Got back to muh desert early this morning. Austin was awesome!
This is what I would do.
Friday Night: East Sixth Street Trailer Food (Spartan, Way South Philly) then hit some bars. Liberty Bar has East Side Kings in the back. West 6th is horrible.
Saturday: If up before 10 AM, go to Torchy's Tacos and get a couple tacos. Around 12:30 go to Franklin's and get in line. (I find this a better way to get their food with less waiting and more sleep). For dinner, pick one: Gourdough's, Barley Swine, Uchiko, Uchi. Bar it up south of 5th Street.
Sunday: Tacodeli lunch and head out.
Things to do in between? Check out a show at the Drafthouse (specifically The Ritz).
We actually got there super early Saturday. We first went to Game Over which I posted about earlier, then to Quality Seafood Market for some bombin' Catfish, and then to Cabella's. What a cool store; the ultimate physical manifestation of the concept of "muh guns; muh freedom". Their gun counter was so big it had a ticket system; I'd never seen anything like it. The Catfish they have in their aquarium are so huge. And there's a huge diorama in there detailing different species of deer to shoot. Took a nap later then went to 6th. So badass; I forgot the bars we went to. At Coyote Ugly there were girls dancing on the bar and one guy got a shot dripped into his mouth by one of the hot bartenders. We had a fuckin' good NYC style pizza at a place that started with an R but I forget at the moment. A buncha guys from my high school back in El Paso were there too that night by chance although we didn't meet up with them directly. Finally, after some more bars and music we took a taxi to a strip club where I proceeded to blow $288 (which was not part of the plan but hey).
Didn't do Drafthouse since that's comin' to EP anyway.
Going to 6th and not drinking is a bad idea. Just take a cab. Expect the driver to be totally mentally unhinged.
The taxi we took from the strip club was cool actually..by that point we were drunk and probably more off the rocker than him anyways. So expensive though; our fare was ~$55...not really a viable method of daily transport at all, and I'm not sure if I lived there outside Central Austin that I would be willing to pay that every weekend I'd go out to 6th (and realistically I would go there every weekend if I lived there lol)
Thank you Lathentar for recommending Gordoughs and East Side Kings. We went on Sunday.
Son of a Peach is the best (and probably unhealthiest) pastry I've ever had. We were apprehensive about going to East Side Kings because it was in a not-as-nice part of town; but my friend wanted to go to Cheer Up Charlies which ended up having probably the best beer I had in Austin (although I forgot the name...it was a local brew >_<). ESK had this chicken bun thing with chicken, a strange type of bun, cilantro, and sliced jalapeno. It blew my friend and I away. Best drunk-and-its-cold-outside food evar! On the way back we saw a drunk guy hitting some traffic signs with a big stick.
Sunday was better because other than the food we also walked all the way from South Congress to UFO Pinball (which I felt was underwhelming if you're not a fighter enthusiast although it's still cool). The UT campus is gorgeous. Then we went to that Anchor bar nearby that has also been mentioned in this thread and had a burger which wasn't bad not to mention we met up with another old high school buddy who bought us a pitcher of beer. He proceeded to walk with us all the way back to 6th to the Bat Bar where we saw a pretty sweet cover band and take some shots. Otherwise 6th was dead that night and not as fun regardless since I couldn't get drunk as we had driven to a parking spot near 5th that time (good prices by the way; like $10 from 3pm to 7am in our case). We did see a guy at a bar go into the women's restroom with a girl and...yeah. There was a band doing a Dave Matthew's cover when the singer stopped and announced to the patrons "look everybody; she just fucked that guy in the restroom" lol. Pretty sure it was just a blowjob but everyone seemed to find it hilarious including the bouncer who told them to get out (and he didn't kick them out of the bar entirely either; a testament I think to how chill everyone is in that city)
random dumpster with this poster..."nigga i'm high as fuck"
On Monday we ate at this burger place called Hopdoddy. So fuckin' good and well worth the price and wait in line. Bleu cheese bacon burger holy fuck. Easily in the top 3 burgers I've had. Walked around the shops in South Congress (lotsa pretty girls!) and then had to take off back to EP.
In closing; while I totally broke my budget and had a somewhat mundane Sunday night; this city was fantastic and I've already made up my mind that I'm coming back. And hell if things work out in the next couple years I would live there. All that access to other East Texas cities, the drive to the coast and forests, and dat UT mang. The road trip was weird though. Stopped for gas at this strange little town called Iraan, Texas and also heard Pitbull's "Don't Stop the Partttaaaay!" song in the middle of a country station. Also your traffic is terrible. Thanks so much for the advice gaf; I felt like we condensed a 4-day trip into 50-60 hours (like 20 of which were sleep)
