Foodie Survivor Tips for SXSW

The annual carnival known as South by Southwest comes to town this week, which means a significant disruption of the downtown dining we locals are used to.

Tip #1

You can’t navigate anywhere downtown so don’t even try. Drive your car to the closest point and then arrange for Uber to pick you up. And even that’s a long shot. You may as well resolve yourself to a long hike… and a long night. Who knows? You may run into an unofficial performance by four Swedish hiphop artists.

Tip #2

Reservations at downtown restaurants (especially during the Film and Interactive segments will be virtually impossible to get). So be original. Ask if you can dine at the bar. Be prepared to wait. The queue is a time-honored tradition at SXSW, and we locals have experience: witness Franklin’s daily line, or even Hopdoddy’s. So if you want to dine downtown wear a good pair of walking shoes… and chill!

Tip #3

Use SXSW as a chance to experiment with local food trucks. Tons of them will be crammed in downtown serving up everything from real Lobster Rolls (Garbo’s) to serious Pad Prik King (Coat and Thai). It will be a literal cornucopia of finger food treats. Sure there will be lines there as well, but not as long as at some of the restaurants. Or you can join the lines at Garage Mahal across Cesar Chavez.

Tip #4

Forget downtown completely and spread out. There are dozens of fun restaurants South of Ben White (Azul Tequila, The District, Hao Hao, Homespun Kitchen, Creek Road Cafe, Bordeaux’s, Sap’s Fine Thai Cuisine, and Jack Allen’s Kitchen) just to name a few.

North of 183 should be pretty safe as well. (Start with Freda’s Seafood Grill, Soto, the Texican Cafe and Cedro) all around Lakeline Mall. Down 620 a bit takes you to this year’s first place finisher in our 2014 Pizza Wars competition, Saccone’s.

Tech Ridge Center off IH-35 at Yeagar will allow you to explore the many pleasures of Zed’s. And just north on 183 lies Mikado for fine Japanese fare. Up the street on Burnet is the little Italian gem Andiamo. There’s more but I think you get the idea.

By no means is Austin cuisine exclusively defined by or limited to the offerings of downtown places.

So good luck surviving this year’s onslaught of over two thousand bands: and may the force be with you:)