The Bar
Visited 9/4/20 @ 11:30pm.
The Drink
Vodka soda. Vodka, soda. $8.50.
You can't get more basic than a vodka soda. As you know, my normal go-to drink is the gin and tonic, but a vodka soda is so similar that it fulfills essentially the exact same function. As gin is merely vodka with flavorings, tonic is merely soda with quinine, and so a vodka soda can be thought of as an even purer way to fulfill the implied request of "give me an alcohol plus a non-alcohol so that I'm not effectively just drinking straight out of the bottle". $8.50 is a steep price for a well vodka soda, however, so I wouldn't recommend ordering this over one of their specialty drinks, which are actually fairly solid. This is not a good bar for shot-and-a-beer regulars.
The Crew
Geoff, Aaron.
Notes
Happy Chicks replaced the Austin outpost of Gino's East, the Chicago deep dish pizza chain. The Gino's location was operated by Doug Guller, who not only
owns this new venture but also Bikini's/BBG's and Pelons, and so seems to be in an empire-building mode. This new fried chicken joint opened back in 2018, and I actually visited here a few times in non-blog mode before I was able to fully capture it for the blog. Their chicken is actually pretty good, in the upper reaches of the Buffalo Wild Wings tier, but the sauces are where it's at, with over a dozen to choose from. It's no deep dish pizza, but it's a lot easier to go on a Sixth Street drinking binge after some tendies than deep dish, even if the value-conscious consumer is advised to do their drinking elsewhere at an actual bar.
