
Reckless Kelly rocking their home turf of Austin. | Photo by Machelle Dunlop
Welcome to Sound Bites, where we meet rock musicians at the crossroads between music and food.
Digital Dossier
Twitter Handle: @RecklessKelly
Facebook: Reckless Kelly Page
Official Website: www.recklesskelly.com
If you’ve ever seen the NBC show Nashville, you know that there’s always some scene where a random band is playing on a dimly lit stage in some divey bar — and out of nowhere, they just kill it. That’s the magic of television.
Reckless Kelly are the real McCoy: Heralded as the Second Coming of country rock since the early aughts, the Austin-based group is not your average country band, singing about loose women, whiskey and Uncle Sam. In fact, their 2008 album, Bulletproof, was a left-leaning shot at the U.S. government’s involvement in Iraq and botched handling of Hurricane Katrina.
Lucky for us, the band’s lead singer and guitarist, Willy Braun, was cool with CityEats asking about Austin’s food and bevvie scene. He even spills some company secrets.
Austin, TX, is one of our favorite food cities. If you were to take somebody who’d never been around the city for one crazy day of drinking and eating, what food spots and bars would you stop at along the way?
Cooper’s BBQ is our fave. They have the best pork chop you’ll ever eat. Guaranteed. Ask for Barry, and if you’re lucky, he’ll save you a good pork chop. (Not that they have a bad one, but because they sell out early!) Maudie’s is probably our favorite Mexican joint in town. We’ll usually be found at the bar at Maudie’s Too on South Lamar.
If you wanna get some killer sushi, the two best spots are Uchiko and Uchi (sister restaurants). Paul Qui from Top Chef fame and fortune is the executive chef at Uchiko.
For music, you gotta go to the Continental Club, and Antone’s. For music and food together, try Stubb’s BBQ on Sunday (Great Gospel brunch!).
Our favorite watering holes are Lucy’s Retired Surfer’s Bar and The Horseshoe Lounge.
What is Austin’s best-kept-secret food spot?
I’ll probably get in trouble for telling you this, but in a town known for breakfast tacos, the best ones in town are at Maria’s Taco Express.
Reckless Kelly has toured all over the country. What is your favorite U.S. food city to visit on tour?
Tough call, but I’d say overall, San Francisco is the top spot these days. The Tadich Grill is the oldest restaurant in California, and it’s probably our favorite place in the world to eat.
On your album Wicked Twisted Road (2006), you have a song called “Seven Nights in Eire.” What’s your go-to Irish pub food and pint?
In Ireland, it’s Griffin’s pub in Clifden. We had a blast there for several nights, and they have really good food. If anyone is going over, bring me some brown sauce and I’ll pay you back.
What is the one part of the Texas cuisine that you cannot stand?
Hard to even think of something I don’t like, but I gotta admit, I only like BBQ sausage if it’s done perfectly. Elgin sausage is awesome and a few other places do it justice, but I’m super picky in that area. I’m sure Texans reading this are rolling their eyes.
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