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Barbecue praise from USA Today leads this week's 5 most-read Austin stories

Mum Foods Smokehouse And Delicatessen pastrami sandwich

Mum Foods Smokehouse And Delicatessen made USA Today's national list.

Mum Foods Smokehouse And Delicatessen/Instagram

Editor's note: A lot happened this week, so here's your chance to get caught up. Read on for the week's most popular headlines. Looking for the best things to do this weekend? Find that list here.

1. Unique Austin barbecue joint makes USA Today's first 'Restaurants of the Year' list. One Austin restaurant, Mum Foods Smokehouse and Delicatessen, made the list. It is the only inclusion from Texas.

2. 2 Austin eateries shine on Texas Monthly's best new restaurants list. Austin is graced with two representatives in the top 10: Bureau de Poste (sixth) and Ezov (10th).

3. Hill Country resort inflates its 10th annual hot air balloon festival. The events include watching the balloons take flight, rock climbing on a freestanding wall, jumping on a bungee trampoline, and a helicopter egg drop.

4. These 10 breweries tap into the best of Austin's beer scene. Every one has its own innovative way to improve Austin's beer scene, which keeps us on our toes as we search for Brewery of the Year nominees for the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards.

5. How to get tickets for the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Texas. Gymnastics' biggest stars are heading to Fort Worth for the 2024 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships, May 30-June 2, at Dickies Arena.

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Reexamining Don Draper

Jon Hamm, Henry Winkler, and more headed to Austin for TV festival

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Jon Hamm is coming to Austin to talk about Don Draper.

From May 29 to June 1, 2025, the ATX TV Festival will take over downtown Austin, and this year Jon Hamm will be joining the festival for the first time.

Hamm will be here for an event called A Mad Men Retrospective, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the show's finale. In this panel (the moderator of which is not yet announced), Hamm will reflect on his Emmy-winning performance as Mad Men's Don Draper, the uniqueness of the character in the TV canon, and the show's influence 10 years after it ended.

Jon Hamm may be best known as Draper, but he's also given celebrated performances in several movies and other shows like Fargo, Black Mirror, and — fun fact! — Gilmore Girls.

Celebrating TV is what the ATX TV Festival is all about. This annual summer event is put on by ATX TV and consists of screenings, Q&As, and panel conversations; plus all sorts of parties, live music, happy hours, and other events. It's known for reunions of classic series and cult hits, and according to the website, it's like "TV camp for grownups."

Jon Hamm isn't the only heavy-hitter in this year's lineup.

Programming also includes an acting class and Q&A with Henry Winkler himself, a live script reading of classic episodes from The Golden Girls and Designing Women (guest actors to be announced), a reunion of the creatives and cast of the HBO hit series The Leftovers, a live recording of the podcast Sidebar: A Suits Watch Podcast with Suits stars and co-hosts Sarah Rafferty and Patrick J. Adams, and much more.

Additionally, the festival's annual Pitch Competition is still accepting open pitch submissions through January 17. This gives creatives in Austin a chance to pitch their show idea in front of some of the industry's biggest showrunners and executives. Those in the top 10 will receive a year of support to make the next steps in their TV careers.

Festival badges and passes ($150-535) are on sale now.

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