黄 嘉 維

After getting the heave-ho from the employer, I found myself with a lot of time off. In a fortuitous coincidence, my brother was shipped off to Austin for two weeks bridging June and July. I joined up with him for his second week there.

Here’s a rundown on the places I went to while bouncing around Austin.

• The Ginger Man – Austin: This is the original Ginger Man, a bar whose cousin in New York City is one of the best bars in the city. It’s no different for the Austin outpost with great beers on tap.
• Big Top Candy Shop: It’s an old school candy shop with plenty of variety and there’s also an old school soda fountain to make delicious egg creams.
• Thai Passion: Decent Thai food but we went there more for convenience – it’s down the block from the hotel – than anything else.
• Bakerman’s Bakery: Again, convenience won out as this was next door to the hotel. Chocolate croissant and a mocha to start the day – not bad at all.
• Texas Capitol Building: The Texas legislature meets every other year for 140 days – sweet gig if you can get it.
• Hole in the Wall: A traditional dive bar with exceptional tacos. There’s also a decent selection of Texas beers on tap.
• Amy’s Ice Cream: Really good ice cream, especially on a really hot afternoon.
• Threadgill’s: I went there for some chicken fried steak. It was okay but hardly spectacular.
• Stubb’s: Surprisingly enough, though I came here twice, I didn’t have any of their food. One time was for a Greg Laswell show indoors and a Spoon show a few nights later in their backyard amphitheater.
• mmmpanadas: BBQ Chopped Beef empanada at 10 in the morning – awesome breakfast.
• La Casa del Fuego: This food stand makes really mediocre tacos. Not worth the visit in light of better options further south.
• Izzoz Tacos: The Padre, a taco filled with pork, avocado, and pineapple, is the perfect taco to eat in 100-degree heat.
• Opal Divines: Texas drafts for $2.50? Yes, please!
• Iron Works BBQ: The special platter came with beef brisket, sausage, and a beef rib. The best part of the meal, by far, was the sausage – the meat was spiced perfectly and the natural casing snapped correctly.
• Longhorn Po Boys: Their half pound burger, despite being rather large, was cooked perfectly – the center was moist and cooked, the surface had a crusty char, and the seasoning was just right.
• Little City: A block or so away from the hotel made this an easy choice for a morning Americano and croissant.
• Austin City Limits: The studio is a lot smaller than it looks on TV.
• Camino El Casino: A three-quarter pound burger with roasted serrano chiles – you can only imagine the heartburn that arose from this meal.