{"id":312,"date":"2011-10-05T23:08:10","date_gmt":"2011-10-06T05:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/drewkarpyshyn.com\/c\/?p=312"},"modified":"2011-10-05T23:12:37","modified_gmt":"2011-10-06T05:12:37","slug":"october-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/drewkarpyshyn.com\/c\/?p=312","title":{"rendered":"October 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next update October 12<\/em><\/p>\n

New York Comic Con is coming fast, so I’m doing\u00a0an\u00a0update today and another next Wednesday before I leave. <\/p>\n

In case you missed it, you can find my updated NYCC<\/a>\u00a0schedule on my September 30<\/a> update. I’ve got a few things going on, but there’s still some free time for me to check out the convention and maybe check out a few other things in the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

Uh… by the way. If you can hook me up with Book of Mormon tickets at a reasonable price, or tickets for the October 13 taping of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, fire me an e-mail<\/a>. (Hey, if I can’t use my low level celeb status for freebies, then what’s the point.)<\/p>\n

But while NYCC is just over a week away, the Austin Game Developers Conference<\/a>\u00a0is even closer! So why haven’t I been promoting it? Well… I’m not actually going to be there. This year the focus isn’t on writing; instead the theme is “online”. But BioWare will have a presence, including a talk by my friend and co-worker Georg Zoeller<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Georg’s a great guy. Very smart, and very German. (Trust me, as an\u00a0adjective it totally applies here.) Some people\u00a0also think we\u00a0kind\u00a0of look\u00a0alike, though I’m not sure which one of us should be insulted by that.<\/p>\n

While I lack the technical expertise\u00a0to give a presentation at this online-themed GDC, I can contribute something of value to those folks coming to Austin for the convention. So, without further ado, here are my restaurant recommendations for my new hometown:<\/p>\n

Torchy’s Tacos<\/a> – awesomely creative tacos and the\u00a0BEST QUESO IN AUSTIN!!\u00a0Multiple locations around the city, perfect for lunch or a quick meal. (The lines are long, but they move fast.) My go-to menu selections – the Republican with extra cheese and the Crossroads with extra cheese and chipotle sauce instead of tomatillo.<\/p>\n

Mighty Fine Burgers<\/a> – keep your In’n’Out and your Five Guys, this is THE burger place in Austin. Meat ground up and patties made fresh right out where you can see them. The fries are awesome (fried in peanut oil), and I highly recommend\u00a0DOUBLE BACON on your burger. Good shakes, too. But don’t take my word for it – here’s some random stranger’s post <\/a>on the internet comparing them to Five Guys.<\/p>\n

If you’ve got more money to spend (or are on the company dime), you can’t go wrong with the Brazillian steakhouse Fogo de Chao<\/a>, conviently located right near the convention center. (Unlimited meat = awesome.) You can also get excellent steaks and seafood (for a price) at Eddie V’s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But if you’re coming to Austin and you’re a carnivore, what you really want is BBQ, right? Here’s where it gets complicated. I go to Mann’s BBQ<\/a>\u00a0about once a week (yes, I’ll die young), but you’ll need a car if you’re staying downtown. Love the pulled pork, and they have the best sides and my favorite potato salad. However, I actually think the best\u00a0brisket is at Rudy’s<\/a>.\u00a0(Don’t be turned off just because it’s a chain. They’re quick, they’re cheap,\u00a0the moist\u00a0brisket is awesome, and they have locations all over the place.)<\/p>\n

However, if\u00a0you’ve got a vehicle and\u00a0the time to make a 40+ minute\u00a0drive, I think the best “overall” BBQ experience is to take a trip to the Salt Lick\u00a0<\/a>in Driftwood. Get the all you can eat special:\u00a0unlimited brisket,\u00a0pork ribs, sausage, buns, beans, coleslaw and potato salad (goes great with the\u00a0baked beans). Do yourself a favor and order a beef rib on the side; it’s worth the extra cost. But bring cash, and BYOB, because they don’t take credit cards and they don’t sell alcohol. (They will give you a giant ice bucket to\u00a0keep your bottle cold.)\u00a0And be prepared for a long wait; the parking lot always\u00a0has hundreds of cars, and they actually bus people in from the city just to eat there. They have off-duty cops directing traffic, and everyone waiting to get seated enjoys an informal picnic atmosphere\u00a0outside while waiting. Sometimes they even have live music while you wait. (Don’t go to the Round Rock location; it just doesn’t have the same charm and feel. Sorry, Round Rock.)<\/p>\n

Okay, that’s my personal guide to the Austin food scene. There are plenty of other fine restaurants in the city and I’m sure I missed some great ones, but these are the places I\u00a0go to over and over. And if you see me in person, you can\u00a0tell I’m a man who knows and enjoys his food.<\/p>\n

Back next week with a final update for my New York schedule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Next update October 12 New York Comic Con is coming fast, so I’m doing\u00a0an\u00a0update today and another next Wednesday before I leave.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/drewkarpyshyn.com\/c\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/drewkarpyshyn.com\/c\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/drewkarpyshyn.com\/c\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drewkarpyshyn.com\/c\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drewkarpyshyn.com\/c\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/drewkarpyshyn.com\/c\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318,"href":"http:\/\/drewkarpyshyn.com\/c\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions\/318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/drewkarpyshyn.com\/c\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drewkarpyshyn.com\/c\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drewkarpyshyn.com\/c\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}