Hi friends, ACL takes over Zilker for the next two weekends, and if you are like most of Austin, you are not going. So this week’s Do is for everyone without a wristband: an Oktoberfest party on the other side of downtown, with a sausage competition and a free stein if you get there early.
Before that, pastrami on Manor Road that began as a farmers market mistake. After it, the voter registration deadline, which is Monday, and a new set of forts at the Wildflower Center if you would rather be nowhere near the park. Two Austin businesses answer my three questions in Meet this week: a pottery studio and a portrait studio with no photographer. Jules Maron, who runs Austin Wildlife Rescue, is this week’s Awesome Austinite.
One place to eat, one thing to do, and one thing to know, as always. Here is your weekend.
Eat, this week
Manor Road, near Mueller · Wednesday to Sunday, 11am until it sells out · pastrami sandwiches $13 to $22
Mum Foods’ pastrami was an accident. One weekend in 2012, the owners ordered too much brisket for the farmers market and put the extra in a brine, and it came out well enough to keep making. Texas Monthly’s Daniel Vaughn later called it the best pastrami in the state, and now it has a deli of its own on the far end of Manor Road, recommended in the Michelin Guide.
Order the Original, which is the pastrami on sourdough rye they bake themselves, with mustard or Russian dressing: $13 for a half and $22 for a whole. The Rachel ($19) adds slaw and Swiss, and a half corned beef sandwich with a bowl of matzo ball soup is $18. On Saturday and Sunday there is a latke Benedict with pastrami on it ($14), and the black and white cookie is $2.50. It is counter service, Wednesday through Sunday from 11am until it sells out, which the deli says is usually around 3, so go early, or order ahead online for pickup.
Do, this weekend
Scholz Garten, near the Capitol · Saturday, noon to 10pm · $55, kids under 12 free
ACL starts Friday, and if you are not going, the simplest plan is to stay away from Zilker. Barton Springs Road is closed from 7 this morning until 6am Monday, and the Great Lawn belongs to the festival through October 18. The better Saturday is on the other side of downtown.
Austoberfest takes over Scholz Garten on San Jacinto from noon to 10pm, run by the Austin Saengerrunde, the German singing society next door. The part to plan around is the sausage competition from 1 to 4, when Central Texas makers including la Barbecue, Micklethwait, and Easy Tiger hand out samples and you vote for a favorite. I would be there by 1, because the samples last only as long as the sausage does. The first 500 guests get a free half-liter stein, select drafts are $5, the six historic bowling lanes are open by sign-up, and Two Tons of Steel headlines the stage. Tickets are $55 for adults, kids under 12 get in free, and there are games and face painting for them until 4. Door tickets are limited, so buy ahead.
Know, this week
Monday, October 5, is the last day to register to vote in the November 3 election, according to the Texas Secretary of State. If you moved here from another state, turned 18 this year, or have simply never registered in Texas, this is the week to do it. You can register at 17 years and 10 months old. If you moved within Texas or changed your name, you can update your registration online through Texas.gov.
The part that catches people: Texas does not let you register entirely online. The state’s online application is one you fill out, print, and mail to your county’s voter registrar, and the postmark has to be on or before October 5. The Secretary of State also warns that the Postal Service does not always postmark mail on the day it is collected, so if you are cutting it close, take the form to a post office counter and ask for a manual postmark, which is free. If you are not sure you are registered at all, the state’s Am I Registered? lookup will tell you.
Meet, this week
Amano Pottery Studio is a clay studio that runs pottery classes, and Andrea, who wrote its answers, makes the room sound like the best kind of neighborhood: retirees at the wheel next to college students, conversation moving between English and Spanish, and everyone swapping glazes. The answer that stopped me was about what the studio does not do. Amano does not sell finished work, so Andrea sends people to Golden Mean, a neighboring shop, and her story about one leather bookmark from there that kept finding new owners is about the best recommendation one small business can give another.
Reflect is a portrait studio with no photographer in the room. The camera sits behind a two-way mirror, you take the pictures yourself with a small remote while you watch yourself in the mirror, and Megan, who wrote its answers, says the full gallery usually comes back in two hours or less. I love the list of reasons people book it, which runs from headshots and family photos to bachelorette parties to simply wanting great photos of themselves. Her send-off is an easy one to take, too: Once Over Coffee, next door, with a patio tucked behind the shop.
Awesome Austinites
One person who makes something here, in her own words.
Photo by Austin Wildlife Rescue.
Jules Maron, executive director of Austin Wildlife Rescue. Her team helps more than 10,000 wild animals a year get a second chance, and helps Austinites figure out how to live with the wildlife around them. She spent 15 years in corporate finance and left without knowing what came next. The very next day she found an injured rabbit in her yard, a vet told her about Austin Wildlife Rescue, and she started volunteering. Over the last ten years she has worked every job there on the way to running it, and next she is building a permanent intake center on the Austin Animal Services campus. The rescue’s Caring for Critters Brunch & Auction is Saturday, October 17, and tickets are on its site.
Asked what she would tell someone who moved here last week, she said this: “Wildlife will be sharing your neighborhood with you, wherever that may be.”
Dish of the week
Photo by Parley.
Parley · Bulgogi Hoagie
This week’s dish is the bulgogi hoagie at Parley, sent in by the bar. It is marinated bulgogi and pepperoncini on a hoagie roll, served with bulgogi jus. It started on the lunch menu and became a fan favorite, so Parley recently moved it to the full-time food menu. Parley is a neighborhood bar on East Cesar Chavez, open every day from 11am.
One more thing.
Fortlandia opens its ninth year on Friday at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, out on the southwest edge of the city and well clear of the festival. It is a new set of forts, eight this year plus one kept from last year, designed and built by architects and makers inside the Family Garden, and the whole point is to play in them. It is included with general admission, which is $18 for adults Friday through Sunday, $12 for ages 3 to 17, and free for 2 and under. The gardens are open 9 to 5 with last entry at 4, and buying ahead is strongly encouraged. Parking is limited, and the café is closed for remodeling, so pack snacks.
If someone you know keeps asking where to go in Austin, forward this. One forward, and the Austin cheat-sheet is yours.
See you next Thursday.
P.S. If ACL has you thinking about the rest of the calendar, my festival guide sorts the big ones and the quietly local ones by season, including the ones I would skip.