trippinkpj

We also like Milagro's for Tapas (on 4th street), and Ironworks for BBQ. And the Broken Spoke on South Lamar for country music, if you are interested. They have food also, though I haven't eaten there.

Austin

The origianal Salt Lick will remain open. Only the second one they opened closer to town is closing.

Rascat, will you be here September 4th? If so, that is "First Thursday" on South Congress ave, and you are in a prime location. If you go out the Embassy Suites and turn right on Congress, go one block, you are officially on "SoCo", a fun, trendy, hip place to be. On First Thrs. there are lots of vendors (mainly jewelery) lining the streets and the place is hoppin. You can walk to Jo's in the AM for coffee, or go to Gueros' outside venue for a drink and live music. Cross the street and find MY favorite pizza place (NY style) Homeslice Pizza. You can find Amy's Ice Cream there too, an Austin Institution. South Congress Cafe is there as well as lots of cool shops. Later on any night you can hit the Continental Club, another institutuion and hoppin place for some great music.

If you walk out the hotel and turn left on Congress, you can see the Congress Ave bridge, famous for Bat watching most evenings around dusk. Keep walking over the river and you will be downtown Austin. Dozens of great restaurants within about 5 blocks in any direction from Congress and Ceasar Chavez.

Walk to 4th and Congress, turn Left, and you will be in the Warehouse district, a few fun bars and restaurants.

rascat

Greetings All!

Yes Austin, we will be there on September 4th. DH will be stuck in his conference, but sounds like I'm going to have a great time while he's stuck indoors crunching numbers! But then, he's a math geek and I'm a former art major, so I think we'll both be having fun!

Goddess, it took some real searching, but I found your post:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...desstogo&fid=1. Enjoyed reading it, but you confirmed my suspicions that we will have more to do than we will actually have time for. You've really raised the bar if I decide to do a trip report (always swear I'm going to, then wait too long to start it and can't remember the whats, wheres, and whens).

swisshiker, DH is already looking forward to that burger! He'd chose a hamburger over a great steak. Even referred to me as chopped steak once (ie: some men prefer chopped steak over filet mignon). The coworker he was talking to looked at me in horror, but I told him "Luckily, coming from him, I know it's compliment!"

We definitely will stop by Amy's for ice cream!

Thanks again for all of the wonderful suggestions!

Austin

I should add that First Thrs. doesn't officially start until 6PM, but you can still check out SoCo. I'd walk to Jo's for coffee, if you are a coffee person.

LuxePacker

Don't know it I'm too late, or if you enjoy BBQ, but I wrote a review of Austin's options. My personal favorite is Lambert's.

http://www.luxepacker.com/files/barb...ed_states.html

rascat

Greetings again!

Austin, things starting after 6:00 pm won't be a problem. They always get the conference members together for dinner on the first night. Since I'm just along for the ride, I need to have something to keep me busy that evening, and First Thurs sounds perfect!

LuxePacker, it's not too late and your review is really appreciated!

Now that we've cleaned up from the storm, I really get to start focusing on this trip. Thanks again everyone for the wonderful advice!

rascat

Thanks again to everyone who gave suggestions for our weekend trip to Austin.

We were due to fly out tomorrow, but with hurricanes and tropical storms affecting so many areas, the conference has been cancelled.

It's disappointing, but at the same time, I am a bit relieved-what with Hurricane Hanna still a possible threat to our area over the weekend.

Even if the storm stays out to sea, they are still very worried about more rain coming and making our bad flooding worse. DS flew out of Orlando last Thursday and said our area looked like a third barrier island from the sky; the St. Johns River is that swollen with rain. One of evacuation routes out of our county is already closed due to flooding, and the second out of three doesn't have far to go.

We are high and dry, so I'm not worried about our house. If the storm comes more west, we have a good place to seek shelter near home. But things might get dicey for others in this area.

Austin sounds like such a great place! I know we will try again to get there if we have the chance. I've printed this post, and will file it with my future travel ideas.

Stay weird!

scat_cat

Turns out there was no need to cancel the conference--Austin barely got a drop of rain during Ike.

I just wanted to add a couple of observations in case anyone uses this thread to plan a future trip.

First, a car is definitely advisable in Austin, especially if you're staying more than a few days. There is, however, enough to keep you occupied in the downtown area for a weekend or so without a car. The free trolley buses (Dillos) are turning not-free (50 cents, I believe) in a few weeks, I think, which also sucks for non-drivers. Biking is possible, but not exactly fun in the roasting summer months. And good bike routes are hard to come by--this is a town built for cars going 40 mph.

Local specialties: You must have breakfast tacos and/or migas (Tex-Mex scrambled eggs). Cheap and ubiquitous. Maria's Taco Xpress (www.tacoxpress.com/tacoxpress/index.html) is a good bet.

UT campus: I highly recommend the Henry Ransom Center (www.hrc.utexas.edu), a works-on-paper collection. The current exhibition spans everything from postcards a vacationing Picasso sent to friends to original drawings Antoine de Saint-Exupery made for The Little Prince to Gloria Swanson memorabilia. It's free to the public, so if you only have time to duck in, make a beeline for the "world's first permanent photograph from nature," a heliograph on a pewter plate by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce.

The Blanton Museum of Art is also worth seeing--there's a surprising amount of interesting, obscure 16th century European art and a very nice print collection.

And the LBJ museum on the other side of campus is pretty good.

If you want to see where the locals really eat, head to a Tex-Mex place like Guero's Taco Bar (not particularly spicy) or the well-executed New York-style pizza joint Home Slice (www.homeslicepizza.com), both on S Congress. Both are always completely packed. And, of course, there are the BBQ places mentioned above--I'll defer to others on that score.

You might also try one of the interior Mexican places around Austin--Chowhound is a good place to start researching. I liked the food at Sazón (www.sazonaustin.com) fairly well, but for the prices you'd expect a slightly nicer atmosphere. They have a large patio if you want to eat outdoors, but it's right on a busy arterial.

beckytx

I have not read all the suggestions, but my immediate thought was for spicy food where the locals go, you must try Shady Grove! The green chili chicken fried steak is so good. I would do this for lunch if the weather is nice.

http://www.theshadygrove.com/

Based on the description of what you like, I also would suggest East Side Cafe for a dinner or brunch.

http://www.eastsidecafeaustin.com/

rascat

Just wanted to thank everyone again for the great suggestions!

DH's conference ended up being rescheduled for the first weekend in December, so we were in Austin December 3-7. The hotel changed to the Omni, which ended up being a good location.

DH flew in on Wednesday morning, and I followed in the afternoon, after my classes. Flew American, connecting via Dallas. Unfortunately, the pull-out handle on my carry-on broke, and I had to drag it through DFW (boy, what a pain). Arrived in Austin at 10:00 pm. Picking up the car from National went extra smooth, and I drove out of the airport in a Toyota Rav4.

Was a little concerned about arriving that late, but directions given by the Omni Hotel were clear and concise. DH was waiting for me in front of the hotel, worried that I would have trouble finding it (sweet but unnecessary). The parking garage was nearly full, but we did find a space eventually. A quick trip to drag bag to the room, then down to the lobby for a quick bite at the restaurant, Ancho's. The salad was excellent, but the bisque tasted like the lunch leftover that it was.

DH had a meeting the next day, so after a quick trip through the hotel breakfast buffet, I headed out in the car to explore the area and get orientated to the city. After looping around downtown, I headed down S. Congress.

Along the drive, I spotted a sign for the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. Wildflowers are a passion of mine, so I decided to stop in. December wasn't the best time to visit the garden (very few flowers in bloom), but I did learn a lot. I hope to go back sometime when the hill country is in bloom, so I can consider this research for that trip. Also had a nice soup and salad lunch in their cafe. Swung into Target on the way back to the Omni to see about replacing the broken bag.

DH was done with his meeting, so we decided to go walking around the city, then grab some dinner. DH and his group had been turned away from Lambert's the night before, so he wanted to see if we could get in with just the two of us. We should have taken this as a clue: the dinner was ok, but the waitress made it clear she wasn't interested in serving us. She was much more interested in entertaining the young men seated near the bar, then helping a frumpy middle-aged couple. Which was her lose-we tip very well for good service. Anyways, DH had the beef ribs (scanty on the meat and very overcooked), and I had the brisket (which was better). We shared the mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus, both which were the best part of the meal. We ran into a few of DH's upper management on the way out. They had a similar experience and won't be recommending Lambert's to anyone else either.

The next morning, DH was taking a tour of the LBJ Library as the final event of the conference, so he grabbed a muffin and coffee before heading out. I had picked up a cold the day before we left, so settled for coffee in the room, and used the time to relax and plan the rest of our weekend. I picked DH up outside the library at 11:00 am, then drove back to the Omni.

We decided to ask the concierge for advice on lunch, and to also get directions to the Salt Lick. He recommended Manuel's for mexican and gave us a coupon for a free appetizer. I remembered the name from my forum post, and decided to give it a try. We walked to the restaurant, leaving the car in the parking garage.

Manuel's was a completely different experience from Lambert's, which gave us hope for the rest of our stay. The free appetizer was the most incredible nachos I've ever had! DH had an amazing filet, and I have grilled zuchini stuffed with pork. The food was wonderful, and our waiter was great. He even took the time to grab a newspaper from the back, and give us a few more ideas of things to do. We finished off by splitting a coconut flan. It was a great meal and I highly recommend Manuel's if you visit Austin!

My cold was kicking in worse, so we headed back to the Omni for a little R & R. After a nap and some cold medicine, we were ready to head out again. We headed in the general direction of the Hut, figuring we would be ready for dinner by the time we got there.

We loved the settling of the Hut, but were a little disappointed in the food. They promised DH a rare burger, but it came well done. He decided it tasted fine, so we left it at that. The fries were good, but the onion rings were overbreaded and undercooked, actually cold when we got them. We did have fun reading about the history of the place, and DH was happy to have a burger, his favorite meal. The service was fine, so I'd call it a draw. The walk did me in, so it was back to the hotel for us.

Saturday was our first free day, so we started off at the Magnolia Cafe for breakfast. This was another great recommendation from the forum! We loved the food, and had great service again. DH kept saying over and over again, "so you go on this travel site, and people give you suggestions to places like this?" It made me chuckle because he's never paid attention before when I talk about the forum!

After breakfast, we headed out for the Pedernales State Park. DH was skeptical, but as "it was suggested on the forum", he was willing to give it a try. He ended up loving it! We wandered on the trails, climbed around the falls, then spent some time at the bird blind. DH grew up on Lake Michigan and loves being outdoors. The state park was just what he needed after a few days in the city!

After a walk down river from the swimming area, we headed back towards Austin. I figures this would be a great time to do the Salt Lick, as we were headed that direction, and we hadn't had lunch. A friend who attend college in Austin said DH would love this place, so along with the suggestion from the forum, DH was anxious to give it a try. He loved it! He had fun watching them baste all that meat with a mop as we waited for a table. We enjoyed a good meal, and had fun watching all the groups roll in carrying their coolers. DH is still telling people about the Salt Lick now that we are home!

We thought about seeing a movie at the Alamo Draft House, but my cough was getting bad, and I was ready to call it a night, so we headed back into town. We stopped for a dish of Amy's ice cream (DH loved the Mexican vanilla), and settled for watching a movie in our room.

Sunday was our last day in Austin, and I was bound and determined to get to the Eastside Cafe. We missed it the first drive by, but found it on the second pass. The restaurant didn't disappoint, it was everything I'd hoped for! We started with fresh carrots and radishes from the garden, served with herbed butter and kosher salt. The waitress informed DH that the radish leaves were also edible, but she was afraid to try them. DH told her to bring him some dressing and he'd give it a try. She brought him a lemon vinegarette and they tasted pretty good! I had Eggs Benedict served with spinach from the garden, and DH had ground beef and veggies rolled up in garden-raised Swiss chard. It was a very pleasant breakfast. We finished off with a stroll around the garden, stopping to pet a few of the local cats sunning along the paths. Another great Austin suggestion!

DH wanted some more time out of the city, so we drove around Lake Travis. I had been wanting to send some postcards, but didn't have any luck finding any. We finally stopped at a Walgreen's. They didn't have any, but sent us to the HEB across the street. We finally had some luck, and the staff had fun helping us find them!

We still had a bit of time to kill before we had to be at the airport, so we decide to get a slice of pizza from Home Slice. Everytime we'd pass the place, there was always people waiting outside. We each got a slice of pepperoni and mushroom pizza and a soda from the takeout window, and ate it at a sidewalk table out front. DH was again commenting about me "finding all of these places on that travel forum." He agreed I had been given another great recommendation!

We still had a little time, so we strolled down to the cupcake trailer for dessert. We sat on the curb, eating our cupcakes while a young man sang and played the heck out of a guitar with his 2 year old daughter strapped on his back. We licked our finger, dropped a few dollars into the guitar player's jar, and agreed it was a fitting end to our Austin weekend!