Where to eat in Austin?

First off, Threadgils or Hoovers for Chicken Fried Steak?  Or any other place instead of those?
Any other thoughts for additional meals?  Staying at the Hyatt Arboretum, but will have a car.
Much thanks Roadfooders!!
 
 

Use the Search feature here. Here's what I found:
 
http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurants/SearchResults.aspx?st=restaurants&ps=1&s=TX&c=austin&kw=&pkw=&ob=restaurantname

If you are there on a sunday, I would recommend Moonshine for their brunch.  Not the best chicken fried steak but they serve chicken fried steak tenders which are very good and they have a lot of other tasty dishes.  www.moonshinegrill.com
 
But if you want some fantastic BBQ or hot links, head to Lockhart, Texas for Smittys, Kreutz, or Black's.  Louie Mueller for brisket in Taylor, Texas is also great.
 
Salt Lick in Driftwood was also very good.  There is a large grill which you can watch then barbeque the meat.  There is also one located in Austin, but I don't know how that one is.
 
There really is a lot of great food down in that area.

Go to Max's for good fried chicken.  Go to East Side Cafe for good healthy comfort food. 
 
Max's Wine Dive @ 207 San Jacinto Boulevard, Austin, TX 512 - 904 - 0111. http://www.maxswinedive.com/index.php

East Side Cafe @ 2113 Manor Road, Austin, TX 512 - 476 - 5858.
http://www.eastsidecafeaustin.com/

 

Hoover's for smothered pork chops and chicken fried steak. 
http://hooverscooking.com/

Is the Nighthawk on Guadaloupe gone?

lmjacobs


Staying at the Hyatt Arboretum, but will have a car.

 
The immediate area around the Hyatt has a good bit of stuff.  Congress Avenue is a hub of activity in Austin.  Within a couple of blocks, you will find Amy's Ice Creams (small chain, mostly in Austin, but also some other cities in Texas).  Creative flavors, use of mix-ins, small-batch preparation.  In some ways, I think that this is what Cold Stone would be if they had really good ice cream.  The servers are usually a little quirky and fun - and they'll usually let you sample darn near everything in the place.  Amy's is a must-stop whenever I am in Austin.
 
A little further up the road is a lot filled with one of the things that Austin is so noted for - an array of food trucks.  Hey Cupcake! is one of the vendors there (look for the AirStream).  I am a fan of their red velvet, but I don't recall having anything there that I didn't like.  There are other carts will all kinds of goodies - pies, Mexican, BBQ, etc.  You could eat for hours.  You may want to check, but I think that there are no Monday hours.
 
As for your original question, I don't think you could wrong with either choice (Threadgill's is iconic, Hoover's is becoming iconic!), but I probably like Hoover's a little better.

A "sleeper" BBQ joint in Austin is, Artz Rib House. They specialize in smoked BBQ pork country style ribs. They're very good and I've never seen them anywhere else.
http://www.artzribhouse.com

Nighthawk on Guadalupe closed in 1980.
 
Max's Wine Dive is deafeningly loud and expensive [$25 dollar pot roast]
 
Hoover's has tolerable soul food but is a pale shadow to Galloway down the street which offers the best fried chicken in town [pan fried in cast iron] and really good smothered dishes. Mr. Galloway has a good hand with gravy.
 
Hey Cupcake puts out the worst cupcake in town. Head over to Sugar Mama's on South First street for good cupcakes and dessert bars.
 
Tacos el Rico is the best Mexican restaurant in town. It's a cart at 809 Vargas in the Montopolis neighborhood.
 
I've searched high and low for good chicken fried steak in town and it's not available.
 
If you're willing to drive out to Blanco, 45 minutes away, you can sample the finest cfs I've ever had the pleasure of eating at the Blanco Bowl. The Sterns love this place.
 
Take the tour of Real Ale located nearby. It's one of the great micro breweries in the region along with Live Oak.
 
Eastside Cafe is pretty good. If you have an elderly lady with you she will really appreciate it. It's a "ladies who lunch" style place. They do a good job with their soups and offer good produce on their daily menu.
 
In town barbecue now has a viable option to driving to Lockhart. Franklin Barbecue is in a trailer on the I-35 frontage road at Concordia. The pit boss learned at the knee of John Mueller and took his teachings to heart. You'll need to be there by 10:45 am to get in line as he sells out and goes home early each day. It's in a trailer by the way.
 
Odd Duck is the best overall restaurant in town right now. He only offers what he can provision within a 100 or so miles of town. Really good grits, eggs and pork dishes. Much has been written about all of the above with the exception of Galloway which is WAY under the radar even after 12 years in business.
 
 

We ate at a fun taco place this summer in Austin.
Torchy's Tacos- Five Austin locations including one in a trailer park. They have recently added a Dallas location.
http://www.torchystacos.com/
 
My wife had the "Trailer Park" Taco and she got it extra trashy! Which is take off the lettuce and add queso. I got a bite and it was very good.
My family and I tried 8 tacos between us. All where outstanding.
I had green chili pork tacos. We shared Gaucamole.
They also had a unique dessert called "Little Nookies"
Which are deep-fried chocolate chip cookies!
 
 

lmjacobs


Any other thoughts for additional meals? 

 
Is Las Manitas Avenue Cafe just south and walking distance from Austin's capital building still open? I heard it might've closed. It's been four years since I was last there but was drawn to the perfect Austin breakfast spot (defined by out of this world tortillas and eggs [Migas]) by the April 2006 issue of Texas Monthly which hailed the place's food as "terrific" and as one of the "75 Things We Love About Texas."
 
Very, very good and oh, so RoadFood worthy! 

Cisco's for migas.