Even without the excuse of an event or a staycation, a visit to the new-and-improved St. Anthony Hotel Is a must. (It should be noted that Travis Park, the hotel’s front yard, has also been spiffied up.) Okay, there’s a tad too much mausoleum marble for my taste — so cool, so slick — and…
Gentle Deceptions in Holiday Sparklers
Once you’ve spent your way through your holiday gift list (including, why not, a couple of things for yourself because you’re the only one who knows what you really want), there can be little left for other seasonal obligations — the bubblies you really should take to the festive events that fill your dance card,…
Hot ‘Hood: Lavaca
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but it’s too late for Lavaca. I don’t mean this with doomsday references to a global-warming, tipping-point kind of scenario but rather in the you-shoulda-acted-sooner sense. Like Suzanne Martinez and Michael Berrier did nearly 30 years ago when they were still in student/student-teacher mode.…
Hot ’hood: Westfort Alliance
Considering all the current focus on the Pearl and the excitement generated by the recently opened children’s DoSeum on that same thoroughfare, it would be easy to overlook the Westfort neighborhood. It’s the classic blink-and-you’ve-missed-it situation. But sandwiched between the two more glamorous poles—and despite a name that seems oddly generic, this small residential enclave…
Out of the kitchen: Andrew Goodman
“I like to be in restaurants, and it’s even better when you aren’t responsible.” On rare days when he has more time, Andrew Goodman follows a six-mile walking regimen on the river’s Mission Reach hike-and-bike trails. Busier days, the circuit can be cut to two miles down and two miles back. Goodman, owner and main…
Out of the kitchen: Chuck Hernandez
“I do like to cuss and drink beer. “I’m thinking it must be some kind of convergence,” speculates Chuck Hernandez. He’s referring to the fact that the day after our interview he will be joining City dignitaries at the ribbon-cutting for his new restaurant, O’liva, at Plaza de Armas across from City Hall. And that…
Out of the kitchen: Fred Anthony Garza
Garza was inspired by the play Doña Rosita’s Jalapeño Kitchen. At first glance, it would seem problematic at best to consider opening a vegan, gluten-free, Tex-Mex restaurant on Nogalitos Street just north of I-90. This is hardcore old-school country. But that’s exactly the point, says Fred Anthony Garza, whose Vegeria on upper Broadway, a “grassroots…
Out of the kitchen: Cat New
“I’m gonna be the oddball.” The petite 34-year-old chef and owner of The Clean Plate didn’t look the least bit odd to me—just one visible tattoo, a tiny nose stud, a baseball cap … c’mon, that’s tame for a chef these days. But here’s part of what she really meant: “I don’t identify first and foremost as…
Pocket science: get smart, without a tie
Do you really need a pocket square? Wrong Side, a very specific business honcho’d by two Austin brothers thinks so. Let’s examine the premise. True, we’ve headed into fall, but this is Texas. (Read: still hot.) And as a pocket square requires a pocket, and not just one that was gratuitously tacked onto your Henley,…
Midcentury Modern Family
John Price and Joseph Pizzini are remaking homes for the next 50 years It all started with a maxed-out credit card. (This is actually almost true.) It was in New Braunfels, and the year was 2000. John Price found himself about to lose his home to foreclosure, so he decided on a Hail Mary…