Wife and I would like to visit either Austin or Seattle (neither of us has ever been to either) for a long weekend in October for our anniversary. Trip will mostly be about eating and drinking wine (and enjoying the fact that our kids will be at their grandparents’ house). I realize this is a broad question, but which city is better for foodies and why?
Do you like WA wines (or want to discover WA wines) - if yes, Seattle
Do you enjoy potential rainy weather - if no, Austin has better odds
Those strike me as odd choices. Though both are interesting cities, worth visiting, I don’t really think of either as a foodie destination. I’ve been to Austin only a couple of times for work, and enjoyed the music more than the food. Seattle I visit regularly and for the life of me can’t figure out why the food isn’t better.
Hmmmm … I have children in each. Austin has an increasingly good high end food scene but when I’m there I love the more casual, fun spots like G’raj Majal (http://grajmahalaustin.com/) and Maudie’s. Weather will be warm, if you enjoy discovering odd spots and fun, wander Rainey St area.
Seattle I’m still getting to know and my daughter and her husband, both chefs, are not yet sure what they think of the food scene but the available ingredients are amazing. Certainly wondering around the big market is a lot of fun and it’s impossible to resist buying all sorts of yummy stuff! I had a really enjoyable meal at Tom Douglas’ Seatown, not sure of his other spots … and I am a big fan of the Cedarbrook Lodge hotel out near SeaTac and their very good restaurant, Copperleaf (http://www.cedarbrooklodge.com/wine-dine/copperleaf.htm)
Interesting. I was gonna say Austin and seattle are both cool foodie cities. Not in the Michelin 3 star New York sense. But for local fresh ingredients and lots of diversity.
Agreed with Mark. If you want haute cuisine, Seattle is not a great place. If you love food, you could stay busy for weeks.
Never been to Austin, but I imagine it comes down to bbq vs oysters. Which do you prefer?
Michael
My four years in South Bend would suggest that if the weekend in question is one where the Longhorns are playing at home, I’d go anywhere but Austin.
Todd hit this one out of the park, it’s football season in Austin.
Not to mention first two weekends of Oct are Austin City Limits Festival. At this point, you’d have zero chance of finding lodging and probably would not want to be there even if you could.
I can’t speak to Seattle, as I have been there only once, and it was a business trip so I didn’t get to just “hang out” much.
Austin in late October is particularly nice. That is generally when the weather finally cools down and its very nice outside. As others have noted, the Austin food scene is better than ever, with lots of great restaurants both at the high end and otherwise.
As for lodging, etc., I do not think that Longhorn football would be an impediment to enjoying Austin. Indeed, I think it might add to the fun as the Longhorns may be pretty good this year and Austin is a much larger city than South Bend. The ACL fest may well soak up a lot of the lodging stock, however. So if you’re planning to visit around that time, book now. Also, based upon a lot of feedback from people I know in the restaurant business, ACL is actually a pretty quiet time for many of the better restaurants, so don’t let ACL keep you away if you can book a place to stay.
In my opinion, both cities are must visits for various reasons. You can eat and drink well in both towns if you do a little research, but it might be more casual than your usual high end foodie scene. Austin is full of interesting food truck, pop up, hole-in-the-wall places where you can have lots of fun.
Recently, my best meal in Austin was Queen Lola’s. I’ve eaten soul food all over Louisianna and Mississippi and Lola’s is my new favorite. If you dig authentic soul food, I highly recommend you try it. For me, the live music scene is another reason to visit Austin, not avoid it. Just don’t get caught up on 6th Street on a weekend night. There are much better places to hear live music. Google around.
If you’re more interested in wine for this trip, I’d recommend starting with Seattle and put Austin off to another time. I think Seattle is going to have more resonance for a wine geek. I’ve never been bothered by the weather in Seattle. If it rains, i think it just adds atmosphere. I’ve also visited many times in various seasons without encountering any rain.
why not Portland tho
Or for that matter when SXSW, ACL, Formula One, or it is UT graduation time in town. All rooms are expensive. All restaurants booked up. All bars filled to capacity.
Austin restaurants are far more than BBQ and oysters. Just read Food & Wine, Bon Appetite etc.
Coincidentally, I was in Seattle for just a few hours yesterday, with a red-eye flight scheduled to take me home at 10:30 PM. I was excited to find this recommendation for someplace worth visiting for a good dinner near the airport. The room is indeed beautiful, especially on a gorgeous day. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the food: a broken soup, stale bread on a pumpernickel finger sandwich, refrigerator taste on the butter, lack of acid in nearly everything, temperature issues in 2 out of 3 dishes. It was a shame as the ingredients were lovely and I was really hoping to have found a good pre-red eye solution.
Cederbrook Lodge USED to be excellent.
Former FL trained chef. Excellent ingredients prepared perfectly.
Out of 6 meals there the first three - 2 or 3 years ago- were amazing. Technique shined through with the preparations. Fourth one was spotty. Last two were an embarrassment.
With the latter two, I got a general feeling that everything was prepared ahead and finished/reheated (poorly) last minute prior to assembly. The chef seems to be phoning it in.
A definite avoid. Unfortunate as it was a jewel when the chef started.
How very sad to hear … I’ve stayed twice in the last year - once for work, once while seeing family - but I was not eating dinners in the main dining room either trip but more casual salads in the bar or on the patio and the breakfasts - all were quite enjoyable and did not suffer from issues noted above. My last dinner in the main dining room may well have been with a previous chef.
If you come down to a tie-breaker, Austin is in Texas.
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