Austin turns chilly

I didn't expect this development. 

When I left on this long trip, the weather forecast showed Austin's high temperatures as being in the low eighties the whole time I was to be here.  That's about right for this time of year, so I packed only light, short-sleeve shirts.

That worked out fine yesterday, but today, as we were sitting in a patio at a business lunch, a front blew in, the temperatures fell, and it's stayed cool since then.  As I write this, it's 57 degrees out, and the high tomorrow is due to be 50. 

Fortunately (in this case), I don't get to walk much on these trips, and it's not cold enough to bother me, but still, I would have preferred it warmer.

Dinner tonight took us to Cooper's BBQ downtown, where we shared a lovely selection of barbecued meats and some spicy, bacon-and-jalapeno mac-and-cheese. 

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It was all delicious.

Dessert was my traditional downtown fare:  some tasty ice cream at a nearby Amy's. 

Now, the hour is late and work still beckons, so back to it I go!

If it's Austin and it's my first day in town,

then dinner must be BBQ, typically at Cooper's in downtown Austin.

And indeed it was.

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That's brain food, Texas-style, and it was delicious.

No, I did not eat it all.  Two of us shared it, and we didn't even come close to finishing it.

The mac-and-cheese contains bacon chunks and jalapenos, by the way, and it is both spicy and delicious.

Dessert was, of course, ice cream from a nearby Amy's, but I forgot to take a picture of my small cup of cold wonder.

Ah, the simple joys of the first night in Austin.

Getting smarter in Austin

And doing it the fun way:  by eating great barbecue.

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Specifically, this is the meal we shared tonight at Cooper's in downtown Austin.  Nothing makes the IQ soar (temporarily) like great barbecued meat!

Two moments in a long travel day

Sitting on the increasingly hot plane today, we received an unpleasant announcement from the pilot: the airplane had an offline AP, which meant that its air conditioning wouldn't work until the engines were running. So, of course, we sat on the tarmac for quite a while, stewing in our own juices.

Eventually, the plane took off, and cold, dry air flooded into the moist, hot space.

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If you look closely at the vents, you'll see the mist that rolled across the upper walls of the plane cabin. I loved watching it--though not as much as I loved the cold air.

Tonight, in a break from work, I made my usual run downtown for dinner at Cooper's BBQ.

I sampled the brisket, the sausage, a few bites of steak, and part of a beef rib, as well as the mac-and-cheese. All of it was delicious, though the brisket's edges were entirely too salty, a rare misstep for Cooper's.

Most of the day went to work, which is still eating my time, so back to it.

If it's Cooper's, this must be Austin

Indeed it is.  I landed this afternoon in Austin, worked for quite a while, and then headed downtown to Cooper's for some extremely good barbecue.

We're talking serious meat here, rich and delicious brain food.

Of course, we had to add a little bacon jalapeno mac and cheese, some beans, and a little Wonder Bread and pickles.

For the short time before I wanted to crash (I didn't; it was a very late work night), I'm sure my IQ doubled under the influence of the barbecue's power.

Pure Texas joy.

Brain food making me crazy smart

Eating Cooper's BBQ

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(no, I didn't eat it all; I was sharing) and finishing the evening with a small cup of Amy's ice cream (in this case, half rhubarb and half mango-strawberry)

is a sure way to boost your brain power--or at least to convince you for a short time that you're smarter.

Oh, yeah, I am a lucky man.

Am I in Austin now?

Heck, yeah, I am, as this amazing feast from Cooper's BBQ clearly shows.

Yes, there was a little Amy's ice cream afterward.  Just a little.

No, I did not eat all of that; this was an order for two.

Yes, it was every bit as delicious as it looks.

If it's Monday, it must be Austin

And, indeed, it is.  I flew out of Kansas City in the late morning, enjoyed some quality time in DFW, and hit Austin in the very late afternoon, just in time for rush hour.

Most of today went to work, as tends to happen on Mondays, even Mondays that are part of my three-city, two-week road trip.

Dinner was delicious barbecue at Cooper's and ice cream at Amy's, my new Monday in Austin tradition.  Neither ever lets you down.

Tomorrow, meetings!

Contrasts in meat

On the first flight today, I was lucky enough to get an upgrade.  The shoulder room alone made that a great deal, but it also came with a bonus:  lunch on the plane.

That proved to be a very tiny bonus indeed.  I choose the salad, which was almost entirely lettuce.  It came with a protein, this first cousin of the chicken of sadness:

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This sad piece, the chicken of regret, had managed to hold onto the tiniest bit of the moisture of its youth, but only just.

Fortunately, the lettuce in the salad was fresh enough and filling enough that I was fine with it.

Dinner, by contrast, found us at Cooper's in downtown Austin, where we shared (and were once again unable to finish) this wonderful spread:

Succulent, flavorful, and incredibly tasty, every bite of meat here was fantastic.

Suffice to say, dinner beat the heck out of lunch.

Down Austin way

I headed to Austin this morning, so wake-up came entirely too early after entirely too little sleep.

No upgrades for me today.  Instead, I enjoyed the usual over-sold planes.  I can't complain, though, because I had exit-row, aisle seats on both legs.

In the Austin airport, the two of us on this trip spotted a new (to us) flavor at the AUS Amy's:  honey graham.  Purely for the good of others, we split an Amy's "tiny" cup of this flavor.  It was amazing.  Amy's does honey in ice cream superbly.

In an unexpected and pleasant turn, the hotel at which I stay on almost all of these trips, the Marriott Round Rock, broke a long string of failures at getting me extra pillows with a bit of flourish:

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Yes, not only did they give me two extra pillows, they also left a small welcome basket.  For the first time in ages, I'll be able to complete a post-stay survey in complimentary fashion.

Dinner took us to the Cooper's BBQ here in Austin.  It continues to deliver the second-best brisket (after Franklin's) that I've ever tasted.  We reduced our order from our last visit, but it still proved to be too much.

Dessert was, as per my tradition, at a nearby Amy's.

Tomorrow morning, the meetings begin!

Upping my first-night barbecue game

It's my first night in Austin, so as usual I went out for barbecue, a food sure to raise the IQ and gladden the heart.  This time, though, I decided to up my game by moving from The County Line By the Lake to (the relatively new) Cooper's in downtown Austin.

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The reason is simple:  as much as I love the County Line for historical reasons, every single dish at Cooper's tastes better than its counterpart there.

As always, I went for the brisket, sausage, and beef rib, this time with a side of mac 'n cheese.

(The food above, by the way, is for two people, and we ended unable to finish it.)

The sausage at the two places is close, but the brisket and beef rib at Cooper's are among the very best I've ever tasted.  The worst bite of brisket I've relished at Cooper's is better than the best bite of brisket the County Line has ever served.  The beef rib is succulent and rich and flavorful and perfectly spiced, easily the best beef rib I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying.

After barbecue on a Monday night in Austin, you have only one choice:  drive to a nearby Amy's for a small cup of ice cream.  I made that same choice, and the result was a delicious pairing of blueberry and strawberry mango ice creams.

Ah, Austin, I am ready for you now.

A pork chop too far

I've been hearing for years about how great the barbecue is at Cooper's in Llano, Texas, but I've never been able to make the trip there.  I was thus quite pleased to learn that Cooper's had opened a place in Austin.  Now, friends have cautioned me that the Austin Cooper's wasn't quite up to the original, but it was still supposed to be excellent.

Tonight, two of us headed downtown to find out for ourselves.

The name of the game at any good Texas barbecue joint is, of course, the meat.  We knew we had to try the brisket and the sausage, the king duo of Texas 'que.  When I saw beef ribs on the menu, though, I immediately decided a pair of them had to join our order.  At that point, we remembered our colleague and pal, Bruce, saying the pork chop was excellent, so we caved and ordered one of those.

Little did we know at that moment just how big that chop would be.

We quickly found ourselves with all of this meat.

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What you can't tell from this photo is that chopzilla in the upper left was going on two inches thick.

Needless to say, we could not finish all of the food.  It truly was a pork chop too far.  We ended up leaving a third of the sausage, a fifth of the brisket, and all but a quarter of the chop.

That waste was the bad news.

The good news was that the brisket was the second-best brisket I've ever tasted, better by far than any other brisket I've enjoyed save for the all-time champ, the brisket at Franklin Barbecue.  Franklin's brisket is still the best, but Cooper's is mighty damn fine--and I could walk in on a Thursday night and order it after only a five-minute wait.

I will definitely return to Cooper's.

I was already downtown, so of course I had to head to the nearby Amy's for an ice cream dessert.

Tomorrow, I work in the morning and then journey home.