Even though there was no pie eating contest this year, we had something even better… CUPCAKE CANNON! That’s right… there was the shooting of pastry product out of a large bazooka-like contraption for prizes.
When it comes to Japanese food in Austin, Uchi is the one restaurant is always mentioned and universally praised by foodies. For my 30th birthday, I decided to head to the nationally acclaimed restaurant to celebrate and find out what all the hype was about.
I wasn’t disappointed one bit. Having been to Uchiko and really liking the food there, I have to say that Uchi feels a even notch or two more refined.
Here’s a quick photo essay that depicts the Uchi 5 course Omakase tasting menu, which our waiter described as “the greatest hits” of Uchi’s menu. I enjoyed my Uchi experience immensely and hope you enjoy the photos.
The great poet Boris Pasternak once said that “surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.” Well my friends that may be true, but life can bring us unwanted surprises too.
Several years ago, while TastingBuds Peter and Jon were sipping on after work beers, an unexpected visitor… well… plopped out to greet them.
Number one ranked competitive eater in the world, multiple food eating record holder, and destroyer of 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut graced us with his presence at the Austin Ice Cream festival this year. Why exactly was he in town? To take on a whole team of 5 other eaters at once to see who could eat the most ice cream in 5 minutes!
How did he do? We’ll get to that later, but the look on his competitor’s face above might provide a clue.
How much food can you cram into your face in 60 seconds? That was the question 14 brave souls tried to answer at Cupcake Smackdown 2.0 during an attempt to break a World Record for eating the most Jaffa Cakes in a minute.
The contestants came in confident, as the bar seemed to be set pretty low at only 8 jaffa cakes in the allotted time. However, soon after the contest began, reality set in and everyone knew that this would be a tough record to beat.
We’ve been busy and haven’t had time to blog all the cool food happenings around town! So this Food Photo Friday we are going to catch up a bit by highlighting photos from 3 restaurants in the Austin area: Maudie’s new Hill Country location by the Galleria, Fogo de Chao downtown, and downtown Indian trailer G’raj Mahal.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy our pretty photos… I’m warning you though, you might get hungry.
Amy Hildenbrand and Cory Nunez of Austin Daily Press
Foodies, chances are that you have spent time on the couch watching a Food Network show or five. Well get ready, because you’re about to get one more reason to park it in front of the TV, namely Food Network’s newest show “The Great Food Truck Race” premiering Sunday, August 15th 2010 at 10pm/9c.
One of the teams that competed in the coast-to-coast race runs hometown food trailer Austin Daily Press. I stopped by to chat with fellow Atlanta transplant now living Austin and co-owner of Austin Daily Press, Cory Nunez, about his favorite bars in Atlanta, the upcoming Food Network show, and his approach to running a business.
We almost didn’t realize it until someone asked how long the blog has been around, but the TastingBuds Blog is over a year old! To celebrate we’ll recap some of our favorite posts, photos, and favorite moments from the past year!
Thanks to all of our readers for visiting the blog and we’re grateful for the friendships we’ve made on the Internet and in real life as well.
It’s a good time for Japanese food lovers in Austin. No matter where you live in the capital of Texas, there’s bound to be a Sushi restaurant nearby – especially downtown. Of course, not all Japanese restaurants are created equal, but for a medium sized city, Austin has it’s fair share of high end sushi.
Recently, the TastingBuds were invited to a sake tasting dinner at the well known and respected Kenichi on 5th and Congress. The reason for the celebration? The Austin branch of Kenichi has a new sake sommielier and they wanted to highlight the their vast sake selection and their ability to pair each type of sake with their creative and delicious food offerings.
Uchiko, the second incarnation of Tyson Cole’s celebrated, cutting edge, Austin based Japanese restaurant Uchi, is currently in the midst of a soft opening. I stopped by yesterday to check out what all the buzz is about and take advantage of the 50% discount being offered to early visitors who want to try out the not yet finalized menu.
This post is less of a review and more of a pictorial and personal representation of the soft opening experience, because things will likely change once Uchiko opens it’s doors officially on July 6th, 2010.
