Tag Archives: city life

La Condesa

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I COULD go to trendy new restaurants soon after they open and THEN blog about them, but I much prefer waiting a few years until everyone already knows how awesome Eating Establishment X is, and then write about it like I’m the first to know. I’m talking, in this case, about La Condesa.

I ventured to the downtown TexMex restaurant for lunch recently and was pleased to see the hype wasn’t for nothing. I have no trouble believing this place will be a regular contender when the mister and I find ourselves in the “where should we go for date night” predicament.

Right off the bat I liked La Condesa for the location (across from Austin’s super cool City Hall, The W Hotel, Moody Theater and Lamberts). At night the trees light up and the people watching is superb. So kudos, LC, for picking out some pretty prime real estate in which to serve tacos.

Besides being situated in the heart of mucho A-town action, the architecture and interior design is jaw dropping, astounding even. You could sit inside and stare at the textured walls, vibrant murals, swanky lighting, everything…before  you realize it has been 10 minutes and you haven’t even opened your menu. I’m not overselling either. In fact, the restaurant won a people’s choice restaurant design award from AIA Los Angeles. Pretty nifty.

If you weren’t already intrigued, allow me to go on. I’ve always heard you can tell how good a TexMex restaurant is going to be by the chips and salsa. Perhaps forecasting this very school of thought, the brains behind the La Condesa menu offer not one, but four salsas on which to over indulge before your meal begins. There’s a classic salsa roja, as well as a fresh and creamy avocado tomatillo, chipotle salsa and a super spicy but delectable option. Four salsa choices AND a generous helping of warm chips. Don’t mind if I do.

The main meal itself (fish tacos, my go-to taco when breakfast tacos aren’t an option) was splendid as well. The serving wasn’t too massive, but was still plenty filling and the tacos themselves really hit the spot. The best part about the entree, however, was the extra tortillas that come with the meal. Some places (no names) up-charge for extra tortillas (not cool), but La Condesa included two additional corn tortillas right on the plate, just like that. It was an unexpected treat and came in handy for scooping up extra salsa, black beans and rice. It’s such a small thing to do, but that alone would have tempted me to return for another visit.

By lunch hour’s end, I had been converted. The tasty array of  salsas, visually entrancing atmosphere, and surprise bonus tortilla had me singing the praises of La Condesa to anyone that would hear it. Unfortunately I can’t speak on behalf of their margaritas. I guess I should return for happy hour in order to tell that tale.

Falling in the Gap

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Do you mean fall into the Gap?

No. I mean falling in the Gap. Falling because you’ve just finished your second bottle of Shiner Cheer and you  keep tripping over dozens of living manikins while making your way to the sushi buffet.

And no, again. I’m not talking about a trippy dream but rather the Free Drink Party hosted at our friendly neighborhood Gap last Friday. Gap celebrated…winter(?) last weekend with a free-for-all party that featured free beer and cocktails, food from Roll On Sushi, a live DJ and tons of living, breathing, walking (no talking, though) models. I was a little hesitant to attend an FDP at the Gap (the place where I bought most of my childhood back-to-school clothes), but it turns out combining seasonal styles with seasonal brew is a genius publicity stunt. Midway through beer number two, we started filling our mental shopping cart with all the scarves, mittens and sweaters we could handle. Not sure how many of us returned to Gap the next day to pick up the items we eyed the day before, but its safe to say Gap made off with a small fortune.

Job well done, Gap, for creating as fine a sweater as you do a party.

In a good Moody

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I finally FINALLY crossed “See an ACL taping” off my Austin bucket list.

Okay, okay. It wasn’t exactly a taping, but it was a sold out show at the ACL Moody Theater where they do film concerts by acclaimed artists like Arcade Fire, Fleet Foxes and, in this case, Wilco (who had taped the same set list at the venue the night before). And it wasn’t exactly at the same location where legendary artists like Johnny Cash, The Allman Brothers Band and David Byrne (I’m excluding hundreds of others here) recorded ACL shows in the past*, but it was nevertheless a pretty remarkable experience.

For starters, Wilco is a band I’ve loved since Brian Jackson first burned one of their songs for me on a CD in the 10th grade. I’ve continued to love and appreciate them as I’ve gotten older, so getting the chance** to see them up close and personal at an intimate venue in my very own city was a pretty incredible experience. They deliver a show that’s as tranquil as it is toe tapping and as psychedelic as it is down-to-earth. They love their fans, love their music and love to play together–which makes for a pretty incredible concert, if you ask me (and you do, because you are reading my blog at this moment).

As hinted earlier, the venue does its part to add to the “oh my gosh, I can’t believe what I’m seeing” experience. The layout, lighting, and acoustics are mind-blowing. The location is in the middle of the hippest Austin action. And even though the new venue is less than a year old, you can’t help but feel like you might be witnessing history.

Check out photos of other live tapings at The Moody Theater below by Mark Collins.

*For the unfamiliar, the studio where public broadcasting station KLRU films the wildly popular Austin City Limits performances, after which the festival is named, relocated from the UT campus to a new theater at the W hotel downtown.

**By “chance” I mean an incredibly generous friend offered me her extra ticket, what a gal. Thanks a ton!

East Austin Studio Tour

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Last weekend Heath and I  joined up with friends, saddled some bicycles,  rode into East Austin and essentially put on our hipster hats for the East Austin Studio Tour. The trendy East-side event spans two weekends in November and lets art aficionados and art novices (like moi)  tour hundreds of homes and studios of local artists. We only made a handful of stops but did get to see some pretty funky pieces–some more splendid and eye-catching than others (like paintings of hybrid animals for instance), but the whole tour did inspire me to break out my art supplies and try my hand at being creative.  I would have been inclined to pick up a painting or two for the new casa, but most pieces seemed to start at $400 and went up from there. Perhaps next year we will be in the market to buy instead of just window shop. Either way, the experience was not a shabby way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Three reasons to visit the Habitat for Humanity ReStore

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This weekend we made our first pilgrimage to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in East Austin. In order to let everyone know the wonders we experienced on our journey, I give you three reasons (I have an affinity for numbering things) why you should also consider visiting the AusTex store or the closest Restore to your hood.

1.) Feel good about yourself. You may not have guessed this from the name, but all proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity. Don’t drive a hybrid? Don’t buy produce from local farms or participate in Occupy Wallstreet? That’s OK. Make up for it by shopping at the ReStore where every dime you spend goes to a greater good and not into the wallets of corporate America. Take that, fat cats.

2.) It’s CHEAP! If you don’t care about giving back to the community, that’s OK too. Give back to yourself. Because most of what you find at the ReStore is recycled, used, or leftover from large renovation/construction projects, it’s all ridiculously marked down. What would cost you $5, $10, and $20 at Lowe’s or Home Depot is only $0.50, $1, and $5 at the ReStore. Lumber is especially marked down, but there is also an endless selection of tile, knobs, windows and doors to choose from. It’s a Do-it-Yourselfer’s paradise.

3.) You can spot some gems. Shopping at the ReStore isn’t exactly like a trip to an awesome specialty vintage shop, but you can track down a few treasured pieces (like drawer pulls delicately hand-painted with images of native flowers or antique crystal door knobs) and a few off beat items (like a ceiling fan designed to resemble checkered racing flags). Whatever your style, if you hunt hard enough, you can probably find a piece to work for your space without breaking the bank.

The ReStore has been in town for 15 years, and now that I have occasion to visit it, I’m confident it will be around for 15 more.

Food Heads

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If I started a restaurant, it would probably be exactly like Austin’s Food Heads; partly because sandwiches and salads are all I would be qualified to make and partly because I’m obsessed with the cozy and eclectic atmosphere they have created both inside the cafe and out. Though, my version probably wouldn’t be as precious or palatable.

It’s not hard to make me love a sandwich. I love bread and most things that accompany bread, but Food Head’s finds a way to make the art of sandwich eating a little more extraordinary—namely by getting wonderfully creative with the fixin’s they pack in between bread slice one and bread slice two. I wouldn’t have thought to combine a portobello mushroom, bleu cheese and blackberry balsamic vinaigrette, for instance, but thank goodness a genius at Food Heads did. And thank goodness, too, for someone behind the counter dreaming up a sandwich made of pork tenderloin, jalapeno relish, swiss cheese and tabasco slaw. That, my friends, is a sandwich.

And why not enjoy your Gypsy Grove Sandwich or Fish Torta in a quirky urban garden–a space where old windows are refurbished and used as porch decor and every piece of accouterment from the tables to the saltshakers are mismatched? The walls are brightly painted, the cacti are bigger than your car and if you choose to dine alone there is always a shelf full of books to keep you company. Food Heads, you might just be my new favorite lunchtime treat.

 

 

 

Austin Place to Love: Buck Moore Feed and Pet Supply

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Often friends will ask me where it is we get out chickens and I answer with the enthusiasm of a TV game show contestant, “BUCK MOORE FEED STORE!”

Buck Moore Feed and Pet Supply is what happens when an old fashioned Mom and Pop business meets the “weird” Austin culture.

Here’s what I mean by that—the place hasn’t been updated since the family biz first got off the ground in 1972. It’s got basically the same old signage, the same hand-built, no frills wooden shelving and random knick-knack laden walls of its past. But, by design or not, the outdated decor sets a mood for the store that just works. Perfectly. No hoity-toity dog biscuits or cat outfits here, just high-quality animal feed and customer service. REAL customer service. The kind where they ring you up and carry your bag out to your car for you. They keep a small but knowledgable staff who can tell you everything you wanted to know and more about chickens, dogs, livestock and the like.

That’s the old-fashioned, traditional side. Then there’s the quirky side. The side that hosts the city’s annual Funky Chicken Coop Tour and makes sure it stays stocked with local products like John Dromgoole’s Lady Bug garden products.  The side that, despite originating in the early 1970s, continues to use technology from far preceding decades: the cash register is from 1923, their feed scale is a 1930 IBM model and the Coke dispenser is possibly one of the first ever built. Quirky indeed.

The marriage between quirky and traditional may seem like an unlikely one, but it’s a relationship that has worked very well for Buck Moore’s store–the only place in town I go to for good [dog] food and good-looking chicks.

CultureMap

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My mom says I gravitate toward any party where free eats and drinks are abundant, and I can’t necessarily disagree with her. But who really wants to turn down unlimited food, spicy margaritas and free petting zoos anyway? Case in point, the CultureMap launch party last Thursday.

The Eastside fiesta at Pine Street Station (home of favorite SXSW destination Fader Fort and in SXSW off season, Hope Farmer’s Market) celebrated the launch (albiet a little tardy) of the Austin portion of CultureMap, a news/lifestyle website that greets visitors with a clean and trendy interface chock-full of Austin-themed stories on topics spanning music, film, fitness, design, sports and innovation. The party, like the website, was diverse in its attractions.

Like FDPs of the past, this one included live music, a photobooth and refreshments out the wazoo, but unlike others I’ve frequented, it also featured a petting zoo by Tiny Tails to You (complete with hedgehogs, bunnies and baby ducks), and performance by Sky Candy Aerial Arts.  If animals and acrobatics become the next trend in party throwing, I should just give up right now.

Check out pics from the event here.

And while you’re at it, maybe give the entire CultureMap website a glance too.