Austin, Texas is one of my top favorite cities to visit. The city is a paradox to me. While it is the capital of one of the largest and predominantly red states, Austin is a blue oasis in the region.  Tex-Mex eateries and Barbecue places are aplenty but are overshadowed by the city’s music scene.  Austin’s official slogan is “The live music capital of the world”.

While Austin is the second most populous city in Texas, certain parts of the city present themselves as part of quaint University towns. The city’s official Motto, most aptly, is “Keep Austin Weird.” 

What attracts me most to Austin is its bustling music scene. While the music of almost every variety flourishes across the entire city, Sixth Street is the locale that exemplifies the musical spirit of Austin. 

Sixth Street,  formerly Pecan Street has played an important part in the Historic past of Austin. Stagecoaches used this route to arrive in Austin in the early 1800s until the railroads arrived decades later. Sixth Street became an important business center and the saloons and liveries that were a ubiquitous sight in the area were replaced by large limestone buildings housing numerous businesses. Today, Sixth Street is Austin’s happening place with bars and restaurants with live music and sumptuous food to attract patrons with different tastes,

Sixth Street is divided into three parts, West Sixth, between Congress West and Mopac Street with its outdoor patios catering to the upscale and college-going crowd. The section of Sixth Street east of I-35 is called East sixth street, a relatively mellow side of Sixth Street, with more open outdoor spaces and microbreweries. What lies between them, between Congress, and I35 is Dirty Sixth Street, considered the wilder side of Sixth Street.

This time, my visit to the city did not give me enough time to explore the city but was barely adequate to savor the offerings of  Dirty Sixth Street. My first stop was at the Chupacabra Cantina, a Tex-Mex bar that proclaimed its presence with loud hip-hop music. 

Colored lighting and loud hip-hop music from the monitors accentuated the atmosphere as I savored one of the bar’s famous frozen Hibiscus Margheritas. 

One of the other great bars is The Rooftop on 6th which offers a view of the street from above. 

I sat at this bar, savoring the view, and the amateur band that played that evening did not disappoint.

One of my other favorite bars in the area was Pete’s Dueling Pianos Bar. The nominal entry fee is more than made up by the quality of the two performers, sitting adjacently on stage, and more than accommodating to take on requests from the bar’s patrons. As I savored my drink and made my request to pay Billy Joel, the two performers expertly performed “New York State of Mind”, Piano man and others.. This was one of the highlights of my trip that made my visit to Austin more memorable.

Realizing I was hungry, I then stepped into the Jackalope. A bite into the Black and Bleu burger seemed to hit the palate as I washed it down with their signature old-fashioned. I had promised myself to try the mechanical bull, this time around, and optimistically went to the Buck Wild restaurant. Unfortunately for me, the Bull was out of commission and I left the bar disappointed. Maybe the next time…