People who don't like Austin......because of the restaurants??? (Houston: houses, neighborhood)

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by coog78

If people that actually live in Austin could get it through their thickhead that they should NEVER compare their town with Houston, Chicago, Dallas, or any other actual city, they'd be fine. But they don't. And the restaurant scene in Austin is one of the worst in the nation.

You stated on another thread that you couldn't find any good restaurants in Austin. You know what that likely means? You weren't looking very hard, or you don't know good food when you taste it, or this is because of some issue you have with Austin.

Austin isn't NYC, or Houston, or Chicago, or Dallas, thank goodness! But we've got easily got restaurants to match them. (And, yes, I've eaten in restaurants in all of them except NYC, which is foodie heaven, from what my son who lived there for years tells me, although a breakfast taco of any description is apparently unheard of there, and until very recently, decent BBQ was not to be found there, either.)

[coog78]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

You stated on another thread that you couldn't find any good restaurants in Austin. You know what that likely means? You weren't looking very hard, or you don't know good food when you taste it, or this is because of some issue you have with Austin.

Austin isn't NYC, or Houston, or Chicago, or Dallas, thank goodness! But we've got easily got restaurants to match them. (And, yes, I've eaten in restaurants in all of them except NYC, which is foodie heaven, from what my son who lived there for years tells me, although a breakfast taco of any description is apparently unheard of there, and until very recently, decent BBQ was not to be found there, either.)

You're a bit delusional. Austin has an abysmal restaurant scene. As someone who has spent in aggregate well over a year, probably closer to two in Austin, I have eaten at a large percentage of the supposedly good restaurants. The two best restaurants in Austin are ClayPit and Fleming's. Fleming's is a chain, so ClayPit is the only good restaurant native to Austin. You absolutely do not have any restaurants to match Chicago, Houston, Dallas, and definitely not NYC. Austin's a college town, accept it.

All of the aforementioned cities, except NYC, have bbq restaurants that easily stomp Rudy's or Saltlick. Thanks for WholeFoods and Central Market though.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by coog78

All of the aforementioned cities, except NYC, have bbq restaurants that easily stomp Rudy's or Saltlick. Thanks for WholeFoods and Central Market though.

One eats at the Saltlick for the whole experience. We moved to Austin from Rhode Island and Austin was far better in terms of price and overall experience. If you only compare Austin to top 10 population metro areas, you will be disappointed. But compare it to other mid size cities and it does pretty well. I've been to NYC several times and of course it has endless possibilities for dining out. But there are also something like 8 million people living there and probably hundreds of thousands (if not millions of tourists) in the area at any given time. With that kind of population, you have more restaurants and more variety. If that is your standard, of course you will be disappointed.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by coog78

You're a bit delusional. Austin has an abysmal restaurant scene. As someone who has spent in aggregate well over a year, probably closer to two in Austin, I have eaten at a large percentage of the supposedly good restaurants. The two best restaurants in Austin are ClayPit and Fleming's. Fleming's is a chain, so ClayPit is the only good restaurant native to Austin. You absolutely do not have any restaurants to match Chicago, Houston, Dallas, and definitely not NYC. Austin's a college town, accept it.

All of the aforementioned cities, except NYC, have bbq restaurants that easily stomp Rudy's or Saltlick. Thanks for WholeFoods and Central Market though.

Well, I don't consider Rudy's or Salt Lick to be the height of Texas (or even Austin) BBQ, though Salt Lick comes closer.

As for your closer to two years in Austin, I'll see that and raise you 38, plus eating at quite a few restaurants in quite a few other cities around the country and in a couple of other countries. I'm a foodie in a family of foodies (though we're not food snobs, because that simply means that you're restricting your possibilities and an educated palate can't do that), and I have no problem finding excellent restaurants in Austin, avoiding the chains entirely.

So I would say that I'm not the one that's a bit delusional here.

[centralaustinite]

I'd say Clay Pit is quite ordinary!

Did you eat at Wink? The Driskill Grill? Eastside Cafe? Zoots?

Austin will never be New York or Chicago or Houston . . . but you can get great fine dining here for a moderate price, something very hard to find in NYC!

And Rudy's and Saltlick are barely even the beginning of central texas bbq.

[Jaipur]

Originally Posted by coog78

You're a bit delusional. Austin has an abysmal restaurant scene. As someone who has spent in aggregate well over a year, probably closer to two in Austin, I have eaten at a large percentage of the supposedly good restaurants. The two best restaurants in Austin are ClayPit and Fleming's. Fleming's is a chain, so ClayPit is the only good restaurant native to Austin. You absolutely do not have any restaurants to match Chicago, Houston, Dallas, and definitely not NYC. Austin's a college town, accept it.

All of the aforementioned cities, except NYC, have bbq restaurants that easily stomp Rudy's or Saltlick. Thanks for WholeFoods and Central Market though.

Excuse me, but I believe that you're the one who is delusional! Are you kidding me? I would never step foot into Flemings. The clay-pit is alright, but you must have not tried very hard looking for a place to eat. You should go to Jeffery's, or Mandolas Estate (in driftwood), Aquarelle, La Traviata, Cafe Jezebel, Zoot, Andiamos, Uchi, Kenichi, El Greco, Blue Star, 35th St. Cafe, Bellagio, Chez Nous, Trulucks, Eddie V's... and that is only a few. You just must be to lazy trashing things to actually find some place nice. Because seriously, dahling must you be so bleak?

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by coog78

You're a bit delusional. Austin has an abysmal restaurant scene. As someone who has spent in aggregate well over a year, probably closer to two in Austin, I have eaten at a large percentage of the supposedly good restaurants. The two best restaurants in Austin are ClayPit and Fleming's. Fleming's is a chain, so ClayPit is the only good restaurant native to Austin. You absolutely do not have any restaurants to match Chicago, Houston, Dallas, and definitely not NYC. Austin's a college town, accept it.

All of the aforementioned cities, except NYC, have bbq restaurants that easily stomp Rudy's or Saltlick. Thanks for WholeFoods and Central Market though.

Dude, you are trying way too hard. I'm not sure if you are a Houston apologist or a Dallas apologist, but if you haven't found a restaurant you like in Austin after so many tries... well, you never will... so just move on and spare us the Austin hate. To even mention Flemings as a decent restaurant just demonstrates how far you are from understanding what a good restaurant is... please, a chain? And Clay Pit? I'm guessing you've really only been to 1 or 2 restaurants in Austin.

You can mention Dallas and Houston in the same sentence as NYC all you want, but it's not gonna happen -- they aren't even in the same league. Enjoy your suburban sprawl & chain restaurants, but leave the food reviews to the pros.

[brattpowered]

Originally Posted by Jaipur

Excuse me, but I believe that you're the one who is delusional! Are you kidding me? I would never step foot into Flemings. The clay-pit is alright, but you must have not tried very hard looking for a place to eat. You should go to Jeffery's, or Mandolas Estate (in driftwood), Aquarelle, La Traviata, Cafe Jezebel, Zoot, Andiamos, Uchi, Kenichi, El Greco, Blue Star, 35th St. Cafe, Bellagio, Chez Nous, Trulucks, Eddie V's... and that is only a few. You just must be to lazy trashing things to actually find some place nice. Because seriously, dahling must you be so bleak?

To people who are just into plain, expensive American and Americanized fare, Austin will always have an "abysmal" restaurant scene.

[Jaipur]

Originally Posted by brattpowered

To people who are just into plain, expensive American and Americanized fare, Austin will always have an "abysmal" restaurant scene.

I agree, but I was just listing off some nice (good) restaurants in Austin to him. I love to cook, and I rarely eat out anyway in the first place.

[coog78]

Originally Posted by Jaipur

I agree, but I was just listing off some nice (good) restaurants in Austin to him. I love to cook, and I rarely eat out anyway in the first place.

I am glad y'all defend Austin, but really, the restaurant scene is abysmal. I guess travelling all over the world is my problem. I will regress.