Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2008 > November > 19
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Paggi House rises again
The grand opening of the Paggi House was something of an anti-climax. The restaurant had been serving customers — the customary soft opening — for days if not weeks. And everyone in the foodie community had followed the closure, purchase, renovation and reopening so closely, it seemed like an afterthought to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Hillary Owen, Taylor Perkins (publisher, Rare magazine), Rick Engel (owner, Paggi House), Tori Tinnon (managing partner, Paggi House)
But there was Mayor Will Wynn, trim and stylish, reminding us that the redevelopment of Austin’s urban core is the envy of the nation. Not just the towering condos, but the sensitive repurposing of older structures like the Paggi House ( old, but not quite as old as its promoters often insist, according to historians). In fact, several of the night’s revelers had walked from their high-rises across the river or down Lamar Boulevard to sample the new cuisine and hospitality at one of Austin’s oldest public houses.
Erin Hager, J.B. Hager (Mix 94.7)
We were there with the Midlife Gals (more on that later), but we wandered through the renovation, agog at the huge, sweeping canopy out back, the thoughtful, fruit-bearing landscaping and the expanded patios out front. In fact, on a pretty night like the one we enjoyed, three quarters of Paggi House’s seating is out of doors. We nibbled on some explosively flavored appetizers, forgave the inconsistent service and happily toasted the reentry of this perennial favorite.
Mark Eissler, Steph Sherrod
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Your A-List, Best Beauty Salon
Snatching second with 31 percent is a smaller salon group with three Austin locations — Avant. Everybody else, mostly one-off Austin salons — Jackson Ruiz, Birds, Aziz, Salon 505, Ann Kelso, Bradz, Joie de Vie and Vain — took 3 percent or less of the vote.
Looks like it pays to locate where the traffic allows.
Write-ins: Innu, Milk+Honey, Topaz, Two Wild Sisters, Urban Betty, Viva
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment Categories: Style, Your A-List
Your A-List, Biggest Eyesore
Sometimes at Your A-List, a category is created just for write-ins. Such is the case with Biggest Eyesore. And the five-way tie for the top spot indicates that people are irritated, but we aren’t exactly sure at what.
The Monarch, for instance, is a high-rise apartment executed in a safe, almost bland modernist style. The only possibly offensive elements are the wing-like structures on the top. Are they really eyesores? Given the context of other Austin high-rises, are the wings so out of character?
One reader wrote in “empty house near the dog park at Interstate 35 and Riverside.” That would be the historic Norwood estate, stripped of its ornaments and mothballed by a well-meaning group hoping to salvage it. It’s a mess now, but it’s really “in storage” until someone restores it.
Still another decries the condos going up behind Shady Grove. Fine, you are mad that the mobile homes and some trees are gone. But there’s no building there yet. How can a temporary construction site be a permanent eyesore?
The final “winner” is the most interesting: the Holly Street Power Plant. Here’s a decommissioned utility structure destined to be gutted and replaced with something more neighborhood friendly — a park. Why expend a vote on a dead building on its way out? Unless its simply to continue the political discussion of why it was built and maintained there in the first place. I suspect that’s the case.
You have spoken, but the message remains unclear when it comes to defining “eyesore.”
Photo: City council member Mike Martinez, left, and former Austin Energy general manager Juan Garza, right, look over an artist rendering of suggested park space that will eventually replace the Holly Street Plant
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Splitting musical theater’s core audience
Some commentators felt he suffered unfairly for speaking his mind. (This is not, however, a First Amendment issue, which concerns government censorship, not, as in this case, public opprobrium.) Others believe that, in an industry so dependent on (often cheap) gay labor, Eckern’s position was an affront to his longtime colleagues. Fair points all.
What intrigues me, however, is the sudden and potentially permanent rift in the core audience for musical theater. I’ve written for years about how Broadway’s coded emphasis on emotion and romance, rather than naturalistic themes, has brought together diverse fans who read into “West Side Story” or “Fiddler on the Roof” their own relationships — romantic, familial or societal.
But now, two crucial constituents are at loggerheads: The gay brigade and the suburban faction. Whose emotional reality ultimately counts? Sounds like a good theme for a musical — or a season of healing musicals.
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Cutting back on holiday socializing?
You tell us. Are you cutting back on holiday socializing? Are you limiting the number of events you host or attend? Or, instead, have you minimized your budgets for the same number of events?
We’re planning a big lump-of-coal story on the impact of the economy of Austin socializing. Send us your thoughts and tips — mbarnes@statesman.com or in the commentary box.
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Checking into Baker Hotel
Barrett contributes keyboards and vocals to a pop band called Baker Hotel. They’ve played the Tiniest Bar in Texas, Uncle Billy’s and Saxon Pub, among other gigs in their first year or so together. They trace their roots to rock, folk and, especially, Southern antecedents.
I’ve been listening to their samples on MySpace and on their dedicated Web site. Songwriter Carter Beckworth starts with a clear, clean concept of melody and an accessible, light touch with lyrics. You hear shades, not tones. The instrumental mesh is hospitable, and it rests reliably in a recognizable comfort zone, which is not a bad strategy for a still-evolving band.
I’ll catch them as soon as I can.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment Categories: Music
Help Us Define Austin Club Micro-Hoods
The 2008 XL Bar Guide is coming up in December. Last year, we focused on the introduction of the ultra-lounge concept to the club ecology. The theme this time: The evolution of club micro-hoods downtown.
Some micro-hoods are well-established in the minds of tourists and locals. Others are more recent, perhaps ephemeral constructs, culturally and geographically.
Tell us what you think in the commentary box below.
East Sixth Street: Known to all tourists, it lies on either side of East Sixth from Congress Avenue almost to Interstate 35.
West Sixth Street: Fast rivaling its eastern counterpart, mostly for locals, its runs along West Sixth from Congress Avenue almost to Lamar Boulevard.
Warehouse District: Pioneered in the 1980s, it’s the grown-up version of Sixth, generally defined by West Sixth and West Third, Congress and Guadalupe.
Red River Street: The stronghold of original music, it straddles Red River from Sixth to around 10th Street.
Second Street: Still in the making, with construction smack in its middle, Second is the only planned district, flowing from San Antonio to the Convention Center.
Middle Fifth Street: Conceptually, the toggle between East Sixth and the Warehouse District, this overlapper on West Fifth mixes the two cultures.
East Seventh Street: Another overlapper, this stretch San Jacinto to Interstate 35 is not quite Sixth, not quite Red River. Developing its own social scene.
Others outside downtown: South, North, East, West, Campus.
