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January 2010
Austin Restaurant Week starts Feb. 28
Restaurants are gearing up for the spring edition of Austin Restaurant Week, an eight-day dining expedition that starts Feb. 28.
More than 50 participating restaurants will feature old favorites and new dishes from fixed-price menus ranging from $10-$15 for lunch and $25-$35 for dinner.
Diners can choose from a variety of styles, from seafood at Eddie V’s to barbecue at the County Line to artisan tacos at Garrido’s.
This year, the event has grown to include more lunch options and casual restaurants such as Bagpipes Irish Pub, Cuatro’s and Cannoli Joe’s, along with high-end spots like Parkside, the Driskill Grill and the Carillon.
Austin Restaurant Week, sponsored by Rare magazine, actually spans eight days in two Sunday-Wednesday bursts, from Feb. 28 to March 3 and March 7-10.
Menus and a full list of participating restaurants, searchable by type of cuisine, are available at www.restaurantweekaustin.com.
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Five date-worthy restaurants
Putting together a much bigger date-map-of-the-Austin-universe, the Austin360 editor asked me to write a sentence on five nice date-worthy restaurants. Here they are, just in time for us not to have a prayer of getting a reservation on Valentine’s weekend:
• Justine’s: Why do we love you when you treat us so cruelly? The long waits, the indifference, the cramped little place? Because when the steak frites, the Cotes du Rhone and the Delta blues hit just right, it’s Paris on the East Side.
• Wink: In this temple of the simple, everything on the plate shows up, but nothing shows off. The flavors of venison, lamb and Bordeaux speak softly, so you can, too.
• Fabi and Rosi: Dishes from Germany, Italy and France “meet cute,” as they say in the movies. Twinkly lights, big sash windows and West Austin cool reflect the young-love esprit of the husband-and-wife team who run the show.
• Uchi: When it’s time to swing for the fences, nothing says “I heart you” like this little house’s big-ticket blend of next-level sushi and ain’t-it-cool Austin insiderism.
• Aquarelle: The knocking of wooden floors, the tight embrace of small rooms and impossibly delicate sauces. When people say, “that romantic little French house off West Sixth,” they mean Aquarelle.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
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A restaurant critic’s Q&A
Recently, our Newspapers In Education program interviewed me to give students and teachers an idea of what a restaurant critic does besides gain weight. Here’s that interview:
Newspapers in Education: What is your job at the Statesman?
Mike Sutter: I pull double duty as the Food & Life section editor and restaurant critic. I also have a restaurant blog on austin360.com called Forklore, I write about wine and I post Twitter updates through my @forklore account.
How long have you worked at the Statesman?
Since October of 1985. Ronald Reagan was president.
Have you always been a food critic?
I started as a copy editor, then became a page designer for the Metro section and the front page. The Los Angeles riots, the first Gulf War, the death of Stevie Ray Vaughan. I designed front pages for all of them. For the past 14 years, I was the art director for our entertainment magazine, XL, which is called Austin360 now.
How did you become the Statesman’s food critic?
While at XL, I worked closely with our former restaurant critic (Dale Rice) to assign photos for his reviews, and I managed our database of restaurant listings. When he retired in 2008, I interviewed for the job, wrote four reviews and organized the 2008 Dining Guide. I officially started in December 2008.
What is an average day like for you on the job?
On one Monday, for example, I wrote reviews of an East Austin seafood place called the Shuck Shack and a Vietnamese sandwich trailer on South Lamar called Lulu B’s. Then I processed five or six photos from the dozens I took while I visited those places. That night, I had a dinner of rabbit with thyme-infused sauce and a glass of Spanish red wine at a downtown restaurant.
How is critiquing different from reporting? Is reporting involved in critiquing?
Both disciplines involve gathering information. To report a house fire, you go to the scene, you take pictures, you talk to the homeowners or the firefighters. Then you write down the facts, the quotes and your observations of the scene. Same thing with a critique, except the food does most of the talking, and you use more adjectives.
What is your favorite part of your job?
This is where I say “eating,” right? Yes, that’s a magnificent fringe benefit. What I like best, though, is interviewing people who cook for a living. At taco trailers, in hotel kitchens, at fast-food places. Their food, their scars and their interactions with customers make for good listening and even better stories.
Would you recommend your career to someone else, why or why not?
Is there anybody who wouldn’t want my job? Creative writing, people-watching, double cheeseburgers. The work sells itself.
What advice do you have for someone who might want to be a food critic?
Always be aware that your work affects peoples’ lives. People who own restaurants and employ other people, people who work in them to support their families, people who might use your recommendations to spend the money they’ve set aside for special dining-out occasions. Build your knowledge of food by reading cookbooks (“Gastronomique”) and chef’s memoirs (Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential”).
What is the thing people most misunderstand about critics and critiquing?
Even some of my friends have asked, “How can you be objective about a restaurant when they know who you are and you’re getting all that free food?” I don’t tell restaurant owners where I’m going, and I don’t announce my presence when I get there. I don’t accept free food. I order, eat, pay and leave a tip. The American-Statesman reimburses me at the end of the month.
What is a memorable story that stands out to you from your critiquing?
An Austin food writer named Mando Rayo and I made a 10-stop taco tour of Austin, half in the morning, half at night. During that tour, we were panhandled, serenaded tableside (twice), offered “spare” power tools from a car trunk and invited into a steaming little kitchen next to a laundromat. We ate something like 40 tacos between the two of us.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I was surprised to learn from a Zagat Restaurant Survey that the No. 1 complaint people have about restaurants isn’t food. It’s service. Then noise. Then prices. Food is fourth.
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Trailer Treasure: Odd Duck Farm to Trailer
The wood-sided meals-on-wheels assemblage that houses Odd Duck Farm to Trailer includes a grill room where the trailer’s white wood frame and screened window create a sort of tintype movie theater for Bryce Gilmore as he stokes the fire.
Hardly a throwback cowboy cook, though, Gilmore uses the smoky, log-chewing hotbox to flash-grill his vegetables and breads and to finish the duck and pork that started their road to the plate in a sous vide water bath housed at his father’s restaurant, where Gilmore does Odd Duck’s kitchen prep.
Bryce Gilmore is the son of Jack Gilmore, the former Z’Tejas chef behind the new Jack Allen’s Kitchen in Oak Hill (see the review Thursday in Austin360 and online at austin360.com/food).
So how did he keep from being dragooned into service at Dad’s place? ‘I came up with this trailer idea first. If I didn’t have this ambition, I’m sure I would have helped there,’ Bryce Gilmore said. ‘He’s an amazing chef. I just wanted to do my own thing.’
The fact is, Gilmore worked with his father at Z’Tejas before and after graduating from Westlake High School, setting the pace for a career that propelled him to the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and time behind the stoves at Moonshine, Wink and the late Cafe 909 in Marble Falls.
But for now, the trailer is his changing-daily showcase for turning out dishes that might include duck on grilled focaccia with crimini and oyster mushrooms, diced turnips, and a shower of crisp greens for $5. Grilled romaine lettuce with creamy goat-cheese ricotta and a soft-poached egg on toast is $5, and $4 might buy a grilled broccoli salad with feta cheese or a hot cup of creamy cauliflower soup.
It’s rich food, tossed in and finished with a drizzle of oil from the Texas Olive Ranch.
Sometimes it’s nice to walk up to a place with $25 in your pocket and order everything on the menu. But this isn’t big-appetite food. You might still be hungry after two dishes, and ‘five-dollar quarter-foot-long’ doesn’t have the same Subway jingle ring to it.
Even so, Odd Duck’s little sandwich with pork braised in coffee porter from Real Ale carries a level of flavor beyond its diminutive size.
Gilmore, like his father, emphasizes buying local. ‘It’s important to know where your food comes from,’ he said. Odd Duck’s food comes from Richardson Farms (pork), Countryside Farm (duck and eggs), Moonlight Bakery (bread), Bella Verdi Farms (greens) and others.
With just 150 square feet to work with, Gilmore has decided to drop lunch service and open only for dinner at the lot he shares month-to-month with Gourdough’s doughnut trailer and the Austin Brevita coffee stand. ‘This past week I was running out of food at 8,’ he said by e-mail.
Odd Duck Farm to Trailer: 1219 S. Lamar Blvd. 695-6922, www.oddduckfarmtotrailer.com. Hours: 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays. 5 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
A new chef at Hudson’s on the Bend
“Robert Rhoades is on his way to Houston with Eddie V’s.. Hudson’s could not match the corporate bucks. The restaurant has always been a great launching pad for chef’s….Jay Moore - Ron Brannon - Becky Barsch Fischer & now Robert.
“Kelly Casey will replace him (we are very deep in the culinary talent pool). She has been at the restaurant for 9 years. Five years ago when Becky left it was a coin toss between Kelly and Robert …..we all learned a lot from Robert, but now it’s Kelly’s time. I have solid faith in her abilities as the Executive Chef at Hudson’s…..after all we have watched her skills for the last decade.
“She not only knows all the “ins & outs” - style - food - service - etc…..she created many entrees and desserts and knows “the Hudson’s style.” Her ability to create fine dining and Hill Country cuisine is superb. She will be joining me to bring spark to our cooking school as well.
“I look forward to many more years with Kelly.”
(American-Statesman photo)
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Gourdough’s, Arkie’s, Progress Coffee in the media
• The cable network TLC will be filming at Gourdough’s on Thursday from 1 to 10 p.m. foran “America Eats” segment, according to a Twitter post from the gourmet doughnut trailer.
• That will come on the heels of the networking dropping by Arkie’s Grill on East Cesar Chavez Street for the same show on Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to Steve Jones, who owns Arkie’s with his wife, Brandy. (I’m trying to wrangle the recipe for Arkie’s sweet cabbage salad from Steve.)
• In the January issue of Bon Appetit magazine, Progress Coffee at 500 San Marcos St. was named one of the top 10 Best Boutique Coffee Shops in the country. “Favorite coffee shops don’t just serve terrific joe; they also act as a modern-day meeting place. This Eastside spot with Owl Tree coffee and fresh biscuits is the best hangout in town,” the magazine said.
(American-Statesman photos)
Wine dinners at Andiamo & Ruth’s, Mobile Loaves & Fishes benefit
• The Italian restaurant Andiamo is holding a four-course pre-Valentine’s wine dinner at 7 p.m. Feb. 3. $40. (2521 Rutland Drive, Ste 325. 719-3377, www.andiamoitaliano.com)
• Ruth’s Chris Steak House will pair Stag’s Leap wines with a four-course menu at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 27. $85. (107 W. Sixth St., 477-7884, www.ruthschris-austin.com)
• On Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m., Westlake United Methodist Church (1460 Redbud Trail) will screen the Andrew Shapter film ‘Happiness Is’ to benefit Mobile Loaves & Fishes, which feeds Austin’s homeless. Suggested donation $10.
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Valentine’s Day dining, Part 1
Only 22 more shopping — and restaurant reservation — days until Valentine’s Day.
At Ruth’s Chris Steak House (107 W. Sixth St., 477-7884), they’re opening at 3 p.m. with a six-ounce filet and lobster tail for $39.95.
Opal Divine’s (www.opaldivines.com for locations) is doing a no-reservations beer dinner for $65 per couple.
If your restaurant is doing something special, e-mail me at msutter@statesman.com.
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Restaurant Recipes: Roaring Fork’s Green Chili Pork
We’ll ask. For now, let’s start with Green Chili Pork from the Roaring Fork, with locations at 10850 Stonelake Blvd. and 701 Congress Ave. www.eddiev.com.
Send your recipe requests to msutter@statesman.com.
The Roaring Fork’s Green Chili Pork
2 cups diced yellow onions
1 cup diced poblanos
2 lb. diced pork
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. cumin powder
2 Tbsp. ground coriander
2 Tbsp. jalapeno powder
5 Tbsp. green chili powder
2 Tbsp. onion powder
2 cups chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
In a stewing pot, saute vegetables until tender.
Add diced pork. Add all dry ingredients.
Stir well for a couple of minutes, blend well. Add chicken stock and let simmer on low to medium heat for one and a half hours or until fork-tender.
Skim fat off surface as stew simmers. Season with salt and pepper just before service, only if needed, to your taste.
Serve in a bowl with pepper Jack cheese, roasted serrano pepper and warm, buttered flour tortillas.
(American-Statesman photo by Mike Sutter)
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Austin fried chicken: Southern Comfort food
As the full fried-chicken story hits austin360.com today, here’s a taste of Tony’s Southern Comfort fried chicken at Hyde Park Bar & Grill:
At Hyde Park Bar & Grill, fried chicken has turned the restaurant world’s slowest nights into an occasion.
On Mondays and Tuesdays, Tony Herring (at right) pays homage to the chicken that anchored his Tony’s Southern Comfort restaurant until it closed in 2007. And while Herring boils the oil at the West Gate Boulevard location, his brother Dwayne keeps an eye on Tony’s legacy at the Duval Street shop.
The legacy? Gnarls of artery-defying crunch and a hot shot of garlic and pepper, with a wet sound in the middle, a sound Herring imitated with sonic precision on the phone.
‘A lot of people will trim the fat and trim the skin off,’ he said. ‘But if it’s done correctly, and you bite down to it, and you hit that KERR-IKKTCH, that crunch, that’s what that is.’
The chicken on the two-piece dinner special is flanked by curled knobs of fat and skin, a bonus unless you’d rather have more meat on the bone. For $9.95, the plate includes a big biscuit, mashed potatoes and another side.
Tired of half-hearted mashers, I was granted relief with rich three-cheese macaroni and impossibly green wok-seared collard greens with bacon. As star-powered as the chicken is, the sides warrant co-star props: spice-roasted sweet potatoes, corn tamales, a sauté of corn and edamame, lentil soup.
Herring went reverent when I mentioned chicken and waffles, the dish that put Tony’s on the map. What makes that work? ‘It’s the sweet and spicy. Just like you go out and have the Oriental dinner, the sweet and sour. It’s pretty much the same technique there.’
He hasn’t let go of bringing it back somewhere, someday.
Meanwhile, his work is cut out for him at Hyde Park, where demand has grown in the past year from 20 or 30 orders a night to upwards of 60, he says.
‘Mondays and Tuesdays are 75 percent fried chicken. It flies.’
Hyde Park Bar and Grill. Chicken on Mondays and Tuesdays for dinner at both locations. 4206 Duval St., 458-3168. 4521 West Gate Blvd., 289-2700. www.hydeparkbarandgrill.com.
(American-Statesman photos)
An Austin fried chicken sampler: The List
While fried chicken from KFC, Popeye’s and Church’s is getting the critic’s treatment in this blog and in Wednesday’s Food & Life section. Here’s a list of the local places I’ll talk about in Thursday’s Austin360 magazine.
• Arkie’s Grill. Chicken Mondays through Fridays at 4827 E. Cesar Chavez St. 385-2986.
• Bill Miller Bar-B-Q. Chicken every day at multiple Austin locations. See www.billmillerbbq.com.
• The Highball. Chicken every day at 1142 S. Lamar Blvd. 383-8309, www.thehighball.com.
• Hoover’s Cooking. Chicken on Sundays, only at the 13376 U.S. 183 N. location. 335-0300, www.hooverscooking.com.
• Hyde Park Bar and Grill. Chicken on Mondays and Tuesdays for dinner at both locations. 4206 Duval St., 458-3168. 4521 West Gate Blvd., 289-2700. www.hydeparkbarandgrill.com.
• Jasper’s. Chicken on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 11506 Century Oaks Terrace in the Domain. 834-4111, www.jaspers-restaurant.com.
• Lucky J’s Chicken and Waffles. Chicken waffle cones from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays at Sixth and Waller Streets. Bone-in chicken expected to return in February in a trailer at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Rio Grande Street. www.luckyjs.com.
• Max’s Wine Dive. Chicken every day at 207 San Jacinto Blvd. 904-0111, www.maxswinedive.com.
• Nubian Queen LoLa’s. Chicken Mondays through Saturdays at 1815 Rosewood Ave. 474-5652, www.nubianqueenlolas.com.
• Paggi House. Chicken on Sundays for brunch at 200 Lee Barton Drive. 473-3700, www.paggihouse.com.
• Top Notch. Chicken Mondays through Saturdays at 7525 Burnet Road, 452-2181.
• 24 Diner. Chicken and waffles every day at 600 N. Lamar Blvd. 472-5400, www.24diner.com.
ALSO …
• Bountiful Cafe. Chicken for lunch on Sundays, only at the 3201 Bee Cave Road location. 402-0043, www.atriptobountiful.com.
• Royers Round Top Cafe. Chicken on Sundays at 105 Main St., Round Top. 979-249-3611, www.royersroundtopcafe.com.
• Olivia. Chicken for brunch on Sundays at 2043 S. Lamar Blvd. 804-2700, www.olivia-austin.com.
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KFC, Church’s, Popeye’s: The box scores
Beyond the drive-through, fried chicken is an elusive beast. Not many places do it, and even fewer do it every day.
But first, let’s talk about the Big Three: Church’s, Popeye’s and KFC, where a $5 box of chicken with a side and a biscuit is close at hand seven days a week. On one stretch of East Riverside Drive, you’ll find all three within a half-mile of each other.
How do they compare to the locals? The common wisdom is that Church’s bags the big pieces, Popeye’s brings the spice and sides and that nothing tastes quite like KFC’s Original Recipe.
I set out to test that wisdom with American-Statesman food writer Addie Broyles.
• Church’s: Generously cut pieces, all right, with a medium-crunchy crust distributed like clumps of oatmeal. Bland, except for the “spicy,” which was zestier than Popeye’s. Glutinous sides of mashed potatoes with gravy and mac and cheese in salty shades of tan and yellow.
• Popeye’s: Smaller pieces with the look of melted amber. Finger-searing hot, salty-crisp. Red beans and rice brought a Styrofoam feast of smoky pork notes to make it the day’s best side dish. Best biscuit, too, unless you prefer the hardtack charms of the other two.
• KFC: Original Recipe tasted the same as it did when I was 6 years old: soft copper skin with pepper, salt and something deeper.
But the best of the Big Three was a KFC Extra Crispy breast piece the size of your open hand, with gossamer breading like downy feathers and pockets of pull-apart meat.
But be warned: An employee told Addie that Austin’s a test market for the idea of ending that style. A KFC spokesman would say only that “Austin is one of the many markets involved in research for KFC; they are testing some potential new menu configurations.”
Thursday in Austin360, see how local restaurants feed our need for fried chicken.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
‘Yes We’re Open’ Report: Maggiano’s on the way; the El Switcheroo; My Fit Foods
• Open: My Fit Foods Austin (top), offering health-oriented meals cooked and packaged on-site for take-out and delivery. 3201 Bee Cave Road, Suite 105. 329-0003, www.myfitfoods.com.
• Under construction: Maggiano’s Little Italy (left), an upscale Italian restaurant chain. 10910 Domain Drive, Suite 100, at the Domain. 501-7870, www.maggianos.com.
• Under construction: A second Austin location of the Japanese restaurant Sushi Zushi (right). On Domain Drive at the Domain. www.sushizushi.com.
• Moving: El Chile at 918 Congress Ave. downtown is switching places with El Chilito at 1025 Barton Springs Road.
• Opening Monday: Austin Daily Press, a trailer at 1207 S. First St. specializing in grilled cheese sandwiches. The original location is already open at 900 Red River St. from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. and the new location will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. 848-5215, www.austindailypress.com.
• Open: Cajun Pizza Place, a pizzeria also serving po’boys and salads at 7318 McNeil Drive, Suite 111. 291-7997, www.cajunpizzaplace.com.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
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Restaurant recipes: What would you like to make?
Do you have a favorite restaurant dish you’d like to re-create at home? Or maybe you just want to see how the Roaring Fork puts together its Green Chili Pork.
Let me try to get the recipe for you. (Hey, it can’t hurt to ask. The Fork said, ‘Yes.’)
We’ll print the Green Chili Pork recipe and others on Wednesdays in the Food & Life section of the American-Statesman starting soon. Leave a comment below or send your recipe requests to msutter@statesman.com.
(American-Statesman photo by Mike Sutter)
‘Yes, We’re Open’ report: Lucky J’s moves, Wahoo’s coming to S. Congress
• On the way: Another location of Wahoo’s Fish Taco is going in at the former Texas French Bread site (at right) at 1722 S. Congress Ave. www.wahoos.com.
• Open: Sprouts Farmers Market, a grocery store specializing in natural foods at 10225 Research Blvd. 225-9101, www.sprouts.com.
• Open: Orange Cup, a frozen yogurt store at 3400 Esperanza Crossing. 973-3819, www.myorangecup.com.
• Open, closed and relocating: Lucky J’s Chicken and Waffles, a food trailer serving fried chicken and fresh waffles, has begun serving at Sixth and Waller streets. It’s open from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. The trailer’s original location on Burnet Road has closed in preparation for a scheduled move in February to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Rio Grande St.
• Coming soon: Torchy’s Tacos, the fifth location of the restaurant. 4211 Spicewood Springs Road. www.torchystacos.com.
• Closed: Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant at 301 San Jacinto Blvd.
• Closed: Yu Sushi Izagaya, a sushi bar and robata grill at 206 Colorado St.
(American-Statesman photo by Mike Sutter)
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Trailer Treasure: East Side King
The back yard of the Liberty Bar at 1618 1/2 E. Sixth St. is not the prettiest place, especially when it’s cold and wet.
But the Liberty’s popular with the lean and adventurous set and bound to become more so, as word circulates that a heavyweight food trailer is open on its humble back lot six nights a week.
It’s called East Side King, the manic brainchild of three chefs whose other night jobs are cooking at the South Austin Asian-fusion phenom Uchi.
Take note: this is not a mobile extension of Tyson Cole’s Uchi brand. It’s a separate enterprise from sous chef Paul Qui and sushi chefs Moto Utsonomaya and Ek Timrek.
The menu defies easy description. What do you call a place with pork belly and cucumber kimchee on steamed buns with the portability of tortillas and the fluff of a debutante’s pillow? Or deep-fried beets with kewpie mayo? Or a spicy salad with cabbage, herbs and nuggets of fried Brussels sprouts?
Call that place Asian-eclectic, delicious and about $4 to $8 per dish, because it’s all those things, plus Thai fried chicken and a bowl of ginger-garlic-jasmine rice.
East Side King opened in November and operates from a trailer painted by Bradley Oliver Wilkinson in the same colorful graphic style as the Liberty Bar. The hours are 7 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Mondays through Wednesdays and 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturdays.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter. Clockwise from top left: the East Side King trailer; pork belly buns and Brussels sprouts salad; the chefs, from left: chefs Moto, Ek and Paul; beet home fries. )
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UT-Alabama: The restaurant critic’s review
One way to cover the game? For the food critic, hit three restaurants, a bar and a chicken trailer. Try not to look at the TV.
At Max’s Wine Dive: The pregame buildup. A static tension. Reserved tables by the big-screens. An appetite for self-delusion, with fried chicken and greens and brioche toast like dessert. Some prosecco. A sangria, fruity and ominously red. The check comes just 10 minutes before kickoff.
At Piranha Killer Sushi: Second and San Jacinto is quiet, dead still. Not even foot traffic. Is it the wind chill or the underdog’s dread? Kickoff, finally, with Kurosawa Jun-Mai sake, a carafe in an iced wooden box with dovetail joints. Spicy Vitenamese beef salad, like an aggressive carpaccio. A sashimi roll with salmon and (pay closer attention next time) fake crab, wrapped in cucumber. More sake. Sea urchin for the first time. It tastes like the ocean, a smoother version of it. Orange.
It’s kickoff. In a blink, a Texas field goal and Colt’s out. More sake, an unagi handroll, another field goal. Safe to head for Frank for hot dogs and football. Can’t remember the last time Congress was so empty on a Thursday night. I cross against the lights.
At Frank: The screen goes red. Ingram, Richardson. It’s 14-6. A “Red-Haired Stranger” Bloody Mary with cheese and a whole piece of bacon that stays freakishly crunchy in the spicy redness. A hot dog with Wagyu beef, venison and lemon cream cheese and pickled okra. I’m way past full, buzzing hard, and Colt’s headed to the locker room with no shoulder pads.
A Bama field goal near halftime. Thirty seconds. I’m safe for a walk to the Ginger Man. Except I’m not. By the time I’ve paid a panhandler his 50-cent toll, I’m inside the new Ginger Man, and it’s 24-6, out of nowhere, and Mack is saying “unnecessary.”
At the Ginger Man: It’s halftime with a Montecristo on the back patio. Mercifully, Old Rasputin is $3 a bottle. Flags flutter somewhere nearby. It’s cold. I’m alone out here. Just the curling smoke and the Mad Russian, for now.
I hear ref-whistles again. The game is back, but I’ve got half a Churchill burning and I’m afraid to look. I sneak inside. 7:50 in the third. Resignation fouls the air. Back to the patio, alone and frosted.
The last time, with Vince, I was at a funeral in Minnesota. Surrounded by cousins at the graveyard of a prairie church, the most penetrating cold I have ever felt. At an interstate motel, I caught the last 5 minutes. The best 5 minutes. I had never cared before. I wish I didn’t now. Time for a half-pint of something wicked.
That something wicked is Stone’s Sublimely Self-Righteous. A black IPA. Just in time for Shipley to march for six. 24-13. Hope is a terrible thing. Sweet, dark and intoxicating.
A rowdy, all-female party of seven doesn’t care about the TV, but I can hear their celebrations. The flags flutter harder, and the twin crescendoes sound a false swell of possibility. Bama’s blown a field goal. My anxiety game clock ticks below 14. The flags, I realize, are construction tarps on a building above the windblown patio. The $4.75 glass of beer is better than any $12 glass of wine.
A roar draws me to the warmth inside, where UT has put up six to make it 24-19. A two-point rocket, and it’s a three-point game. I go outside and bum an American Spirit, because my cigar is nubbed out. I can hear the loudest man in the bar suggesting amoral acts to the other team.
I. Am. Freezing. But I can’t go back in. I will stay out here until it’s over, unless I hear another roar work its way from the big metal door in front to the big wooden doors out back. A calm settles in. Even the fluttering stops.
I haven’t had a cigarette since 1982.
As if on cue, a song comes over the PA. A soulful and resigned chorus. “They say you got to chose your side. And when it’s done, nobody right, nobody wrong.” Michael Franti, No. 6712 on the jukebox.
“Texas! Fight!” comes the cry from inside. A feeble cheer at the most sober of times, it’s a cry of desperation at a bar on BCS title night.
I can’t take it. I need … chicken.
Lucky J’s Chicken and Waffles, a walk across I-35 to Sixth and Waller, past the people spilling into the street from the bars. It’s over, and there’s no whistling, no random gunfire. Nothing spectacular has happened, but a man outside the Blind Pig molests a blow-up Bevo just the same. Walk faster.
A campfire, a string of Christmas lights, and there’s Lucky J’s, where Nic Van Wie wraps a piece of chicken in a waffle with Swiss and bacon. We talk about selling steaks in Brooklyn and fried chicken on Burnet.
I’m half-lit, half-asleep as I make the walk of shame back to Congress and Riverside. In the end, Alabama’s Heis-Man put the nail in the coffin, and the Tide pounded it in for a 37-21 epitaph.
Comfortably numb, I’ll sleep at my desk. Tomorrow is just another day. Until the next kickoff, the next big-screen TV, at a place where I can just be the restaurant critic again.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter; Clockwise from top left: Max’s Wine Dive, Piranha Killer Sushi, the Ginger Man and Frank.)
Eat, drink and bleed orange
On Thursday, every bar, restaurant and outhouse with a TV will be showing the UT-Alabama BCS Championship Game, which airs at 7 on ABC. Here’s a cross-section of places we like.
• Aussie’s Grill and Beachbar (306 Barton Springs Road. 480-0952, www.aussiesbar.com)
• Black Sheep Lodge (2108 S. Lamar Blvd. 707-2744, www.blacksheeplodge.com)
• Boulevard Sports Bar & Grill (3616 Far West Blvd. 345-3103, www.blvd-grill.com)
• Buffalo Billiards (201 E. Sixth St. 479-7665, www.buffalobilliards.com)
• Cain & Abel’s Bar & Grill (pictured above, at 2313 Rio Grande St. 476-3201, www.cainandabels.com)
• Champions Sports Bar (300 E. Fourth St. 473-0450, www.championsaustin.com)
• Cool River Cafe (4001 W. Parmer Lane. 835-0010, www.coolrivercafe.com)
• Cover 3 (2700 W. Anderson Lane, Suite 202. 374-1121, www.cover-3.com)
• Cuatro’s (1004 W. 24th St. 234-6361, www.cuatrosaustin.com)
• Doc’s (multiple locations)
— Backyard (5207 Brodie Lane, Suite 100. 892-5200.
— Drafthouse (15821 Central Commerce Drive, Pflugerville. 512-251-3620.
— Motorworks (1123 S. Congress Ave. 448-9181.
— www.docsaustin.com
• 1st Down & Stassney Sports Bar & Grill (730 W. Stassney Lane. 215-0600, www.1stdownandstassneysportsbar.com)
• Little Woodrow’s (multiple locations)
— 2610 Guadalupe St. 478-2337.
— 6301 Parmer Lane. 918-2337.
— W. Sixth St. 477-2337.
— 9500 S. Interstate 35 at Southpark Meadows. 282-2336.
— 12801 Shops Parkway, Suite 100, Bee Cave. 263-8374.
— www.littlewoodrows.com
• Marker 10 at the Hyatt Regency Austin (208 Barton Springs Road. 477-1234)
• Pluckers Wing Bar (multiple locations)
— 2222 Rio Grande St. 469-9464.
— 9070 Research Blvd., Suite 201-C. 533-9464.
— 300 Mays Crossing, Suite 300, Round Rock. 671-9464.
— 3909 S. Lamar Blvd. 443-9464.
— 11066 Pecan Park Blvd., Cedar Park. 258-9464.
— www.pluckers.com
• Posse East (2900 Duval St. 477-2111, www.posse-east.com)
• Red’s Porch (3508 S Lamar Blvd. 440-7337, www.redsporch.com)
• Shoal Creek Saloon (909 N. Lamar Blvd. 474-0805, www.shoalcreeksaloon.com)
• Shooters Billiard & Sports Bar (11416 RM 620 N. 401-2060, www.shootersbilliards.net)
• The Tavern (922 W. 12th St. 320-8377, www.austintavern.com)
• Third Base (multiple locations)
— 1717 W. Sixth St., Building 2, Suite 210R. 476-2273.
— 3107 S. Interstate 35, Suite 810, Round Rock, 512-388-2273.
— 9600 S. Interstate 35, Building B, Suite 500 in the Grove at Southpark Meadows, 381-2273.
— www.thirdbaseaustin.com
• The Warehouse Saloon & Billiards (509 E. Ben White Blvd. 443-8799, www.warehousesaloon.com)
(American-Statesman photo by Mike Sutter)
‘Yes We’re Open’ Report #10
• Closed: Texas French Bread (above), 1722 S. Congress Ave. The location at 2900 Rio Grande St. is still open.
• Closed: Primizie, the Italian restaurant run by Mark and Lisa Spedale at 1000 E. 11th St. The Spedales will continue to offer catering services. www.primizieaustin.com.
• Still open: In this column Dec. 23, we incorrectly reported that La Perla, a bar at 1512 E. Sixth St., had closed. As manager Eddie Costilla will tell you, La Perla is still open, serving beer 3 p.m. to midnight Mondays and Tuesdays, then noon to midnight Wednesdays through Sundays (and until 1 a.m. on Saturdays). The bar’s new phone number is 401-3310.
• Reopening: The downtown location of the Cuban restaurant Habana, calling itself the Habana Cuban Underground and sharing space with the Texas Embassy at 709 E. Sixth St. www.habana.com.
(American-Statesman photo by Kelly West)
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