.: angilou and tucker too :.

italian nite, aka we're narrowminded bigots

this weekend cal went out to the farm for an overnight, so tucker and i were left to our own devices.  we decided to go try a new place mandola's, and go see the "da vinci code".  we thought, hey, italian restaurant, and italian movie - it's an italian night!  of course, we forgot that the da vinci code takes place in paris and england, and doesn't venture into italy at all - duh. anyways, we're at the restaurant, and it's one of those places where you wait in line and order your food, then sit down.  there were several people in line in front of us, and the man directly in front of us was middle-aged, pushing a stroller.  we were checking out the menu, and they didn't dumb it down, so everything was in italian, which was nice.  i leaned over to tucker and said whispered, "mebbe we-a talka like-a dis-a all night-a".  and he responded, a little louder, "talka likea dis-a all night-a?".  the man in front of slowly turns his head to look at us out of the corner of his eye.  tucker and look at each other and shrug.  a woman walks up to the man in front of us and they proceed to converse in italian.  we look at each other, me with a horrified expression, and tucker says, "well, i guess it could have been worse."

dim sum in austin? marco polo?

well, now that i moved down here, i like to complain about all the things i miss: fall weather, boston/cambridge's character, and easily accessible authentic chinese food. last monday's austin paper had an article exactly about "authentic chinese food in austin" - how serendipitous. it was good; i knew one of the three places the author mentioned. today i went and tried one of his recommendations: marco polo. now, could a chinese restaurant with such a goofy name possibly be good?

surprisingly, yes. it was packed. couldn't tell if it was the article, or just normal sunday traffic. it's located just north of oltorf, so one of the few "authentic chinese" options down south. the dim sum was pretty darn tasty. while the cart flow wasn't so great, they kept it moving, and if you asked for something specific, they tried to hunt it down for you. the shrimp dumpling, rice noodle, spare ribs, bbq pork buns and chinese broccoli were all good quality and on par with bigger city dim sum. the sticky rice in lotus leaf and taro puffs were lower on the scale but still tasty. surprisingly, they even had bbq pork rice noodle, which is not as common, so that was a welcome surprise. they also had some less common items, like in their desserts.

i can't remember my rating system, but i think this place is 4/5.

matt murphy's pub: 5 stars

not necessarily a cheap eat, but it's so good, i had to put it somewhere. i must have mentioned matt murphy's before, but i can't remember, so i'll do it again.

i used to live near brookline village and this place is an irish pub that is in a strip of shops in the village. i thought it looked suspect and never tried it until a friend convinced me that they had the best fish and chips and i had to go. this place is a gem! tiny, dark and cramped, but with oh-so-much character, it's one of my favorite places in the boston area. may not be the best guinness pour, but very respectable. i like the convivial feel of the place, where it's so small you are constantly bumping into people, and sharing tables with freindly strangers. not a place for claustrophobics. on some nights, live music playing irish folk music squeeze out tunes from a corner.

and the food! man, the best irish pub food ever. i highly recommend the fish and chips, comes with homemade ketchup, and the shepard's pie is excellent. i haven't ever made it to dessert, but the bread pudding looks great. the portions are quite large, and are around $15 each. if you're splitting, they even go through the trouble of putting it on separate plates, for no extra charge. so, i guess it does qualify as cheap eats.

this is one of those places where you hope they never change it. it may not be for everyone, but is great for people who like places with a lot of character and heart.

austin trip: day 6

alas, our last full day in austin. after a great night at the saxon, we slept in, and then headed out to see tucker's paternal grandmother, mimi. mimi has a tradition with us and we always go for lunch at tres amigos, where she turned us onto the chalupa. no, the chalupa is not that dorky taco bell concoction, but is a tostado with beans, meat, lettuce and tomato. similar to a taco, but without the beans!

mimi regaled us with great stories about her bridge playing - she was hysterical.

on day 6 we also made an offer on a house, the one on duval. we probably won't get it, but it was a good exercise, just to get us out there. then we were off to rudy's, tucker's favorite bbq place. stuffed our faces and went home very happy.

austin trip: day 5

day 5 was hectic: there were so many things we wanted to do: see tucker's dad, see britt and ed, see houses, see bob - lotsa seeing.

earlier in the trip i had discovered a great little coffee shop, jp's java on duval and san jacinto. charming, homey, and free wireless! the place rocks!

after lounging around, we met tucker's dad, fred, for lunch at el patio. el patio's been around since 1952 and tucker remembers eating here as he grew up and says it hasn't changed a bit. i forgot to take a picture of what i ordered, but it was an open faced taco with queso over it - it's called "the perkins".

then it was off to another mad rush of seeing homes, but there were some more promising ones this time. a couple were interesting, although one already had an offer on it. we were so tired after house-hunting, but then shirley, tucker's mom, stopped by and pepped us up.

we had just enough time to squeeze in a bite before heading over to catch bob's show at the saxon pub. we wanted to go to john mueller's bbq, but they closed at 6p! the guy who came to the door said that "people don't eat bbq at night", which was ludicrous. apparently, they stayed open until 8p for a year, then gave up.

so we went across the street to hoover's, which was all about good old fashioned home cooking. looking around at everyone's plates, it looked like they had good catfish, mac and cheese, red beans and rice and sausage, etc. the fried okra and green beans were good, too. definitely worth a second visit.

then it was over to the saxon pub to catch bob schneider's show. bob is my all-time favorite musician - he's funny, smart, lewd and incredibly talented. opening for bob was matt the electrician, who turned out to be pretty good!

bob's show was awesome, as always. his set got more and more off-color towards the end of the night; it was great. :-)

austin trip: day 4

day 4 we had planned a surprise for tucker. josh, amber and i arranged to take tucker to an arena football game: the austin wranglers vs. the indiana firebirds. we totally had him fooled, up until we got in line for tickets, so that's a personal record for me keeping a secret for that long!

i also got to hang out with fred that morning. random. i always get up so early and i thought, "who else gets up early?" so i called fred, tucker's dad, and he popped on over to the coffee shop! it was great to get to chat with him.

of course, we had to have breakfast somewhere. we started off with breakfast at the incomparable taco express. taco express is a south austin institution with AWESOME migas tacos and a whole lotta attitude.

the game was a blast, even though austin lost. i think i saw 3 plays, i was so busy getting beer/getting food/looking around, etc. here are some random pics of me, amber and the boys.

a highlight of the evening was a balloon of a giant bottle of rudy's sauce that floated around the stadium passing out coupons for free breakfast taco's. we didn't get any. :-(

after the game, we went and played with the baby, eli. i can't beleive i didn't take any pics of him!!! he was so cute and he's so big now! we also saw some of josh's latest movies, which were AWESOME!

i can't remember what else we did sunday night. i think we just stayed home. oh, we went to look at one other house, one on duval and 47th, which would end up being our favorite.

austin trip: day 3

day 3, saturday, was farm day. tucker's mom and step-dad own a bunch of land about 45 minutes southeast of austin, which everyone just calls "the farm". this is the same place we had our wedding! after some yummy breakfast tacos from mi madre's, which i think won for best breakfast tacos last year from someplace.

we also call the farm, "dog patch", because there are ALWAYS several dogs there, sometimes as many as a dozen (or at least it feels that way). as we all know, i am a great photographer, so here is a shot of tucker with flash and chula, then a shot of tucker with all the dogs' butts:

the farm is always fun. there's always friend and family to meet and greet. here ae our hosts, shirley and jerry, and cook extraordinaire, matthew baugh:

georgia and shirley, and then the whole gang

happy couples! adam and jill; me and the tucker; matthew and leila

austin trip: day 2

today we get to see some friends and also squeeze in some house hunting. down the street from meem and pap's (where we're staying) is funky dive called the star seeds cafe. apparently it's been there a while, but had changed ownership and has gone from a seedy, cop hangout diner to a seedy, hippy/punk music/collage art diner. but the food is tasty! yummy pancakes and good sausage!

yehudi's company, horseback salad, had just finished their first episode of "Laugh and Learn with Trevor Romain", a series based on the popular children's author. horseback salad is a cool little studio that does really neat animation and multi-media work.

we were meeting the crew to celebrate the completion of their new episode at an austin classic, the salt lick. all you can eat family style bbq - loosen your belts! the group pic didn't turn out. :-(

then, off to check out houses! some of them were so wierd - wierd layout, wierd decorating, wierd housekeeping. no keepers today. after salt lick, we were so full, we didn't eat all night.

oh! i forgot that last night, after the movie, tucker wanted some beer, so he went to this corner store and basically picked up beer in a drive-thru. apparently, very common in austin/texas. look at how happy tucker is to get his beer...

austin trip: day 1

so, we drag ourselves out of bed at 4:30a to go to the airport. no incident, get there on time, and of course, we have our tradition of taco cabana. every time we come to austin, we have to go to taco cabana as our first meal. open 24 hours, good margaritas and awesome crispy tacos - what more could you ask for?

we got to hang out with meem and pap, tucker's grandparents who also run m.e.s. - meemo's emergency services. they always pick us up from the airport, another tradition. they're in their 70s and 80s and it's incredible how active and busy they are!

after chilling out, we decided to have a little date night. running late for the movie, we decided to grab something at chik-fil-a. little take-out chain from the southeast that's closed on sundays. great chicken sandwiches and packets of tabasco in their condiments section! we were also pleasantly reminded that we are in dr pepper country: diet dr pepper on tap!

tucker digging in

then we were off to starsky and hutch!

tennessee's bbq: 4.25 stars

that same night (see previous post), we decided to go to a tried and true bbq place, tennessee's.