#8: 24 Diner

The Bar

24 Diner. 600 N Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78703.

Visited 1/14/17 @ 7:30pm.

The Drink

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The Rico. Flor de caña rum, lime, bitters, Topo Chico. $7.

I know I enjoyed this drink, but I have absolutely no memory of what this tasted like other than a vaguely tropical feel. It was gone before I knew it, which I guess is a good sign.

The Crew

Rome, Kyle, Michael, Sonali, Aaron, Travis

Notes

The square that contains 24 Diner is full of memories for me. 24 Diner used to be a Waterloo Ice House, which I would sometimes go to after trawling for CDs at the Waterloo Records that's still next door. The Waterloo Video in the same complex, where I'd look for action movies to rent on Wednesdays, is now a Lululemon full of athleisure wear for tweens. Whole Foods was on the NORTH side of the street, not the south, and everything was cleaner and brighter and more morally pure.

Sure. You can't live in the past forever, and 24 Diner is an excellent weapon to add to the late night arsenal beside Magnolia and Kerbey, no matter what your opinion is of them. It's also owned by the same group responsible for a number of great Austin restaurants, so they're still local and cool. Their chicken and waffles are among the best in the city. While you're drinking, 24 Diner's strategic location at Sixth and Lamar gives you a good view of the street just south of where scene 10 in Slacker was filmed, with that auto dealership replaced by the new Whole Foods HQ looming majestically in the background and the early 90s flannel-fest updated for stripes, as you can see in our picture.