The Tig Archives

Insider's Guide to Austin

The Tig - 31st July 2015

You know when you meet someone and you just like them? Like, like them in your guts. That's what happened when I met Roslayn Rojmar while in Austin, Texas for the ATX festival with my Suits castmates a couple months ago. It didn't hurt that we were twinning in matching panama hats and cat eye frames, or that she was so effusive about her love of the show, and even moreso of The Tig. And then it dawned on me – while most Insider's Guides have been from friends in the celeb/high profile spectrum, at their core, these guides are about getting the best intel on a city from someone whose judgment you trust – no matter what they do, or where they come from. Simply cool people who aren't going to send you to a tourist trap. Cue Rosalyn – the kind of gal you look at and say, "I want to eat where she eats, shop where she shops, hang where she hangs...and walk my dogs where she walks hers." Serendipity at its finest for this perfect guide to Austin, Texas. Thanks Rosalyn! You really are such a gem. #TigTeam for life.

FROM ROSALYN

Call it divine intervention or just pure dumb luck but when Meghan asked if I wanted to write the Insider's Guide for my beloved Austin, well I'd ask you to pinch me, because I'd have to say I was dreaming. Austin, you spoil me every day! Your combination of weirdness, southern heart, western spirit, and Yankee intellect make it hard not to brag and in writing this for The Tig, you made me fall in love with you all over again. Here's my home, my weird little city!

EAT

Launderette — What was once a laundromat is now the new standout of this year, mostly because Chef Rene Ortiz and pastry [genius] Laura Sawicki are absolutely fearless in the kitchen. Their Mediterranean influenced menu is both complex and approachable. Favorites include the very trendy soft egg-asparagus toast, the branzino, the lemon curd tart and after all that finish it off with a birthday cake ice cream sandwich – adorned with sprinkles of course. You know what, scratch that. Everything. Just order everything on the menu. Just go. Wait, finish reading and then go.

Sway — My "Welcome to Austin! Pretty please don't move here!" ice breaker restaurant. Community tables that evoke conversation with strangers, family style plates meant for sharing, and every dish has a respectable amount of fusion of Asian flavors. I came to this Thai inspired restaurant when it first opened during lunch and I couldn't quite get enough so I returned that same day for dinner! Listen, they just get it. Finally a menu that isn't afraid of flavor. Cue dishes like the Son-In-Law, Jungle Curry, their Tom Kai Gai is out of this world and of you still have room in your happy belly then I double dog dare you to order the white miso semi-freddo with mango sorbet. This is my go-to when I have friends in town and it continues to deliver.

Franklin BBQ — Bring a folding chair, a Yeti hopper full of beer and a good book because after the 2.5 hour wait you'll enter barbecue nirvana. Believe me it's worth the wait, the hype, and then some. Just ask Bon Appetite, they boldly named Franklin the Best BBQ Restaurant in America. Snappy sausage as juicy as you'd like, sweet and succulent pork, turkey as moist as a rib eye and the brisket is Aaron Franklin's piece de resistance – it's really the best brisket in all the land! Needless to say, get everything including the Lemon Chess pie. Otherwise, you'll have one serious case of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) if you don't.

Qui — Quick confession, I secretly judge everyone's meal when it comes to the table in hopes that I win. When it comes to Qui, everyone wins because behind the counter is none other than Top Chef Winner, James Beard recipient and Austin's very own superhero Paul Qui. If you pay close attention, rumor has it that the design of his brick and mortar is a structured lab coat and it's safe to say after a few visits, Qui and his group of chefs are going to do whatever they want. Their boundless imagination clears the high bar they set for themselves. They tinker and toy, dream and discover, formulate and test and the results can be as whimsical as the wall art of Peelander Yellow, as refined as the pottery from Keith Kreeger and as comforting as the recessed wooden walls. They offer (2) seven course tasting menus (which changes almost every week depending on what's in season) and if by chance you're there when they're serving the short rib or the rabbit seven ways, everyone get their own. Everyone's a winner.