First time to Austin, TX

Not trying to hijack, but I figured a new thread wasn't needed.

A bunch of friends and I are heading to Austin this weekend; first time for me. I'm loving all the beer suggestions, keep them coming! But, how about some food recommendations too. We are planning on hitting Franklin BBQ on Saturday, is 8AM a safe bet to get there by?

 

8AM? You'll probably be the first in line.

 

Good to know, thanks!

 

Bring the following:
Breakfast tacos
coffee
beer
topo chico

You'll be fine. It's a gold time and the payoff is amazing!

 

Usually a line by nine, during the week. We got our food and sat down to eat at 11:55. It was worth it.

 

Live in Austin, been 3 times. The last time I went, my folks were in town. We got there around 2pm and there were six people in line. Not even a 30 minute wait and they weren't out of ANYTHING.

 

Been twice, heard the stories from the niece that lives not too far in Austin that they can run out fairly early. The have added more smoker capacity from what I read.

John Mueller I'd not bad and quick. La BBQ will be closed when we show up next month on a Sunday Monday.
Mickelthaites is on the list, as are a couple of others. Any recommendations?

 

Mickelthwait wasn't that impressive to me. I've heard LA and Mueller was just as good. I can't vouch for it though. They DID add more capacity.

 

The sausage at mueller is better than Franklin, the brisket is good but not Franklin level Of good.

 

I've had pretty great experiences in the last month with both of these places:
http://www.freedmensbar.com/ (we got this at work and everybody loved it)
http://kerlinbbq.com/ (got this out of a trailer at Live Oak, everybody we were with thought it was really great)

Also, up in Taylor, and probably out of the question for most visitors, but still worth a mention, is Louis Mueller.

At work, we used to have a guy pick up Franklin's once every 2 or 3 months through their bulk order ahead system. It's really great, but we've also gotten Louis Mueller's a few times and I would put as pretty equal. The beef rib deservedly gets all the attention, but the brisket was always really great too. If you're from out of town, IMO, waiting for Franklin's is wasting your time. You could eat some stellar BBQ at a half dozen places without waiting all day. Franklin's is the 200 bottle count barrel aged stout of BBQ.

 

Gotta mention Stiles Switch for mighty fine BBQ.

http://www.stilesswitchbbq.com/about/

 

Thanks guys. Stiles is on the radar, good beer list according to the net.

Kerlin is close to where we are staying, and I am meeting some people at Live Oak, so will probably try it one place or another. Pilz and brisket, can't wait.

 

Since you mention the Pilz, you should know that cans of that finally dropped this week. It should be pretty widely available, in case you're wanting to buy packaged stuff while you're here.

 

Thanks. From Austin we are going down to Brownsville to see family, then on to the Big Bend area. Having some good Pilsner will be nice.

 

If you're into Pilsners in general, I'll go ahead and plug Hans Pils from Real Ale too... not going to get you hype points, but its really clean and tasty.

 

Lived in Germany, so I like Pilsners. I've had Hans Pils many a time. Usually buy a six or two when down in Brownsville.

 

If you're heading to Big Bend, then a visit to Big Bend Brewery should be in order in Alpine. Can't make the taproom hours, then head to Railroad Blues and catch a show and choose from a good selection of beers.

http://www.bigbendbrewing.com/

 

...and make it a point to go to Boquillas del Carmen while in Big Bend!

 

Thanks. We will have our passports. Not sure of the attractions.