Each September my husband and I can be found in Austin Texas, at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. People come from far and wide to attend this 3 day steam-fest featuring 8 stages of continuous live music. While the bands are definitely worth the trip, I have to admit I come for the food. Unlike a lot of festivals which feature your typical hot dogs, beer and nachos fare, the ACL festival does things a bit differently. I don't know if it's just that proud
This year we brought down a couple of friends from New York and treated ourselves to the VIP tickets which included 3 days of all you could drink beer, wine and Tito's vodka drinks, never ending lunch and dinner buffets, plus a daily happy hour featuring high-end Austin restaurants that brought samplings of their finest for us to taste. Heaven! Each day we drank and ate ourselves silly. I wanted to share our absolute favorite item though; Frito pie.
Served directly out of the bag and filled with cheesy chili goodness, a Frito pie will never disappoint. It's so easy to make and cleanup is a snap. Just open a bag, fill with chili, cheese, onions, jalapeños, and sour cream; add a spork and my friend you have yourself a meal! Coming in a close second, and pictured below is the pulled pork BBQ sandwich from a local restaurant.
I hope one day each of you can visit
Juan in a Million - Not a turist destination! Authentic Tex-Mex
Hickory Street Cafe - All you can eat Sunday brunch, including homeade cobbler and a sundae bar
Salt Lick 360 - Go for the BBQ. Try the Queso filled with mouth watering brisket as your appetizer.
May is National BBQ Month and National Hamburger Month
Cupcakes, not for dessert (unless beef is your idea of a treat)
Because eating French Fries in the car is so tough
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-26-2007 @ 2:03PM
Polly said...
Glad you enjoyed the festival! The hubby and I (locals) opted not to go this year, in a fit of frugality that I later sorta regretted. Anyway, next year when you come to town you MUST MUST MUST try the BBQ from Ironworks. It's located at Red River and Ceasar Chaves and it is MINDBLOWING. By all means sample their ham. It's seriously the best I've ever had.
Here are a few more of my local favs:
Rudy's for breakfast tacos
Hut's for burgers
Vespiao for shi-shi italian (they grow their own herbs!!)
Curra's for interior Mexican (the tamales...oh my gawd!)
Chuy's for tex mex
Trudy's for Mexican Martinis
And if you're first meal just happens to be around noon or 1 (and why shouldn't it during ACL??) go to Kerbey Lane and get their queso, migas AND (yes and) gingerbread pancakes. The combination is heaven.
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9-26-2007 @ 2:22PM
Wendy Buckley said...
Thanks for the wonderful suggestions Polly. Most of our first meals did occur at that time(noon)! :)
We had great swirl margaritas at Chuy's one afternoon. However, the most lethal margarita came from OCH (Oil Can Harrys).
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9-26-2007 @ 2:46PM
Patricio said...
Breakfast tacos: Taco Deli (rudy's are good, but not this good)
Burgers: Ski Shores on lake Austin
Italian: Vepaio, sure why not
Interior Mexican: Polvos on south first, or Fonda San Miguel (up north)
Tex Mex: Gueros on South Congress
Mexican martinis: Trudy's but you can only have two, so enjoy lots of beer in between those two.
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9-26-2007 @ 3:16PM
Kostika said...
This si something I seriously miss about the States. Nowhere does festival/fair food like the US. And you have jsut seriously made me miss it.
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9-26-2007 @ 4:49PM
Chris K. said...
Not only is it good festival food, but it's cheap festival food. Unlike most big events that I've been to, they don't charge you a premium just because you choose to eat on-site. It's a very good deal IMO.
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9-26-2007 @ 4:50PM
chris furniss said...
Oh god that looks delicious.
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9-26-2007 @ 5:01PM
Wendy Buckley said...
BBQ is what I miss "the most" about Texas. I migrated from Texas to D.C. in 2000. Every time I go home I gain about 5 lbs from BBQ consumption alone! ha ha There is also a wonderful BBQ place just outside of Austin in Llano called Coopers.
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9-26-2007 @ 7:28PM
gromit said...
I have to admit - I saw the spork sticking out of the Frito bag and thought it would be the "taco in a pouch" I've seen many, many other places. Clicking through to the second part of the post, though, that looks like a mighty fine list of festival food! Frito pie? Oh baby!
I think Austin's moving up on my list of places to visit...
-g
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9-26-2007 @ 10:45PM
Foodie Bride said...
Austin has some of the best food in the state. I second Trudy's for Mexican and the queso from Kerbey is the greatest bowl of melted cheese that you'll ever find!
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9-27-2007 @ 3:09AM
Paul said...
reading this post is making my mouth water
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9-27-2007 @ 10:25AM
Wendy Buckley said...
Gromit, Is "taco in a pouch" made with Fritos as well? I'm intrigued!
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9-27-2007 @ 1:36PM
Moofree said...
I used to eat at Juan in a Million on East 1st all the time.
Great Enchiladas!
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9-28-2007 @ 6:31PM
chris said...
Breakfast Tacos - Maria's Taco Express on S. Lamar
2nd Kerby Lane - everything there is great
Hamburgers - Casino el Camino on 6th St. Best burgers in town.
Fast Food - P. Terry's right at S. Lamar & Barton Springs. The dude opened the joint AFTER reading Fast Food Nation. 'Nuff Said.
Pizza - The Parlour on N. Loop
Chuys is also an 'Austin Weird' place, worth it for the food, decor and people.
Coffee - Jo's on S. Congress. Get the Large Iced Turbo.
And probably the most underrated BBQ in town is in Whole Foods. Aged meat and a serious grill master. It's unreal, and NEVER mentioned in anyone's Austin/TX BBQ lists, for whatever reason.
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10-01-2007 @ 4:13PM
Crystal said...
I was also able to enjoy the food at ACL VIP. I haven't been able to get the frito pie that I found out was hosted by Ranch 616 off West Sixth Street, off my mind. Another of my fav's was the bbq sandwich at one of the Happy Hours. It was pulled something on one slice of Texas toast with a coleslaw mounted on top with some special sauce, it was to die for. I remember reading the host Beer b que but have not been able to find exactly who hosted that dish. If anyone knows please post it. I need seconds and can't find the place.
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10-01-2007 @ 4:19PM
Wendy Buckley said...
Crystal, I am so glad you shared that information!
:)
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10-03-2007 @ 9:45AM
trish Sierer said...
We loved the Jalapeno Chicken Corndog with Green Chile Mustard, which was from the guys at Moonshine. I think their booth was called Chuck and Larry... My husband and I went to Bonnaroo this year and we REALLY missed the quality food that we have at ACL! But not only do we have good restaurants here, but we also have a large number of small food companies. Check out Small Bites of Austin's blog at www.smallbitesaustin.wordpress.com and help out the small food companies in town if you can.
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