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Food & Drink|
February 1, 2011

Street Food

At a time when trailer food is all the rage, a few Austin restaurateurs are making the shift from mobile to brick and mortar—and lovin’ it.

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Editor's Letter|
January 1, 2011

Steer Pressure

A wise man once said, “Beware of football Bum Steers.” Baseball is fine, and so is basketball, since both of those seasons will have wrapped up by the time the January issue goes to press. But football is a different story. Just when you think a player or a coach

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The Culture|
January 1, 2011

Bob “Bleed” Merkt, Vintage-Car Builder

Merkt, who grew up in Wisconsin, has been designing and building hot rods for more than twenty years. He moved to South Austin in 2007 and is currently a partner and main fabricator at Austin Speed Shop.When I was six or seven, my uncle gave me his collection of fifties

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Style & Design|
October 31, 2010

Not By Design

Brian Crumley hopped on a plane to Europe to find the expressive voice he thought he had lost. The photographer spent three months traveling from city to city, soul-searching. Little did he know a purchase of two scarves would forever change his life.

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BBQ Joint Reviews|
October 30, 2010

Franklin Barbecue

Just before the Texas Monthly Barbecue Festival, I met up with John Morthland at Franklin Barbecue to talk barbecue and get some breakfast. I knew I’d be stuffing myself silly in an hour or so, but I can’t rightly pass a chance to get some of Aaron Franklin’s brisket when I’m

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Food & Drink|
September 30, 2010

Zandunga Mexican Bistro

I’m a big believer in the helpful phonetic spelling of tricky words (it comes from a long-ago stint as a junior high school English teacher, a disorderly experience that we needn’t go into here). But in the case of “huitlacoche,” a Nahuatl word, the phonetic “hweet-la-koe-chay” doesn’t help much.

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The Culture|
August 31, 2010

Jackie Hopper, 911 Call Operator

Hopper, who grew up in Weatherford, became one of his hometown’s 911 call operators right out of high school. In 1997 he joined the Austin Police Department, where—except for a hiatus to get his college degree—he has worked in the emergency communications division for seven years.When you call 911, the

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Music|
June 30, 2010

Street Songs of Love

How do you like your Alejandro Escovedo? One of the reasons this talented Austin rocker has never escaped critical-favorite status is that he’s an encyclopedia of musical genres; it’s hard for fans to reconcile his confessional, string-laden ballads with his riff-heavy punk. Yet those two styles have always been

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Feature|
June 1, 2010

We’ll Always Have Austin

In the late sixties, the Capital City was just as thrilling, drug-addled, pompous, and aimless as you’ve heard. Especially if you came from the provinces.

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Music|
April 30, 2010

Carrie Rodriguez

The Austin-born, Oberlin-trained musician—and daughter of the hard-living Texas songwriter-activist David Rodriguez—at one time aspired to be a great fiddler. Then she went on tour with Chip Taylor (who wrote “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning”) and, under his wing, blossomed into a singer and a songwriter. The pair

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Letter From Austin|
March 31, 2010

Fear Less

Can new research predict which soldiers will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder—and which won’t?

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Style & Design|
March 31, 2010

Ghassan “Gus” Karim, Tailor

Karim, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1969, has been a master tailor for fifty years. He is the owner of Gassane Tailors, in Austin, and has made custom suits for Bill Clements, Lyndon B. Johnson, and George W. Bush.My father was a tailor and had a big shop in

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Eat My Words|
March 9, 2010

BA-con! BA-con! BA-con! Comments Invited.

Am I really writing a blog post on the Bacon Takedown at Emo’s in Austin this Sunday? Apparently I lost my mind over the weekend. But something about the idea of an Iron Chef-style, fat-fueled grease-off is utterly irresistible, especially in the city that spawned the

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BBQ Joint Reviews|
March 1, 2010

Franklin Barbecue

Just before the Gettin’ Sauced event, I stopped in again at Franklin Barbecue to try the ribs and pulled pork. I knew the brisket was stellar from previous visits (I stole a bite or two from the Patron Saint on this trip too), so I wanted to check on the other

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Art|
February 1, 2010

The Illusionist

For more than thirty years, artist Damian Priour has crafted beautiful sculptures made of limestone, metal, wood, bronze, and glass.

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BBQ Joint Reviews|
January 1, 2010

Franklin Barbecue

It’s been a while since I’ve found an honest “sugar cookie” on my brisket, but as I waited for my order to be filled, owner and pitmaster Aaron Franklin handed me a preview morsel from the fatty end of the brisket and the flavor was transcendent. If I lived in

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Web Exclusive|
January 1, 2010

Toy Story

From a Magic Garden crystal kit to a plastic replica of R2D2, the diverse offerings at three toy stores in Austin are right on—for any age.

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Feature|
January 1, 2010

Revenge of the Nerds

How did a small cadre of film geeks from Austin take an outsized role in determining what you see at the multiplex on Friday night? One dismembered body at a time.

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Eat My Words|
November 3, 2009

Food Fight, Food Fight, Food Fight!

Ahem. It’s never too late to have a pie thrown in your face for a good cause. I should know. Yeah, yeah, the picture was posed. But that only means the stylist slammed the pie on my face artistically (not in this picture, the next one, the one you’ll

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