We have reached out to our friends Sarah & Alexa with Lubbock in the Loop. I won’t be able to put together my weekly Eats & Bounds post this year, so we here at Staking the Plains hope you visit their site. Seth will be linking to it in his weekly posts. They have an excellent events calendar as well as an update on recent openings/closings. They also post features highlighting our fare city.

This week, they have agreed to answer some questions as we get ready for Week 1 of Texas Tech’s football season. Enjoy!

Football season is upon us, and as usual, quite a bit has changed around Lubbock since the last kickoff including my beloved Harrigan’s reopening in a new location. Are there any new restaurants you would recommended that have opened since Red Raider fans have last visited?

We can confirm that the new Harrigan’s is just like the beloved old favorite! We’ve been enjoying Growler USA, which has 100 beers on tap plus delicious food – try the appetizer trio… trust us on this. Stacked (located on 82nd between Frankford and Milwaukee) is a new breakfast and lunch place with your classic fare all made from scratch. Just in the time for football season, Little Woodrow’s has opened on 66th & Milwaukee-ish. Awesome patio with TVs and great drinks. They rotate food trucks so you won’t go hungry!

Lubbock keeps coming up with more to do during the fall, which I think is the best time of the year. What events or concerts are you looking forward to over the next few months?

We agree – Fall is by far our favorite time of year! Love the vibe around town with home football games, basketball season around the corner, and tons of events going on. We’re looking forward to Doktoberfest (that’s Oktoberfest at Two Docs), the corn maze (this year’s theme looks awesome!), and all of the pumpkin patches. We are currently working on our 8th annual Fall events list, so be sure to bookmark the page.

It seems like new restaurants are opening every day. Is there anything that might break ground soon? I hear (through your site, of course) that Braum’s is planning a Lubbock takeover.

Braum’s as well as Shipley Do-Nuts, which is planning for seven Lubbock locations. Really looking forward to Atomic Lounge & Pizza Kitchen, which is being brought to us by the same folks as Bar PM. They’ll specialize in brick oven pizza and custom cocktails! And, if you haven’t heard… H-E-B is officially coming to Lubbock on 114th & Quaker at the end of 2020. Lubbock had just a small meltdown over that news.

Not to forget the local guys that have been around for the long haul, what are some of your local favorites that readers outside of Lubbock may not have tried?

We hope out-of-towners already know about these spots, but just in case… La Sirena, Crafthouse Gastropub, Capital Pizza (now with a second location at 8211 Slide Rd), and Heart & Soul tea room. Don’t forget about dessert – Pie Bar has opened a second location off of 98th and Slide so check ’em out! Love cookies and macarons? Check out Sugarista or Short and Sweets to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Lubbock now has several places to sip a local beer with Triple J’s, The Plains Brew, The Brewery LBK and Two Docs. Are there any others that could be opening soon?

Auld Brewing is coming to Broadway soon. They’re finishing up their first brewery in Borger, so stay tuned on that. On a related adult beverage note, for wine drinkers, Burklee Hill at the Kress Building downtown is hoping to open around October. Progress has been slow because it’s a historic building so they have had to be careful in their renovations. We project more breweries in the growing downtown area, though we cannot provide details quite yet.

This is a loaded question around here for breakfast: burrito or taco? And do you have a few go-to spots you’d like to share?

Burrito all the way, especially from Picantes, Poliberto’s, Josie’s, El Ranchito, or Lillie’s Place. These are great local businesses too, so be sure to stop by and support them!

Thanks again to Alexa and Sarah for taking the time to answer my questions. Keep up with all of their efforts promoting Lubbock businesses on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.