Austin Part II

After The Foals concert on Thursday night, we still had two full days left in the Austin.  I had to put in some hours for work and stopped into the BackOffice Associates to hang out with the team and get online.  The guys in the office pointed me to an awesome lunch spot in downtown that consisted of a collection of food trucks.  They highly recommended the Korean Mexican fusion truck called Chi'Lantro.  The kimchi tacos and kimchi fries were the best.

6th Street is hopping

I met up with Rameen, his girlfriend Katie and their Austin friend Christy that afternoon.  We all went out on 6th Street for some bar hopping but I couldn't tell you which ones we visited.  I would compare 6th Street to a mix between downtown Nashville and Bourbon Street in New Orleans (minus the open containers).  It has the country flare of Texas mixed with the concentration of bars and street closures to cars that you get in New Orleans.  6th Street is the center of South by Southwest and even though we were about a month late to see it.  Maybe next year.

On Saturday Rameen and Katie left to spend Easter with Katie's parents but Christy was cool enough to let me hang out for the rest of the weekend.  She brought me over to a friends' place and we hung out for a while, then took their boat out on Lake Austin (actually a reservoir created by a dammed section of the Colorado River).  One of the guys was Australian, so we had a lot to talk about.

Zappa wake surfing on Lake Austin

A few of the guys took turns wake surfing.  I had never seen it before, but they start out being pulled by the boat like a wake board.  Then they eventually let go of the rope because the forward force of the wake.  I never took a turn - growing up I never had any luck wake boarding, water skiing or anything else, plus I was having fun taking pictures with my new camera.

The guys were drinking a cocktail from a big thermos called Cariboo Lou that was pretty good.  I'll have to remember it whenever I'm looking for an easy drink to make.  They got the name and the ingredients from a TECH N9NE song, and I quote:

Half a bottle of 151
Off of the jug one cup of Malibu rum
Baby that's what's up
Then you fill the rest of the jug
With pineapple juice, and it's cracking

On Saturday night we hit 6th Street again and started out at a whiskey bar called Tenoak.  I noted this bar in particular because the bartender served me what might be my new favorite bourbon - Willett Reserve.  It's sippin' whiskey, not for mixing - just how I like it.  Thanks to Christy for putting me up an extra night in her house even though we just met!

On a side note, my friend Will got his undergrad degree at UT and made these recommendations.  I didn't get a chance to check any of them out, but will the next time I visit the city.  And there will be a next time.

Brunch/Breakfast tacos

• Juan in a Million - really cheap and really good, probably won’t leave hungry
• Maria’s Taco Express
• Torchy’s
• El Chilito

Lunch

• Texadelphia - great cheesesteaks, chips & queso, the one on the main drag is the original and the best
• Chuy’s - good Tex-Mex
• El Arroyo - good at Tex-Mex at the end of 6th Street
• Dirty Martin’s - good, greasy burger close to campus

Drinks

• Trudy’s - home of the Mexican martini (they’ll stop you after 2)
• Iron Cactus - good place to grab drinks and watch 6th Street from bird’s eye view

BBQ

• Franklin’s - someone told me that this place was really good, it started as a food truck and just opened a regular restaurant
• Stubb’s - food is ok, but usually have good live music
• County Line - all you can eat, not as far of a drive as the Salt Lick; probably 20 minutes from downtown
• Iron Works - good spot close to downtown

The Foals in Austin

Taking a break between sets

Rameen and I reunited in Austin this past weekend although it has only been a few weeks since I saw him in Houston. We planned this trip to see The Foals play live months before UK made the Final Four. I've been listening to a lot of XM radio lately, and coincidentally both of the opening bands (The Naked and Famous and Freelance Whales) are in rotation on Alt Nation. This was going to be a rocking show.

We decided on Austin because it was a city I'd never been to and was supposed to be really fun. The band came through LA and Dallas - boring. Let's try something new. Disco, an American friend I made in Sydney, was back in the States (temporarily - he got the bug and is moving back to Oz) and lived in Austin so he joined us at the concert.

My flight was delayed so the guys picked me up directly from the airport and we headed to the show. I took my new camera along and got some pretty cool shots throughout the night. The venue was La Zona Rosa and it was a pretty good place to watch a show - intimate, but not too small.

As far as lineups go, this was probably the best show I've ever seen.  All three bands really rocked out.  Here is the set list of Foals as I tried to note it during the show. It was kind of hard because some of their songs blend together.

Blue Blood
Olympic Airways
Total Life Forever
Cassius
Miami
After Glow
Black Gold
2 Trees
Spanish Sahara
Red Socks Pugie
Electric Bloom

Encore:
(Unknown) - (New Song)
The French Open
Two Steps, Twice

I took a ton of pictures; here are some of my best shots from the night.