Dale Watson is back, living in Austin! He’s been living in Baltimore since January, but has just moved back this last week. He’ll be taking up his weekly gigs at Ginny’s Little Longhorn for Chicken Sh*t Sunday and Monday nights at the Continental Club. I’m so happy he’s back. Dale at Ginny’s is one of my most favorite things. Dale’s music and that funky little honky tonk on Burnet road are a perfect combination.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention. I’m one of the new bloggers here at Austin Metblogs. Also, I just moved back to Austin from Minneapolis. My 9 year old son and I just moved into our South Austin apartment Thursday. In the last two weeks we hit some of our favorite places in Austin.

Of course we went to Zilker Park and rode the train, with the obligatory 10 minute wait in the blazing sun for the ride to start.

Had my favorite egg, cheese and chorizo tacos at Enchiladas Y Mas. Also went to El Azteca. Definitely my favorite mexican restaurant in town.

Went to Hoover’s which is always amazing. Had a muffaletta and greens, which of course was great. Can’t wait to go back there. My son was in heaven with a side order of mac and cheese.

We couldn’t leave out barbeque, so we went to Artz Rib House (which we now live by…). Ate a bunch of their excellent country style pork ribs, if you haven’t tried them you’ve got to go. I know a few bbq fans who have not eaten here. I think it’s one of those places that gets taken for granted or just overlooked. To continue with our bbq requirements, we drove out to Llano and partook in some serious meat eating at Cooper’s BBQ. This was the first time I went to Cooper’s, I loved it. The bbq is great and the atmosphere is killer. I love being able to pick your meat right from the pit and how the pit boss unceremoniously dunks it in sauce and slaps it on a plastic tray. This place has the Big Chop, a two inch thick pork chop!–that’s good too.

Another place we went to that I had never been to before, but discovered through the magic of the internet was Gene’s New Orleans Poboys. I’m a huge fan of New Orleans poboys and this place is the real deal. I’ve been there twice in two weeks. Their oyster poboy is great and their gumbo (which is served on Friday and Saturday) is some of the best I’ve tried. They’ve got different plate specials each day of the week. On Thursdays and Fridays for lunch they get pretty busy, so you might be in for a wait if you go then.