I don’t remember the first time I saw Giovanni Pizza Stand on South Lamar at Barton Skyway, and was surprised to learn when I finally visited this past weekend that it has been there for two years. Giovanni is easy to miss – it’s a small white trailer with unassuming signage set in the back of an empty parking lot.
Owned by Julio Rangel, word is he settled on calling his little pizza and pasta stand by an Italian name to avoid people driving up and asking for tacos. Julio …

I’ve been traveling a lot for work – eating meals on-the-go that have been generally disappointing. My expectations low, I flew back to Austin and stopped off at Sandra Bullock’s new shop, Walton’s Fancy and Staple at 6th between Rio Grande and Nueces, for a quick lunch before finishing off the day at my office. As I entered the beautiful restored brick building, I breathed in the fresh baked smells, took in the relaxed staff and customers, and my shoulders began to lower. Notice Ms. Bullock below in a Google …

It’s been so long since I promised Jodi this post on Lucky J’s, you’d think I’d forgotten all about the experience. Au contraire.
I was never really sold on the idea of chicken and waffles as a viable combination until I caught a Throwdown episode last year. Bobby Flay went up against a woman from Harlem who’d been making chicken and waffles with a recipe dating back to the 1930s. I was drooling. I was entranced. I was ready to move to Harlem. Suddenly, it all made sense, at least in …

A couple weeks ago, I met Laura, co-creator of Dishola, at the Taste No Evil Muffin Company — the crazy trolley set up outside of Maria’s Taco Xpress on South Lamar. Having been reading recently reading about the history of food carts in Austin Texas, I was interested to learn that Maria, and her neighbor, Matt of Matt’s El Rancho, each began with a cart before saving up enough to open their own restaurants.

The two muffins I tried were AMAZING. Laura and I shared the blackberry peach (a daily special) …

Yesterday morning I talked Austin food with Andy and Bryan on KGSR’s Late Show. Those guys are so fun to chat with and it was great to go back for my second radio interview. A couple weeks ago, I brought miracle berries so they could experience a food trip. Next Friday, I’ll be on again at 8:30 a.m. CT, talking about all of these new burger joints around town.
In between segments, they told me about professional drummer Joe Humel, and the New York-style bagels he sells through his company, Rockstar …