The Bar
Hoffbrau Steakhouse. 613 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701
Visited 2/4/17 @ 6:30pm.
The Drink
Crab apple. Sour apple Crown Royal (!!!), cranberry juice. $6.50.
This is the kind of drink that would have been extremely dangerous for me in my college binge drinking days. I drank the shit out of Crown Royal, both to show loyalty to my father's country of birth as well as to save money since it wasn't very expensive. We've already established that the exact ingredients of drinks are meaningless, and so you might as well call this a Cape Cod with whiskey instead of vodka. Why not? It's a free country.
The Crew
Aaron.
Notes
This place has a history, that's for sure - Hoffbrau is an Austin institution that happens to be the oldest family-owned restaurant in the whole city (I'm not sure what the oldest bar is - the Driskill maybe?). I spent a while talking with the bartender and a few other employees about why they think this restaurant has done so well while so many others have come and gone from this stretch of street over the years (with the obvious exception of Hut's). They came up with a few reasons:
- Employee loyalty. Everyone who worked there had done so for like 20 or 30 years, which is almost unheard of in the high-turnover restaurant industry.
- A sense of history. Their walls are plastered with pictures and newspaper clippings of guests, celebrities, employees, food, and other signs of their connections to the city.
- Word of mouth. As I was chatting with the staff, some other patrons who overheard our discussion started throwing out not only their favorite menu items, but also who it was who had originally turned them on the the restaurant in the first place.
- Food. I've sadly never eaten here, but I was REALLY tempted to just grab a steak off of someone's plate and go to town on it, maybe with some bird noises too.
I'll definitely have to return for some food. Either way, I'm glad they're doing well, and give that they also own Rustic Tap, their continued existence looks bright.
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