Food Features

The secret origin of the Mexican martini, Austin's favorite cocktail, and how to make it

Austin American-Statesman: “It’s going to come in a shaker. It’s going to shoot a zing of lime through your palate. And you're going to walk like a newborn Bambi after you’ve thrown it back and given your brain a tequila shrink-wrap.” Read the full story.

College lasts four years, but Pluckers Is forever

Eater: “Listen, when it comes to the food, Pluckers isn’t serving Jacques Pépin-quality dishes. But the zing of the lemon, the mild burn of the pepper, the chew of the fried skin, the juicy burst of the meat, the face-twisting tang of the dressing — it’s all still the same. If there’s one thing an Austinite understands, it’s wanting something — anything — to stay the same once in a while.” Read the full story.

Cranky Granny’s turns cinnamon rolls into an art form

Eater: “On a summer morning in a compact Pflugerville kitchen, the scent of cinnamon is swirling around Sianni Dean. The aroma comes from trays upon trays of tightly coiled sweet rolls. Hours earlier, wet and dry ingredients were mixed into a sticky and glorious dough, and that dough turned into these fragrant, if naked, pastries. To some rolls, Dean applies a glaze of traditional icing. But others will soon be transformed by the chef’s wildest imagination. When Dean’s at work, you might mistake her for a sort of hadron collider for desserts. Have you ever seen a peach cobbler turned into a roll? At Cranky Granny’s Sweet Rolls, anything is possible.” Read the full story.

Dairy Queen's Blizzard freezes the good times in an upside-down world

Austin American-Statesman: “I don’t ask much of my desserts. Just that they’re sweet, and that they break at least one law of physics. The Dairy Queen Blizzard holds a special place in the hearts of Texans, myself included. On its face, the concept seems simple: soft serve ice cream mixed together with candy or other delights. But don’t be fooled.” Read the full story.

Arts and Culture Features

One potato, two potato, three potato, yours? This giant landmark needs a new home

Austin American-Statesman: “They have plywood bones. Their faces are painted on, permanently smiling, never blinking. They cannot move, and yet, they must. This is not the start to an episode of ‘Tales from the Crypt,’ though there is some suspense involved. You see, Austin's Couch Potatoes needs to move out of their North Austin furniture store by the end of December.” Read the full story.

Keep Austin's LGBTQ culture alive. It will save lives.

Austin American-Statesman: “‘Queer people are going to find themselves,’ Brigitte Bandit, Austin drag artist extraordinaire, told me this week. ‘It’s so powerful whenever you see somebody who's like you.’ She's right. Our cultural spaces are where many of us find each other. The queer art happening inside and out helps us see ourselves clearly.” Read the full story.

Everyone is rooting for Black Pearl Books

Austin American-Statesman: “Katrina Brooks has felt overwhelmed lately. She runs a small business in Austin, and late in the spring, she started to receive so many orders that she wondered if they might be fake.” Read the full story.

The community college wanted to demolish this skateboard shop’s home; the community might have saved it.

Austin American-Statesman: “It looked like no matter what happened, the home of No-Comply Skate Shop would be history.” Read the full story.

The Austin Decoder Ring: A guide to speaking like a local

Austin American-Statesman: “Do you speak Austin? You'll get the hang of it. With all the new folks moving into town (hello pals), we thought it would be a good idea to demystify some of the phrases and names a person is likely to hear around this joint. Consider it your very own Austin Decoder Ring, now that you're in the club. It's certainly not a complete list, but it should make a newbie feel that much more at home.” Read the full story.

Are you happy?

Austin American-Statesman: “Over the course of 10 months, my colleague Ana Ramirez and I interviewed people around the Austin and asked, ‘Are you happy?’ Most people did say yes — but not everyone. We learned what makes Austinites unhappy, what would make them happier, whether they think true happiness exists. Their answers are revealed through video, audio and text.” Explore the full multimedia project.

Demolition plans could displace about half of Austin's LGBTQ bars. Here's what to know.

Austin American-Statesman: “About half of Austin’s LGBTQ-centric nightlife spaces could soon be displaced, as redevelopment comes to the historic buildings they call home. The prospect has caused a groundswell of public opposition to the demolition, but not all the bar owners feel the same way.” Read the full story.

LGBTQ havens try to keep family together in pandemic

Austin American-Statesman: “Laura Garcia misses the dancing. Saturday is supposed to be gimmick night at Highland Lounge. There’s a confetti pop to Icona Pop and bartenders blowing fireballs to the song “Fireball,” says Garcia, the Colorado Street LGBTQ nightclub’s executive director. Highland usually stays open late — like, really late — and when the early morning hours of Sunday start to roll in, the club likes to pump CO2 onto the dance floor to cool down sweaty bodies. Then the coronavirus pandemic happened.” Read the full story.

Love, literature and Leslie: 50 years of BookPeople stories

Austin American-Statesman: “BookPeople began its life in 1970, then known as Grok Books and found near the University of Texas campus. Today, it’s a multistory temple to multiple stories at Sixth Street and Lamar Boulevard, home to thousands of titles. And what a year to mark a milestone. The coronavirus pandemic hit BookPeople like so many Austin icons. Here’s an oral history of the store, from the people behind all those books.” Read the full story.

Ann Richards would fight, and playwright Holland Taylor won't let you forget it

Austin American-Statesman: “As a child, Ann Richards once spotted a prize Easter egg in the low branch of a tree. She let everyone around her know, and another kid closer to the tree grabbed it. She was none too pleased, and Holland Taylor thinks that story of Richards' just about sums up the former Texas governor.” Read the full story.

A word of advice: John Paul Brammer on 'Hola Papi'

Austin American-Statesman: “Plenty of things author John Paul Brammer says are funny in a way that you’ve never thought to string words together, like ‘abuela’ and ‘vape.’ Or, they’re deeply profound in a way that opens the door to some hallway closet in your tender, idiosyncratic heart. Sometimes, they’re both.” Read the interview.

‘Anthem' from Noah Hawley reckons with twilight's last gleaming

Austin American-Statesman: “We first ask Noah Hawley: ‘How are you feeling?’ ‘It’s a hard question to answer,’ says the Austin author, filmmaker and TV showrunner. He muses. He asks if we can skip ahead to the next question. Reading his novel, you understand why.” Read the interview.

We talked about Christmas with John Waters and can't repeat any of it in a headline

Austin American-Statesman: “Director John Waters is like Santa Claus. Even if you're not personally familiar with his work, you know what his whole deal is about.” Read the interview.

Travel Features

In Montréal, the joy of being alone in a new place

Austin American-Statesman: “The boots on my feet weren't specifically meant to prevent me from wiping out on ice. I got them at REI — clearance; I work at a newspaper — for a hiking trip. As I walked through Montréal on my first night of a weeklong trip in 2019, I caught the briefest glimpse of what thrill Tonya Harding must have felt as she glided over a plane of frozen water. Except she knew what she was doing. I was content to avoid an accident that would further highlight a lifetime sans orthodontia.” Read the full story.

The enduring joy of Schlitterbahn

Texas Highways: “For about a year after COVID-19 vaccines became a thing, once-normal outings came with a new sense of wild abandon after months of … whatever’s the opposite of wild abandon. Music festivals. Plane rides. The mall. Nothing tested my faith in science like the giant human soup known as Schlitterbahn.” Read the full story.

Miami for one: Finding peace and colorful quiet, from street art to the beach

Austin American-Statesman: “This was a trip to help seal up the cracks in my nerves from all that 2018 had wrought. Most travel packages for Miami, though, flashed promises of South Beach parties lasting until dawn — never-ending, high-BPM night terrors were not the desired vibe — or resort stays promising more abs than I felt prepared to face without a flask of something strong. I wanted a quieter Miami, a Miami for one.” Read the full story.

Keep Portland weird: Where Austinites can find the quirky side of the City of Roses

Austin American-Statesman: “The truth is that Portland and Austin share a similarly funky spirit, from their preponderance of offbeat entertainment options to their appreciation of a cleverly named giant doughnut to the fact that they’re both home to barbershops that serve beer. The most noticeable difference? You’ll need a sweater if you visit Portland most months.” Read the full story.

Speeding through Seattle: Fly through Jet City at these destinations

Austin American-Statesman: “Quick: You’ve found yourself in Seattle for one day and one day only and you don’t know what to do with your time. Reenact an entire episode of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’? Watch the Mariners lose a game at Safeco Field? Apply for a job at Microsoft? However you choose to make the most of the Emerald City, there are effective ways to capture the spirit of Seattle from sunrise to way past sundown. And if Seattle knows anything, it knows how to start a day.” Read the full story.