Austin is going to hit lows in the 20s and low 30s this week, so here’s a timely reminder: Don’t try driving on ice if you don’t have tire chains and don’t know how. (Or maybe even if you do.)
And here are several video reminders from the last year of why that’s a bad idea:
If you were planning on driving anywhere near downtown or the airport this weekend, be aware that Formula 1 is in town. That also includes Fanfest downtown, so expect major street closures. Plan accordingly.
And speaking of downtown, William Gibson will be signing his new book The Peripheral at BookPeople at 5 PM on Sunday, November 2. Hopefully the traffic won’t be too horrible on that side of town…
How do you feel about six minutes of intermittently pleasant guitar noodling?
Tough.
They’re an awful lot like a strictly instrumental version of Midsummer.
Pour House Pints And Pies
11835 Jollyville Rd (Austin, 78759)
(512) 270-4740
This is essentially a sports bar that serves pizza. The pizza was pretty good (but could have used more cheese to hold our “four meats plus onions” toppings in place), but the fried mozzarella was undersized for the price, and the service was indifferent at best.
Unless you want to watch sports, there’s no reason to go here instead of Reale’s just up 183.
Maggiano’s Little Italy
10910 Domain Dr #100, Austin, 78759
(512) 501-7870
Maggiano’s offers up tasty, overpriced Italian food. In that sense it’s much like Brio, with the added hassles of being in the Domain, which makes it hard to get to. We also had to wait for a table, even though I had made reservations (though we did get there a little bit early).
The first disappointment after being seated was the free bread: uninspired baguette rounds (though at least they were served warm) with unspiced olive oil. Both Reale’s, with their delicious breadsticks, and Brio, with a more interesting bread assortment and spiced olive oil, do a better job in the bread department.
The crab cakes appetizers were good, but not $15 for two good.
Service was attentive, with numerous free drink refills without having to ask.
For my entree, the veal picatta was both nicely done and had pretty generous portions (which is only fair, considering the price). I thought the angel hair aglio olio was underspiced.
For dessert I had a perfectly caramelized creme brulee with fruit.
It was a very good meal. It also cost some $50, without any alcoholic beverages. That, dealing with the hassle of The Domain, and dealing with the hassle of the crowds (“Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded”) make it hard to recommend.
If I’m hungry for great Italian food, Monday through Saturday I’m probably going to go to Reale’s if they’re not too packed. If it’s Sunday (when Reale’s is closed), I’d pick Brio over Maggiano’s.
[Cross-posted to The Logbook of the Saturday Dining Conspiracy.]
The Swells were an Austin-based Shoegaze band. Here they are with “Golden.”
Evidently they’re now known as Seaholm Electric.
So Yelp has release a Top 100 Places to Eat in the U.S. list. Their ratings, being based on actual diners, are very different than high-end restaurant critics, and include six places around Austin:
Quick thoughts:
By comparison, only one place made the cut in Houston, and none in Dallas…
(Cross-posted to The Logbook of the Saturday Dining Conspiracy.)
A double-dose of restaurant relocation news I don’t think has been reported anywhere else:
Prima Pizza Pasta has relocated from its location at Parmer and McNeil to a new location at Anderson Mill and 620 as of February 1st. (The news is so new they haven’t updated their website yet.)
Taking the old Prima space on Parmer (as well as their phone number) is a new restaurant called Mi Pizza, which seems to focus on custom-designed 11 inch pizzas cooked in 5 minutes for $6.99.
(News in route to The Logbook of the Saturday Dining Conspiracy.)
Here again is Austin’s own The Asteroid Shop with a live version of their song “Dandelion.” Imagine a cross between Mazzy Star and The National.
The guitar sound is fine, but they would be helped by having a female co-singer to harmonize with. They could really use a Hope Sandoval…
Imperia
310 Colorado St. (Austin, 78701)
(512) 472-6770
We’d been hearing good things about Imperia for quite a while, so we thought they were a good choice for the first SDC of 2014.
It lived up to the hype.
Imperia serves up pan-Asian fusion cuisine that draws equally from Chinese, Japanese and Thai cuisines (and probably a few others as well) in an attractive, understated space in the warehouse district (or what used to be called the warehouse district; they keep changing names and I don’t think there are any warehouses left). There’s a bar, but it doesn’t seem overemphasized the way it does in other downtown establishments.
We started off with the pork belly steamed buns, which were delicious but definitely smaller than the steamed buns you get at the average dim sum restaurant. The calamari was very good, with a nicely light batter, but not enough to eclipse perennial champion The Clay Pit. For sushi, we picked something that stretched the definition:”The Hot Mess,” which the menu described as “Snow crab and shrimp atop a honey and avocado roll. Topped with Dynomite [sic] sauce and Kochijyan butter,” to which I can only add “what they said.” The individual portions were very tasty and came out in an escargot dish. (I also had two pieces of unagi, which were fine but undersized.)
For my entree I had “Kinoko to Suteki,” which is a very savory steak and mushroom dish; the portions could have been a bit bigger, but it was in-line with downtown Asian fusion expectations. I also like the portion of Pad-Thai Dwight and I spilt.
I can’t find an online listing for the dessert I had, which involved creme brulee, ice cream, caramel sauce and decadence. Service was pretty attentive.
We ended up getting several entrees and appetizers, so the bill was substantial: more than $150 for three people including tax and tip. You’d be hard-pressed to get an appetizer, meal and drink for under $20, but you could probably do it for around $30. Just keep in mind that you’re not paying for Chinese food, you’re paying for a downtown Asian fusion restaurant, and adjust your expectations accordingly. (The biggest difference between Imperia and the late, unlamented Austin location of Roy’s is value. Though we ended up spending about as much at both places, we didn’t feel like we were being ripped off, and we didn’t leave still hungry.)
Besides price, the biggest problem with Imperia is their location in the warehouse district downtown. Unless you want to use the valet parking, there’s a good chance you’ll have to park several blocks away (I found a metered space on Republic Square). But Imperia is well worth the hassle, either for special occasions or if you already live downtown.
(This review will also appear on The Logbook of the Saturday Dining Conspiracy.)