BBQ advice:
Rudy's is fantastic, and you can't go wrong there. They have perfected the chain BBQ restaurant here in Texas.
But, since CotA is on the southeast side of town, I would recommend making the 20 minute trip to Lockhart. There are three awesome BBQ joints within a mile of each other:
Black's,
Kreuz's, and
Smitty's. Here's a review of all three:
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesgu...-of-texas.html