Going to Austin w family - advice??

Hey All!
So my wife and I are planning our first trip to Austin for November or December for about 6-7 days. We'll be traveling with a 1 year old and are into all good stuff, food, music, outdoor activity, etc, etc.
Any advice from forum members would be appreciated as we don't know the city or region whatsoever.
We were planning on balling out and staying at the Hotel St Cecilia, Hotel San Jose, and/or the South Congress Hotel, possibly a mix of all three. Seem like cool boutique hotels, just hope they're worth the $$$$.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Cheers
Matteo

It's a bit of a drive (hour or so) but if you want some BBQ go to Lockhart. Kreuz to be specific. There are other places in Lockhart that are good but this was the first place my parents brought me and I find it excellent, it's straight BBQ no bull about it. You order meat by the pound and you get white bread for utensils, don't ask for BBQ sauce hehe. There are sides and they are good but you didn't drive an hour and a half for sides. The place itself is very impressive, the smoking pits and such. If you want the exact opposite (fine dining) I would recommend Uchiko. It's Japanese fusion that's excellent, had one of my best meals ever there. For more traditional sushi or Japanese food there is Uchi. Plenty of places you can just google that will pop up that are pretty good, I would recommend Curra's for Mexican/tex mex food. Chuy's will probably pop up a lot and it's not bad but meh there are better places for tex mex. The food truck scene is excellent and you can really get some awesome food for a bargain price. I don't live in Austin but all 4 of my parents do and I lived there for 8 years when I was younger. A lot of really good food around town and don't be afraid to try something that seems out of place. Lots of fusion food happening. I would start with some really good Texas BBQ tho. I would avoid 6th st. It's kind of the bourbon st. Of Texas. Plenty of excellent hiking/walking spots for some outdoorsy stuff. Lots of music going on all the time but I can't really recommend anywhere as I haven't lived there in a while

I traveled to Austin a lot once upon a time. One of the things I would take a family to is Lake Travis. Beautiful. The Oasis is a touristy , beach type restaurant and bar with a great view of the lake. (I would not make a meal of it but a cold frosty, apps and something for kids in the afternoon would be ideal) The music stuff downtown is part of the reason people go there but definitely more adult oriented.

Haven't been in years but lived there for a couple years.

Uchi for sure.

Hills Cafe has the real chicken fried steak.

Al Pastor tacos with red corn tortillas at Curra's was my favorite but Torchy's Tacos are incredible too.

It is ok to order chips and queso at breakfast in Austin.

If you are on South Congress, Allen's Boots is worth the stop if it is still there.

For me BBQ at the Salt Lick, true open pit. Bring your own Beer.

not Franklins?

too busy? i like Austin. i should visit my family there more.

Thanks everyone!
Going to TMBBQ fest, Franklin's will be there among many others!

Franklin's wasn't around when I lived in Austin. Haven't tried it so I can't vouch for it. That city is changing so quickly.

Here is some light reading on Austin for the uninitiated.

http://www.vice.com/read/reasons-why-austin-is-the-worst-place-ever-512


But Uchi... I have soo many fantastic food memories from there.

going to uchi for sure,
the vice article, well, it made me sad, because you know, i wanna enjoy being there. I'm trying to remember that Josh Ozersky told the world via vice that he hated brooklyn, and i like my life here i think.....
cheers!

I'm just playing around. Austin is a great city. It is incredibly easy to have fun there. It's what they do best.

Now, Brooklyn.. Don't get me started!!

:justkidding:

I went to Franklin's this past wednesday, so I thought I would chime in. Wednesday is their slowest day, we arrived at 9:45 am, and ate at 12:30pm. That is as short as it gets. Was it worth it? Yes and no. Yes, because I got to see what the hype was about. The BBQ is excellent, great flavor, perfect textures, not overly smoked. And at least it wasn't 5+hours. They do wrap their briskets so the bark isn't crunchy like a traditional place like Kruez, but isn't soggy like a foil wrapped brisket. Both Franklin's and Kruez make excellent brisket. If I were going on vacation to Austin I wouldn't spend most of a day waiting in line at Franklin's. While amazing, Franklin isn't the only man who can do BBQ right. For staying in Austin I would check out La Barbecue, I haven't tried it but it looks comparable with a slightly different style. They also do huge beef ribs that look great. Also Mueller Meat company, if it is open, is supposed to be where Franklin honed his craft. But don't quote me on that. If you go to Lockhart, Kruez is my pick, seconded by Blacks. If you take the Tollway, it's only about 30 minutes from Austin. It is pay by mail only though, so don't know how that would work in a rental.

I've been to Uchi once, and the small plates were very good. I was not impressed with the nigiri at all. For traditional Japanese I really like Musashino. Their rice is seasoned very well, and the fish is served at the correct temperature. Coming from NY, I don't know that traditional Japanese is what you are missing. If you do want Japanese, I would still recommend Uchi because their plates really are very nice.

Hills Cafe is legit as stated.

My pick for a burger is Casino el Camino. They serve them medium unless otherwise specified, and are excellent. The bloody mary's are the other main attraction here. Check out the Yelp photos, they are an appetizer and a drink, for $8. You choose the hotsauce(s) and vodka.

For ice cream, Lick has some unique flavors and is kid friendly IMO.

There are food trucks everywhere, hard to go wrong, just shop around.

While 6th is kinda bourbon street-y, I think it's still worth going somewhere in Austin for live music. The Capitol is very pretty, as are many of the parks. Of course Lake Travis as well.

Have fun!

Thanks again! super helpful guys!

Lots of good advice above.

I agree about Uchi -- their sushi is good, but not amazing. Some of their small plates are really great.

If you're staying on south Congress, Amy's is also good for ice cream, just across street from Hotel San Jose. More importantly, so is the Continental -- one of the best music bars in Austin. On Saturday afternoons, you can usually catch Redd Volkaert playing old traditional country (lots of Bakersfield -- he used to play with Merle Haggard). At that time of day, it's fine for kids, too.

Depending on weather, you might want to go check out Barton Springs (chilly water, but a great natural swimming pool). Driving out into the hill country just a bit is nice.

I think Franklin is unbeatable, but there's a lot of good BBQ in town. Stiles Switch up north is good and low key, and the Salt Lick is a classic (easily integrated into a drive west, and yes, be sure to bring your own beer). I would skip Rudy's, Stubb's, etc. They're fine, but you can do better.

For Tex-Mex, my favorite is Polvo's, on south First. Guero's is on south Congress, and has great fish tacos and margueritas, but Polvo's is generally more interesting food.

I'm really fond of Lenoir for an interesting dinner for adults. Tiny place, limited menu of small plate courses. Call ahead, ask for seats at the bar, and leave the kids watching a movie in the hotel.

there's a good place called Easy Tiger if you like German food/baked goods.

also it's boring but there is a Flemmings and I always like going there regardless of location.

I work for Uchiko, sibling restaurant of Uchi. If you are feeling Japanese/Fusion, you can't really go wrong with either location. It's more of a restaurant that focuses on Japanese and local ingredients with a strong french and modern influence. Majority of techniques and equipments used in the kitchen are not very Japanese to be honest. However we do use Japanese binchotan coals in our grills, and big Japanese nabes as our fryer, but everything else in the kitchen is mostly french with a modernist cuisine twist. Personally I am on the sushi side, and I oversee all the fish purchasing for Uchiko. We get fish deliveries from Japan, Korea, Aus/NZ, Euro/Mediterranean and domestically everyday except on Sundays. The quality of ingredients and the precision of cooking is fairly high, fundamentally we strive to put out food that we are proud of.

Now back to the OP's questions, I think for BBQ, probably either swing by couple of popular spots with different specialities at Lockhart or just do Salt Licks (BYOB and Cash Only) at Driftwood. If you have the time, wait at Franklin's, but i think it would be cool to make a half day trip to check out the outskirts of Austin and check out some of the local classics when it comes to BBQ. The entire FoodTruck scene is pretty awesome here, Yelp the locations of the good ones, some of them moves around and opens at weird hours. I do enjoy eating at Lenior off S.Congress, but having a 1 yr old could make it a bit difficult since it's such a tiny restaurant. There is also a fairly new cook store in front of Lenior that's opened by the same people. Barley Swine and Odd Duck are sister restaurants one focus on tasting menu while other focus on small plates, definitely worth checking out. Eastside of Austin is getting popular and hip for it's unique and quirky fine dinning scene. Top Chef winner and former Uchiko Executive chef Paul Qui has many food trucks "East Side Kings" and also has his flag ship restaurant, QUI, on the east side mainly focuses on tasting menus with some small plates served in the patio/bar area. For seafood, i would stick with Perlas(had it for dinner earlier), Clarks(same restaurant group as Perlas), and Mongers(also on eastside/visit often). If you want to stick close to downtown there are many mainstream fine dinning restaurants such as Fixe(cajun), Eddie V(seafood/steak), Perry's(seafood/Steak), and many others. Tex/Mex is everywhere, I personally don't really care for it, but it's extremely popular in Austin. The food scene in Austin is at a very happy medium between casual and high-end. There is a tight community of cooks in town, everyone is competitive but respectful at the same time. I think you will really enjoy your trip out here, the weather should be pretty mild at that time. And there are many outdoor activities, and strong artistic influence everywhere. Remember to KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD!!!!!