I have always loved travelling to the United States. As The Sunday Times correspondent in Los Angeles in the late 1980s, I visited 48 of the 50 states, missing only North and South Dakota.
So when I was invited to the premiere of my documentary film Flight 149: Hostage of War at the huge SXSW (south by southwest) festival in Austin, I did not hesitate.
I found myself, after a 14-hour flight from Auckland to Houston, on the road in a rented car on the two and a-half-hour drive to Austin, a flat, featureless landscape memorable only for the number of speeding giant trucks that passed me as I kept to the speed limit, and ominous roadside billboards advertising the services of lawyers if you ended up in a crash.
On my way I kept thinking — "should I be here?" I have always been hesitant to visit a number of places on my bucket list for moral reasons — Iran while they beat and murder women for how they dress, or Turkey while they bomb the Kurds.
But the US is — still —a democracy, right? You cannot blame an entire country for Maga (political movement based on Donald Trump saying Make America Great Again) and Trump, or punish all the good liberal Americans who did not vote for him.
Like Texas itself, the myth is as important as the man, but we do know that he was an entrepreneur who led the colonisation of the region by bringing 300 families and their slaves from the United States to what was then the Tejas region of Mexico in 1825.
The city that he gave his name to was unrecognisable from my previous visits — bigger, with more traffic and a different vibe. Austin has always been a liberal, democratic enclave in a very red state and locals complain that its nature is changing thanks to enormous influx of tech jobs and money turning it into the Silicon Valley of Texas.
Elon Musk has built a factory that has brought thousands of jobs to the area — Apple is investing billions too. ( It is fair to say that the Uber divers, merchants and other small business people love the jobs and don’t care about the politics.)
But despite all this, Austin remains a charming destination. The bars are cool, the music is everywhere, and the food is terrific.
Do visit the grand state capital building and look at the huge Confederate statue and its sinister re-writing of history:
"Died for state’s rights guaranteed under the Constitution. The people of the South, animated by the spirit of 1776, to preserve their rights, withdrew from the federal compact in 1861.The North resorted to coercion. The South, against overwhelming numbers and resources, fought until exhausted."
A short distance away is an example of the "rights" they were taking about — the right to keep slaves. There is a beautiful sculpture dedicated to emancipation.
That, and the signs dedicated to Mexican heritage and history, are reason to hope.
Recommendations
Joe’s Bakery and Coffee shop, 2305 E 7th St
It’s been around since 1935 and it’s the best place for breakfast, TexMex style, such as scrambled eggs with beans and tortillas, or jalapenos if you want some early morning spice.
Don’t expect Dunedin cafe quality coffee though. Austin, like the rest of the United States, has a baffling addiction to average coffee.
Franklin Barbecue, 900 E 11st
A long-time Austin favourite described by the Texas Monthly as "serving the best barbecue in the known universe".
It is everything you might dream about as a meat lover but be aware it doesn’t take reservations, so prepare to queue, day or night.
Books
If you get away from the downtown area you will find a couple of gems for book lovers. Half Price Books ( several branches) are cavernous outlets full of discounted hardbacks, paperbacks
and magazines.
Barnes and Noble, 10000 Research Boulevard, is everything a book shop should be.
It’s off the beaten track but well worth a visit, a lovely, relaxed place with a great selection and knowledgeable staff in a fine building.
Tacos
Good cheap tacos are everywhere, in food trucks and funky restaurants.
It’s fiercely competitive but there is still that American spirit of community — during the Great Texas Freeze of 2021 that left tens of thousands stranded in the cold and without basic necessities, four Taco joint owners — who became known as the Taco Mafia — joined forces to feed the city.
Ginas on Congress, 314 Congress Avenue
An upscale steak house in the heart of town, with friendly staff and a giant photo of Italian actress/model/bombshell Gina Lollobrigida on the wall. The owner is a big Italian movie fan — his other restaurant is called Sophia, as in Loren.
I had the best Wagyu steak I have eaten outside of Japan, definitely not cheap at $US42 ($NZ73) but so good that I seriously resented requests from my film colleagues to give them a taste.
If you pass a branch of Lick (Honest Ice Cream), go inside and order a large portion of the Texas sheet cake. I have a sweet tooth and this chocolate confection is one of the best desserts I have ever tasted.
Chi’lantro
A chain with three branches in the city featuring — new to me but obviously wildly popular — Korean- Tex Mex fusion.
For $US15 ($NZ26) you get a huge bowl of delicious food — mixing things like Korean barbecue chicken with Tortillas, black beans and corn or their take on B’Bimbap. It was all good. It’s one of those very American immigrant success stories
"If you’re an immigrant, grew up with a single mom who had to support two kids, you’re not getting good grades in school, if you have a sibling that was disabled, if you lost your dad to cancer, that’s me," founder Jae Kim says in an online video.
"Not a lot of people know [the struggle] who are born here. Like, going through the immigration process of getting a green card and like you’re thinking like, ‘Do I belong here?"’
He started a food truck business by maxing out his credit cards and taking out his total savings of $30,000 to pursue his dream and he succeeded.
But I couldn’t help thinking how future Kims would fare in Maga world, even assuming Trump allows struggling people to get into the country.
