Austin Archives - Bang for your Burger Buck

Browsing Tag

Austin

ACL Eats: a taco throwdown at the Austin City Limits Music Festival

ACL Eats is as a big draw as the music is for the Austin City Limits Music Festival. My last post was all about burgers and this one . . . is all about the tacos. Now Austin has a rep for “keeping it weird” and some of the more noteworthy do just that. Torchy’s Tacos rethinks comfort food in a tortilla, East Side King brings you Asian street food in a tortilla and Taco Deli slings it farm to table via a tortilla.

Still, out of 5 taco offerings at ACL Eats, only one is straight up street tacos. A bit surprising, even for unconventional Austin. So which taco took the cake? Read on and find out!

ACL Eats: Burger Battle Royale at the Austin City Limits Music Festival

Austin, Burgers By blackbookali October 6, 2019 Tags: ACL Fest, Austin, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Burgers No Comments

The Austin City Limits Music Festival, or just ACL, because that’s just a whole lot easier to say, is just about fav thing to do in Austin. Wandering around the gorgeous grounds of Zilker Park with Austin’s downtown skyline in the background, beers in hand and amazing music at every corner, makes me feel like its Christmas Morning – my wife calls ACL “Christmas for adults”. As if that wasn’t enough of a reason to go, there is also the draw of ACL Eats: a diverse lineup of Austin’s food scene that makes for just about the best food court you can go to unless you are somewhere in Asia.

Last year I posted a day by day play by play of my adventures eating at ACL. This year, thanks to Sandee Fenton from ACL’s media team, I received a media pass and went in deep on a mission to taste the competition by categories. If you haven’t figured it out by now, this post is all about finding the best burger at ACL Eats. Yeah, a full on burger battle royale and the winner is . . . well, you’re gonna have to get through this post to find out!

Leroy and Lewis ~ Austin TX

Austin, Barbecue By blackbookali October 1, 2019 Tags: Austin, barbacoa, Barbecue, Leroy and Lewis No Comments

The Vitals:
the spot: Leroy and Lewis 121 Pickle Road Austin TX 78704
the eats: Barbacado, pulled hog, beef cheeks, barbacoa
the bucks: $20 a person for a hefty plate, $12 for a respectable lunch.
the full nelson: why Austin is the capital of bbq in the 21st century

Rosita’s Al Pastor ~ Austin TX

Austin, Tacos/ Mexican By blackbookali September 23, 2019 Tags: Austin, Cheap Eats, Food Truck, Rosita's Al Pastor, Tacos No Comments

The Vitals:
the spot: Rosita’s Al Pastor 1911 E. Riverside Dr. Austin TX 78741
the eats: Al Pastor Tacos
the bucks: $2 a taco
the full nelson: An Austin fav for Al Pastor tacos

Austin has a big rep for being a taco town, especially when it comes to breakfast tacos. As far as other tacos go, that statement needs some sense of bearing. Coming from Los Angeles, I feel confident in saying that Austin is not an Al Pastor town. That being said, there are a few spots to scratch the trompo itch and locals will tell you that Rosita’s Al Pastor is one of them.

Julie’s Noodles ~ Austin TX

Asian, Austin By blackbookali July 27, 2019 Tags: Austin, Chinese food, dumplings, Julie's Noodles, soup dumplings, Texas No Comments

The Vitals:
the spot: Julie’s Noodles 8557 Research Blvd #110 Austin TX 75758
the eats: Xiao Long Bao(crab and soup dumpling), Pork Chopped Noodle Soup
the bucks: $10 a person will set you up nicely
the full nelson: a divey Chinese joint that satisfies the itch for affordable & authentic dough driven cravings

Uroko ~ Austin TX

Asian, Austin, Southwest, Sushi By blackbookali July 12, 2019 Tags: Asian, Austin, Sushi No Comments

The Vitals:
the spot: Uroko 1023 Springdale road bldg 1 ste C Austin TX 78721
the eats: handrolls all day!
the bucks: $4.50 – $7 per roll, factor about $20-$25 per person for a reasonable meal
the full nelson: Quality sushi hand rolls at an almost hand roll only sushi spot

Uroko is a fascinating sushi concept: a high quality hand roll only joint that moonlights as a sushi school on Thursdays and a Omakase(Chef’s tasting menu) restaurant by reservation only, on weekends. What this means is if you want to go hard and drop major coin, you have to really mean it. Sushi ain’t cheap and if it is . . . that’s not a good thing. Don’t take short cuts on raw fish a wise ER doctor once said. TBH I didn’t actually hear a doctor say that but I’m sure it has been said before. Back to Uroko and Bang for your Sushi Buck: you can waltz into this little “food hall esque” restaurant and for as little as $20 you can walk out full with about 4 hand rolls in your belly, maybe more if you go for the beef tenderloin or the salmon belly, but not by much.

But is Uroko as good as a premium sushi spot? Well the answer lies in the chef’s pedigree . . .

1 2 3 4