Here is something I posted on another site about my visit to Austin yesterday, and about food and beverage, which is very important to me 
: OK, let me preface this post by saying that we make the best pork barbeque in the world in the southeastern US, including the great state of Tennessee that we all love.
That said, there is something to this Texas barbecue thing.
Been in Texas since Wednesday with my son, actually in Jarrell, TX, which is a small town about halfway between Killeen and Austin. My son is posted at Fort Hood, which is adjacent to Killeen, and my daughter in law works as a nurse manager at a hospital in Austin.
The second night we were here we went and got an obscene amount of brisket, sausage, turkey, and ribs from a mom and pop barbecue joint across I-35 from his house. It was out of this world stuff. Especially loved the sausage and ribs. Mrs. ID loved the turkey, which was moist and flavorful.
Yesterday we visited the sites of Austin. Saw a lot of stuff, including the "other" UT. Some observations from there.
1. The football stadium ain't no Neyland. It looked to me like Williams Brice before they refurbished and enlarged WB a few years back. Plus the color orange they use is down right ugly. Not impressed.
2. The UTexas baseball stadium is a different story, however. It is huge, and it is beautiful. It rivals any AAA stadium I have ever seen, including the new one in the Austin suburb of Round Rock, which we saw yesterday, too. Nolan Ryan is the owner of the Round Rock franchise. Back to the baseball stadium, it is as good as any in college baseball and is another example of what commitment can do for a college baseball program. It is a big time facility, which is one of the reasons they have a big time baseball program, not to mention that they have possibly the best college baseball coach in NCAA history in Augie Garrido.
3. Didn't go inside the basketball arena, but it didn't look like anything special outside. Had fond memories of Bruce Pearl's guys coming down here and whipping that Longhorn ass.
4. Saw the track and field facility. Definitely first class.
Also saw the LBJ Library and the Texas State Museum. Learned lots of stuff I didn't know about either. Funny, however, that there wasn't a section in the LBJ Library about his part in the conspiracy to kill JFK.
Saw the Moody Theater, which is where Austin City Limits is taped. It's on the corner of Willie Nelson Avenue, and there is a huge Willie Nelson statue there. I am a huge Austin City Limits fan. Definitely a highlight for me.
So, back to food since we are in the food forum, after seeing the sites of Austin we went out to Driftwood, TX, which is about 25 miles from downtown Austin to a place called The Salt Lick. It is a major barbecue joint, and also has a winery on site. Let me tell you - this is the kind of place I have always thought about when I have thought about Texas barbecue, and it didn't disappoint. It was awesome. First of all, there had to be 300 cars in the parking lot at 4 PM, and they told us it would be a 2 hour wait, and it turned out to be about an hour and a half, but it was a great hour and a half. After we did the wine tasting we sat down in the "staging area" and listed to a really good Texas Country/Red Dirt band and enjoyed a few Shiner Bocks and Shiner Blondes. When our buzzer finally went off an we got in to the building, the first thing I saw was an incredibly large barbecue pit - just like I expected. Once we ordered and got our food it was absolutely incredible - awesome brisket, sausage, ribs, and turkey. Sides were good - cole slaw, Texas beans, and a hot potato salad that was to die for.
And the prices were good. They could easily charge much more.
This is the original salt lick. They also have one next to the aforementioned AAA baseball stadium in Round Rock, but it is much smaller and not the "experience" that the original is.
If anybody is ever in Austin, I highly recommend the Salt Lick.
Website:
http://www.saltlickbbq.com/
