Category / On The Road

17
Mar

Ring of Fire

Posted by on . -- On The Road


The Shed Barbeque & Blues Joint and 17th Street Barbecue joined forces to form the RING OF FIRE and inducted its first two members at the National Barbecue Association conference in San Marcos last week.

The award was created to honor an individual or company whose innovation in the barbecue world has had a lasting impact on the barbecue industry.

Carolyn Wells Ring of Fire © Rick Browne 17th Street BBQ/The Shed BBQOur first honoree, along with her husband, created the barbecue sanctioning body that organized and lent structure to competition barbecue as we know it today and she continues to innovate, represent our industry, and increase the level of exposure for barbecue not only across America, but across the world. The amount of time she spends helping contests get started, advising television shows and the media, and trumpeting the message of barbecue as America’s original comfort food is staggering. The barbecue world would not be where it is today without her passion, dedication, and vision.

Welcome, Carolyn and Gary Wells, to the RING OF FIRE.  

Kell Phelps Ring of Fire © Rick Browne 17th Street BBQ/The Shed BBQOur second inductee is a family without whose storied barbecue history this gathering would not be taking place. They are founding members of NBBQA and long before we had message boards and facebook, they created the National Barbecue News, the only source of information about the barbecue world, encompassing restaurant, competition, and enthusiast news. They were the founders of the prestigious invitational contest, the National BBQ Festival. Their leadership, expertise, and friendship are legendary in the barbecue world.

Pictured is Kell Phelps, accepting the award on behalf of his parents. Welcome, Carlene and Joe Phelps, to the RING OF FIRE.

Blown glass ring of fire sculptures created by the Douglass School Art Place in Murphysboro, Illinois.

Photos courtesy of and ©Rick Browne

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26
Feb

Ultimate Austin Guide

Posted by on . -- On The Road, Uncategorized

La Barbecue, Austin, TX. Photo ©17th Street Barbecue
When traveling to Austin, my focus is pretty specific: Visiting with friends, which means barbecue. Shopping, which means boots. Cocktails, which means tequila.

I have an email with suggestions for all of the above that I’ve edited and revised and sent to dozens of friends over the years. I’ve updated it again and am posting it here. If you’re traveling to Texas for the NBBQA convention or SXSW, here are some places you might enjoy.

Barbecue:
The barbecue scene has exploded in the few years since the last convention. I won’t re-invent the wheel here as this list by Burger Mary is quite good and well organized. If you’re going on the NBBQA bus trip, you’ll hit a few of the really good ones and if you have extra time, here’s your guide.

Before heading out for a barbecue crawl, grab a breakfast taco from Torchy’s and eat it while you’re standing in line at Franklin’s. Buy a few extra and give them to the people standing next to you. You’ll make instant friends.

An ideal afternoon:
You can spend an entire day or afternoon on South Congress. Buy or ogle the boots at Allen’s – my absolute favorite spot to buy boots. Ask for Ryan and tell him I sent you. Heritage Boots, just down the street, has a beautiful selection, too. Pop into Guero’s for a margarita and good chips and salsa. Their margaritas are all from scratch — no mixes — so they’re not cloyingly sweet and they go down fast and easy. Browse the antiques and collectibles at Uncommon Objects. Wander in and out of all the cute shops. Jo’s Coffee is perfect if you need a pick-me-up. The lounge at the San Jose Hotel is great for an appetizer and cocktail. End up at the Continental Club for live music.

Austin has quite the dining scene. These places are tops:
Lucy’s Fried Chicken has some of the best sweet tea chess pie I’ve ever eaten.
Sway for modern Thai food.
Uchi and/or Uchiko are billed as contemporary Japanese dining and sushi and Japanese farmhouse dining and sushi. I’ve only been to Uchi and I highly recommend.
Qui is helmed by Top Chef and James Beard Award winner Paul Qui and it’s quite the dining experience.
Easy Tiger is great in the morning — beautiful baked goods. Also fun for late night dining and drinking in their beer garden. Have the pretzels with butter and/or beer cheese.
This guide and this guide are good ones for navigating the huge, constantly changing food truck scene. There’s also an app for that.

Hotels
Four Seasons is centrally located and has a beautiful lounge perfect for cocktails and meetings.
Hotel San Jose is clean and contemporary. Superb location, pool, and lounge.
The Driskill has that old-line Austin feel. Great bar.
Crowne Plaza is a bit farther out, but a good location if you’re spending time in the Hill Country.
I haven’t stayed at the Hotel St. Cecelia, but it looks swanky and quite cool.
AirBNB has many good Austin options. I’m going to try this on a future visit.

More favorite shops include:
Blue Velvet for vintage shopping. Friends have purchased great vintage cowboy boots here.
One of my favorite outfits ever came from By George on South Congress.
Cavenders also has a great selection of cowboy boots, some very well priced.

Live music is everywhere.
Classic Texas two-stepping at the Broken Spoke is a fun, fun night.

6th Street is home to music venues and many, many bars.

Please let me know if I’ve missed one of your favorites and I’ll add it to the list!

 You can read about some of my previous Austin experiences here, here, and here.