this review is in issue 61 of the Austin Daze! Check it out..
Rating:
South 1st street in the ATX: Taco Row, The Isle of Mex, whatever you wanna call it, you could slip on an enchilada and fall into basket of tacos one step off the sidewalk. This is where the taco obsession started for me, my taco homeland. I used to work in an office at Monroe and South 1st.. come lunch time every day, we would choose the next restaurant in line.. El Mercado, Jovita’s, Little Mexico, La Reyna, La Mexicana Bakery, Aranada’s #5, and of course, Polvo’s…

Polvo’s is about a “South Austin” as you can get.. Its not overly-trendy by any means.. it is real. The decor is funky and colorful.. the patio is always crowded and the wait staff is laid back and helpful. Its where the real Austinites go to eat. Its a great place to have some drinks, you’ll probably run in to an old friend and see a semi-famous Austinite or two there as well. The food is not tex-mex, rather, it is mostly authentic central mexican dishes, they are known for their fish tacos. Oh and by the way - Polvo is spanish for Octopus! Read the rest of this entry »

behold..the 1991 air jordan 7′s… i had these in 7th grade or something..wore those muh’s out! only $250 at vintagekicks.com right now.. Cabeza had the charles barkley’s. here’s a little history on the jordan’s from sneakerhead.com:

Air Jordan VII (1991)

The Air Jordan VII seems to be Hatfield’s fusion of the Nike Air Huarache and the previous Jordan model, the Jordan VI. The Nike Huarache technology was used to create a locked-down fit which sneakerheads really loved, but the visible air sole and the Nike Air logo disappeared, creating joy for some and consternation for others. This is the only shoe in the Jordan shoe line that has been released with the number 9 instead of the number 23. The number 9 was his Olympic jersey number and this model, featuring Olympic colors and jersey number, was a special edition.

The Air Jordan VII was met with strong feelings of love or hate. This is the first of the Air Jordans to create division among the ranks of loyal fans and customers.

The Slip is a trio of Brad Barr on Guitar and most vocals, his bro Andrew on drums, and Marc Friedman on bass.. they all met in Boston around the Berkeley music scene, coming to notoriety with a jazzy-jammy-scofield-esque sound that has since broadened into more of a song-based repetoire with poignant vocals and creative rhythms and melodies. my first live experience with them was back in 98′ at Lucy’s on 6th st. - their first time to austin and it was an epic barnburner of a show to a packed crowd.. they did well to prove themselves to the ATX early on and it has allowed them to come back here and play to good size crowds over the years..

Eisenhower is their first real studio effort since 2002’s “Angels Come on Time,” an album that received plenty of acclaim. I personally loved it for its songs.. they have a knack for catchy and quirky tunes that stick with you in a personal way.. though Barr’s voice isnt always accessible, it definitely grows on you after a few listens..when start to digest his great melodic ideas..

Listen…to ‘The Soft Machine’

Read the rest of this entry »

Rating:
if you are new to Austin, lemme fill you in on something so you dont look like a chump when the time comes to name the king of Tex-mex in our fair town: no, not Maudie’s (chump)….its Matt’s El Rancho!
…why?

• they’re closed on Tuesdays
• the ivy on the outside walls is 3 feet thick
• the neon sign is an retro-cool austin landmark
• Matt was a golden gloves boxer and a marathon champion
• the tortillas are made fresh by real mexican women behind a glass window

I went there this past weekend and had a stellar meal.. just outstanding:

it started out with the Bob Armstrong Dip.. this is the best queso in town..magnolia cafe - back that ass up. Read the rest of this entry »

[genre: metal, progressive rock]
Rating:
If you’re a hard-core metal-head you’ve undoubtedly already sacrificed small mammals to the gods of Mastodon. But if Like ME, you’re into all-types of music, but have been estranged from the genre by an endless stream of Screemo noise and New-metal ear-trash of recent years- this is your chance. Crawl out from beneath your indie-stuffed hard-drives, kneel at the alter and slash thine wrists! All plebeians shall bleed! The kings have returned! behold! MASTODON!

listen:

Blood Mountain is the 3rd full-length from Atlanta’s MASTODON. The first thing you’ll notice is the drummer Brann Dailon, who must be on meth, or a combination of uppers- he just pulverizes the kit, albeit with serious virtuosity, throughout the hour or so of this EPIC album. Read the rest of this entry »

The Smoking Gun reports that a woman visiting a prison inmate was caught delivering a Taco B*ll burrito with a heroin-filled hypodermic needle nestled amongst the fillings of rice, beans, sour creme, and hot sauce.. Ive got a sneaking suspicion the burrito came that way from the Bell.. i can picture it now, the cook in the back says to the burrito maker, “dont forget to slip some brown ass hair into that burrito supreme…” which sounds exactly like, “dont forget to slip your needle full of heroin to that burrito supreme…” hence the mixup…coulda happened to anyone. Heres the full story at TSG

Rating:
Thumbie and I were searching uncharted territory on a Monday afternoon, combing the wilds of Anderson Ln. we saw Enchiladas y Mas, which sadly appears to have gone under.. smells like a conspiracy…so we tredged onward until we saw a colorful little dive at the end of a mini-strip mall - La Casita. the decor on the inside was ultra bright and freshly painted.. the place sparkled with bargain priced new-ness.. we sat. I believe our waitress used to work at another taqueria in town.. she looked very familiar. she was very friendly and prompt. apparently not prompt enough for the other table across from us. This suit wearing good’ol boy had the nerve and impatience to walk to the back to ask another lady for some iced tea..and queso in a very condescending tone, mind you he had just ordered from the waitress 30 seconds beforehand.. bro - cant you see she’s taking care of our chips and salsa? step off bo-seefus! Read the rest of this entry »

Rating: Across the parking lot from the east 7th HEB, tucked away behind the gaudy Pinky’s wireless store, stands a little restaurant named El Zunzal. Today at lunch I braved the weather in what will heretofor be remembered as the great deluge of October 2K6 in order to find out what the Zunzal was all about. I’m going to skip ahead a little bit and impart some knowledge I picked up off google after my restaurant visit. Playa Zunzal is apparently a tiny Pacific coast beach in El Salvador (south of San Salvador) which is some kind of gringo surfer heaven. Accordingly, El Zunzal has a healthy smattering of authentic Salvadorian cuisine, in addition to the standard Austin Mex faire that is found at virtually every place in town. Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you that crave the heat, the Dorset Naga pepper should give you that serious flamin hoop. It’s amolst twice as hot as the Red Savina pepper, and about 4 times hotter than the more famous Habanero Pepper.  Our friends at NuclearTacos have actually gotten ahold of some Dorset Nagas from England.  Apparently, they will have a taco party in which people will attempt to consume these dangerous buggers.  Crazy ass muthas…

But wait, there’s actually one pepper that beats them all- the Naga Jolokia pepper - only found naturally in the army garrison town of Tezpur, India- they use them to cure infections.  SHIT FIRE!!! Wanna try some?  You can buy them here.

damn.. who woulda thought these tex-mexers could nail some brisket. Savory and tender beef. with all the flavor you should expect from the best brisket. Cabeza ordered 2 of these bad boys. The homemade flour tortillas added to the punch. good job jorges.. wish I could say the same about their Regular Tacos… what once was perfection has turned into a study in moppishness….and inconsistency.