Whether you’re working on your new script for a Netflix show about an eccentric retirement community of 20-somethings, or finishing that business plan for a startup that’s like Uber for dogs, you need a good all-day spot like Better Half. It’s a cafe on West 5th, and despite being just a few short blocks away from the busy streets of Downtown, it feels like a quiet neighborhood oasis dreamed up by young Austinites trying to reimagine little bits of millennial nostalgia for grown-ups—whether that’s in the form of 7-Eleven Slurpee-inspired frozen cocktails, or an order of crispy, fried cauliflower tots served with beet ketchup. Better Half has one of the best patios in town, and when the weather is nice, there are very few better outdoor places to be (and a huge free parking lot doesn’t hurt, either). It’s difficult to tell where Better Half ends and its sister brewery, Hold Out, starts. At some point the cafe-pink picnic tables scattered about the massive shared patio start to turn brewery-brown. But it doesn’t really matter, because outside of an invisible line that cocktails aren’t allowed to cross (thanks, TABC), you, your food, and your beer can pretty much pass freely between the semi-permeable membrane separating the two spots. There’s also a smaller dining room, with a handful of booths and a bar where you’ll usually find regulars posted up on a stool, chatting with the bartender about the latest boozy slurpee invention. By day, you can order excellent cold brews and espresso-based drinks—a perk of mentorship from one of its other sister coffee shop/bars, Brew & Brew. In the afternoons and evenings, there’s a great list of wines by the glass or bottle, cocktails, and draft beers brewed just a 15 second walk away. And the food menu doesn’t really follow any rules or structures, meaning you can course together a meal made up of pastrami-loaded queso, a cheeseburger, chilled ramen with fried chicken, and Basque-inspired burnt cheesecake with cherries. Or you can just get a giant salad and convince yourself that this is the year you finally decide to start training for that marathon/half-marathon/walk-around-the-block that you’ve been putting off.