Friday, July 17, 2009

My first impressions of Austin

I'm staying in north Austin in a very nice neighborhood named the Arboretum. The Arboretum is actually an upscale shopping mall but everything within several miles is called Arboretum this or that. This neighborhood has virtually every type of dining and shopping you could want. A wide range of entertainment, cultural events and UT football is only 20-25 minutes away downtown. Austonians (some prefer to be called Austinites) keep complaining about the traffic. They should try rush hour on the Beltway around Washington. So far I've stayed in small furnished studio apartments in Marriott Springhill Suites and Extended Stay America Suites. My daily housing costs so far have been about 20% less than I was paying in my Fairfax apartment. I'll be moving on to Corpus Christi next week. When I return to Austin I will try living downtown.

Restaurants: I have only tried a few upscale restaurants but have already found some good ones:

Z'Tejas Southwestern Grill Fish Tacos. Good frozen margaritas.

Serranos Tex-Mex Restaurant Taco Grande Plate

North by Northwest Restaurant & Brewery Texas Style Whole Grilled Quail wrapped in spooked bacon and stuffed with a goat cheese stuffed jalapeƱo over spinach-cabbage salad

Sam's Boat Snapper w/Crawfish & Crab Sauce (FAVORITE) STRONG margaritas

Iron Cactus Salmon w/lobster picante sauce (FAVORITE)

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