Where To Eat & Drink At SXSW... And Why

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Conferences & Festivals are going on now through March 17, and this yearly event draws a lot of people from outside Austin TX.  In between the various planned activities, the attendees want to drink in (literally in some cases) the local sights, scenes, sounds and senses.  And we'd like to help.

We have gathered up all the stories we have collected from around the web that talk about food & drink related places in the Austin area, and put them on one map.  Click on each dot to see what place it is, and who was talking about it.

The full list of the stories are below the map - Enjoy!:



The stories we've collected relating to Austin are:

Veggie Tales: Austin's best spots for plant-based dining - The Austin Chronicle
You Gotta Try This, SXSW: Vegetarian favorites - Austin360.com
You Gotta Try This, SXSW: Lunch, dinner downtown - Austin360.com
You Gotta Try This, SXSW: Lunch, dinner outside the downtown core - Austin360.com
Top Austin Restaurants for SXSW, According to TripIt Users - TripIt Blog
Find time for a long, tall taste of Austin during SXSW madness - Austin American-Statesman
Austin, Texas: Where to Eat and Drink - Bon Appetit Magazine
10 places to see in 2013 - Los Angeles Times
101 Best Restaurants in America for 2013 - The Daily Meal
The Best Burgers in 25 Cities - Zagat
The Most Important Restaurants in America - Bon Appetit Magazine
'Where Chefs Eat': Insiders Guide to the World's Best Dining Delights - PRI's The World
America’s Best Bagels - The Daily Meal
A trio of Austin art galleries - San Antonio Express-News
After Crispy Pig Ears, 10 Trends for 2013 - The New York Times
America’s 12 Best Donut Shops - The Daily Meal
The Best Burritos in America - The Daily Meal
What to eat in Austin right now - New York Post
Best French Fries in the U.S. - Travel + Leisure
America's Coolest New Diners - Travel + Leisure
Top sandwich shops: Travelers pick their favorites - USATODAY.com
10 of America's best historic restaurants - CNN.com
The 25 Best Ice Cream Shops in the U.S. - Complex
Best Ice Cream Spots in the U.S. - Food & Wine Magazine
World Beer Cup 2012 Winners - USA & CAN
100 Restaurants with the Best Service in the U.S. - OpenTable
The Ten Best New Restaurants in America: Restaurants + Bars: - GQ Magazine
Best Restaurants 2011 - Esquire
The Best New Restaurants in America, 2011 - Bon Appetit Magazine
2011 Top 100 Chinese Restaurants Competition - Top 100 Overall Excellence (USA)
2009 Top 100 Chinese Restaurants Competition - Top 100 Overall Excellence (USA)
Food Wars - Travel Channel
America's Best Donuts - Travel + Leisure
National Carousel Association
Sweet Tooth - Food Network
Bar-B-Que - Food Network

Best Zoos and Aquariums

Lions, tigers and bears.  Oh, my!  And where are the best places to find them, plus penguins, killer whales and bat rays?

We've mapped the zoos and aquariums from four articles to help you find great places to visit - some even show up on more than one list:

• America's Most-Visited Zoos - Travel + Leisure
• 10 Best Zoos for Kids (and 15 runners-up) - Parents
• The 10 Best Aquariums for Kids - Parents
• Best US Aquariums - Travel Channel

Be sure to zoom in and move the map around to find the zoo or aquarium closest to where you're going.

Things To Do: Seattle WA

Seattle is known by many nicknames, including the official one (Emerald City) and Jet City (Boeing's influence), and residents are known as Seattleites.

While you can't see all of Seattle in one day, the New York Times has taken a stab at finding a good amount of things to do in a day and a half in their article "36 Hours in Seattle".  We have also added the places they covered in a 2007 article called "Seattle’s New Food Market", which is mainly at the Melrose Market.

Speaking of food, if you're a fan of TV food shows like Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and  Man v Food, then look for the Food Network and Travel Channel map icons for places that have been visited by these and other shows.

And in case you're looking for more to do, we have added the attractions covered by CityPASS, which provides multi-day attraction passes at a discount.

Zoom the map out and around to see all the places.

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Follow The Food Celebs To: Las Vegas

Love watching the Food Network shows like Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate?  How about the Travel Channel food show Man v Food?  It's time to follow these professional foodies and try out some of the restaurants they visited...

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Las Vegas is a wonder to visit, and like other big destinations you can't see all of it in one visit.  Besides gambling and gawking, the shows are probably what define Las Vegas the most, so we'll show you a few of the most notable ones to consider in between eating where the food celebs have eaten.

Look below the map for even more activity suggestions.
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All Las Vegas Shows:

VegasTickets.com has been in business for over 20 years serving tickets to the hottest shows in Las Vegas at VegasTickets.com.

Attraction Passes:

The Las Vegas Explorer Pass includes three events from our list of top Las Vegas shows, tours, nightlife, dining, and attractions for one low pre-paid price. You'll save up to 50% off compared to regular admission prices.

Activity Passes:

VISITicket.com now offers two exciting passes in Las Vegas that provide visitors with instant access to all the top things to do in Las Vegas including the best Las Vegas restaurants, the top Las Vegas attractions, and the most exciting Las Vegas Tours.  See what the Las Vegas Power Pass and Las Vegas MealTicket passes offer.

Nearby Activities:

Grand Canyon Tour Company offers the BEST tours at the BEST price from Las Vegas.

Bookings For Everything:

As one of the market leaders for Las Vegas, BestOfVegas.com offers you highly competitive rates on hotel rooms, show tickets, and much more. Ranging from small economy hotels to luxury hotels, from the hottest shows in town to the best deals you can find on smaller shows, from Las Vegas Strip tours to exciting tours of the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon, from Nightclub VIP Passes to Bottle Service reservations, and so much MORE, BestOfVegas.com provides you with nothing but the best!

Follow The Food Celebs To: Los Angeles

Love watching the Food Network shows like Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate?  How about the Travel Channel food show Man v Food?  It's time to follow these professional foodies and try out some of the restaurants they visited...

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How appropriate to have food celebs in Los Angeles, the "Entertainment Capital of the World", where you bump into celebs of all types just about everywhere.

With so much to do, our guide needs to expand a little, so look below the map to read more about the sports and attractions that L.A. also has to offer, and click on "View Larger Map" to get a better view of everything.


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With so much to do in L.A., you may want to use attraction passes to spend less and see more.  Look for the  icon to find attractions covered by the Smart Destinations Go Los Angeles Card and the SoCal Theme Park Pass, which includes attractions outside of L.A. like the San Diego Zoo.


The Los Angeles area hosts three "Big Four" sports - for MLB the Los Angeles Dodgers (NL) and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (AL), for the NBA the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers, and for the NHL the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks.  As of 2010 Los Angeles is the largest city in the U.S. without a professional football team.

Follow The Food Celebs To: Austin

Love watching the Food Network shows like Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate?  How about the Travel Channel food show Man v Food?  It's time to follow these professional foodies and try out some of the restaurants they visited -

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"Keep Austin Weird" should tell you something about Austin Texas, and that would be that Austin is not mainstream. The largest city in the U.S. without a franchise in a major professional sports league, Austin is large in arts and culture.  Comedy, theater, opera, symphony, night clubs, film, music festivals - Austin has a lot going on.

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Follow The Food Celebs To: San Antonio

Love watching the Food Network shows like Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate?  How about the Travel Channel food show Man v Food?  It's time to follow these professional foodies and try out some of the restaurants they visited -

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San Antonio Texas is perhaps most well known by two of it's nicknames - Alamo City and River City.  Besides their food, San Antonio has a lot of interesting places to visit, both historical (the Alamo, Riverwalk, HemisFair Park) and exciting (SeaWorld, Six Flags, Morgan's Wonderland).

Updated June 3, 2011 to include seven more restaurants visited by Guy Fieri.

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Food Wars - Who Was First, Or Most Famous

Some of the food and drinks we love seem to have been around forever.  But someone had to create them, and somehow they had to become popular.

This time we're mapping out the places that created, or at least popularized, many of the food and drink we love today.  Some are unique, like Irish coffee in California, and others, like hamburgers, are the kind we eat all the time.

We want to keep adding to this map, so tell us what we've missed.  And a big shout-out to Wikipedia and the Travel Channel Food Wars show for helping us find these places.

Oh, and because some of these food wars are literally across the street from each other, you'll want to zoom in to see each place.


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