Ready your remotes, my friends. Tonight is the premiere of the final season of Anthony Bourdain’s hit series “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel. The first episode of the season features none other than Austin, which Bourdain stopped by during the SXSW music festival in March. As I mentioned before, Bourdain is leaving the Travel Channel for CNN once the final season of “No Reservations” wraps up.

No official word on all the restaurants and food trailers that are featured in tonight’s Austin episode, but one person we know for sure made it into the lineup is Bryce Gilmore of Barley Swine.

Bryce Gilmore

“It’s great to be a part of the final season of No Reservations,” Gilmore told TEXAS MONTHLY. “We had a great time a few years ago filming for Odd Duck and again a few months ago for Barley Swine. This time around we sat in one of my favorite bars, drank beers, and shot the shit about the Austin food scene. I can think of worse things to do.”

You can catch all the Austin excitement tonight at 8 p.m. CT on the Travel Channel.

Tagged: Anthony Bourdain, austin, Barley Swine, Bryce Gilmore, Layne Lynch, no reservations, Odd Duck Farm to Trailer, Travel Channel

I first met Andrew Zimmern last fall at Whip In in Austin where the spirited television chef was filming his hit Travel Channel series, “Bizarre Foods.” Though Zimmern has traveled all over the world, he made it clear to me during his stop in Texas that Austin’s culinary scene evoked a certain quality he rarely ever saw in American cuisine. “The people of Austin really enjoy being experimented at,” Zimmern explained to me. “They redefine the meaning of bizarre food.”

Tonight, the Austin episode of Bizarre Foods premieres at 8 p.m. CT and features some Austin favorites, including Foreign & Domestic, Contigo, Lamberts, Barley Swine, Gourdoughs, Dai Due, and a number of other Austin spots. It seems like Rene Ortiz of La Condesa will also be featured on the episode as well, according to a post on Sway’s Facebook page which warns, “Spoiler alert: Rene might kill something [tonight].”

Bridget Dunlap with Andrew Zimmern

The host for Zimmern’s Austin visit is Rainey Street Queen Bridget Dunlap, owner of Lustre Pearl, Clive Bar, Bar 96, and the yet-to-be-opened Container Bar. ”Andrew and the crew are super badass! He was so fun, sweet, and down-to-earth,” Dunlap said of her experience with Zimmern. ”We all stayed out together until 12:30 a.m. and had a blast. He loves his job and the crew loves him…the whole experience was really amazing.”

Catch all the Austin bizarreness tonight on the Travel Channel!

Tagged: Andrew Zimmern, austin, Barley Swine, Bridget Dunlap, Contigo, Dai Due, Foreign and Domestic, la condesa, Lambert's, Layne Lynch, Rene Ortiz, Sway, Travel Channel, Whip In

When he isn’t busy picking a nasty feud with any number of Food Network chefs, Anthony Bourdain is devouring his way around the world on his culinary travel show ”No Reservations.” For years, viewers have switched between salivating in envy and cringing in disgust as the blunt, ballsy chef sampled wildly exotic foods from around the world, including an unwashed warthog rectum in Namibia and fermented shark in Iceland. 

Come September, Bourdain will kick off his ninth and final season season of “No Reservations” before he makes his way over to CNN. The season premiere starts out in Austin, Texas – which the Travel Channel unsurprisingly deems a “hipster hotspot.” (In all fairness, the network filmed the episode during SXSW, which attracted thousands of vintage-clad music lovers.) No word on which Austin hotspots made their way into the premiere episode, but you catch the episode on Sept. 3 on the Travel Channel at 9/8c.

Tagged: Anthony Bourdain, austin, CNN, Layne Lynch, no reservations, Travel Channel

Noble Pig‘s owners John Bates and Brandon Martinez can give themselves a pat on the back; apparently, they make the best sandwich in the Southwest.

Photo taken by Marshall Wright

On Wednesday, Adam Richman’s Travel Channel show “Best Sandwich in America“ featured the Austin sandwich shop’s seared beef tongue sandwich and dubbed it the best sandwich in the Southwest – beating out The Salt Lick‘s sliced beef brisket sandwich and a twelve-ingredient torta from Phoenix, Arizona. If you’re interested in watching Richman explain all the delicious, mouth-watering intracacies of Noble Pig’s beef tongue sandwich, check out this YouTube video.

Tagged: austin, Brandon Martinez, John Bates, Layne Lynch, Noble Pig, Sandwich, Travel Channel