I heard about the Alamo Drafthouse on one of our visits to Austin before we decided to make it our home. A movie theater that serves food and beer at your seat while you watch? Of course I was intrigued.
Rachel and I made our first trip to the downtown branch of the Drafthouse on Christmas day, keeping with the age-old tradition among us members of the Tribe. The movie we saw was not one of our all-time favorites, but the theater itself is very cool. As a warm-up to I Am Legend, the theater ran a few rather funny clips from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air along with the video for Parents Just Don't Understand in place of the usual elevator music and dim lights. It also screened some previews to a few upcoming events. In addition to standard first-run fare, the Alamo often stages special screenings. If you're a fan of Napoleon Dynamite, the Alamo is screening it with a live appearance by Uncle Rico! Another upcoming special, Dark Side of the Rainbow, features the Wizard of Oz with the soundtrack replaced by Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon -- so the overly curious can see if the rumors are true that the album was recorded in sync with the movie. Too bad we just missed what would have been my personal favorite: Booger from Revenge of the Nerds speaking about Harry Nilsson's The Point!(hey Rachel Z., you made a great Arrow!), as well as singing songs from the album/film in the lobby between shows. Now if they can only get Lamar Latrell to present something about Paris is Burning, my life would be complete.
The menu is fairly typical bar food, with dishes named after cinematic tidbits. While tempted by the Smokey and the Bacon sandwich, I ended up ordering a "Royale with Cheese" burger. Food was decent, beer was cold, and the attitude was great! They've worked out a food and drink ordering system that manages to keep the noise to a minimum. And they won't tolerate noisemakers! To give you a taste, here's a clip featuring former Texas governor, the late Ann Richards:
There should be a theater like the Alamo in every major city. Maybe I should make that my personal crusade?
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