By Mike Geruso and Marika Cabral
Welcome to Austin for the 2022 ASHEcon meeting! We’ve put together a list of some of our favorite spots to check out while you’re here. We’ve included plenty of outdoor spaces–even most indoor restaurants have some outdoor seating. We’ve also placed a walking tag on all locations that are within about a mile of the conference site and would be a pleasant enough walk, if you can take the heat. You’ll see that nothing on the infamous Sixth Street appears on our list–we encourage you to avoid that part of town unless you are aching to join the drunken parade of out-of-towners doing their bachelor or bachelorette parties.
Food and Drinks:
Barbecue on paper plates: Micklethwait Craft Meats BBQ (Mike’s Pick), Cooper’s [walking .4 mi] , Stiles Switch, Black’s, la Barbecue, Franklin’s (long lines), Salt Lick (location out of town if you have a car; otherwise try location in airport).
Fancier Barbecue: Loro, Lambert’s [walking .7 mi]
Mexican and Tex-Mex (reservations required): Licha’s Cantina (casual, hip) [walking .6 mi], Condessa [walking .6 mi], Fonda San Miguel (classic), Fresa’s Chicken al Carbon (South First location, Mike’s Pick), ATX Cocina, Suerte
Breakfast Tacos: Tacodeli [Congress Ave location walking 0.4 mi], Torchy’s tacos, Veracruz All Natural [1st Floor of Line hotel walking 0.5 mi] (Marika’s pick)
Other casual restaurants with outdoor space; no reservations; family friendly: Fareground [walking .5 mi], Easy Tiger (east location; Marika’s pick), Home Slice (north loop location), Central Machine Works, Sour Duck Market
Fancier restaurants (reservations required): Launderette (Marika’s pick), Odd Duck, Uchiko (Mike’s Pick), Bar Peached, Justine’s Brasserie, Parkside [walking .2 mi], Perla’s, Qi
Sweets: Amy’s Ice Cream, Gourdough’s donuts
Drinks (all have good outdoor space): Better Half Coffee & Cocktails, Whisler’s, Kitty Cohen’s, Butterfly Bar, Lustre Pearl East, Lazarus Brewing
Attractions:
Music: You can see what is playing in town on this website: https://showlistaustin.com/.
Dancing with Live Music: Broken spoke (two step lessons 8pm-9pm, Wednesday – Saturday, usually followed by a band); White Horse
Barton Springs: Natural swimming hole just across the lake from downtown. Recommended for proficient swimmers (there is no shallow end).
Deep Eddy pool: Spring-fed pool downtown. Great on a hot day. Kid-friendly.
Parks: Zilker park is nice to stroll through and has great views of downtown. For kids, Pease park and Alliance Children’s Garden have fantastic play structures.
Hike and Bike Trail: [walking] A walking, running, and biking trail that runs along the lake through the downtown area. It’s a 14.5 mile loop, but it is easy to do a shorter segment.
Lake activities: Kayaking, canoeing, stand-up paddle boarding on Ladybird Lake (the river through downtown). There are rental places along the hike and bike trail.
Thinkery. Children’s museum just northeast of downtown.