Austin City Limits Music Festival is my favorite thing to do in Austin and the ACL Eats are a big reason why. Concerts, much like airports, have been a tough place for foodies. For years we have been at the mercy of the lame food court Gods . . . well no longer. Airports are stepping up their game and in the three years that I have attended ACL Fest, the food game is strong. That being said some spots ...

The Vitals: the spot: Micklethwait Craft Meats 1309 Rosewood Ave Austin TX 78722 the eats: brisket, barbacoa, pulled lamb, spareribs, beet salad, escabeche, jalapeño cheese grits the bucks: $20 a person, $30 if you go big with beef ribs the full nelson: the most underrated barbecue in Austin  If I had a nickel every time someone visiting Austin asked “is Franklin’s worth the wait?” I would take that loot and head straight over to Micklethwait Craft Meats. The answer to the ...

  The Vitals: the spot: Sour Duck Market 1814 E. Martin Luther King Blvd Austin TX 78702 the eats: Goat Chorizo Breakfast Sandwich the bucks: $9 the full nelson: it looks like a burger. it tastes like legit Mexican food. And its for breakfast. Sour Duck Market is the latest offering from Bryce Gilmore, the chef who turned a food trailer into two of the more celebrated restaurants in Austin Texas: Odd Duck and Barley Swine. I have been going to ...

The Vitals: the spot: Bird Bird Biscuit 2701 Manor road Austin TX 78702 the eats: Bird Bird Bacon the bucks: $7 the full nelson: a full on portable breakfast meal that is not on a tortilla To the tourist and the local, breakfast in Austin means breakfast tacos. While popular throughout the state, Austin seems to have made breakfast tacos part of the city’s brand, dare I say part of the city’s soul. But there is more to AM carbs than ...

The Vitals: the spot: Hightower 1209 E. 7th St. Austin TX 78702 the eats: “Burger” the bucks: $9 the full nelson: one messy steal of a burger that is worth the extra napkins Austin is an unpretentious food town, and Hightower’s dimly lit interior and casual service set you up perfectly to be surprised by a dynamic menu wrangling in Mexican and Asian flavors in a small plates format sized for tipsy appetites. Every time I eat there I like it ...

The Vitals: the spot: Contigo 2027 Anchor Ln, Austin, TX 78723 the eats: Burger w/ cheese and fries the bucks: $16 the full nelson: one of the best burgers in Austin An article came out in Bon Appétit magazine last year describing Contigo as a restaurant “locals bring out of towners in order to convince them to move here”. I would go a step further and say it is a place to bring your friends visiting from Brooklyn, Silver Lake or San ...

The Vitals: the spot: Pueblo Viejo 502 Brushy st Austin TX 78702  the eats: lamb barbacoa, taco Nes, taco chicharron the bucks: $3.75, $3.75 and $3.20 respectively per taco the full nelson: you can’t eat more than three. but you will want to.  My people, sometimes I just gotta come at ya and flat out say it: right now Pueblo Viejo is my favorite taco spot in Austin, may the whole damn world. They take the idea of cheap tacos and ...

The Vitals: the spot: Launderette 2115 Holly St. Austin TX 78702 the eats: Plancha Burger the bucks: $9 the full nelson:  A chef driven take on a classic comfort food burger I have been living in Austin for a little over two years now and while I feel comfortable waxing poetic on some obvious edible essentials like La Barbecue, P. Terry’s or Taco Deli; the fine dining scene eludes me. Part of it is because since having a kid, my wife ...

It often starts in a backyard where a Dad dumps lighter fluid over a pyramid of charcoal briquettes. Hotdogs stand at the ready to be charred. You inevitably eat outside. For a moment, the modern suburban American is somehow a little more connected to nature and the primal beginnings of human civilization. Eating around the fire is both ancient ritual and modern day American food tradition. In either case, while the scenario is fun, eating well from fire is often ...