We open at 10am, so come early and enjoy West Sixth’s best brunch menu, along with gameday specialties and a variety of specials on buckets of beer, bloody mary’s and mimosas!

Email Ellie if you would like to reserve a spot for you and your friends…Ellie@Jblacks.com!

Hook ‘em!

We’re only 5 weeks from the 3rd Austin Fashion Week, coming August 20 – 27. We’ll be giving you weekly updates on our progress and give you some inside scoop here. Here are the fun announcements from the last week:

TICKETS:

All tickets are now on sale! VIP, Badges and Kickoff / Awards individual tickets. Austin Fashion Awards tickets are best seats available, so buy them soon.

STYLE, SPEED & GLORY: AUSTIN FASHION WEEK KICKOFF AT COWBOY HARLEY DAVIDSON (August 20):

Watch local models cast by Wilhelmina Brown along with some of their represented talent gracefully walk the T-shaped runway with expert designs from collaborative Austin Fashion Week Mash Up Teams, along with collections from Betsey Johnson and MotorClothes by Harley Davidson. Hair and makeup by ROAR Salon.

Between runway shows, catch over-the-top live entertainment from Austin’s own LC Rocks while noshing on bites from some of Austin’s hottest restaurants and complimentary cocktails from Tito’s Vodka, Corzo Tequila and more.

AUSTIN FASHION WEEK PRESENTATIONS AT THE DRISKILL HOTEL (August 22 – 26):

The full list of designers showing at the 2011 Presentations at the Driskill is coming, but we can wet your whistle with names like…

James Tudor, Tikini Hut, Jamie McCarty, League of Rebels, Boudoir Queen, Celestino Couture, Estela Balan, Dean Fredrick, Andrea Montgomery Designs, Ana Reign and more… More information here.

SHOWCASE EVENTS (August 21 – 26):

Showcase designers will be announced next week, but in the meantime, mark your calendars for free and open to the public events based on this schedule:

Sunday, August 21: Midtown

Monday, August 22: Downtown outside of 2nd Street Presented by Premiere Party Central

Tuesday, August 23: West Austin Presented by Hill Country Galleria

Wednesday, August 24: South Austin

Thursday, August 25: 2nd Street District

Friday, August 26: North Austin

AUSTIN FASHION AWARDS PRESENTED BY SONO BELLO (August 27):

Austin Fashion Week culminates in a massive celebration with the Austin Fashion Awards at ACL LIVE. Recognizing the finest from the Austin fashion scene, Golden Boot Awards for People’s Choice and Industry Choice will be presented in select categories.

Infusing incredible fashion into the evening, runway shows will feature collections from formidable Austin talents: Gail Chovan the Parisian inspired, celebrated designer and owner of iconic South Congress boutique Blackmail; Linda Asaf known for her namesake label of contemporary dresses and breathtaking gowns; and Michelle Weisman, formerly the assistant designer for Mint by Jodi Arnold and head designer for Shoshanna, currently the designer behind 81 poppies, her modern, feminine line, which launched in Austin last spring.

More stunning national designers for the Austin Fashion Awards will be announced soon!

Get those tickets here!

Several Austin Fashion Week Announcements today and coming in the next weeks! Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

Participant Deadline Friday, July 8: If you are a Retailer, Salon, Designer, Hair Stylist, Makeup Artist, Photographer, Model or Wardrobe Stylist and you want to be an official participant of Austin Fashion Week, you MUST register by THIS FRIDAY, July 8 here (no exceptions — get on it!).

Check the Austin Fashion Week Website tomorrow, July 7 for some super cool announcements. Individual event tickets will go on sale and details about several designers and runway shows will be revealed. Also, some fun new additions to the Austin Fashion Week VIP Packages coming tomorrow, so you might want to purchase today to ensure you get yours before they sell out!

Want to be first in the know about all things Austin Fashion Week? Go sign up to receive exclusive emails from Austin Fashion Week here. You’ll get the inside scoop on juicy tidbits between now and through the finale at the Austin Fashion Awards.

Join Launch787 as we host the first MIX: Celebrate Texas Cocktails Presented by Google Places on Friday, June 17, 2011 from 9:00 pm – midnight.

Enter into the historic Mansion (Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs, 2312 San Gabriel) and sip custom-made specialty libations from 13 of Texas’ home-grown distilleries.

Mixologists like Jason Stevens from East Side Show Room and Joe Eifler from The Tipsy Texan will each craft two extraordinary cocktails featuring one of 13 different Texas born and bred spirits for a total of 26 different drink options. There will be a delightful range of sweet, salty and spicy to captivate your taste buds, from Indian inspired drinks with cumin and agave to fruity cosmopolitans with cranberry and honey.

Pecan Street Rum

Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka

Enchanted Rock Vodka

Treaty Oak Platinum Rum

Republic Tequila

Join Launch787 for the first-ever MIX: Celebrate Texas Cocktails!

We at Launch787 thought there wasn’t enough drinking, so we’re bringing you the event to end all drinking events. That might be a bold statement. If you fall in that category, please take a cab.

On June 17, join 14 of Texas’ favorite distilleries as they pour signature cocktails for you to try. Each brand will have a master mixologist on hand letting you get a glimpse inside modern cocktails, all while using local-to-Texas spirits.

Joining us will be: Brimstone Whisky, Savvy Vodka, Pecan Street Rum, Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka, Enchanted Rock Vodka, Treaty Oak Rum, Republic Tequila, Ambhar Tequila, Paula’s Texas Spirits, Tito’s Vodka, Railean Rum, Graham’s Texas Tea, Dripping Springs Vodka and Waterloo #9 Gin.

Best part? All these libations help to support Austin’s newest, coolest volunteer movement, Austin Involved.

Get your tickets now! They are $40 until May 17, $50 after that and $60 at the door (we don’t expect door sales to even be available). Your ticket gets you as many cocktails as you’d like — just make sure you tip your bartenders.

WHEN: Friday, June 17 from 9:00 pm – midnight

WHERE: The Mansion at Texas Women’s Federation; 2312 San Gabriel

Buy your tickets now before the price goes up May 17!

You’ve probably heard the buzz about Barley Swine. If you haven’t, it’s the sit-down creation from Bryce Gilmore (of Odd Duck trailer fame) on South Lamar.

Taking on the sharing plates concept, but with a menu that might scare some of you, Chef Bryce has NAILED this place. It’s probably not for everyone, but I don’t think that’s what Bryce had in mind…

However, if you LOVE food and aren’t scared by things that you’re not even sure which animal they came from, don’t mind sitting at community tables, like chatting it up with the waitstaff (and probably the people you just met at your table) and 3 hour dinners, then Barley Swine is absolutely for you.

I love New York restaurants. I love that they’re complicated. I love that only like 30 people can sit down at the same time and they’re likely sitting on top of each other. Barley Swine captures all of that, but with an air of Austin friendliness. Seriously, this place is T-I-N-Y. It’s hard to open the front door without hitting someone coming out of the bathroom. There’s really no room for a full kitchen, so everything is cooked right there in the dining room.

The staff? Insanely knowledgeable. Happy to push you in a direction (or not). Helpful with how much to order, how little to order, which beer goes best, you name it, they know it. Oh yeah, it’s beer and wine only, but by “only” I mean craft beers that many of the biggest beer hounds I know might have never heard of.

The food? Stupid good and so far outside the box you can’t even see the box anymore. As I said, this is a sharing plates concept, so everything is family style, but not Italian Grandma family style… family style if you’re the Trumps. Meaning, everything is beautiful, well put together, stunning flavor profiles, exotic, everything you’d expect from “fine dining” but you happen to want to share it with friends.

Barley Swine is an EXPERIENCE in every sense of the word. Bryce has clearly worked out this concept in his head and refuses for it to be anything less than he can dream. I’m not a critic but if I had stars to give out, I’d try to give Barley Swine 5.5, even though that’s not legal in the restaurant critic world. Congrats Bryce. You’ve won a fan.

http://barleyswine.com

Grilled carrot salad, goat ricotta, almond brown butter: $7

Potato fritters, goat cheese, leek, espelette: $6

Fried brussel sprouts, lemon, capers: $5

Jerk rubbed pork belly, grilled sweet potato, kale salad: $12

Sweetbreads, garlic puree, brussel sprouts, braised bacon: $13

Grilled foie gras, spanish tortilla, paprika aioli: $16

Bacon wrapped rabbit, quick pickled carrot, beer creamed spinach: $15

Chocolate custard, almond cookie: $5; Coffee porter float, pecan ice cream: $4

As we descend rapidly on Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d give you some local, super-awesome options for things outside of your “normal chocolates.” She’ll love you even more (and so will your own tummy).

I got a head start by ostensibly getting all this for my wife’s birthday, but let’s face it, this is all really for me and our 3-year old…actually, it wasn’t. Kara only let me eat the tiniest of bites of each macaron, and only if I happened to be sitting next to her. Good for her.

Let’s start with the macarons. Kara loves French things. We went to Paris together right after college and we can both still see and smell the pastries in all the windows. So, when she heard that La Patisserie was opening, I could see the twinkle in her eyes. Plus, macarons are really pretty. See:

I walked in to get some and since I have almost no reason to buy a DOZEN macarons at the same time, we went for broke. The lovely woman working said, “Oh…we happen to have 12 flavors today. Would you like one of each?” Um. Yeah. She rattled off the flavor of each one and I swore I would remember them all to tell Kara. I got home and could remember “Strawberry.” And that’s only because I thought it was cute that it had black seeds on it.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter that I couldn’t remember. Kara and I have had more fun trying to place the flavors than if we had known before sticking that gooey awesomeness in our mouths. The reality is that every single one is PACKED with whatever flavor it is (it’ll be obvious when you bite in). Each will quite literally melt in your mouth (I’ve tried). They’re perfectly soft, light and essentially, sweet, sugary air. Divine.

La Patisserie: lpaustin.com

As if a dozen cookies wasn’t enough, we needed cake balls too. Just up the street from La Patisserie sits the very heralded Holy Cacao trailer. I’ve been to Holy Cacao several times, but I’ve never ordered cake balls for some reason (and I’m a BIG fan of cake).

I think I’ve tried most of the cake balls in Austin (there are a bunch) at various events if not through the actual baker. What stands out to me about Holy Cacao is that they take them much less seriously (that’s a good thing). These cake balls are more like popsicles — as in, they’re literally on a wooden stick.

They’re also HUGE. The cake ball itself is a good 3 or 4 bites. So, to me, these have the most “value” in town. They’re yummy too, but really, who doesn’t love cake on a stick covered in frosting?

The best part is the “Brass Balls.” These are crunchy peanut butter encased in chocolate frosting on a stick. They call them a “cake” ball, but there’s no actual cake. Just like the greatest Reese’s ever.

Holy Cacao: theholycacao.com

Ok, all this sweet. I need a drink.

This week, a buddy and I headed over to Hopdoddy Burger Bar for the first time (well, first time for me — about the 100th for him already). Owned by the same guys that bring us one of my other favorite restaurants in town, Moonshine, Hopdoddy delivers. A lot.

In the old Cissi’s Market space on South Congress, Hopdoddy’s feels like Austin (much like Moonshine). It’s super laid-back and there are instructions on how you order and how fresh everything is. They grind their own meat. They cut their own fries. They bake their own bread. It wouldn’t surprise me if they have their own milk cow out back and make their own cheese.

I won’t lie. I have moments when I see all this locavore stuff and just think it’s all a little hippie granola (these are rare moments mind you, but I have them). Problem is that Hopdoddy doesn’t LOOK like that. It’s sleek and modern (but not cold), and by the way, you’re chowing down on burgers and fries. Not exactly “hippie” of you.

Jamie ordered the Ahi Tuna burger. It looks like this:

Jamie loved it. It should be noted that he’s a bit of a freak and doesn’t eat much bread, so he picked it apart and ate it like a steak. He’s an odd duck, but we won’t hold it against him…much. He did, however, inhale the fries, so it’s clearly not an Atkins carb thing. I didn’t have the heart to poke too much fun at him as he was coming off the flu, but in a future Food Fix we’ll get to the bottom of it. Stay tuned.

Me? I went for a big beefy granddaddy called the Goodnight. Mesquite BBQ sauce, Tillamook Cheddar, Handcrafted patty, fresh bread, big ol’ tomato. Yum. I’m a burger guy and I’m putting this one up there. I’ve got to go back and try a few more before I’m willing to say “best burger in town” but it’s in the conversation.

What we haven’t gotten to are the fries, condiments and drinks.

First, the fries. My favorite potato chips in the world are the Kettle Sea Salt and Black Pepper. I can eat about 10,000 calories of those in one sitting. Dangerous. The Hopdoddy fries are EXACTLY THE SAME, only in a french fry. A hand cut french fry. This is maybe nirvana. That condiment I mentioned? Chipotle ketchup. Best. Condiment. Ever. Period.

Finally, the drinks. What’s normally a ho-hum experience at any place with a “get your own drink out of the soda fountain” is other-worldly here. Yes, there’s Coke and Diet Coke. But DUBLIN Dr. Pepper. And 4 or 5 flavors of Maine Root out of the fountain. Sweet. Literally.

Add to that that all the flatware and cups and whatnot are compostable and made from corn and you’ve got yourself one crazy-expensive burger with all those add-ons, right? Nope. My burger, fries and a drink was $10.83. Yes, it’s more expensive than a fast food burger (thank God), but not by that much. And it’s nowhere near the most expensive burger in the city.

Thank you Chuck for doing us a solid and finally opening something to keep us out of Moonshine for awhile.

Hopdoddy Burger Bar | 1400 South Congress | hopdoddy.com

Like most Austinites, I’m a sucker for food trailers. However, I’m always a little baffled by a taco truck in a food trailer park. I have a tough time getting “roach coach” out of my head. Something about ordering tacos from a food trailer just reminds me of college, no money and a rough night.

But, I gave Pueblo Viejo a chance. Pueblo Viejo is in a shabby, fairly non-descript trailer in the little park next to the East Side Drive In (corner of 6th and San Marcos). It looks like this…

I went with the taco plate so I could try a bit of everything. It was 2 tacos (I chose one chicken, one steak), beans, guacamole and chips. Total was over $8.00 and I thought to myself…”these better be good tacos…that’s kind of expensive.”

They’re good. Real good. It was too much food. For somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 – $7, you’d be plenty full.

They source their tortillas from El Milagro across the street and they’re super fresh. They then STUFF them to no end with whatever meat you choose — it’s virtually impossible to keep it all in the tortilla they’re so overstuffed…that’s a good thing. Every taco is made to order, so it takes a little bit, but it’s worth it. They’re basic, simple. Meat. Onions. Bell peppers. All done on the flat top. Juicy, juicy, juicy goodness. I took half the meat out of each taco, threw the beans and guac in so I could roll them up and ate those for lunch. I kept the leftover meat and made a salad the next day…so, the value is better than I had originally thought.

I don’t know if I’m a trailer taco convert just yet, but Pueblo Viejo took me on my way. I went for lunch on a very cold day and they were open — if you’re a trailer food person, you know that open hours can be a little tricky. They were the only ones in the trailer park that were open that day, so I’m guessing your luck will be good. They also tend to stay open late and (I’ve heard) they have some of the best breakfast tacos in town (that’s for another Food Fix).

Side note: if you’re with a group and not everyone wants tacos, this is a solid trailer park. It also includes #19 (cheesesteaks), Pig Vicious (lots of bacon), The Local Yolk (lots of eggs), Bits & Druthers (British food like Fish and Chips), The Vegan Yacht, and Cafe Racer (breakfast and coffee). Go on Thursday nights when they give away free beer if you buy yourself some dinner too.

Pueblo Viejo: 6th and San Marcos in the East Side Drive In Trailer Park

Receive a $20 gift card to Frank for just $12!

Restrictions: None.

Expires: None.

Please note: These are paper or electronic gift cards, not printed web-based cards. These are suitable for gift-giving and will be mailed to you within 3 days of purchase.