From the department of “daddy is allowed to have pregnancy cravings too”…
The frito pie burger at HopDoddy “burger bar” in Austin, Texas. Super fun stuff…
Category Archives: de austinopoli
Chicken Shit Bingo with Dale Watson, a Parzen family affair
Verena (above, holding Georgia P on her lap) has been in town since Tuesday (we’ve been hanging, cooking, and writing and recording songs together at Baby P studios).
With the weather so beautiful right now in the River City (that’s Austin for all yall who ain’t never been to Texas), we just couldn’t resist a family outing yesterday to Chicken Shit Bingo with Dale Watson at (our favorite honkytonk) Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon.
Dale’s been playing in Austin and touring the world for more than twenty years, but his new album is bringing him into the fold of the mainstream. Check out this NPR interview he did for his new record release.
I’ve loved his music and his shows since Tracie P first turned me on to him the first time I came to Austin (nearly five years ago now!).
We hung out in the shade in the parking lot and Georgia P had a blast checking out the chickens in Ginny’s chicken coop (above) and all the little doggies that folks bring (it’s a bring-your-own-lawn-chair and get a tub of beer affair in the parking lot outside).
Here’s a little taste of what you missed if you weren’t able to make it yesterday…
Celebrity sightings at Forbes 30 Under 30 DeJoria estate #SXSW
From the department of “and they called me Zelig”…
Last night found me at the super swank Forbes magazine SXSW 30 Under 30 party on the scenic Lake Austin estate of billionaire John Paul DeJoria.
That’s John Paul (center) with Freya Estreller (left) and Natasha Case (right, a 30 Under 30), partners in life and partners in CoolHaus ice cream. John Paul and his wife Eloise are super nice, down-to-earth folks.
Check out Governor Rick Perry laying low and getting his Patrón on (John Paul owns both the Paul Mitchell hair products and Patrón brands).
Shaquille O’Neal stands out in any crowd.
Ca’ Montanari Lambrusco di Modena Opera delicious, @AISelections welcome to Texas!
I stepped out last night to pass out some fliers for the Nous Non Plus (my band) show next Saturday in Austin.
My first and only stop was our favorite wine bar in town, Vino Vino (where I curate the website).
I was geeked to taste this fresh, clean, bright, zipping Lambrusco di Modena (Grasparossa) Opera by Ca’ Montanari.
But I was even more stoked to see the importer’s label on the back.
Yes, the dudes at Acid Inc. have made it to Texas, folks.
That’s music to my ears: I buy a lot of wine from these guys for Sotto in LA (where I curate the wine list) and their palates align nearly seamlessly with mine.
Thanks, Vincent, for bringing them here!
It’s great to see small groovy importers and distributors making headway in a town otherwise suffocated by the big guys.
Keep it coming, yall!
Lenoir (Austin), anniversary dinner
Tracie P and I celebrated our third anniversary this weekend at Lenoir, Austin’s hippest restaurant these days.
We’re about seventeen weeks pregnant and Tracie P and Baby P 2013 are both doing great. And, wow, mommy is just the most beautiful glowing lady you’ve ever seen. It’s such a special time in our lives and I love her so much.
Gulf shrimp cake, savoy cabbage, carrot puree, bok choy, shrimp pan sauce.
Mommy liked these so much she had a craving ex tempore and we had to ask our waiter to fire another order! :)
We’ve followed chef/owner Todd Duplechan since his days at Trio at the Four Seasons and it’s great to see the slamming success of his first restaurant here.
Carrot salad, miso, Japanese turnip, seaweed salad.
I also really loved the tight, focused list by Mark Sayre. I did Nikolaihof Grüner Veltliner and the entry-tier Evening Land Bourgogne by the glass. The Evening Land surprised me with extreme freshness and zinging acidity. I loved it with the rabbit (at $13 a glass, great value for the food friendliness).
Chapeau bas, Todd and Mark!
And thanks for the great anniversary dinner.
Nous Non Plus (my band) FREE show Sat. Feb. 9 at the Parish in Austin
After their triumphant return to the icy, frozen tundra that was New York City in mid-January, Nous Non Plus [my band] is happily preparing to shed their winter clothing for the journey to sunnier shores.
Faites monter la pression s’il vous plaît!
AUSTIN SHOW IS NOW FREE!
Parish Underground
214 East Sixth
Saturday February 9
9 p.m. sharp…
Feb. 14 in LA
Feb. 15 in SF
96 Gaja Conteisa wowed me, 99 Produttori del Barbaresco Asili humbled me (TY @KeeperColl)
Above: Some may be turned off by the oxidative quality of the Fiorano whites. I think they’re super groovy. This 1994 Sémillon was made when the old Prince Boncompagni was still on this earth. It had solid acidity and its dried stone fruit flavors and aromas were lively and rich.
One of the coolest things about what I do for a living is that collectors of Italian wine often invite me to taste their wines with them.
There is no one who does more to foster the Austin wine and food scene than the lovely Diane Dixon, whose Keeper Collection produces a series of events here each year, focusing on and featuring young sommeliers and chefs.
Above: Of all the Gaja wines from the 1990s, my favorite has always been the Conteisa, named after the “highly contested” (conteisa in Piedmontese) parcel where it is grown. There’s more Barbera in this wine than his other Langhe Nebbiolo (and unlike the more famous ones, it was never classified as Barbaresco). Great acidity, brilliant fruit.
She and her husband Earl are just really cool folks who recognize the importance of supporting our food and wine community.
On Friday night we convened at my favorite Austin wine bar where the owner graciously let Diane open a few bottles.
Above: Here’s my tasting note… !!!!! So youthful, so powerful, this wine is going through a “closed” period and while ungenerous with its fruit, it lavished my palate with its nobility and grace. I’m hoping Diane will let me taste it again in five years or so. What a stunning wine!
With every wine that was poured, Diane asked me to talk to our small group about each one. The story of the Prince Boncompagni and his moldy casks; Gaja and the reclassification of his Langhe wines at the end of the last century; Produttori del Barbaresco and how many Langaroli now call 1999 (and not 1996) the greatest vintage of the decade.
Somewhere between the Gaja and the Produttori del Barbaresco, I realized that Diane had thoughtfully created this flight just for me. It’s one of the coolest things about what I do for a living and it’s one of the coolest things about being part of the Austin wine and food scene.
Diane and Earl, what a thoughtful flight you put together for me! Thanks for everything you do for all of us…
great show by the Wagoneers at the Continental Club, Austin, Texas
Great show last night by the Wagoneers, great band…
Quintarelli Valpolicella & Lucy’s fried chicken (Giovanni’s Easy Rider tour comes to an end)
There was one sine qua non pillar of Americana that Giovanni had not yet experienced on his “Easy Rider USA Tour 2012”: fried chicken, the way its done in the South.
And so on his last day in Texas, we decided to take a ride to the south side of Austin to Lucy’s Fried Chicken, where irony and hipsterdom collide in a deep frier (photo above by Giovanni). We picked up a bucket of chicken, which, according to Lucy’s serves four but could easily accommodate a party of six (unless folks squabble over who gets the breast).
When we visited Houston on Tuesday, Giovanni had spied a bottle of Quintarelli 2000 Valpolicella, which he generously bought for us to share. As deep as our friendship may run, Giovanni — a top Italian winemaker — and I often disagree about wine. The “rough edges” of many of the Natural and old-school wines that Tracie P and I cherish preclude his nod of approval. He even turned his nose up at a bottle of 2006 Romangia Bianco by Dettori that we opened — one of our all-time favorite wines, showing gorgeously right now! Blasphemy at the Parzen residence!
But one thing we can all agree on is Quintarelli. And the superb bottle inspired an interesting conversation on the use of oxidation and filtration, with Giovanni pointing to Quintarelli as a master in both regards (where many Natural winemakers use excessive oxidation and don’t filter at all).
The richness of the wine (served slightly chilled) was simply brilliant with the fatty, juicy (and delicious) fried chicken and its dark red fruit ideal with the flavors of Tracie P’s mouth-watering fried okra (above) and mashed potatoes.
This morning I took Giovanni to the airport and he’ll be back in Brescia by lunchtime tomorrow. It was great to have him here and share our lives with him. (Italian-speaking readers, please check out his posts on Texas truck culture and his impressions of a Texan wine.)
Thanks again, Giovanni, for the visit and the Quintarelli! Travel safe, friend. As we say in the South, come back and see us, ya hear?
An Italian honky tonks in Austin (Ginny’s and Junior Brown)
honky-tonk: A tawdry drinking-saloon, dance-hall, or gambling-house; a cheap night-club (Oxford English Dictionary).
No visit to Austin would be complete without a beer (or two) at Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon.
To quote Giovanni (above), who’s making his first visit to the River City this week, “I love this cross-section of American culture.”
Well, I’m here to tell you folks: here in Austin, we don’t call it “culture.”
We don’t call it “country music” either. We just call it music. ;)
Next stop was the Continental Club to catch a set by Austin’s own Junior Brown, one of the most dynamic and thrilling guitar players I’ve ever seen. Remember Junior and wife Tanya Rae in this GAP commercial?
Happy Monday yall!
Do Bianchi 