http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm Food journalism out of Austin, Texas. en-us Wed, 22 May 2013 05:24:20 -0700 Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:26:00 -0700 BlogCFC http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss russell@scrumptiouschef.com russell@scrumptiouschef.com russell@scrumptiouschef.com no http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2012/8/30/RIP-Rest-In-Peace-Pancho-and-Leftys Bad news coming off the tipster button. http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/contact.cfm is how folks contact us through the site with news they want to share about taco finds, burger scores, restaurant openings and sadly, dive bars that have shut down. Like Pancho and Lefty's, one of our absolute favorites. When Central Texas loses a joint with nearly a century of history we grieve the only way we know how; by hoisting a cold Lone Star beer. Field report: http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/10/21/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Eight-Pancho-And-Leftys-Friday-October-21st-2011 Best Dive Bar In Austin RIP: Rest In Peace Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:26:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2012/8/30/RIP-Rest-In-Peace-Pancho-and-Leftys http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/11/30/Austin-Daily-Photo-The-Official-Beer-Of-The-Great-State-Of-TexasLone-Star-At-Pancho-and-Leftys We drank a few thousand of the damn things before we finally got ahold of one with an upside down label. Kicked back at Pancho and Lefty's, one of our favorite Austin area watering holes we marveled at the unique label of one of our favorite beers. The bartender, a veteran of 40 years in the Texas dive bar industry allowed as how she'd never laid eyes on one either. Must have been a sign from the heavens to drink more Lone Star. related http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/10/21/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Eight-Pancho-And-Leftys-Friday-October-21st-2011 Best Dive Bar In Austin Austin Daily Photo Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:44:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/11/30/Austin-Daily-Photo-The-Official-Beer-Of-The-Great-State-Of-TexasLone-Star-At-Pancho-and-Leftys http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/11/21/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Ten-Parmer-Lane-Tavern When our affairs of the day carried us to Parmer Lane recently we wanted to make the most of it. It's not often we make our way to the southern edges of Dallas so we felt it was incumbent that we either eat, drink or do something beneficial to our humor. Score. Best Dive Bar In Austin Mon, 21 Nov 2011 01:00:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/11/21/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Ten-Parmer-Lane-Tavern http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/11/11/Wheres-Waldo-Eater-Austins-Readers-Vote-Chauncey-James-As-Best-BartenderWe-Pick-Waldo-Lovejoys We love Eater Austin. The site is pure dynamite for anyone interested in eating well in our fair city. But we just read the results of their Best Bartender In Austin poll and have to ask "Where's Waldo". Lovejoy's is our favorite bar in Austin by a wide margin. Yes, we drink nightly all over town but like Bar Tonique in New Orleans, ultimately we have one favorite spot to tipple and it has to be Lovejoy's. Best Dive Bar In Austin Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:34:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/11/11/Wheres-Waldo-Eater-Austins-Readers-Vote-Chauncey-James-As-Best-BartenderWe-Pick-Waldo-Lovejoys http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/10/31/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Nine-The-Cloak-Room The list of bars and restaurants we've been tossed out of is a short one but Cloak Room is on it. We love old people. They're a link to our past and we always treat them with the reverence and respect due to a person who's exhibited the resilience it takes to survive for multiple decades on this giant hunk of earth relentlessly spinning it's way around the universe. Best Dive Bar In Austin Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:44:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/10/31/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Nine-The-Cloak-Room http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/10/21/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Eight-Pancho-And-Leftys-Friday-October-21st-2011 Sitting out in Hare Texas looking out across the vast plains of the Blackland Prairie, Pancho and Lefty's is just a quick sprint up the road from Austin. But you might as well be a million miles away from America's fourteenth largest city. Inside the old dive bar it's good and dark with just the faint glow of beer signs and televisions piercing the gloom. It's a good gloom too. Very peaceful. Beer is cheap as it should be out in these parts, nobody's trying to get rich selling overpriced Lone Star in Hare Texas. Best Dive Bar In Austin Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:25:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/10/21/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Eight-Pancho-And-Leftys-Friday-October-21st-2011 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/8/28/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Seven-Cactus-Rose There are few beer joints we hold more dear in the dive bar pantheon than Cactus Rose. We first discovered it a few years back on a barbecue run through Williamson County. Best Dive Bar In Austin Sun, 28 Aug 2011 15:29:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/8/28/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Seven-Cactus-Rose http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/8/13/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Six-Frontier-Bar Frontier Bar fulfills several criteria we hold dear in our dive bars. Firstly, we love that they will sell you a delicious, ice cold beer for exactly one dollar. While it's true that we've been in Austin long enough to remember when plenty bars did just that, our recent journeys through the nightlife scene found the trait to be vanishing. Settling in at the bar with a one dollar Miller High life, The Cramps on the juke box and the soft mechanical clatter of the ancient beer cooler, we begin our hang. Best Dive Bar In Austin Sat, 13 Aug 2011 13:33:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/8/13/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Six-Frontier-Bar http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/7/7/RIP-TCs-Lounge-Thursday-July-7th-2011 TC Perkins is calling it a day. TC's Lounge has closed. The property has been sold to some Michiganders who will be reimagining and repurposing the ol girl. We reckon owning a juke joint in Austin Texas since 1979 has taken it's toll and it's time for Mr. Perkins to rear back and enjoy life for awhile. Best Dive Bar In Austin RIP: Rest In Peace Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:05:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/7/7/RIP-TCs-Lounge-Thursday-July-7th-2011 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/6/16/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Five-Eds-Cucaracha The Tale of Ed's Cucaracha could stand as an object lesson to bar owners everywhere. Don't buy the bar next door. The Cockroach was running along just fine a few years back. Every night was the perfect dive bar milieu of scenesters, punks, mechanics, rockers, ex-Lubbockites, bewildered collegians and good old squares. Best Dive Bar In Austin Thu, 16 Jun 2011 10:01:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/6/16/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Five-Eds-Cucaracha http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/6/14/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Four-The-Grand-Social-Club-And-Billiards-Room When my best friend Lukey got a pool table I devoted myself to the game and quickly figured out it could be a good way for me to relieve some of our friends of their pocket money. I was ten. Those halcyon days are long gone. I sold my stick years ago and haven't played a game in a coon's age. Yet I still like The Grand. Best Dive Bar In Austin Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:21:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/6/14/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Four-The-Grand-Social-Club-And-Billiards-Room http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/6/3/Austin-Daily-Photo-Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-3-Airport-Club-And-Grill-Friday-June-3rd-2011 A few years back a buddy of mine was working his way through the kitchens of Paris trying to make his mark in the world of cooking. On a trip to Austin he wanted the best our city had to offer which meant a soul food lunch at Galloway Sandwich Shop and a crawl through our cities' finest dive bars. It had been awhile since I'd been to Airport Club and Grill, known locally as Airport Bar so I called them up. Best Dive Bar In Austin Fri, 03 Jun 2011 10:54:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/6/3/Austin-Daily-Photo-Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-3-Airport-Club-And-Grill-Friday-June-3rd-2011 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/6/2/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Two-Lovejoys-Tap-Room-Thursday-June-2nd-2011 Obituaries for Lovejoys have been penned numerous times over the years but the old girl always gets back up off the canvas and commences to throwing punches just when she's been counted out. Her charms are many: Like any good dive bar the beer is ice cold and dirt cheap. There are floozies as well as prudes afoot with their respective suitors in hot pursuit of some womanly company. Best Dive Bar In Austin Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:47:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/6/2/Best-Dive-Bar-In-Austin-Part-Two-Lovejoys-Tap-Room-Thursday-June-2nd-2011 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/5/29/Austin-Daily-Photo-Best-Dive-Bar-in-Austin-Sunday-May-29th-2011 This is going to be a fun series. While Austin's dive bars are vanishing at a frightening pace there are still enough to devote a month or so to the topic. The old Hunt's deer processing facility shuttered long ago when owner Chester Hunt decided to convert his meat market into an icehouse. You can still feel the good glow that years in the meat trade imbue on a building. Best Dive Bar In Austin Sun, 29 May 2011 23:57:00 -0700 http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2011/5/29/Austin-Daily-Photo-Best-Dive-Bar-in-Austin-Sunday-May-29th-2011