Last week, fellow Tasting Bud Peter and I attended a small gathering at the recently open Haddingtons (Link to Menu), new restaurant in downtown Austin. Prior to the event, I looked at the restaurant website, which described it as “an American tavern with rustic cuisine”, bringing to mind hearty, season-inspired meals and a beer selection rivaling the best pubs in town. They had not yet posted a menu (see full menu below), so I was excited to see what Chef Zack Northcutt had created.
November 6th, 2010 marked the date of Austin’s first Gypsy Picnic, an event that was billed as an eclectic day of food, music, and fun. Austinites were certainly excited about the event – the Austin-American Statesman estimates that 15,000 people attended the event and at the time of publication, Gypsy Picnic had 8,099 Likes on it’s Facebook page.
However, as is the case with many Austin Festivals, Gypsy Picnic’s first year was not without its challenges.
Click through to read about our harrowing tale of waiting… and waiting… and waiting…
South Austin foodie favorite, Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop, just celebrated their 2nd birthday with another huge backyard party! My how time flies – it feels like just a few months back we celebrated their 1st birthday party in style with a crazy pie eating contest!
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.
Click through to see more photos from the party and to learn more about the cupcake cannon
Hello Friends and Lovers! As you probably already know, South by Southwest 2010 rolled through Austin like a freight train filled to the brim with free food and booze. Of course, the TastingBuds took full advantage.
Other perks of being in Austin during SXSW include catching amazing concerts and spotting celebrities in town for the week. This SXSW, Peter caught up with Thu Tran from Food Party, who just happens to be one of the TastingBuds’ favorite food show stars.
Last Friday we had the privilege of participating in a Maker’s Mark bourbon tasting event at Frank. Maker’s Mark is a Kentucky based distillery that focuses their entire production facility to making just one product, the well known Maker’s Mark bourbon. That is until now.
The reason for the little event put on by Evins Communications, Ltd and Maker’s Mark was to give the Austin blogging community a preview of their new product, Maker’s 46. So what is Maker’s 46?
The Tastingbuds were honored to attend the grand opening luncheon of Maggiano’s Little Italy on Monday, March 1st at it’s new location in the upscale Domain. While it is new to Austin, many of you may already be acquainted with Maggiano’s – there are more than 40 locations throughout the US.
I grew up in Atlanta, home one of the older Maggiano’s… where everyone knows it as a nice, Italian inspired restaurant that is a safe go-to place to take a date or to celebrate a special occasion.
How does the Austin location stack up, and how do we think Maggiano’s will fare in the already crowded Austin Restaurant scene? Click on through to see what we thought and to see tons of mouthwatering photos
Congrats to Seth Mazow for pulling off another victory in the Hands on an Eggplant Sandwich competition at local favorite, Home Slice Pizza. This year’s time on a sub was approx 31 hours – but the payoff was great… a year of free pizza. If you don’t know what the heck we are talking about, check out Seth’s website Year of the Pizza, or read the Tastingbuds interview with Seth here.
Tasting Buds Peter and Kristina were invited to Louie’s 106 yesterday to try out the amazing 4 course Prix Fixe menu that they developed for Flavors of Austin. Our decadently delicious meal was cooked perfectly (all of our meats were spot on) using flavor combinations that you don’t see every day. We shared the night with a few other Austinites connected to the local scene and everyone agree that it was a great meal.
Before getting to the good stuff, we should mention that Louie’s 106 will be serving up the same menu through November 25th for a set price of $35. All in all, an amazing deal at a restaurant that has been doing it right in Austin for more than 20 years. If you are interested in going, by all means check out the full Louie’s 106 Flavors of Austin menu here and stop on by while you can. Also, Flavors of Austin is an ongoing event that highlights a different Austin restaurant every week, so if you miss this particular meal, there will be opportunities for great stuff in the future as well.
Click through to see all of the deliciousness we got to try!
Every year, the organizers of the Austin City Limits Music Festival are faced with the huge challenge of feeding tens of thousands of people a day during the 3 day long festival at Zilker Park. Things have not always run so smoothly – I distinctly remember waiting for 2 hours in line at the very first Austin City Limits Festival at one of only 2 food booths for a plain hot dog and a bottle of water in the 95 degree heat.
My what a long way the festival has come! The 2009 ACL food court boasted dozens of food vendors and there were another dozen beverage tents scattered around the park – most all of them with little to no wait. With so many options, it was difficult to choose where to eat every day. No worries though, I’ll give you the lowdown on what I had this year at ACL so you can make an informed decision next year.
Click Here to read more about and see pics of the the food at ACL2009
Every fall, I look forward to my favorite sport. Fans in burnt orange and white gather in droves, excitement fills the air, and beer is the ideal breakfast. That’s right, it’s tailgate time! Now, you might ask: tailgate, a sport…really? Yes, yes it is. Especially when you bring together a team of foodies, sports junkies, musicians, home brewers, and a techie or two.