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Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Live chat about user-generated reviews at 2 p.m. today
User-generated reviews are here to stay.
In today’s paper, I wrote a story about how sites like Yelp, Chowhound, Citysearch and Urbanspoon are changing how restaurants operate and how diners choose where to spend their eating out dollars. The power that was once held by a few professional critics is now in the hands of anyone with an Internet connection, and this has been both a burden and a blessing for the owners of establishments that are constantly under review.
Along with Jennie Chen, I’ll be talking about this subject at 11 a.m. on Sunday at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference, but today at 2 p.m., Statesman restaurant critic Mike Sutter and I will be exploring the topic with you all in a live chat on Relish Austin.
Do you use sites like Yelp to help decide where you’re going to eat? How do you decide whose reviews to trust? Do you review restaurants or other businesses online? If so, how do you decide the tone of the review and how do you respond if a restaurant contacts you about your post? I’m really interested to hear from restaurant or other food business owners who have the most to gain and lose from these sites.
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Dear spring, Can I make you dinner?
Hello, spring! Couldn’t be happier to see you.
Throughout this dreary predecessor of yours, I’ve somehow kept my backyard garden alive, covering the broccoli and chard when temperatures dipped into the teens, something Central Texas doesn’t usually experience in winter.
But the broccoli, chard, collards, lettuce, garlic and shallots survived, eagerly awaiting your temperate days full of sunshine.
On your finest day so far this year (OK, you don’t officially arrive until March 20, but we know you like to visit us early), we spend a little quality family time in the garden, harvesting carrots, lettuce and green onions for a salad and picking those pesky weeds and grass that creep up when we’re not looking.
We haven’t seen much sun in recent months, so I’m hoping you’ll bask my baby carrot plants so they’ll grow. (We planted these seeds two months ago, and they’re still only about an inch tall.)
My fellow gardeners tell me that I’ll be able to pick these garlic bulbs, which are now garlic-smelling plants that are a few feet high, that I planted last fall in May.
No offense, spring, but you won’t have much effect on my beloved compost pile, which during the winter months grew into to two piles (one a mound on the ground, another in an old tomato cage).
Now that you’ve arrived, I probably need to get some tomato and pepper transplants in the ground, but I haven’t had much time to spare. Besides, the chard and peas are just now reaching their prime.
Thanks again for bringing us such nice weather, spring. After this cold, wet winter, I’m not taking even one minute of you for granted. I know your old pal summer will be here before we know it, but I’m hoping for just a few more weeks of prime gardening weather.
The fresh vegetables make my cooking so much better, so to thank you for your benevolence, I’d love to have you over for dinner sometime. I could make you a macaroni cheese and chard bake. Or perhaps you’re more of a caramelized onion soup kind of person. Whatever you want, you can have it.
After all, you’re the reason we even bothered to tend the garden this winter.
Oh, and if it’s not too much to ask, could you please keep the rain coming about once a week and tell that jokester summer that hahaha, we’re all still laughing about those 68 days of 100+ degree weather, but we’d really appreciate just half that number of triple digit days this year. Please?
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Exploring mangos with chili power, garam masala, salt
Mangos are one of the most lovely fruits.
Last summer, I wrote a story about what is often considered to be the world’s most popular fruit, but until last week, I didn’t quite know the beauty of unripe mangos.
The National Mango Board set up this cool tasting with mangos at three stages of ripeness (unripe, ripe and very ripe), spices (chili powder, garam masala), salt, lemon and lime.
Julian, who might love mangos even more than me, was enthralled with this experiment. A 3-year-old rarely sits still for an entire anything, but he completed this tasting with me as we watched this video by chef Allen Susser, owner of a Miami restaurant who has been known to trade food for backyard mangos.
The “spices and ripeness experiment” isn’t hard to recreate in your home, and it made for a fun exploration of all the taste sensations, especially with a young one who’s just figuring out the difference between salty, sweet, bitter and sour.
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SXSW Eats: A guide to SXSW food guides
How’s this for intimidating:
The above screen grab is from Citizen Taco’s guide to SXSW eats, which doesn’t include every single place to eat in Austin, but rather the places the Austin blogger deems worthy enough to recommend. (He also wrote this where-to-eat during SXSW post over on Serious Eats.)
The number of above-average meals you’ll eat in Austin during SXSW should hit double digits after just a few days, and and if you can’t find anywhere good to eat, you must be walking around with your eyes closed and your nose pinched shut.
Statesman restaurant critic Mike Sutter recently wrote about where you can get true Texas chili, and next week, he’ll be posting his own guides to trailers and 24-hour joints. Last year, I posted this guide to where to eat barbecue if you don’t want to drive to Lockhart, Elgin or one of the nearby smoked meat capitals.
Looking to eat at one of Austin’s famous food trucks? Austin Food Trucks has a map for that.
Want to eat sustainably? Try one of the dozens of places that feature local produce and meats listed in this list from Eat Well Guide.
Vegans will no doubt want to buy Lazy Smurf a tofu sandwich for her list of vegan and vegan-friendly eateries, categorized by location, in Austin.
Fete and Feast rounded up some of her fellow Austin bloggers to create an Austin Food Lovers’ Companion, which features these posts:
Foodie is the New Forty wants SXSWers to know where to find the best Asian food in Austin. (If you’re looking for something high end, here’s her list of upscale places.)
Tasty Touring has this round-up of the 24-hour (and nearly 24-hour) dining establishments.
Austin Farm to Table has another guide to restaurants for locavores.
Miso Hungry Now knows you’re probably going to want something other than beer-flavored water in a can, so she offers her favorite happy hours and watering holes.
The Rebeccammendations created a list of the most Austin-y “restablishments” where you can eat and get a true feel for the vibe of the city.
And last, but certainly not least, if you leave Austin without having eaten a breakfast taco, you should hang your head in shame. (The New York Times published this article today to edumacate non-Austinites to its wonders.) Cosmic Cowgirl rounds up the best places for breakfast, including Maudie’s, Maria’s Taco Xpress and Curra’s.
Photo by An Chih Cheng for the Austin American-Statesman.
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