night. Then off to 6th street. We never expected the New Orleans atmosphere, nor did we expect to see so many breasts being shown to receive beads...LOL. Good times... We went into Pete's and thoroughly enjoyed a dueling piano bar where what seemed like 500 people were singing at the top of their lungs and the musicians were hysterical. We continued along 6th stopping in several bars to catch as much different music genres as we could. Finally ended up in the Elephant Room for some decent, relaxing Jazz to end the evening.

Now - onto the important stuff...FOOD!

Cupcakes: We tried polkadots first, near Guadalupe and 29th. They were very moist, however, not enough frosting and they were rather small. Next - HEY CUPCAKE! Now THAT's a cupcake. In two days we ate 6 of the 7 varieties...all excellent...the perfect ratio of frosing to cake...YUMMY!

BBQ = we decided that we would try as much BBQ as possible - keeping in mind all the suggestion ya'll gave us...so thank you. Here is our rating from worst to best:

Stubbs - EW. Their sauce had very little flavor. There was way too much pepper on the brisket and ribs. Only thing they did right was have corn bread with the meal available/

RuBy's - The brisket was very tender but the ribs were tough and lacking flavor. Sauce was so so.

RuDy's - This was decent. The meat was all delicious, except the ribs. The turkey was REALLY moist and the brisket had a wonderful crunchy coating with moist tender meat. The sauce was very vinegary. The sausage tasted like everyone elses but the creamed corn was a nice change to all the other sides that everyone serves. It was mmm mmm good.

Salt Lick - This was good stuff. We got half a chicken, brisket, sausage and ribs, (had to give everyone the same fair shot mind you). We loved the sauce so we bought a bottle. thier ribs were to die for. So tender and fell off the bone. Didn't even need the sauce but we loved it anyway. Even though we were full, we sampled the peach & blackberry cobblers and a slice of the pecan pie. WOW, delicious...roll us out of that place...

Our favorite is....drum roll please.....

Iron Works - Oh My God, now THAT's some good 'Q. I cannot say enough about the beef rib...could have eaten the whole rib cage of that animal. But alas, we only had one as we were on this feast fest. This was the second of three BBQ's meals that were to be for that day...:::igh:::: The sauce was AMAZING! It was thick, full of flavor and even had a littlel kick to it. The brisket was very tender. We also had pork tenderloin and while it was good, the other meats were much better.

So there you have it folks, thanks again to all those who contributed to out newly acquired 10 lbs. It was well worth it...thank God it is February and we have time to lose it for bathing suit season.

Thanks all, we had a great time.

-Tracy & Kris

saige

WOW. If you did all that in three days you both deserve a medal. I have to say though, that you managed to hit some of the high points and I applaud your visits to the Continental Club and the Elephant Room. Sorry that you missed the Saxon Pub. Barbeque is obviously a matter of personal taste, but it's nice to see that you tried several. Now I really need to go check out Hey, Cupcake.

go_laura

Thanks for the report, ladybug! You clearly get going earlier in the morning than we do, lol, I think you two did more in three days than we did in a week! Lol too at the thanks for contributing to the new 10 lbs., I certainly know what you mean. We only shared one cupcake....but no question that would be a dangerous place to have nearby, glad it was just a vacation thing (and that amazing candy store across the street too, the mint malt balls were to die for)!

swisshiker

I love it when out-of-towners find new restaurants for me! I've lived in Austin (well, the outskirts) for 14 years and have never been to Iron Works. Just don't get downtown that much. But there's now a new one nearby, so for sure I'll go check it out.

The rodeo is always a fun day and evening. Austin's rodeo starts up in a couple weeks. The extreme bull riding and calf roping are my favorite events.

Glad you had a good time visiting this area. Next time, stick around awhile longer, and we'll be sure to have a GTG!

Happy travels!

AustinTraveler

Great report ladybug! I'm glad IronWorks was your favorite - it's definitely my favorite too. It's amazing how much you two did in three days!

Katie_H

Hi ladybug--thanks for posting a report. Sounds like you had a swell time.

Wanted to invite you to review some of the BBQ places you stopped into--we review several but I noticed we don't have many member reviews for Austin BBQ restaurants. When you review them, links to your reviews will appear in your profile.

Here is the list of BBQ places in Austin that we currently feature on the site:
http://www.fodors.com/world/north-am...ine:27084.html

Hope you don't mind the gentle invite!

ladybug98

Thanks for the invite Katie! We just finished reviewing all five restaurants that we dined at.

Thanks everyone else who posted. We had lots of fun eating our way through Texas and we can't wait to go back.

Tracy & Kris

Austin

Glad you had a great time. You picked some great places for music. Salt Lick is my fave - they catered our wedding - but I have to go back to Iron Works. Haven't been there in years.


Pete's Piano Bar is always a lot of fun, isn't it?