In the spirit of the NYC thread and SF thread where I have gotten a lot of good info over the years, I want to try to contribute back. I will mostly focus on Austin as thats where I am most familiar

Austin

Tacos.

If you ask Austinite's, they'll mostly tell you that you have to eat a breakfast taco but honestly, anybody can fry up some bacon and scramble some eggs so I will refrain from listing the places best known for breakfast tacos unless if there is some other dish there that is highly worthy of praise.

Having said that, I will make a special exception for Valentina's Tex Mex BBQ. This is a place that makes their own smoked brisket, slices that brisket, then puts it in a breakfast taco with expertly scrambled eggs, thickcut bacon, and cheese. It is worth the trip as the brisket is 85% of top BBQ joint quality.

My favorite taco to get is usually barbacoa. The real stuff taken from a slow cooked head and not faked using other cuts.

For beef barbacoa, I like Veracruz All Natural which has 2 trailer locations and 2 brick and mortars. They are more known for their migas tacos but I like their barbacoa better though the trailer location might not always have it. Whats great about this place is that the tortillas are freshly made and the corn tortillas are filled with roasted maize notes. They also serve freshly squeezed juices and smoothies.

If you are willing to head to a more industrial part of town, try La Fruta Feliz for barbacoa de chivo, or goat barbacoa. Not hand made tortillas but the barbacoa is good and they also have a wide selection of juices and aqua frescas.

Further up North, you have Taquitos Aviles. I have never had the taquitos here but what they are known for is the barbacoa de chivo and the consomme de chivo, or goat soup. The soup is filled with goat broth, soft tender goat meat, and roasted chilies. It reminds me of a Korean Yujejang but with goat.

Now some of you might prefer Al Pastor to Barbacoa and all the above serves a passable Al Pastor, but none off a trompo. For that, head to Rosita's Al Pastor.

If you have a vegetarian in the group, head to Papalote's where there is a wide variety of meat and non meat tacos. All the meat tacos are up to snuff and their vegetarian tacos are really good. My favorite is the cauliflower taco which is a patty of slow cooked and mashed cauliflower that is then breaded and fried and well seasoned with chipotle and spices.

Fancier Mexican food.

I tend to prefer Licha's Cantina. Its a bit less corporate or stuffy than some of Austin's other upscale Mexican restaurants and the food is creative while still staying very close to its roots. A nice selection of tequila, mezcal mixed drinks doesnt hurt either.

My favorite from the menu are the ceviche, the lengua tacos, the bone marrow huarache, the camote vegetable dish, the roasted duck with mole.

BBQ

Franklins.

Is it worth the often 3+ hour wait? Yes, You wont be disappointed that you waited. Are there places 95% as good with more of a 30 minute wait? Yes.


La Barbecue
30 minute wait. Has beef ribs everyday. Get both brisket and beef ribs and sausage. 95% of Franklins on the brisket and I feel the sausage is better.

Micklewait's
30 minute wait. Has beef ribs everyday. I place it just slightly slightly below LA but its really close.

Leroy and Lewis
A little more non traditional. Classics still very good but will have more non traditional meats such as duck breast or quail.

The above are all lunch places. If you want bbq dinner, there is

Terry Black's BBQ
Has all the classics. Decent selection of sides. Solid solid BBQ but maybe not mind blowing.

Stile Switch
Similarly solid but maybe not mind blowing.

These are the places I would recommend going to in Austin proper. If there is interest, I will also list some small town places in the surrounding areas.

Thanks for this thread. In regard to Franklins BBQ, does that place have top tier everything (brisket, ribs, sausage, pulled pork)? What would you say is the second place BBQ in Austin?

I've eaten a fair amount of KC BBQ and would like to see how it compares. I'm sure I'll make it to Austin one year.

Have to mention the life hack at Franklin's where if you order (I think) 5+ pounds of BBQ in advance you can skip the line. Great option if you have a big group. I agree that Franklin's is the best brisket I have ever had, noticeably better than Terry Black's which is the only other place I've gone in austin (although TBs is still great).

I love brisket, but actually the first meal I usually seek out when I'm in Texas is Tex-Mex. There's just a je ne sais quoi about those plates of nachos with the cheese melted on each individual chip. Obviously I can find some close approximations where I live in California, but never an exact replica.

Orange, I listed the places in order of preference.

I have never had the pulled pork at Franklins and the pork ribs are good but honestly you should just save most of your stomache space for brisket.

Unfortunately my favorite sushi place in Austin is packing up and moving on to a bigger stage.

Chicago natives rejoice and try out Kyoten once it opens.

Amoeba do you have any thoughts on an Austin place that serves Tex-Mex in a mid-scale environment, like Matt's or Guero's, that isn't just cranking out mediocre quality food? Austin seems to be lacking greatly in that area compared to S.A., Hou, Corpus, etc. I never have an exciting recommendation for out-of-town place when they ask for a good tex-mex place, although I do really like Lupe tortilla fajitas, even if it is a Houston chain.

Txdome, I am partial to El Dorado cafe on Anderson Lane where Alborz used to be. Its not fully tex mex but I wouldnt call it authentic Mexican either. I enjoy the Carne Adovado there and the Carnitas.

For fajitas, I agree that Lupe is my favorite, especially the beef. I like that Lupe makes their flour tortillas from scratch too

Pizza

Austin has had an drastic improvement in pizza recently.

For Detroit style pizza you have Via 313.

New York style pizza, Home Slice Pizza.

The biggest explosion has come in Neopolitan pizza.

In order of personal preference.

Pieous (also get the house made pastrami)
40 North
Bufulina's
Backspace
Desano's
Stanley's Farmhouse (not fully Neopolitan)
Unit-d

New American

All of the following will be a bit hipster but food is solid.

Barley Swine/Odd Duck - Barley Swine is the more formal restaurant while Odd duck is more casual. Cost wise, the tasting menu at Barley Swine is 95 pp which is a decent deal but if you go ala carte, it'll likely run closer to 70 pp . odd duck is more like 50 pp and is all ala carte.

Odd Duck takes more chances so you might get a hit or a big miss. Barley Swine has more tested dishes and the menu doesnt change as often.

Dai Due - Hyper seasonal, super local Texas food. No real frillyness or plating but solid cooking. Very meat forward charcuterie.

Pitchfork Pretty - Elevated hill country food. Hill country ingredients mixed with modern techniques. Mains are very meat heavy but small plates are more veggie and seafood focused.

Olamaie - Elevated Southern cooking. More deep south than Texan. Biscuits and the crab dish are fantastic.

Lenoir - 4 course tasting menu only but pretty affordable. Its more like some plats du jour than a true tasting menu. Menu changes too often to make a specific dish recommendation but cooking is solid.

Fixe - more fancy Southern cooking. Like the shrimp and white beans dish. Like the beef tendon snack. Great biscuits too.

Cabo Bob's in Austin - Basically a much better Chipotle with more ingredients to choose from. They have 4 tortillas which are made to order using a tortilla press. I believe the flavors are buttermilk, cilantro tomatillo, ancho chili and smokey chedder. Other items not at Chipotle include baja beans, brisket, fried tilapia, mango salsa, cabbage, cilantro, zucchini, poblano peppers, some great sauces and more.

Chipotle was my go to for a quick healthyish lunch but can't bring myself to go back, at least while I'm living in Austin.

One of my favorite places in Austin is the craft beer place on Rainey with a Via 313 truck out back.

Franklin's is definitely good, particularly the brisket and the pork ribs. However I'm of the opinion that it's not worth the wait of multiple hours standing in line just to hope there is some left when you get to the front. I have a friend who swears by it and gets there at 6AM just to make sure he's in the front to eat at 11AM. There are plenty of BBQ joints in Austin that are still top notch BBQ with little to no wait. Black's, Cooper's and Stiles Switch are my favorites, and SLAB is an awesome place for specialty BBQ sammiches.

In regards to Franklin's, you can avoid the wait by calling in an order in advance and pick it up. Just needs to be a minimum 5 pounds, and has to be ordered days in advance.

Blacks will express ship BBQ to you packed with dry ice. I've done it and it still tastes excellent.

Franklin's pork ribs are a near spiritual experience. The pulled pork is meh.

El Mercado is pretty solid with 3 locations and some delicious Brisket Enchiladas. If you're up North, Blue Corn Harvest has Ribeye Beef Enchiladas that are ridiculously good, even though it's not a Tex-Mex joint.

If you're a Johnny Cash fan be sure and check out the Mean Eyed Cat downtown. It's a cool Johnny Cash themed dive bar with Stubb's BBQ kicking out food in the back.

Up in Round Rock is a dive spot called Y'alls that drops down some killer southern and cajun food.

If you just want a killer burger, check out Lebowski's Grill inside the Highland Lanes and Westgate Lanes bowling alleys. They are consistently battling HopDoddy's for the #1 burger on Yelp. He gets pretty creative sometimes.

I've already mentioned SLAB (Slow, Low and Bangin) on Burnet Rd. But if you dig good BBQ and like big sammiches check this place out.

Golf Delaware Springs in Burnet, TX. It's out of the way, but worth it. Course is always in great condition with fast greens. And you can usually get on for around $45 or less.

We're visiting Austin around next month for a family event. If time permits, we'll visit the Hidden falls. My cousin got a jeep and a truck that needs a few mods that we'll be working on like the new rack, tonneau cover, brake pads, new bumper etc. Hope the Valentina's Tex Mex BBQ and we could drop by and try them.

I was in Dallas and hit up Pecan Lodge for the first time. I'll be somewhat critical here, but the meat was still loads better than anything offered in any of the country's other regions. The brisket was overcooked a little, cut in thumb-width slices. The salt and smoke were great, and the wait was only 45 minutes(not long considering you get your food immediately after you order) or so on a Sunday afternoon. The Pork ribs were good too.

I would definitely recommend it for people coming from outside Texas, and for those in Texas too, but it isn't in the elite Texas tier that the accolades from a few years ago had placed it in. The location is great for visitors, as it is in the downtown/Deep Ellum(bar area) where there are tons of hotels.

Had brisket and jalapeno sausage from La Barbecue last time I was in Austin, brisket was great and that sausage was SPICY good

solid post/posts, ty- wife has been wanting to get down to austin. i've lived in mexico but recently moved to dallas and legit taquerias are more difficult to find than i had anticipated. i've never been able to find asada tacos quite like tacos puebla in ensenada, so i just make those myself since i can almost re-create them. but i did find a legit spot for al pastor tacos in the DFW area, just a little west of plano actually, called El Tizoncito. cheap, legit trompo style al pastor tacos, con pina y todo. they also have a super amazing black bean soup that they bring out a small cup of (free) with a garnish tray/rack, and the pro tip is to drop some extra diced onions into it.

been super disappointed with the local BBQ options, so i've just been doing that myself. local texans that i know say that most bbq enthusiasts in TX just make their own.

also gonna drop a DFW sushi tip itt, my wife has a colleague who gave her a recommendation- a place called Densetsu in Plano.

like omg, 5/5 stars would return. it was a unique spot in that the menu had a lot of very creative, non-standard rolls/items that you might find in a trendy eatery in japan, rather than a typical generic american sushi restaurant. a little pricey, but the portions were huge and it was all very good. the chefs behind the bar holler some crazy **** in japanese every time somebody comes in the door. great service and atmosphere.

and if you arent shopping at H Mart for all your azn groceries then idk what to tell you. that place is amazing.

Your best bet for BBQ in DFW area is probably Pecan Lodge like txdome said.

For Japanese food, I had a good experience at Tei-an but that was several years ago. One of the few places in the US that handmakes soba.

There will be a few decent Chinese restaurants in Plano given the sizable Chinese population. A place like YaoFuZi looks legit if you stick to the Jiangnan dishes.

Random restaurants I like a lot in Austin

Kemuri Tatsuya - Izakaya opened by the Ramen Tatsuya folks. Quintessential Izakaya. BBQ not as good as the devoted BBQ joints. Ramen not as good as their ramen only restaurant, Ramen Tatsuya. Lots of small dishes more on the funky side, smoked fish collar, monk fish liver, and if you are brave, fermented squid guts. If you have ever been to Aburiya Raku in Las Vegas, this is like a pared back version but with more Texas touches.

Ramen Tatsuya - fantastic. Better than the chain shops in Japan. Tonkotsu #1 and the tsukemen dipping noodles are my favorite.

Intero - new style Italian but very very solid. Menu changes very often but I haven't had a dish that disappointed me after going 3 times. Stuffed pastas are a strong suit. Makes own ricotta.

Yuyo - Peruvian restaurant with a very steong ceviche game. Both the classic ceviche, the ceviche divorciado, and the tiradito nikkei are good. I also like that they serve the Peruvian choclo corn. The pork dish is a good main. Alfajores for dessert.