This is Spilling the Beans, where plugged-in baristas give us the lowdown on where to go, what to do, and what to eat (and drink) in their hometown. In this installment, Paul Henry of Houndstooth Coffee shows us around downtown Austin, Texas.
When Paul Henry first moved to Austin 11 years ago to attend UT, the Texas capital wasn't the kind of place that attracted Silicon Valley tech wizards or hosted countless bachelorette parties on Sixth Street. And that's still not how he sees the city. His Austin is a small town dressed in boomtown boots, stuffed to the wide-brimmed hat with good food, good people, and, yes, rowdy nights out, tacos, and barbecue. Here's how to do downtown Austin (East Austin to come later on!) the way Henry, co-founder of Houndstooth, Austin's best coffee shop, does it:
As far as where you should stay, the nicest, most exclusive and expensive hotel in town is the Saint Cecilia. They have a sister hotel called the San Jose where there are a lot more rooms. Another hotel to look at downtown is the new JW Marriott that just went up on 2nd and Congress.
We have some friends over at Caffe Medici. The Patika trailer is also worth checking out.
Tacodeli is a vendor here in town that delivers its tacos to Houndstooth and a couple of other places downtown. My current favorite place is walking distance from downtown and it’s called Paperboy. With every order, you get a copy of the morning paper—I think it’s the Statesman or the New York Times—when you eat. I love their sweet potato hash and the paper provides a really fun alternative to just sitting and looking at your phone.
You would have to head east. I love our friends at Hops & Grain; they buy coffee from us and they brew 10 or 12 beers and they’re good guys. I like the Mosaic (a type of hop) IPA; it’s an easy-drinker as far as IPAs go. They also have the Dispensary Series, which is the umbrella term they use to describe their experimental project beers. There’s another brewery doing wild sour beers that just opened called Blue Owl Brewing.
The farmers' market at Republic Square on Saturdays from 9 am to 1 pm. Dai Due got started there. If you head East there’s the HOPE Farmers' Market on Plaza Saltillo. I think it’s more a hippie grocery store and a place selling made-in-Austin clothing than it is an actual farmers' market.
The Mexic-Arte Museum is a Mexico-centric museum that has interesting stuff: A couple of weeks ago there was a whole exhibit on Luchador masks. A couple of blocks down is The Jones Center, which is a gallery with rotating contemporary art exhibits. I’d also recommend walking down to the Capitol. Texas politics aside, it’s a really beautiful building with fantastic architecture, and some trees there are 150 years old.
People have written a lot about Olamaie and Dai Due for good reason: I honestly don’t think food in Austin gets better than either one of those.
For pizza, Via 313 has a couple of trailers, and they're in the process of opening a restaurant. It's Detroit-style pizza, so it's rectangle and super deep dish. I always get the Cadillac, but the menu changes seasonally. I'd also recommend Turf n Surf, which is inside this very average sports bar. But it has fantastic fish tacos and fish po' boys. They fly in fresh fish everyday and it's remarkably good—and a ton of food. They serve everything from ahi ahi to red fish and drum. Another place I like is called Yard Bar; it's a dog park bar that opened a couple of months ago and it's surprising how good the food is. Not only can I get a beer—and bring my dog—but there's a creative menu with well-sourced ingredients.
For sushi, there's a place called Komé that rivals Uchi or Uchiko, but it’s half the price. Lastly, there’s a place called Pinthouse, a pizza and beer place that just opened their second location; they’re brewing what may be the best beer in the state. The pizza is fine but the beer is fantastic.
I love Texas French Bread; it’s been around a long long time and it’s gone through several different iterations. Right now, it’s excellent. They bake all their own stuff in house and it might be the most seasonal menu you can find: They exclusively buy local ingredients and just hired a chef from Uchiko to work with them. The wine list is also remarkable: It's small, but it's a remarkably well-curated list and lends itself to a great happy hour. It’s going through a nice Renaissance right now.
All the famous places, of course: We love Franklin a lot. But if you don’t want to sacrifice all that time waiting in line or you want barbecue after 2 pm, I like Stiles Switch. I think it’s just as good as Franklin or La Barbecue, but they’re open till 9 pm so you can get it for dinner. Sometimes I'll just pick up a brisket and make tacos with it at home too.
A new place just opened called Small Victory. It's a very small venue with basic cocktails that aren't too mixology based; it’s more about the experience and just enjoying yourself. I either go with a Negroni or a dry martini. Sometimes I sip on mezcal because they have a great selection. For a mixology bar, The Townsend is a little bit further down with a pretty expensive menu but it’s in a nice old building. Another one is Midnight Cowboy, a speakeasy that's a nice respite from the dirty 6th. You can get tiki drinks that are on fire there and specialty drinks that have, like, 15 ingredients.
Tacodeli is a great downtown option. But El Chilito as my favorite; it’s dirtier and greasier but I absolutely love it. I went there a ton in college, so I have some nostalgia for it as well. But if I’m feeling hungover, it’s the place to go. I like their puffy taco, which is mostly veggies, but sometimes I’ll go with a bean and cheese.
I love going to shows at the Cactus Cafe inside the UT Student Union, which sounds childish, but it’s actually a really intimate venue. Townes Van Zandt and Willie [Nelson] played there a lot. I'm going to see a folk band, Over the Rhine, there with my wife in a couple of weeks. Another place I like is Barracuda. My brother’s in a couple of rock bands that play there. It's always loud with a boisterous crowd.
The token response is 6th Street, but that’s not really my scene. I think Small Victory is a great place to start. Then there’s a BYO private room karaoke bar called Austin Karaoke on the north side of town. It doesn't close till 4 or 6 in the morning because it doesn't sell anything. They’ve got a great selection of songs: My go-to is Bruce Springsteen "Born to Run." It gets really rowdy.
There’s a place called 24, which has fantastic chicken and waffles. The other two are Kerbey Lane and Magnolia Cafe; they’re both 24 hour places that serve pancakes, eggs, waffles, and other soak-it-up-style food. Last one: P. Terry’s, which is a local Austin chain where you can get a better-than-average fast food burger till 3 or 4 in the morning.
Head out to Dripping Springs, a town around 20 minutes outside of Austin. There’s a brewery out there called Jester King with a pizza place on site called Stanley’s Farmhouse Pizza. The pizza is great and there’s tons of outdoor seating where you can sit and relax. Jester King is making some of the best beer in the country; it’s wild, sour, and lambic, the type of beer people wait in line for hours and hours for.
The Paramount Theater. It's an institution that's been open for 100 years, but I think out-of-towners maybe haven't heard of it. In the summer, it does this classic movie series, where they show everything from Casablanca to Lawrence of Arabia and Indiana Jones. Everything is pretty cheap and all of the movies are on film. We’re seeing Jane Goodall speak there in a few weeks too.