Monday, March 10, 2008

Downtown Restaurants Closed Today (Monday)

The following restaurants downtown are closed today:
Stubb’s BBQ (try Ironworks or Lambert’s instead)
Chez Nous

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Downtown Restaurants Closed Today (Sunday)

Notice: the following downtown food options are closed today:
Taco Shack (try Torchy’s instead)
Iron Works BBQ (try Stubb’s or Lambert’s instead)
Marakesh

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Downtown Wine Bars

Virginia B. Wood of the Austin Chronicle runs down the downtown Austin wine bar scene in this week’s Food-o-file:

Wine bars abound—in fact, there are three within walking distance of each other: Cork & Co. (308 Congress, 474-2675, http://www.corkandco.com), a wine bar and retail wineshop where you can enjoy a daily $5 wine happy hour with cheeses and chocolates from 3 to 7pm; Crú (238 W. Second, 472-9463, http://www.cruawinebar.com), a chain outfit wine bar and restaurant with an inviting patio facing the busy Second Street shopping district; and the just-debuted Taste (202 W. Cesar Chavez, 478-2783, http://www.tasteselectwines.com), a restaurant, wine bar, and retail store combo offering 40 wines by the glass and a menu “inspired by the cuisines of traditional wine cultures” around the world.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Seriously Eating Seriously Good BBQ in Lockhart, TX

Alaina Browne, friend of SXSW Baby!, has posted a call to action for BBQ lovers visiting Austin for SXSW. The message: get yourself to Lockhart, Texas!

If you love barbecue like we do and have access to a car, we highly recommend you drive about 30 minutes south of Austin to Lockhart for some serious Texas barbecue at Kreuz’s, Smitty’s, and Black’s. Texas barbecue comes in two styles: with or without sauce. Brisket, sausage, and beef ribs are the cuts of choice.

I can heartily endorse a side trip to Lockhart, Texas, if you have the time and inclination. In fact, the Texas government has even passed a resolution proclaiming Lockhart to be The Barbecue Capital of Texas. Says my friend Yimay, “Lockhart is for hard core BBQ lovers.” So how hard core are you?

Learn more about the Texas BBQ trail, as well as more BBQ joints in and around Austin, Texas. 

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Download the SXSW Baby! Where to Eat Guide

It look me a little longer than expected, but with some wrangling with Google Maps, I was able to convert my giant Where to Eat During SXSW 2008 guide into a downloadable PDF. It prints out nicely on two pages of 8.5 x 11 paper. I have included a map of thirty highlighted restaurants/bars/street vendors, the addresses and cross streets, their operating hours (call ahead if in question), as well as a phone number. Locations may not be exact due to Google Maps fudging, but they’re pretty close.

Download the Where to Eat During SXSW 2008 PDF. I hope it comes in handy. 

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Las Manitas: Still On Congress Avenue

A friend of mine Twittered earlier today, asking about the fate of Las Manitas Avenue Cafe, currently located at 211 Congress Avenue in downtown Austin. Last year, hotel chain Marriott proposed building a large hotel complex on Congress Avenue, displacing some local Austin businesses, including the much beloved Las Manitas, causing a stir in the Austin community, who rallied to save the restaurant.

To make a long story short, the operators of Las Manitas signed a deal with the landowner resolving the situation in January.  The deal will allow Las Manitas to continue operating at their existing location on Congress Avenue until June or July and then move to a historical building they own on the same block. So, yes, Las Manitas will continue serving their delicious food during SXSW 2008, and move to 227 Congress Avenue in the summer. Let’s hope the move goes smoothly.

Photo by Matthew Levine, used under a Creative Commons license.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Where to Eat During SXSW 2008

Here are some of the places I’ve enjoyed over the last few SXSW conferences, as well as other places that have been recommended to me.

Update: Download a map of all restaurants in this guide as a PDF.

My focus here on listing places has been mostly those restaurants that are:

1. in close proximity to 6th Street and the Convention Center at 4th St and Neches (I like the Warehouse District a lot but most people won’t be willing to walk all the way out there for lunch)
2. easily accessible by foot (cabs are unreliable and in extremely short supply during SXSW, if you even have a rental car, finding parking downtown can be a hassle,and even if you have a bike, your friends may not)
3. relatively inexpensive and casual (or are of good value)
4. relatively fast (get in, sit down, order, eat, pay, get out in time to snag a seat at a panel/film/etc.)
5. not national chains like IHOP or PF Chang’s and the like

Continue reading "Where to Eat During SXSW 2008"...

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

New and Renovated Restaurants in Downtown Austin

I’m looking forward to trying the new Torchy’s Tacos location, as well as the Parkside’s late night menu. Details via The Austin Chronicle:

It started with the relocation of the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown to the venerable Ritz theatre back in November and recommenced after the beginning of the year with the opening of a Torchy’s Tacos outlet (511 E. Sixth, 474-7000) in late January. Last week saw the launch of the newly remodeled 1886 Bakery & Cafe at the Driskill Hotel (116 Sixth), complete with new chef Scott Halverson, some brand-new menu items, and some new cocktails. We’ve been told to expect some updating at the Driskill Grill and in the actual hotel rooms over the coming months, as well. The biggest news in the neighborhood is the long-awaited opening of a new restaurant from popular homegrown chef Shawn Cirkiel. His new Parkside (301 E. Sixth, 474-9898, http://www.parkside-austin.com) debuted in an historic corner building that formerly housed both Louie B’s and Dan McKlusky’s.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

A couple of vegetarian SXSW survival guides

For non-carnivores heading to SXSW, the mania around finding the bestest BBQ during the conferences and festivals has to be a bit disheartening. Fortunately, some veggie-minded folks have put together VegSXSW, a wiki project devoted to guiding you to the best meatless alternatives in Austin.

See also: Veg Out Austin, a comprehensive guide to vegetarian-friendly dining in Austin and environs, edited by ovo-lacto vegetarian Ben Combee.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Austin Chronicle Inundates Us with More SXSW Coverage

Check out this week’s issue of the Chronicle and their official guide to SXSW for more relating to SXSW. This time it’s all about SXSW Film.

South by Southwest begins Friday, March 9 and runs for nine days. And starting on Thursday, March 15, for three days they will publish daily Chronicles.

In particular, I’d like to point out their guide to eating and drinking on the cheap, SXSW on $10 a day by musician Kathy McCarty of Glass Eye:

Hopes of becoming rock stars are pinned to many a band’s South by Southwest showcase. They’ll endure adversities of all kinds to travel to Austin and have a chance at impressing the right people with raw, awesome talent. Those adversities often involve finances: wages lost, savings depleted, and even jobs sacrificed to make the trip. This means that there will be bands coming to the Festival who will be sleeping in their vans, on top of their equipment, hoping that $50 will be enough to see them through five days of SXSW.

This article is for them: the van-dwellers, the broke and hopeful, the persistent and the optimistic. Yes, you too can experience Austin in a meaningful way on very little money.

For breakfast she recommends breakfast tacos, and for dinner:

Getting a cheap, delicious meal is pretty easy in Austin. Getting it during SXSW without having to wait an hour is a little harder. My first suggestion is to eat early, as close to 5pm as possible. You’d think that restaurants would clear out around 8:30 or 9pm, because the music is starting, but that has not been my experience. Eat early if you don’t want a long wait.

Monday, March 5, 2007

More on Eating and Drinking During SXSW

Two things:

1. Chow.com has an interactive map guide to eating and drinking during SXSW, but I couldn’t get the Google Maps portion to work properly. You can also grab it as a handy but long PDF. They cover eats both Downtown and elsewhere, as well as tips on curing hangovers and how to eat a taco.

2. And here’s an awesome tip from Tom of Austinist:  there’s a brand new late-night eats place just steps away from Emo’s on Red River. It’s called Go Bites.

Matthew Odam of the Austin American-Statesman says:

Schumacher plans to offer fancy grilled cheese sandwiches, gourmet sliders and hand-cut fries to his (most likely) boozy patrons. Judging by the items sampled last night, the young chef will most likely be the preferred stop for folks looking to add a little sustenance to their bar-hopping plans...We sampled each of the grilled cheese sandwiches, which resembled something I would try to make for friends after a late night out on the town, given I had the ingredients and/or energy to do so. The grilled-cheese menu consists of mango and swiss, gruyere and onion, prosciutto and fresh mozzarella, and fresh mozzarella and white truffle oil.

...

The blue cheese and grilled leek [slider] was as savory as any full-sized burger I have had in town, and then I ate the BBQ, grilled onion and jalapeno-jack slider. The blue cheese burger hid its face in shame. At this point I had reached man-in-“Monty Python’s the Meaning of Life” status, but I promised the cheddar burger I would have a bite of it. So I did. And I was pleased with the flavor but maybe not the decision to fearlessly eat my weight in food.

The new quick eats joint is located at the serving window just feet away from the entrance of Emo’s on Red River Street.

Sliders, grilled cheese sandwiches, fries, and rock’n’roll? I’m betting this place is going to have a line down the block during the Music Fest. In any case, it all sounds delicious to me!

Go Eats (former location of K-Bar, same location as Emo’s IV Lounge)
600 E. 6th St. at Red River
6 p.m. to 3:30 a.m.

Where to Eat During SXSW

This guide is old, old, old! Go to the 2008 Guide instead.

[Photos by mlovitt, cha cha, Yimay, and Ben Brown]

I’m by no means an expert on Austin food, but I thought it would be handy to note some of the places I’ve enjoyed over the last few SXSW conferences.

My focus here on listing places has been mostly those restaurants that are:
1. in close proximity to 6th Street and the Convention Center at 4th St and Neches (I like the Warehouse District a lot but most people won’t be willing to walk all the way out there for lunch)
2. relatively inexpensive and casual (or are of good value)
3. places specializing in BBQ and Tex-Mex
4. not national chains like IHOP or PF Chang’s and the like

So here’s my shortlist of where you and a few friends can sit down and grab a bite downtown in between films, panels, parties, and bands. Personally, I try to avoid eating Asian food since I can get a lot of that at home, YMMV. As a New Yorker, I also maintain the right to be snotty about Austin’s imposter Katz’ Deli.

Thanks to Yimay Yang, Karen Broyles, and Michaela Drapes for extra tips.

Continue reading "Where to Eat During SXSW"...

Friday, March 2, 2007

The Smoke Trail: More on BBQ

The Austin Chronicle’s Food section runs down 11 BBQ joints that are fairly accessible to SXSW attendees, either via foot or short taxi ride:

1. Iron Works Barbecue
2. Stubb’s BBQ
3. Lamberts
4. Ben’s Long Branch BBQ
5. Sam’s BBQ
6. House Park Bar-B-Que
7. Bowie Street BBQ at Whole Foods Market
8. Pok-e-Jo’s Smokehouse Inc.
9. Artz Rib House
10. Green Mesquite BBQ & More
11. Ruby’s BBQ

I’m most intrigued by #3, Lamberts, a brand new BBQ place on the west side of Downtown that claims to be a “fancy BBQ” joint. Reservations are recommended and the menu’s upper entree prices are $20. But the menu contains upscale choices like baby-back wild boar ribs, pecan-smoked Alaskan king salmon, cold-smoked quail, mustard and brown sugar ribeyes, and fried blackberry pie with lemon sorbet. I’m guessing you don’t wipe your hands with paper towels here? 

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Breakfast Tacos!

Here’s a quick rundown of the breakfast taco scene in Austin, TX, originally by Karen Broyles, and updated a little by me:

Austin is a breakfast taco town: eggs, cheese, maybe some chorizo or potatoes, in a tortilla. Simple, fast, tasty, and cheap!

I’m going to try to run down the best and/or highest-profile breakfast tacos around, but only with this disclaimer: there are always going to be more, possibly better ones, and everyone has their favorite(s). They’re everywhere in Austin--not only are there the endless carts set up in parking lots, but even Texas burger chains serve them (Whataburger, for example, calls them “taquitos”). Here are a few of my favorites. Not all are terribly accessible for out-of-towners on foot, but if you can get there I’d recommend them.

Oh, and by the way, they’re not just for breakfast anymore.

For quick and easy tacos near the Convention Center, there’s a Taco Shack located in the Frost building, but they cater to the weekday breakfast and lunch crowds, so if you sleep in, you’ll miss out. Monday through Friday they’re open 6:30AM to 2:30PM, and on Saturday, they’re open 7AM to 1PM. And they are closed on Sundays.

If you’ve got enough time to sit down and enjoy some breakfast tacos, check out Las Manitas Avenue Cafe, located on Congress Ave. It’ll be a short walk from your hotel, and there’s often a wait during SXSW, but it’s worth it. We’ll cover Las Manitas more in a future entry.

Mi Madre’s is just barely east of UT campus at 2201 Manor (pronounced MAY-nor) and famous for their breakfast tacos. I like their other food, but the tacos are so good that most Austinites never get past them. You can get all the usual things in your taco, in whatever combination you want (beans, cheese, potatoes, eggs, Mexican rice, any imaginable meat, migas, avocado, etc.). They’re closed on Sundays and after two, so make sure you get there while they’re still serving.

Taco Xpress (2529 South Lamar), sometimes also known as Loca Maria’s, is the South Austin taco stand of choice. Everything’s good and they have all the standard offerings, but especially recommended are the migas taco, the refried beans, and the vegetarian taco with tasty black beans. This is where you want to go to experience the more gritty South Austin ambiance rather than the trendy South Congress thing. You’ll know you’re there when you see the giant lady’s torso sticking out of the modest building.

Juan in a Million is an Austin fixture at 300 E. Cesar Chavez Street. You can get all the usual tex-mex dishes, but everybody comes for the Don Juan, a potato, egg, cheese, and bacon breakfast taco (I get mine without bacon) that comes so stuffed that you have to order at least two extra tortillas to unload into. The fact that one taco equals three normal ones means that if you eat more than a couple of Don Juans you might get your picture up on the wall.

The thing about the Don Juan is that even though potato-egg-cheese tacos are ubiquitous here, this particular concoction is completely unique. There’s not another similar taco to be found anywhere. It’s excellent hangover food, and so filling you shouldn’t order more than one on your first visit.

The other big attraction is Juan himself, proprietor Juan Meza. He’s usually around and if he is you’ll know, because he has to give pretty much every single person a handshake and a knowing glance when they come in or soon after. I hear he’s less gentle with dudes than he is with the ladies.

Mother’s is Austin’s highest-profile vegetarian restaurant, just north of UT campus at 4215 Duval St. It’s not my favorite, but during weekend brunch they nearly completely redeem themselves by serving a great breakfast taco with their “bueno soysage” fake sausage with eggs or tofu. It’s very nourishing and healthy-tasting while still satisfying all the proper taco requirements.

Last but not least, Amaya’s Taco Village (in the Capitol Plaza shopping center at 5405 N. I-35) offers one of the most authentically tex-mex options in town. I don’t know what they do to their beans (I pretend not to detect the lard), but together with the requisite velveetaish cheese you find in the best tex-mex joints they are irresistable. Runny, but irresistable.

And if you’re vegetarian, and find yourself in the neighborhood, get some of the breakfast tacos with veggie chorizo at Bouldin Creek. Delicious! 

(Thanks again to Karen Broyles for her original write-up).

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Where There’s Smoke, There’s Barbecue

No visit to Austin, Texas is complete without visiting at least one of the city’s fine barbecue establishments!

Some people say that barbecue is the only authentic “American” cuisine. “Traditional barbecue” is meat slow-cooked for a long time over a low heat (purists say you need a wood fire for best results). The typical cooking temperature is between 250 to 275 degrees and the usual barbecue cooking time can be for several hours. Why so long? Collagen, the material that holds muscles together, takes quite a long time to turn into gelatin and dissolve, but once it does, it makes the meat nice and tender. Essentially, barbecue is the evolution of a very old cooking technique that involves using the tough, cheaper cuts of meat and cooking them until they become soft and juicy, usually with a dark, tasty layer of goodness on the outside.

Legend has it that when Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in 1492, he was exposed to the Native American method of cooking wild game on a large wooden structure, exposed to the heat and smoke of a wood fire. When the explorerers asked about this cooking style, they learned that the word for the wooden platform sounded very much like barbacoa in Spanish. And such, they returned to Europe with knowledge of a new cooking method, one that would eventually become known as barbecue. And your dad grilling up meat in the backyard during summer parties? That’s not really barbecue. The distinction between barbecuing and grilling is the level and intensity of the heat used. And it’s the smoke from the burning wood that gives barbecue its unique flavor.

Before the meat is cooked, however, many cooks season their cuts using a dry rub to enhance the flavor. Each chef has his or own special combination of spices and herbs, but typically the rub contains salt, paprika, chili powder, garlic and onion powders, black and red peppers, alongside a secret ingredient or two. Many barbecuers also use a marinade followed by a dry rub to add both flavor and moisture to their works of culinary art. And as for the barbecue sauce, if they use any at all, it is added towards the end of the process since the high sugar content of most sauces mean they would carmelize and turn black during the cooking process.

So now that we know about how barbecue is cooked (I’ll leave the discussion of the different types of wood up to the experts), so exactly what kind of meat makes for good barbecue? That depends where you’re from! Texans favor beef brisket, which is the cut from the breast section under the first five ribs; the folks in North Carolina feast on pulled-pork sandwiches from pork shoulders smoked over hickory coals; Kansas City is known for its tasty spare ribs. As for Austin, its own style of barbecue was heavily influenced by German butchers who settled there in the mid-1800s. Inspired by Mexican vaqueros, they emphasized beef instead of pork in their barbecue, choosing to hand rub the meat, and to cook it in pits filled with oak, hickory, pecan and mesquite woods.

The Austin Chronicle has a listing of some of its favorite barbecue suppliers. And we’d be remiss in our duties without mentioning two places within walking distance of the convention center: Stubb’s on Red River Street and East 8th Street and Ironworks BBQ on Red River and East 1st Street. The Washington Post rounds up some other BBQ joints for those willing to travel further. And let’s not forget the requisite pilgrimage to the Salt Lick during SXSW.

But whatever your choice of beef, pork, or chicken, be sure to grab a handful of napkins, and load up on some sides as well, including but not limited to potato salad, beans, coleslaw, cornbread, mashed potatoes, an ear of corn or two, as well as a big slice of watermelon for dessert.

So, who’s hungry?