Rob Commits a Take Out Faux Pas
In my line of work, something like this is bound to happen. In fact, it’s happened more than once. Tried out a newish pizza joint the other night: 360 Pizza at 2222 and 360.. The pizzas were excellent, especially the Pennybacker with artisan pepperoni. It was a very well made pie. Of course we couldn’t […]
Winner of Zed’s Chef’s Dinner
One of the fun aspects of Vodka Fest at Zed’s this year is that we picked out one lucky ticket. That person gets to invite a friend, and together they’ll join Rob for a five-course dinner prepared by chef Adrian. Champagne, wine and cocktails (especially some vodkas) will also flow. If this dinner is anything […]
Fourth of July Weekend: Burgers and Q
As we approach the Fourth of July weekend, all red-blooded central Texans are hunkering down for fireworks, get togethers, and of course, whether at a restaurant or at home, burgers and barbecue. The two go together like apple pie and ice cream, Rick and Anita, even Obama and Boehner (well, on second thought…). So here’s […]
Terry Blacks BBQ Opens on Barton Springs
A year ago, Craig Gatewood and his son had opened Peso and Bucks on Barton Springs at the site of the former Vinny’s Italian Cafe. Alas, the enterprise quickly folded, and then the rumor mill took over. First it was to be a food trailer court, then a sign came up touting a Black’s BBQ […]
Frankie Hoch Podcast, Grillmaster at It’s All Good Bar-B-Q
This week’s podcast features Frankie Hoch, the Grillmaster at It’s All Good Bar-B-Q in Spicewood. He came to the business the old-fashioned way: driven by a lifelong love of Q he competed in cook-offs around the state and across the South. A chance meeting at a competition with one of his future partners led […]
The Hollow Brings Life back to the Georgetown Square
Since the heady days of the late Silver & Stone and Monica’s 701, the square in downtown Georgetown has been grappling with a massive case of customer indifference. That should change with the opening of The Hollow at 708 South Austin Ave. Former Zed’s exec Jacob Hilbert is at the helm in the kitchen and […]
Winners at Taste of North Austin
The Taste of North Austin was held at The Domain Saturday. 25 restaurants participated (from north and northwest Austin) and there was much tasting to be done by myself and the other judges. The winners were NoRTH, (Arancini), Urban (house made salmon on crostini) and Zed’s (Tuna poke with an Irish car bomb cake shot). […]
Get Ready for Our Annual Pizza Wars Feature
Coming very soon will be one of our most anticipated yearly features: Pizza Wars. This will be our 8th year of the piece and man how things have changed since then. Indeed there have been changes since last year’s piece: more openings and closings. And a major shakeup in the Top 5. How’s that list […]
What’s in a Name? The Story of Cedro
One of the more complicated and interesting aspects of the restaurant business is the actual naming of the establishment. Some names work well and last a long time. Others (Peso and Bucks, Rival’s Steakhouse, Sardine Rouge, Demi Epicurious for example, while well-intentioned, don’t seem to last long at all). Now I’m not saying the names […]
Paggi House and Garrido’s Close
The venerable Paggi House on Riverside, which was first turned into a fine dining restaurant in the late 70’s by Thomas Fleisner, rebuilt by Rick Engle and his partners and then once again by Stuart Thomajan and C.K. Chin, finally closed its doors a few weeks ago. The food was always terrific, but they were […]
Downtown Density and Dining Out
When Will Wynn (great name for a politician) was serving as mayor, his most frequent mantra was downtown density. The idea was to create an enterprise zone where a significant amount of potential retail and restaurant customers actually lived and worked downtown. With all the residential and business construction in the past five years, we […]
