September is when Austin finally starts getting a break from the worst of summer. The afternoons can still be hot, but the evenings become easier to enjoy, football season returns, patios become more comfortable and the city begins building toward one of its biggest annual events: Austin City Limits Music Festival.

This is also one of the best months to explore Austin’s food and bar scene before October brings enormous festival crowds.

The biggest story heading into fall is obviously ACL.

The 2022 festival is scheduled for two weekends in October—October 7–9 and October 14–16 at Zilker Park—with a lineup that includes Red Hot Chili Peppers, P!nk, Paramore, The Chicks, SZA, Flume, Lil Nas X and Kacey Musgraves.

That means September is essentially Austin’s preparation month.

Hotels begin filling.

Restaurants start planning for enormous crowds.

Bars prepare for festival visitors.

Transportation becomes a bigger concern.

And anyone who wants to experience ACL without spending the entire weekend inside Zilker Park starts making plans for the shows and parties happening around town.

The official festival is only part of the experience.

Austin’s unofficial ACL parties are becoming almost as important as the festival itself.

Restaurants host special dinners.

Bars book musicians.

Brands throw parties.

Venues schedule after-shows.

And local businesses take advantage of the thousands of people already in town.

For Baller ATX readers, September is the month to start watching those calendars.

If you wait until October, many of the most popular events will already be full.

The restaurant scene is also giving Austinites plenty to talk about.

One of the most interesting openings around town is Uroko, the Japanese restaurant from the team behind Kemuri Tatsu-Ya. The concept focuses on Japanese cuisine with a Texas influence, continuing the Austin trend of chefs blending local ingredients and traditions with international cooking.

That type of restaurant is increasingly common in Austin.

The city has become a place where chefs don’t feel obligated to choose between “Austin food” and international cuisine.

They combine them.

Texas barbecue can meet Japanese technique.

Mexican ingredients can appear in modern fine dining.

Southern cooking can be paired with Asian flavors.

And Austin diners seem increasingly interested in the results.

Another major food trend to watch this fall is the continued expansion of Austin’s food halls and restaurant parks.

These concepts work particularly well in Austin because they combine several things locals already love.

Food.

Drinks.

Outdoor seating.

Live music.

Games.

And the ability to meet a group without everyone having to agree on the same restaurant.

That’s becoming an increasingly important part of Austin’s social scene.

Instead of asking, “Where should we have dinner?”

People are asking, “Where should we hang out?”

That difference is significant.

Restaurants are increasingly becoming destinations rather than simply places to eat.

September is also the beginning of football season, which means Austin bars are preparing for one of the biggest sports traditions in the city: Texas Longhorn football.

Whether you’re a die-hard fan or someone who simply enjoys the atmosphere, football weekends create a noticeable change in Austin’s nightlife.

Bars begin opening earlier.

Restaurants advertise game-day specials.

Patios fill with fans.

And the University of Texas area becomes significantly busier.

The return of college football also adds another layer to Austin’s already busy weekend entertainment schedule.

You can watch football during the afternoon, go to dinner, catch live music and finish the night at a bar.

And in September, the weather is finally making that possible again.

The heat is still around, but the evenings are becoming more manageable.

That means patio season is getting a second life.

The spring patio season may have been interrupted by summer temperatures, but September brings it back.

Restaurants with shaded patios and outdoor seating become especially popular around sunset.

This is one of the best times of year to eat outside in Austin.

The temperature drops.

The sun sets earlier.

And suddenly sitting outside with a margarita doesn’t feel like a challenge.

Austin’s cocktail scene is also entering a strong season.

Downtown rooftop bars remain popular, but neighborhood cocktail bars are increasingly becoming destinations themselves.

East Austin continues to be one of the best areas for this.

A typical night might begin with dinner and turn into several drinks at different bars.

That’s because East Austin’s nightlife is designed for walking and exploring.

You don’t have to spend the entire night at one location.

Try one bar.

Move to another.

Find music.

Grab late-night food.

Repeat.

That’s one of the reasons the area remains so popular with both locals and visitors.

But there is another side of Austin nightlife worth exploring this month.

The city’s dive bars remain some of its most authentic places to spend an evening.

After highlighting Austin’s top dive bars last month, September is a good time to actually visit one.

Nickel City.

Deep Eddy Cabaret.

Donn’s Depot.

Lala’s Little Nugget.

The Grackle.

Barfly’s.

These places don’t need ACL or a major festival to attract customers.

They’ve been doing their thing for years.

And as Austin continues to grow, those longtime bars are becoming increasingly important pieces of the city’s cultural identity.

September is also when many people start thinking about Halloween.

It may seem early, but Austin’s bars and event venues begin planning their fall parties well in advance.

The city’s Halloween scene has become a major nightlife event, particularly on Sixth Street and in East Austin.

Costume parties, themed events and bar crawls begin appearing on calendars.

For anyone planning to host or attend a Halloween event, September is when it pays to start looking.

The same is true for restaurants.

Fall menus are beginning to appear.

Chefs start shifting away from the light summer dishes and toward richer seasonal food.

Cocktail menus begin changing.

And breweries start preparing fall releases.

Austin’s food scene is increasingly seasonal, even if the weather doesn’t always cooperate.

You may still be sweating in September, but restaurants are already thinking about fall.

And that means pumpkin, apples, roasted vegetables, darker beers and heavier cocktails aren’t far away.

Another major September story is the continuing transformation of Austin’s downtown entertainment districts.

The city’s growth is creating new restaurants, hotels, apartment buildings and entertainment concepts, but it is also putting pressure on some of the smaller businesses that helped create Austin’s nightlife reputation.

Rainey Street is perhaps the clearest example.

The neighborhood that once consisted primarily of historic houses converted into bars is increasingly surrounded by high-rise development.

That doesn’t mean the bars disappear overnight.

But the character of the neighborhood is changing.

And for longtime Austinites, that is something worth paying attention to.

The same thing is happening elsewhere.

Small restaurants are being replaced by larger developments.

Longtime businesses are moving.

New concepts are arriving.

The city is becoming more polished.

Some people love that.

Others miss what Austin used to be.

September sits right in the middle of that debate.

You can go to a brand-new restaurant with a highly designed interior and expensive cocktail menu.

Then you can drive ten minutes and sit at a dive bar that looks almost unchanged from twenty years ago.

Both are Austin.

And that’s what makes the city’s nightlife scene so interesting.

The city hasn’t completely lost its old personality.

It’s just sharing space with a very different new one.

September is also an excellent month for live music outside the ACL festival itself.

Austin’s music venues continue booking local artists and touring acts, and smaller venues can offer a much more intimate experience than a giant festival.

Red River remains one of the best places to discover emerging musicians.

South Austin continues its long tradition of live music.

East Austin’s bars mix music with food and cocktails.

And downtown venues attract larger touring acts.

You don’t have to wait for October.

Music is already everywhere.

The biggest difference is that September gives locals a chance to enjoy it without tens of thousands of festival visitors standing next to them.

That makes this month especially good for exploring.

Try a new venue.

See a local band.

Find a new restaurant.

Visit a brewery.

Check out a new cocktail bar.

Then make your ACL plans.

Because once October arrives, Austin gets busy.

Very busy.

For Baller ATX readers, September is therefore less about one giant event and more about preparing for everything that’s coming.

ACL is coming.

Halloween is coming.

Football season is here.

Fall restaurant menus are arriving.

New bars are opening.

Patio season is returning.

And Austin’s nightlife is getting ready for one of its busiest stretches of the year.

The smartest thing you can do this month is explore before the crowds arrive.

Try the restaurant you’ve been hearing about.

Visit a bar you’ve never been to.

Find a new brewery.

Check out an old-school dive.

Listen to live music.

And figure out where you’re going to eat during ACL.

Because once October arrives, everyone else will be trying to do the same thing.

September is your head start.