Austin - Around Town: Yoga, Networking and lots of Food and Drink

So it's true, we've been too busy to blog. But that just means this will be a long, text-heavy post.

So this is what we've eaten...

We had our first visitors two weekends ago. Dad & Beth arrived with badly needed reinforcements - bagels. Delivered from the reputed best bagel shop in the greater Houston area (because we've exhausted the Austin options, and it hasn't been pretty), the Hot Bagel Shop, as recommended by a co-worker.

Thank goodness for these bagels. Right now there isn't much I miss about the Northeast (it's hard to feel bad when it's sunny and 65), but the bagel thing had me seriously down. As it was, West Hartford had lost any reasonable bagel shop once Manhattan Bagels and then Bagelz closed. Bruegger's? Hard round bread. Goldberg's? Too big. Lox, Stock & Bagels? Aftertaste. Yeah, ok, I'm picky. But you have to have some standards.

Bagels delivered, we proceeded to Tomo Sushi. Recommended by Sumina & Saurabh, this was a nice lunch. Tomo is a modern looking place on the north end of town (aka South Dallas), with a sushi bar, a couple of booths, and 4 or 5 tables. We slid into the last table and enjoyed some edamame, gyoza, oshinko, sushi & sashimi.

We also ate at Zuzu Handmade Mexican Food that weekend. Zuzu is a nearby, quick service place. You order at the counter and get a number. Food comes out pretty quickly. This would be a good place for a quick lunch, but we found it just average overall. The fresh salsa from the salsa bar was the best one, if you want my opinion (and if you don't, I'm going to give it to you anyway).

Next up: Feeding the soul

I finally made it to yoga last week. Kula Yoga is a quiet, small studio, with two teaching rooms and complimentary tea and chocolate following the class. My Hatha class, taught by a woman whose last name is Pancake (this is not relevant to anything), had 6 or 7 people in it of various levels. It was a fairly standard class, though I thought the teacher had a relaxing, inclusive style. This week I'll try a couple of other classes and teachers. Then perhaps I'll try a different studio, like Yoga Yoga.

Feeding the body again

At the end of last week's rather dreary week, I worked from home on Friday. Jon and I had lunch at Foodheads, a little cafe right near Salvation Pizza (for those unfamiliar, see our New Years post). They have an interesting collection of sandwiches, from roast beef with brie to salami and cheddar (these things don't really go together to me) to salmon salad. Then we caught up with the Jelly crowd at Genuine Joe, where I met the now-famous (locally at least) John Metcalf and actually got some work done.

Dinner was at another new place, Thanh Nhi, a sparkly clean Vietnamese place in a nondescript strip mall on North Lamar. Jon had some shrimp pho and I had some grilled chicken and shrimp bun, plus we ordered some spring rolls and egg rolls. As usual, dinner came to only $20 ($20.08 exactly), continuing our experience of good cheap meals. Service was fast and friendly, with the presumed proprietress giving me a hopeful thumbs up while removing my nearly clean bowl. If only that place were near work; bun is perfect lunch food.

Around the town

Saturday was a busy day. We started at the Counter Cafe, which looks like your typical greasy diner, but in fact serves fresh, local food. I thought $8 for eggs any style with bacon/sausage and a biscuit was a little steep, but breakfast tacos at $6 are a good bet. The biscuits are pretty good, too. Next time I think I'll give the hotcakes a go.

Then we followed the siren call of Cheapo Disks, discussed in another post, and then were off to the farmer's market. We bought a bread from Texas French Bread (a nice semolina with sesame seeds) and some swiss chard. But there is quite a diversity there, even in the non-veggie items. You can get yourself a whole fish, grass-fed beef, whole chickens, goat and lamb. Plus eggs and cheese. Last time we went we bought a handmade feta cheese packed in oil. This was delicious on our bread alongside a salad. We also had a handmade pepper jack, which had some nice kicky peppers to set off the mild jack.

Our next stop was my own personal Holy Grail. The Austin Public Library downtown branch could quite easily occupy a person for a whole day. Maybe more. First stopping to get my shiny new library card, we browsed the fiction on the lower level, then went up to the 3rd floor to check out the nonfiction. I had always liked the West Hartford library, but city libraries are just in a class of their own. There are 22 libraries in the system. You can check out and drop off books at any branch, and of course there are CDs, DVDs and even LPs (vinyl, man!) for checkout. Multiple copies of books, recommendation lists by genre. Joy.

Texas - 73; Texas Tech - 47; Bob Knight - 0

Saturday evening, after a stop at the Dog & Duck, we were off to the Erwin Center to see our University of Texas Longhorns stampede over the Texas Tech Red Raiders. But more than that we were there to see Bob Knight. Would he throw a chair? Choke a player? Meh. The most he could muster was a brief berating of a player. Bob, oh Bob, what's happened to you? So without that sideshow or really any competition, I was left to amuse myself with the supplied entertainment - singing the "Eyes of Texas", admiring the Texas-sized corndog, watching the Pom girls wiggle around the floor. But the main event for me was the bbq sauce bottle-shaped Hindenburg which did a lazy circuit around the arena, dropping coupons for Rudy's B-B-Q. Only in Texas, my friends. Only in Texas.

How about a Guiness?

Hungry (we didn't eat the corndogs), we stopped to see our friends at Salvation Pizza and get some pizza pie.

By comparison, the rest of the weekend was slow. Lester got some badly needed exercise at Zilker Park and a dip in Shoal Creek. After a stop at Epoch coffee, we called it a weekend. Time to go read some of those library books.

Pecans and Kolache

One or two of our dedicated blog readers has mentioned that our posts seem to emphasize food, at least just a little bit. Well, so far we've posted about BBQ, pizza, local items available at the supermarket, the Alamo Drafthouse, frozen custard, brain tacos, White Castle and more. So I'm not arguing with that one.

Okay, so maybe we like grubbing. So far, Austin has impressed us with its local cuisine. One local food that we don't even have to leave the house for are pecans. If you didn't know, the pecan tree is the state tree of Texas, after then-governor James Stephen "Jim" Hogg made it official in 1906. The story goes that Hogg had a pecan tree planted at his grave instead of a traditional headstone, requesting that the nuts be distributed throughout the state to make Texas a "Land of Trees."

Folks here are wild about pecans, and use them for all sorts of things. We have two mature pecan trees in our backyard that have been dropping the little buggers since before we moved in. For some reason, we hadn't bothered to collect any until this past weekend. I think we thought it was a little too late already, but after spending about ten minutes or so scoping out a couple of prime spots, we managed to gather up about 60 or 70 nice looking nuts. Now we have to go get a nutcracker! Our plan is to try something simple with them, like this recipe for spiced pecans. Don't worry -- we'll report back with the results.

Some of our backyard pecans

Another local specialty that we had heard a lot about but had not yet tried is the kolache. Kolache (pronounced "ko - losh") are a type of Czech/Slovak pastry filled with different things, like fruits, cheese, or sausage. Some of the towns close to Austin have large Czech populations, like West, TX, which is considered the best place nearby for kolache. It even bills itself as the "home of the official Kolache of the Texas Legislature." There are also a fair number of places that make kolache within the city of Austin. After checking some of the reviews on Yelp, I decided to try the Kolache Shoppe on Burnet Road, just 2 miles from home. Not feeling particularly adventurous, I decided to try the apricot and blueberry. Lucky for me, when I got there the bakers were just pulling apricot and blueberry kolache out of the oven. Heeding the warning to let them cool off, I brought them home and waited a bit before trying them. The pastry is soft and delicate -- nothing like a flaky Danish. The apricot filling was tasty, with chunks of fruit and a not too sweet. The blueberry was a little sweeter, and had a more jelly-like consistency. Really, the pastry is the star of the show. Soft, buttery goodness. Next time, I'll try something different, like cheese and/or sausage and/or bacon. Oh, and the Kolache Shoppe also makes some mean-looking cinnamon twists. Lots of reasons to go back.

Blueberry and apricot kolache from Austin's Kolache Shoppe

Austin: Dog Paradise

While Rachel and I have enjoyed our first month in Austin, nobody appears happier about the move than Lester. For those who aren't familiar with the Big L, he's our 13 year old black and tan coonhound. Lester has been taking advantage of the mild Central Texas winters, spending lots of time in his spacious new backyard. He's even made a new friend, Dutch, the goofy golden retriever next door, although so far they've only been able to play through the chain link fence.


Top: Lester rolling in the yard. Bottom: Dutch


Those who are familiar with the Big L know that he's, well, a little bit more active than your typical 13 year old dog. And for active dogs, Austin is arguably the greatest city in the country. There are more than 16,682 acres of park land in Austin, comprised of 206 parks, 12 preserves, and 26 greenbelts. Of these many spots, 12 are dog-friendly, meaning some or all of the grounds are leash-free for dogs. That's just within the city limits! We also hear that there are many great places beyond Austin. We've been taking Lester to a variety of places these past few weeks, and while there are still lots more to explore, here's an early list of what seem to be his five favorite places, in no particular order:

1. Far West Off Leash Area: Not the prettiest of the leash-free parks, but the closest -- only about a mile from our house. He's been fortunate to have been there nearly every day.


2. Red Bud Isle: Dog Central! This little island in the middle of Town Lake just south of Tom Miller Dam is entirely leash-free. On nice weekend, you might see fifty or more dogs there at any given time. Great place for a swim, and also a good spot to launch a kayak.


3. Bull Creek Greenbelt: Perhaps Lester's favorite so far, this long greenbelt on the northwest edge of the city is suprirsingly quiet given its proximity to the main roads. This trails runs through the woods along Bull Creek (duh!), providing many spots for swimming or wading along the route.


4. Shoal Creek Greenbelt: This is a great greenbelt that cuts through the heart of the city from north to south. While only five blocks of this long greenbelt are leash-free, it provides some nice swimming opportunities.


5. Walnut Creek Park: We've only been there once, but it might become even more of a favorite than Bull Creek. About half of this large park in northern Austin is leash-free. Much of that portion is made up of a winding network of trails. The bigger trails are popular with mountain bikers. The rest are popular with dogs -- especially the ones that go down to the creek!

On top of all of the open spaces, a surprising number of cafes and even some bars feature dog-friendly decks or patios, including two of our favorite local spots, Billy's on Burnet (which puts out water bowls in anticipation of dog owners) and Genuine Joe Coffeehouse. So if you like city life but are afraid that your active dog won't, consider Austin!

Top: Lester drinking up Bull Creek. Bottom: On the trail, Walnut Creek Park

Austin Music Scene: First Night Out

Friday marked our one month anniversary of our arrival in Austin, the Live Music Capital of the World. Remarkable? Not really -- except that for two music-heads like us, it is sort of silly that we hadn't been out to hear/see any live music yet! We fixed that on Saturday night. Emo's, one of the most well known and popular music clubs downtown, was in the midst of a week of free shows. No cover, unless you're under 21 in which case you have to fork over $5. The assumption, I suppose, is that those 21 and over will imbibe at least that much. Some friends we met recently were planning to catch some of the acts on Saturday night, and invited us along (BTW, thanks for being so generous and thoughtful and including us newbies with few local friends in so many of your plans over the last few weeks!)

Emo's is located on one end of the notorious 6th Street District, on the corner of 6th and Red River. It features three separate stages, and on some nights -- like Saturday -- there are concerts going on simultaneously on all three. We got there around 10:30, and spent the first hour or so catching pieces of two of the acts: Brazos, who sounded a little bit like the Walkmen (who themselves played a free show at Emo's that we unfortunately missed), played the outdoor stage, which is only partly outdoors, while Masonic rocked the indoor stage at the same time. Both were pretty good. After meeting up with our friends, we headed over to the third stage, the lounge. We caught the tail end of the set by Quiet, Lovely and a strange, somewhat atonal and somewhat operatic set of electronic music by Kevin A. (from Moth! Fight!). By the time the headline act, Car Stereo (Wars) came on, it was almost 1 a.m. We fought off the yawns for the first 20 minutes or so but finally succumbed. Car Stereo (Wars) plays highly danceable hip-hop mashups, and by then there was no way we were doing much more with our feet than walking back to the car.

The main portion of Emo's has that great music club grunginess a la Toad's Place that sets the appropriate mood. The lounge is much cleaner and offers a nice, mellow contrast. Overall a very late, very fun evening. Can't wait for our second live music experience, whatever and whenever that might be. No excuse for waiting too long -- there are tons of great clubs with lots of diverse acts on their schedules. So while Willie and Stevie Ray might be the two biggest musical icons in Austin, there's much more than country and blues to this city. That's music to our ears.


Car Stereo (Wars) mashing up the party


Moth! Fight! -- odd interview with two of the band members who played at Emo's


The late Stevie Ray Vaughan giving a guitar lesson; his statue stands in Austin's Auditorium Shores park


Nobody is bigger in Austin (or Texas as a whole for that matter) than the well-preserved Willie

Watch Out!

Jon recently posted some photos of throwback signs for establishments up and down Burnet Road. So I thought I'd post my favorite Austin sign, spotted on East 11th Street. Watch out! (What's with the fingers?) This cracks me up every time I look at it.

Happy New Year

Had a mellow first New Year's Eve in Austin. Although we were feeling a little lazy, we motivated ourselves and went downtown around 7:00 to catch some of the Austin First Night festivities. Turnout was impressive. Thousands of people were out to catch the strange procession down Congress Avenue and Cesar Chavez Street. To make the event more family friendly, the organizers planned to set off fireworks twice -- once at around 7:45, and again at midnight. Lots of people had gone downtown with their kids in tow and waited around for the first set of fireworks. Rachel and I, meanwhile, had walked in a large circle trying to find a friend of ours, and were still making our way back to our intended fireworks-viewing spot on the South 1st Street Bridge when the fireworks began atop one of the larger buildings downtown. We quickly rushed to a better viewing spot on the bridge. By the time we got there and watched for maybe a minute, the fireworks died down. Everybody around us kept waiting and assumed more were on the way -- but that was it! Maybe 4 minutes long, I must say that it was perhaps the weakest and most disappointing display of fireworks ever. Even the young kids knew as much to feel ripped off! The two guys on the bridge making large balls of fire with some sort of gasoline-infused tube that looked like a didgeridoo made for a more impressive show. As with many things in Austin, the spectacle really was the people in the crowd.


Fire juggler and fireworks


Next we stopped at the Ginger Man for a beer. The Ginger Man is a great mellow pubs which would fit in perfectly in any city -- and indeed there are three other Ginger Man pubs in Texas, plus "cousin pubs" in NYC and Greenwich, CT. Plus it has an amazing selection of beers on tap. There have been rumors flying around that it might be closing soon, so the fact that we had been there recently (actually the night before) didn't stop us from returning.


Beer selection at Austin's Ginger Man Pub

Our final stop was for pizza. Although my Austin pizza expectations were very low when we got here, I had read somewhere that a place called Salvation Pizza was serving thin crust pies based on the same recipe used at Harry's Pizza in our old home town, West Hartford CT. So we just had to give it a whirl. When we stopped in to pick up our pies, we asked about the rumor. The woman running the place confirmed that indeed it was the same recipe -- and that she is the daughter of Barb and Mark, the operators of Harry's and its progeny, Barb's Pizza. The pizza was nearly identical to the pies we used to get all the time from Harry's! And Salvation is pretty close to our house. So 2008 started on a very positive (and tasty) note.

Nice looking pie

Happy New Year!