Austin, Tiki-sas.

Hey everyone. I am traveling to Austin in November for a conference. Where could I get a good drink? I heard about a place on a lake...

Thor: Numero Uno place for you is Dino Lee's glorious ode to the Rat Pack era of tiki, Oceans Eleven (with their signature flaming Kamanawanaleya drink). It's located on the corner of 8th and Red River, downtown, catty-corner from Stubb's BBQ (and a fine BBQ establishment it is). Gorgeous interior, great drinks, even nattily dressed bartenders and waitresses. Dino is also known as Mr. Fabulous, a great lounge act, and they sometimes perform there.

The spot out on the lack is The Oasis, and a beautiful location it is. It's kind of a yuppie haven, but you know, the view just can't be beat in Austin. Bonus: the crowd applauds the sunset.

Don't miss the Continental Club for great live music (but hell, everywhere there has great music on some night of the week, if not all.) But avoid most of 6th St. if you can; too many drunk frat boys. There's a really atmospheric place on 5th St., closer to Lamar, called maybe "Fez"? It's beautiful North African decor.

...don't forget to go to Hula Hut right on Red River (street) on the bank of Lake Austin. They have bamboo walls, tikis in the booth, spectacular sunset views from the patio, and of course, rum. Getcha a t-shirt there with the hula hut logo on the front that reads "KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD" on the back, and don't forget to get some free postcards from your friendly server to send home to all your friends.

Also and update on Dino Lee's Ocean's 11 - the place I raved about in a forum a few months ago - the quality and service there have gone in the toilet. I went back to visit ~3 weeks ago and didn't even stay long enough for a drink. No plastic neons for me this trip. I won't be going back. So so disappointing.

:tiki:

ps - hey Formika - what do you have against drunk frat boys?! :wink:

:drink:

Wow! I'm thrilled to hear about Hula Hut (as I don't live in Austin anymore, and only get there infrequently). That truly saddens me about Oceans 11, though. Sounds like word needs to trickle, um, up(?) to management, which I will gladly do.

Regarding the drunken frat boy thing - whoo! There's a can of worms which I'd best leave unopened and on the shelf, behind the 2-yr-old box of generic brand mac-n-cheese...

Dudes et cetera,

I went to Austin in November. Although I was too busy parroting Arjun Appadurai, I did get a chance to walk around Sixth Boulevard and stopped into one beautiful bar, the Amazon, with a jungle motif, which I assume to be the middle-America-"What's an ocean?" version of Tiki. It was great. The walls had paintings of all sorts of plants, Indian elephants, bengal tigers, lions, all sorts of monkeys, and some fish - all of which inhabit the Amazon.

Is accuracy uncool?

Who has time to be accurate? South America, Asia, Africa...It's all the same...7 oceans and 4 Continents...Ain't that right? :roll:

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2003-01-14 09:40 ]