Gabriel Luna’s weekend guide to Austin, Texas

Since attending the 2016 US Grand Prix, Austin’s own Gabriel Luna is a huge F1 fan. Ahead of the 2024 race, the actor shares his Bat City picks, from live music to breakfast tacos.

Austin, Texas, is known for its barbecue, cowboy culture, breakfast tacos, rollicking music scene and its defiant slogan: “Keep Austin Weird.”

Actor Gabriel Luna fell in love with the sport when he was invited to the 2016 United States Grand Prix. “Just the speed, the sounds, meeting all of the drivers. It was really exciting,” says Luna.

After striking up a friendship with the Haas F1 team, Luna has since attended races in Budapest, Monza and Montreal. He’s also returned to his home city of Austin, where he was born, raised and attended university, to watch the United States Grand Prix live on three more occasions.

“I just fell in love with the sport. I’ve seen it grow exponentially year after year,” says Luna, who credits the Netflix documentary series Drive to Survive for bringing more US attention to the sport. While Miami and Las Vegas now host their own races, Luna believes that Austin’s distinctive free-wheeling spirit and party atmosphere make it the best place to watch Formula One in the US.

“Having the race in Austin is a great way to show off the city,” he says. “It’s a truly beautiful part of the country. But also the city is built on music, food and enjoying life. We attract a lot of bon vivants who just want to live a good life and they can get that in Austin.”

Here are Luna’s favourite ways to experience his hometown.

Located within Austin’s bustling Zilker Metropolitan Park is the scenic Barton Springs Pool, where for just a small fee, visitors can relax on the grass and jump into its water all year-round. For Luna, this three-acre pool fed by underground springs is the “centre of culture and life” in Austin. “You get to see Austin’s youth, its old-timers, its hippies doing their yoga, people playing guitar. Everyone is just jumping into the water, which is perpetually 68 degrees.”

When Luna is home in the summer months, he loves relaxing by the water, jumping in, drying off and jumping back in – on repeat. “You can just lay out on the hill on the far side of Barton Springs and see the whole city. It’s the heart of the town.”

While Austin is renowned for its food, booze and music scenes, it also has a bevy of fantastic museums. Luna’s favourite is the Emma S Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, located in Rainey Street Historic District right by Lady Bird Lake. “It’s in this beautiful building, which itself is a work of art,” says Luna, whose parents were both of Mexican descent. “But it also has a theatre, a gallery and their rotating exhibits celebrate Mexican American arts and heritage.”

Luna also points visitors to The Blanton Museum of Art at the Austin chapter of the University of Texas, which has more than 21,000 works of modern and contemporary art from Europe, the United States and Latin America. It’s also home to renowned American artist Ellsworth Kelly‘s immersive art building Austin; famed for its natural depiction of light and colour.

Austin, which bills itself as the “live music capital of the world“, has a wildly diverse music scene rivalling those of Nashville, Memphis and even New Orleans. “Culturally in Austin, it’s all about the music. You just have to get out there, catch a band and listen to the music,” says Luna.

The actor and sometimes musician loves Broken Spoke, an old-school spot that’s been serving beer and chicken-fried steak and hosting bands since 1964. “It’s protected by the National Registry and is an incredible little honky-tonk bar that can’t be touched,” says Luna. “The community gathered together to acquire enough signatures to stop it from being purchased.”

Another venue Luna calls his “personal headquarters” is Antone’s; one of Austin’s most iconic blues venues. Antone’s, now found on Fifth Street, might have moved locations a few times since the original location opened in 1975, but that hasn’t stopped the likes of Ray Charles, James Brown, Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan from playing its stages. “It’s really home for me when I’m back in Austin.”

For even more live music, Luna also suggests The Continental Club and the juke joint C-Boy’s Heart & Soul, both found on Congress Street; one of downtown Austin’s premier shopping and entertainment districts.

Luna can’t help but get nostalgic when asked about breakfast tacos; a Tex-Mex dish of scrambled eggs, cheeses, veg and meat wrapped in a tortilla that’s become known as an Austin specialty. He laments a number of places which have closed, in particular Maria’s Taco Express on South Lamar Boulevard, which shut its doors in September 2020. Luna also insists that the best breakfast tacos in Austin are at his grandmother’s house, which he ate every morning for 12 years before school.

Rather than badgering her for them, Luna heads to Juan in A Million in East Austin. “It’s a great Mexican restaurant that has fantastic breakfast tacos,” he says. Juan in a Million’s menu features a full array of breakfast taco choices, from chorizo (sausage) to migas-style (with soft scrambled eggs and crispy fried tortilla strips). If you’re in the north of the city, Luna suggests Tierra Linda Taqueria, a wonderful no-frills eatery located in a gas station serving huge orders.

The great state of Texas is barbecue country, and Austin takes the craft very seriously. For great central Texas-style barbecue, Luna says visitors can never go wrong at Austin cult favourite Franklin Barbecue; a turquoise-and-white roadside stop on 11th Street instantly recognisable by its massive queue. Founded in 2009 by Aaron Franklin, the spot was named the best barbecue in the country by Bon Appétit in 2011. “Aaron is a legend who has created an incredible legacy for himself,” says Luna. “I’ve lived in Los Angeles since 2011 and I always get his [barbecued beef] brisket shipped out for my Super Bowl parties.”

Luna also recommends Black’s Barbecue, founded in 1932 and located in Lockhart; a 30-minute drive from Austin. But he quickly adds that Terry Black’s BBQ is also worth a visit; explaining that the two restaurants have been engulfed in a family rivalry since the latter was opened by twin brothers Mike and Mark when they didn’t approve of their Uncle Kent’s cooking techniques at Black’s. “They’re both great,” says Luna. “The brisket in particular at Black’s is fantastic.”

Ultimately, Luna says, “There’s lots of great barbecue across Austin. At a certain point it’s a little but like splitting hairs because so much of it tastes so good.”

One Austin dish that Luna thinks is underrated is a good bowl of queso; a creamy dip made of melted cheese. “People do it in a really artful way,” he says. “Then you just get some tortilla chips and dip them in there. It’s like a fondue.” Luna calls Magnolia Café – a vintage Tex Mex-influenced diner on Congress Street – the best place to eat queso in Austin, as they mix in avocado, beef, salsa, pico de gallo, black beans and jalapeño to create their own signature take on the dish. “It’s the perfect thing to eat after a long night of drinking and when you’re really drunk,” he says.

Austin’s Sixth Street is renowned for its long stretch of bars, which Luna says you can stumble between with ease: “They all have different personalities. You can pop into The Jackalope [a dive] or Maggie Mae’s [massive event space]”.

Nowadays Luna prefers a more laid-back vibe, which is what you get when you head farther east on Sixth Street to his favourite watering hole: Whisler‘s. “It’s got a really cool little secret Mezcal bar,” he says. “You go up this little spiral staircase and there’s a very small room and a tiny bar. They have a fine collection of mezcals up there.” The nearby White Horse honky-tonk plays great country music, and Luna also suggests the Uptown Sports Club for a classy yet still casual ambience.

BBC Travel’s The SpeciaList is a series of guides to popular and emerging destinations around the world, as seen through the eyes of local experts and tastemakers.