Hi friends. Seven years ago I moved to Austin from Pennsylvania for what was supposed to be one year. I am still here, now with a toddler, another boy on the way, and a running list of places I keep meaning to get back to. That list is the reason you are reading this.
For years the question I got most, from friends, from family, from everyone who moved here after I did, was a version of the same thing: what should I actually do this weekend? Not the forty-event roundup. The two or three things worth leaving the house for. I never had a good answer written down, so I started writing one.
This is that answer, sent every Thursday morning. Three things, no more. One place to eat, one thing to do, and one thing to know about this city. If a week is quiet, I will say so. If a week is loud, I will choose for you. That is the whole promise. Let me start with this weekend.
Eat, this week
East Cesar Chavez · $$$$ · dinner Tuesday to Sunday from 5 p.m., closed Monday
Austin Oyster Co. opened this spring in a converted bungalow on East Cesar Chavez, and if you ask me it commits to the bit completely. There is a small lighthouse on the back wall, a framed photo of JFK by the door, and a raw bar flying oysters in from Maine and Massachusetts to a landlocked city that has no business having oysters this good. Here is the order I’d run: a dozen on the half shell to start, then the brown-butter lobster roll, then the Tom kha clams, which trade the usual broth for a coconut and galangal version that sounds like the most surprising thing on the menu. The Infatuation gave it an 8.8. It is a splurge, so I’d save it for a night you want the meal to be the event.
Do, this weekend
The World Cup starts this week, and the East Side is showing every match, free
Inn Cahoots, East Austin · every match from Saturday June 13 · free with RSVP
The 2026 World Cup kicks off this week, the first one ever shared across three host countries, and Austin is treating it like the event it is. The marquee party, Austin FC’s free fan fest on Auditorium Shores this Thursday and Friday, filled its registration almost immediately, so unless you already grabbed a spot, here is the better play anyway: starting Saturday, Austin FC takes over Inn Cahoots on the East Side for 37 straight days of soccer. Every match of the tournament, through the final on July 19, with food vendors, giveaways, and live music along the way. Admission is free with an RSVP, and the group-stage matches run through the afternoon, so it works as a long lunch as easily as a night out. It is June in Texas, so if you land an outdoor screen, bring water and a hat.
Know, this week
The school district’s budget vote is June 18, and the comment card is still open
Austin ISD has to close a budget gap of about 181 million dollars for the coming school year, and the plan now on the table cuts 558 positions, hundreds of real jobs among them, including teachers, librarians, and district police. None of it is final. The board of trustees votes on the budget on June 18, and until then the district is taking public comment. The online comment card stays open through 5 p.m. on June 18, and you can also sign up to speak at that meeting. This is the rare civic deadline that is still genuinely open while the decision is being made, so if you have a view on where the cuts should and should not land, I’d spend the two minutes before it closes.
Worth bookmarking
The Austin taco ranking I keep texting people.
Tell me one thing
What is the one place you always take out-of-town visitors for their first real Austin meal? Reply and tell me. I read every one.
See you next Thursday. If someone you know keeps asking where to go this weekend, forward this to them.
P.S. I am settling a city argument: Austin’s favorite taco, picked by readers. Fourteen nominees, one vote per person, results on June 22. Cast yours here.