Day 3 of Austin City Limits Music Festival would be the grand finale of my ACL Eats Fest, and I think I went out with a bang. Micklethwait Craft Meats is not only my favorite vendor amongst the food court here but also ranks up there with the top three best barbecue joints I have ever been too. But don’t sleep on Tamale Addiction, which ended up being the biggest surprise ACL Eat of the festival. Which one will be my ACL Eat of the day? Well there is one way to find out!
And then there was Day 2 of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, which meant a fresh round of ACL Eats. I gotta say going hitting up all three days of an ACL weekend is a strong move, where pace and eyeing the right mix of food vendors is key. Chilantro and Noble Sandwich Co(aka Noble Pig) are both popular Austin staples that have gotten national attention in print media and food television. You really can’t go wrong visiting either of these spots but which spot and which dish became my ACL Eat of the day? Let’s find out!!
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 are better than others so read on and refresh your browsers because I’ll be posting on new places for each of the three days I will be attending. And without further ado: Day 1 of ACL Eats at Austin City Limits Music Festival 2018.
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 Odd Duck for years now, in part because I take food tours there via Austin Eats and because ponying up to the bar for a brilliant cocktail program and some intriguing farm to table cooking with a Texas edge is worth the money for the babysitter. Though its set up as fast casual, Sour Duck is serving up something more than his Odd relative: a family friendly environment. The place is practically kid proof, has a full bar and serves up the same quality ingredients is a casual all day menu. There is a God. And God likes breakfast.
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 just corn or wheat tortillas, like biscuits, which are kind of a thing in the South. Part of the excitement for me when I moved to Austin was the idea that I would be getting loads of great Southern eats in the ATX. After all moving from Southern California to Texas is dramatically closer to the land of whistling dixie. But the South, Austin is not. Up until recently I haven’t found fried chicken worth blogging about(coming soon). And as far as biscuits go, I’d just as soon hop on a plane to the deep South, which I have been doing a lot lately if you have been catching up on your Cheap Eats. Still, it doesn’t mean it is impossible to make a good biscuit in the 512 and I think that just may have been the motivation for Thunderbird founders Brian Batch and Ryan McElroy to bring their biscuit dream out of the oven and into the mouths of hungry Austinites looking for a quick breakfast fix with the brand new Bird Bird Biscuit.
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 more and more. If you watch Cheap Eats carefully or read this blog(which I’m guessing you do since you are right now) you know that I flip for flavor forward foods. Mexican and Asian cooking certainly can serve that up, and being an American who is spoiled by food culture choices, it is nice to go to one place that has great whiskey and food I would crave a day after having plenty of whiskey. Before we get to the burger however I do feel we need to get into some other highlights of the menu that might have you picking Hightower for a date night as much as a burger binge.