Threadgill's Austin Tejas

So... I've asked a bunch of Austin, Tejas kids about Threadgill's before and none of them seem to know about it... I could never figure out how I basically breezed through town and hit upon this mecca of REAL Tejas funk... and fucking kick ass food with GIGANTIC portions... and for our vegetarian friends, Threadgill's has been a brand of vegetables since the 40's or something, and the veggie portions are bigger than gigantic...

anyway, it also has alot of musical history, the son of the original owner was a musician and eventually was a producer and in the 50's w/ rock-n-roll, his stagename was Poppa T...

here's an article I found about it too, it has a bit more history:

It's hard to say whose history is more illustrious--Threadgill's, the restaurant, or Eddie Wilson's, who has been the owner since 1979. The popular Austin landmark has been in operation since 1933 when it was a Gulf filling station owned by Kenneth Threadgill, a 22-year-old country music lover and enterprising bootlegger. After the county voted that December to go wet, Threadgill stood in line all night at the courthouse to be the first to get a beer license, Travis County Beer License #1. The joint was open 24 hours a day and gained fame as an after-hours hot spot where musicians working the dance hall circuit hung out for late-night gambling and jam sessions. Threadgill's was still a popular hangout in the sixties when folkies from the University of Texas--among them, Janis Joplin--discovered the Wednesday night sessions and joined in. Eddie Wilson was also a regular then, too.

In 1970 Wilson opened his own music venue, the Armadillo World Headquarters, where the beer and nachos became as legendary as some of the acts Wilson booked. Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Cliff, Frank Zappa, Van Morrison, Bette Midler, and Kenneth Threadgill all performed there. After the AWHQ shut down, Wilson started his cooking career in earnest--he bought Threadgill's from Kenneth. Wilson disclaims any credit for the immediate popularity of the restaurant--"Maybe it was because the food was so good, maybe it was the history of the building, maybe it was the overflowing plates, the low prices, or maybe it was the waitresses," he says. At any rate, Wilson's Southern cooking--cornbread, chicken-fried chicken breasts, garlic cheese grits, stewed okra and tomatoes, corn-off-the-cob, and strawberry-rhubarb pie--reminded customers of the food they grew up with, or wished they had.

The restaurant has now expanded from the original diner to include a larger seating area and more space for Wilson's memorabilia--license plates, old posters from the early Austin music scene, awards for "Best American Restaurant", "Best Place to Take Your Parents," "Best Breakfast," and "Best Vegetables." There is still a two-seat counter, a cookie jar full of yummy chocolate chip cookies (meant to be stolen from the cookie jar, so don't try to pay for them), and the old bar--additions are the commissary where you can buy food to go and packages of Threadgill's frozen foods, and the country story and museum which is the final resting place for much of Wilson's central Texas artifacts.

But, to really experience Wilson's recipes first-hand, you should hear from Wilson himself. He has written a cookbook--Threadgill's Cookbook--(Longstreet Press), a bubbly reminiscence of Wilson's career, of the food and how he likes to cook it, and anecdotes about many things Wilson finds pertinent--his mother Beulah, convenience food, the changing role of lunch in our society. Here are five recipes in Wilson's own words--he can say it better than anybody else.

I lost track of how many Veggie brands there were when I worked produce at "Slaveway"........

you had me at 'corn off the cob'

corn on the cob is such a fuckin hassle

i like corn on the cob

bump, give them some business.

Originally posted by loudhardfast

i like corn on the cob

you would :rolleyes:

ONCE AGAIN BUMP THIS UP< AND GIVE THE PLACE SOME BUSINESS If you live in Austin,..

I like to eat Okra........that pickled Okra shit...

chicken fried steak....(never been there.. but i heard it was good):yum:

What you DIDNT know about "us austin kids" is that the majority of the graffiti crowd in austin leans toward the healthy eating side...if we are not vegetarian, than we are at least health conscious, and threadgills is NOT the place to go if you care about your health...and even if you eat meat, i wouldnt trust the staff, believe you me, if you ordered anything with the brown gravy, you got more than you know....you've been had buddy....we know where to eat just as i am sure you know where to eat in your home town..then again...

what do i know