The best barbecue is bus your own tray. That’s almost a universal across barbecue styles, and true for my favorite (Central Texas). There’s one exception that I’ve found, though, and so it’s one for the repertoire. Lamberts in downtown Austin. You can reserve it on Opentable. It’ s an actual sit-down restaurant with table service. It’s a full bar, they’ve got live music. In other words, it’s a real restaurant with local character where the food served just happens to be really top notch barbecue. The meat isn’t up to par with Franklin or Black’s, but it’s a Texas Monthly top 100 spot, so this is regarded as real good barbecue. It’s also derided as ‘fancy’ barbecue because of the service that some would consider extraneous, and because of the prices (you’re paying sit down…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for February 2014.
The Digital Camera I Use is Now Selling for Half What I Paid for It
I got a chuckle the other evening, I pulled out my camera. You use a camera? Yeah, I have a smartphone and it’s fine but a real camera takes much better pictures. I suspect most people are happy nowadays with their smartphone, maybe taking a camera on vacation with them. I carry mine around with me in my laptop bag. Goodness knows I’m not a great photographer, which is very much the reason why. I’m a point and shoot kinda guy and I’ve never taken a class or been shown how to take great pictures. But the photos I take with my Canon s110 are more than decent, certainly good enough for blogging. Last year I bought the camera for ~ $325. The new normal price seems to be $299. But the camera, with case,…
Hyatt Place Austin Downtown: Is It “the Best Hyatt Place” As They Claim?
I spent Friday night at the Hyatt Place Austin Downtown for the Austin MegaDO frequent flyer event. I stayed there because it was walking distance from Saturday morning’s event, I could leave my car parked, head back and check out. And because on a one night stay I could use my Hyatt Visa free night. The Hyatt Visa offers a great value with a free night at any Hyatt hotel up to redemption category 4. But the night doesn’t count towards elite status, and it can’t be upgraded to a suite. So I find I push back using it, and it was going to expire at the end of April. Since this hotel is category 4, and it was going for ~ $275++ per night for the one night’s stay, it seemed like a great…
How I Made $12 on My Audi Car Rental, And How You Can Too!
Earlier in the month I write about my upcoming $9 Audi car rental. I’ve just rented from Silvercar for the first time (and it did cost me $9+tax, or $13 all-in for the rental day, plus a referral credit so I’ll make $12 net) and thought I’d share the experience. Short answer, it was fantastic. Silvercar rents silver Audis (hence, silver car). Although it is possible right now to get very cheap rentals from them, rent on the weekend when they’re cheaper and use promotion codes, the idea is anything but cheap. This isn’t your bargain basement leisure rental company, it’s a business travel alternative in a limited number of markets. When airport Avis, Hertz, etc. are pricing at $80 a day Silvercar is a good option because you’re going to pay those sorts of…
Is Austin’s Franklin Barbecue the Best in the World?
I’m a big fan of Texas barbecue, but had never been to its Mecca. A year and a half ago I made Franklin Barbecue the first stop on my barbecue pilgrimage. I showed up long before opening, but the lines on a Saturday morning were already so long that I’d have to wait a couple of hours and the staff wouldn’t guarantee that there’d even be brisket left by the time I reached the front of the line. I was skeptical, given the party atmosphere in line, that the barbecue could be worth the wait — attractive young people tailgating couldn’t possible be there for the food as much as the experience, right? But I’ve heard nothing since except that Franklin is the best in the world (technically, the best in Texas, but those two…
Get Bonus Miles for Buying Miles, Get Kicked Out of a Hotel, and Have United Charge You for Your Carry-on (Bits ‘n Pieces for February 22, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: United is going into enforcement mode to make sure you don’t bring on oversized carry ons. Man gets banned from a Hilton hotel because of his trouser snake. There’s a new tool that will let you pay by credit card using your phone instead of the card itself. You have to carry a dongle in your pocket, though. (I swear this item is unrelated to the item above). HT: @aheeger Virgin America has purchased mile bonuses almost as often as US Airways. They’re back with a bonus of up to 60%. Here’s my analysis of the January 50% bonus offer. HT: James F. You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail…
United Miles for Mercedes is Back
Last summer United offered miles and ‘discounts’ on the purchase or lease of certain Mercedes models. The offer was restricted to MileagePlus elite members. That offer is back: You’re getting an ‘online price’ which doesn’t strike me as special or something you couldn’t replicate on your own, though for someone who doesn’t like the negotiation process this could be advantageous. And earning 25,000 miles for a CLE, E-, or M-class Mercedes isn’t a lot for a major purchase like this (it’s perhaps the value of an additional $350 kicker). But if you’re in the market for a new Mercedes, and can’t negotiate a lower price than the United mileage offer presents, it could be a way of extracting the last $350 out of the deal. It’s strange, I think, that this is offered only to…
Frequent Traveler University Seattle Is Sold Out, But…
Frequent Traveler University which will be held in Seattle at the airport Marriott April 25-27 is now officially sold out. The good news is that a new, and different, upcoming Frequent Traveler University event will be announced soon. Smaller, more intimate, for greater in-depth discussion More advanced. FTU events welcome everyone, at all experience levels, but this will be a more focused conversation for people that have spent more time with the activity. A different program. When we sell out Frequent Traveler University, we know there’s more demand for the program than there are available seats and so we make many sessions and speakers available at future programs. But this will have a different program than past events. Stay tuned. Normally events like this are planned well in advance, both to allow participant planning and…
Starwood Torturing Their Terms and Conditions to Permit Hotels to Offer Subpar Rooms on Points
Update: Starwood now says this was a mistake and is being fixed. Jason L. emails yesterday asking for my comment on a brewing storm over at Starwood Preferred Guest over two hotels in the Netherlands (Pulitzer in Amsterdam and Hotel Des Indes, The Hague) that offered free award nights in rooms for two people up until December but that now offer free night awards only In small single occupancy rooms. Both hotels allow spending additional Starpoints to obtain the two person rooms that they used to offer at the standard price. You know how they say, it’s not the crime, it’s the coverup? The issue of these hotels is relatively minor. But Starwood appears to be going through backflips to make excuses for the properties, explaining away a conflict with their own terms and conditions…
Business Class Award Space to Australia, Bonus Miles to Europe, and More Ways to Earn Miles Without a Net Cost to You (Bits ‘n Pieces for February 21, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: Great business class award space on United’s new Los Angeles – Melbourne flight which begins October 26. Buying products online to earn the miles, and then selling them to recoup the cash. 25% bonus for converting hotel points to American Airlines miles — but the offer excludes transfers from Starwood, Hyatt, and Marriott travel packages. In other words, they exclude all the good stuff. 10,000 bonus Aeroplan miles for transatlantic roundtrips. Even Tango (W, S, T, L, K) fares are eligible. You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t…
