austin tidbits

2003-08-06T22:22:00.000-05:00

mmm, Hatch Green Chiles!
It's that time again at Central Market. The Hatch Green Chile Festival! Aug 22 - 24 and 29 - 31. For about two weeks, or until they run out, Central Market roasts Hatch Green Chiles from Hatch, NM with native roasters. They also have awesome in-store recipes like Hatch pesto, sausage, quesadillas you name it. I buy a few pounds of the stuff to make hatch migas all year long.

http://www.centralmarket.com/cm/cmEvents.jsp

2003-07-30T20:09:00.000-05:00

intel building, an eyesore no more?
ABJ is reporting that the intel building downtown is finally going to be put to use as a new US Magistrate and Courthouse

2003-07-24T22:15:00.000-05:00

Tis the season of cold desserts
In addition to being a restaurant hound I talked to a few friends about the best desserts in town. Amongst some of the candidates I've received are the cheesecake shake at Katz's deli. The banana pudding at Threadgill's. The espresso milkshake at Much Ado About Coffee. The cheesecake at Gumbo's. Several triple, quadruple, n-tuple chocalate desserts around town, the cinnamon rolls at Upper Crust, Amy's Ice Creams, Cipollina Deli desserts, and desserts at Thistle Cafe. Write me with your must tries...:) ciao.

2003-07-23T09:56:00.000-05:00

buurg, err
The dietdemon sent me a note on a restaurant poll for the best burger at citysearch. My favorite place, Dan's, is in second place, next to the sentimental Hut's.

2003-07-22T23:29:00.000-05:00

Coffee, coffee, everywhere
While bored on my 40 minute commute down US 183, I took to counting the number of Starbucks (Nasdaq: sbux) franchises along my route. I counted a grant total of eight (8) outlets. The breakdown is 4 standalone shops, two shops in different grocery chains, and two OEMs inside B&N booksellers.

2003-07-20T18:03:00.000-05:00

A good place to film Austin
I went to brunch with a few friends at Austin Diner and they were remarking how little Austin changes on Burnet Road between 45th and Anderson Lane. While actually there is a fair amount of business turnover on that stretch of Burnet, there are a few places that seem immune to change like the Upper Crust Bakery, an 80s-style HEB grocery store, an original Arby's and my favorite, the Top Notch hamburger joint. "The Notch" and their grease is a favorite of our law enforcement community from the APD to the Texas DPS.

2003-07-19T10:52:00.000-05:00

...cheeseburger, a jelly donut...
Don't miss the last performance of macjackdaddy tonight at Maggie Mae's on 6th street. macjackdaddy is a self-proclaimed funky hee-haw rootsy bluesy texas rock band that is awesome and will be missed.

2003-07-18T09:56:00.000-05:00

Other austin bloggers
Glenn at Capitol Macintosh posted a question in their Internet forums about finding other Austin bloggers. So I went on popdex and searched for Austin and I came up with these two hits:

I found two Austin blogrings: Austin Bloggers and http://www.weblogsky.com/ausblog/. Austin Bloggers have met as a group three times (to date), the last time being on Wed, July 16.

2003-07-13T20:56:00.000-05:00

Central Market, mmmmm :)
I went to Central Market today and like most people I can't resist the wonderful samples throughout the store. Most of them are simple, in-store recipes from their cooking school made with fresh ingredients. Today I tried a wonderful elixir called Mr. Tieu's InspriAsian. So what makes Tieu sauce great? Well, it's an Austin-made product, self-described as a marinade, dipping sauce and dressing. I sampled it on a chunk of pan-seared salmon, mmmm. In looking at the consistency of the sauce, it's easily also a dressing and a dipping sauce. The bottle has an endearing story about Mr. Tieu and his nine (9) children causing a stuggling in battle to maintain balance and harmony. I don't doubt that -- hope the sauce becomes successful!

austin.about.com and potties
I appreciate the mention by Jacci Howard Bear of austin.about.com on my recent bathroom observation. I look forward to her daughters' write up on local potties, but that might not benefit me as much, since I prefer to know about places with full-length urinals for men. ewwww, Gross!, I admit, but I have a fascination for those classic fixtures. And now since I've started, and I was once busted for writing a poem about the relief of peeing in grade school, I have to say now is a perfect time for clubs and other mens restrooms to adopt the filled trough of ice. It's such a cooling experience with no splash! ewww, i did it again. OK in summation I think the best potties in town include the view from the men's room at the Headliner's Club in the Bank One building downtown and the designer potties at kenichi.

...at the car wash
What a difference a car wash makes! -- and I'm not talking about cleanliness. So I have a car with a built-in outside temperature gauge and it read 101° F (38.3° C) before I entered the car wash. As I pulled out from underneath the turbo hairdryers, it read 86° F, woo hoo!

2003-07-13T11:40:00.000-05:00

I'm reading a paperback called The Tipping Point which includes an anecdote about UT Business School professor Mark Alpert. Anyone who reads or authors blogs, should read this book to identify with which group they're in: the few, the mavens, the connectors, or (not in the book), the masses.

2003-07-12T11:42:00.000-05:00

Some ~~dumbasses~~ idiots who chopped down a great oak at Riata on Jan 1, 2002 were caught when they posted pictures with captions on the net.

2003-07-08T11:03:00.000-05:00

The infowars stickers around town are a pitch for the Alex Jones radio program. I won't even mention what 2-bit radio station this guy is on but you can listen to him in the forest we call the Internet.

2003-07-07T22:22:00.000-05:00

syndic8 posted an RSS link to Austin tidbits from austin.about.com

2003-07-02T18:05:00.000-05:00

A few of us went for a lunch run at Fuddrucker's on Anderson Lane and while waiting for my order, I visited the men's room. In there, I found one of most useful things I've seen. There is a lightswitch for alerting the management if the restroom needs attention. I thought that was a rather neat idea!

2003-06-26T15:35:00.000-05:00

I have a friend who knows a recent masters degree grad in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) that is looking for a job. I saw a possible fit in austin usability since they just won two big deals with outside Austin firms.

2003-06-26T12:58:00.000-05:00

I wanted to add links to where you could get Wi-Fi access in town. This a start...

http://auscillate.com/wireless/

2003-06-25T22:27:00.000-05:00

my long time restaurant critic carmin wrote me to tell me that HuYa's TexMex on 2222/360 closed. This is the third concept that has failed at that spot, the first two being Alligator Grill North and 22. Oh well, third time's not teh charm this time.

Meanwhile, Iron Chef (SW corner of Burnet/183) is a great place to eat Chinese. I don't know if the restaurant has any connection to the show, but it's great. Check it out.