Austin, TX

Andddd to continue and confirm from my Chicago blog, Austin was the foodie city I expected it to be…but we’ll get to that in a second 😉

Day 1: Flew from CLE to AUS via Allegiant on a 2 hour and 45 minute direct flight and gained an hour. Landed, ordered an uber ( YES AUSTIN HAS UBER), checked into our hotel and then bolted out the door for food—ain’t nobody like baby when she hungry (das what my mawm calls me). I had compiled a whole list of recommendations, so right away we referred to this 3 day Bible and headed towards Bangers (primarily known for their beer and sausage). We sat down outside, ordered some beer that tasted like a soft Bud Light and then I blankly stared at the menu. Sausage, hot dogs, bratwurst, chili dogs, Italian sausage, cheese curds, #HELP. Don’t get the sausage salad whatever you do Lauren, don’t do it. Omg I’m totally getting the sausage salad. I’m getting a freaking sausage salad in Austin, TX. God bless and WTF. And then a voice from the heavens came down…. or maybe it came from across the table and said, “Why don’t we just do apps and drinks here and then bounce around.” THANK GOD AND WHY DIDN’T I THNK OF THAT BRILLIANT IDEA, GABE. That being said, we ordered beef jerky and a chili dog w/ fries to share. I ate mainly the jerky but 100% tried the dog and HOLY GOODNESS both were phenomenal. As much as I didn’t want this type of food as my first meal, I was so pleasantly surprised by how good everything tasted.

Next we went to Torchy’s Tacos on Congress Street for our actual meal. I had heard so much hype about this place and it was #1 on my list of places to try. Needless to say, it HELLA lived up to the hype. We ordered 4 different tacos and split um (I listed them in order of preference): Tipsy Chick, Trailer Park, Washingtonian (special of the month), and The Wrangler. Just like at In N Out where you can make your burger ‘animal style’ (aka adding ‘1000 Island’ dressing on top), here you can make ‘um ‘trashy’ aka adding QUESO to your tacos. We ordered that on the side and dipped each one into this creamy bowl of heaven. LOL GUYS, if anyone tells you Torchy’s isn’t good you should run in the other direction and never trust these humans again.

After lunch we walked down South Congress. A cute, lively, but still quaint street that was lined with various restaurants and shops. We peaked inside, admired the random trinkets and then moved on to the next one. Along the way we stopped at one of the three murals on our list. Naturally, like any good mural, there was a line, but nothing too insane like the ones I’ve seen in LA. Post mini photoshoot we meandered all the way down S. Congress until we reached our hotel. I can’t say for sure this is a walking city but we sure as heck made it one! I loved it though, you saw a ton and worked in some cardio.

We stayed at the Driskill which was not only beautiful but perfectly located as well (two snaps for Gabe and his good taste). We legit had a 4 second walk to 6th street, a 7 second walk to the 24 hour Voodoo Doughnut, and a 10 minute walk to Rainey Street #dangerouslyfun. The Driskill’s bar was also a late night hotspot which made it fun for pre-gaming or football watching. Also, apparently its the 2nd most haunted hotel in the United States, which isn’t too odd considering its a 100+ years old. I don’t feel like my pics do this place justice so I included the link for better quality images 🙂

Any who, the first night we hit up 6th Street which is super similar to Cleveland’s W 6th, except filled with a variety of bars instead of just “clubs”. Our goal was to try the burgers at Casino El Camino based on multiple recommendations, features on Food Network, and local awards. Now, I don’t know if you know this but I am a burger connoisseur and

LEMME TELL YA, this burger was so amazing yet the taste was so unique I can’t even describe it aka Mind. Blown. All of my favorite burgers have been at hole in the wall bars and are most definitely nawt chain restaurants–simple and original but crazy amazing. After we finished up there we continued our bar hopping. We stopped in sports bars, cigar bars, and more club like bars and didn’t even get to a fourth of um. Each bar had their own style and personality despite its neighbor potentially being polar opposite. Finally, we ended our adventures at Voodoo Doughnuts–PLOT TWIST. I almost waited in a 1.5 hour long line at Universal to try these guys, but the one by our hotel was 24 hours which helped manage line.

Day 2:

I felt like everything Austin had was on someone’s ‘must try list’, including their coffee, so off we went to Jo’s. We went to the downtown location which had an actual store, where as the one on S. Congress only had a walk up window. Their signature drink is an iced turbo which they kindly let me try. It contains coffee, espresso, hazelnut, chocolate and milk. It was very good but over the top sweet and just one sip was enough for me! Overall the coffee was strong, the ambiance was enjoyable, and it was a nice change up from the typical Starbucks selection. After coffee (#butfirst), we began our walk to the Austin Mural and our breakfast stop at The Magnolia Cafe. Like I said, I’m not sure if people typically walk but we did and we mapped out our day for you in case you wanted some guidance (included at the end of this post)! We passed Gourdough’s food truck on
the way and figured we should taste test these life sized donuts ourselves. We went with the original because like, ya can’t go wrong, and damn were they good! Ours came with a few donut holes and one massively large donut and honestly there was a taste difference. Donut >donut holes.  After our short rest stop we soon arrived at the Austin Mural #fun. Snapped a few pics of one another and together and then trekked back to South Congress to really mangia.

I had called at 9:00 A.M. to check on that wait time, which I was happy to hear was none, however, by 11:00 A.M. the line was running out the door and we waited about an hour and a half. Once we were finally seated, the service was good and our food came out rather quickly. I thought it was really yummy, but Gabe on the other hand, I think it was his favorite meal!  From there we took about a 15 minute Uber to Barton Creek Greenbelt and hiked the Gus Fruh trail. It was about a 3+ mile hike which honestly was a just a lot of walking and stepping over branches, no true uphillness was noted fitful. The scenery  very pretty (even in January) and it felt great to see another side of Austin. From there we Ubered back to our hotel, napped and then got ready for dinner.

Salt Lick was on the books for the 2nd night. This was the second most recommended restaurant besides Torchy’s so I was PUMPED. We actually got there later, around 9 P.M. because we decided to drink at the Driskill bar first since we knew dinner time would be madness. This place was far outside of the city, about a 30 minute Uber ride to the middle of nowhere. When you arrive though, ugh it’s so pretty. We pulled up to a ton of land that housed multiple buildings that were outline in white lights that simply illumintated the whole place in the middle of tranquil darkness. Thankfully our late arrival plan worked and we were seated immediately. Well, we were both satisfied, the BBQ it self was really delicious, but neither of us initially wanted to admit that we weren’t grasping the hype. I’d say for how far you have to drive and the line you’d typically wait in, you can probably find BBQ much closer with the same if not better taste. Maybe it was the fact that people RAVED about it, because don’t get me wrong, it was freaking GOOD and their BBQ sauce was to die for, but overall with the sides and what not I just didn’t think the entire package was out of this world.

Day 3: 

Gabe and I had breakfast at the Driskill cafe which was quaint, adorable and like, straight out of Paris? LOVED IT. This hotel really offered everything (cute dining spots, a fun bar, spacious rooms, a great fitness facility and a solid location). After breakfast we walked to our final mural, “My Butter Half”, did the whole quick photoshoot thing again and then set our destination on Graffiti Park.

Along the way we passed the Texans Stadium and the Austin Capitol building. The weather was 60 degrees this day and it felt amazing. I was so excited for Graffiti Park and this really did live up to the hype. How freaking cool that there’s an area where you can just spray paint whatever the hell you want and have it be legal. You could tell who the true artists were because they were in the ZONE, but in general, everyone was having fun. Stupidly enough, I didn’t even think that we’d be allowed to spray paint so we showed up unprepared, however, if you go, I HIGHLY recommend that you bring paint and have a blast with it. (Plz make sure you find the Golden State Warriors drawing and kindly write underneath it “Blew a 3-1 lead in the finals” like Gabe and I dreamed of doing. K thanks.)

After admiring the park from all different angles, it was a full day of football and drinking ahead for a nice Sunday fun day.

We Ubered to Rainey Street, couldn’t find a solid sports bar so we stopped at the Vanzandt hotel for some swanky rooftop drinks. We drank at the inside bar because the pool area wasn’t open, but they had enormous glass windows that overlooked the city which was a stunner. After that we headed back to 6th street for more of a sports bar feel to watch some playoff football. We spent a decent amount of time snacking and drinking in a lively crowd of dedicated football fans.

After that we went back to the room, got ready for dinner, and then headed to The Oasis, which is about 30 minutes out of the city as well. If you’re going at prime time, give yourself like an hour or so to put your name on the list, grab some drinks, and then post up on the patio to take in the views while you wait for a table. The food was great and the drinks were chill, but that’s not what you go there for.The place itself sits on a cliff overlooking Lake Travis so the sunset views are unmatchable. This was confirmed as 65 people tried to capture this breathing taking moment all at once. We ate, we drank, and enjoyed the moment and then headed back to the Driskill before our flight in the AM.

THIS TRIP WAS SO MUCH FUN. I typically only travel for two days, but having that third day definitely allowed for more down time and some relaxation. I think Austin is a must see especially if you’re a foodie. The drinks and food were reasonably priced, definitely not nearly as bad as NY, Boston, or LA. As I said, we were there in January and were still able to do almost everything recommended other than dip in Hamilton Pool. The weather was manageable for walking and with the sun shining, we were definitely in good hands. Like any great trip I was sad for it to come to an end, but happy to relive it writing this post. Attached is part of our adventures that Gabe was kind enough to map out (all directions and mileage were mapped from the Driskill) with the intention of helping others plan their trip! If you’d like the whole list of recommendations that I received on places to hike/eat/drink, feel free to DM on IG @lonanni–the list was too long to attach!

Thanks again for hanging out!

Until next time,

–Lauren