Austin, Jonathan

Austin Eats Without Meats

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My fellow blogger Brooks is giving the rundown on the good barbecue spots.  If you’re new to Texas, then by all means, avail yourself of the amazing barbecue that’s around here.  But Austin is home to some other amazing places that you should also check out.  Namely, our wonderful vegetarian cuisine.

Hey, meat eaters!  Don’t leave!  I assure you, the places I’m about to mention are really, really good, and you’ll do yourself a disservice if you don’t check them out.  I know terms like “textured vegetable protein” can seem off-putting, but there’s some great stuff out there.

While I was a full vegetarian for many years, I’m currently a pescatarian, meaning the only meat I eat is seafood.  I gave up meat for health reasons, and though I’m not a healthy eater by far (I could easily write another post all about bakeries), I eat way better than I used to.  One of the unexpected benefits of this is I have tried food I never would have eaten prior to changing diets.

I’ll start by putting vegetarians at ease.  It’s reasonable to think that moving to a meaty state like Texas will limit your options, but that couldn’t be further from the truth here.  Austin is a very veg-friendly town, and I’ve yet to go to a restaurant (even BBQ joints) that don’t have some kind of vegetarian food.  So don’t fret!  You’ll eat very well.

Veggie Heaven
Veggie Heaven, right on the Drag

More good news:  some of the best vegetarian restaurants are right by UT.  My favorite is Veggie Heaven, which is right on the Drag just across from Dobie Mall.  Be forewarned that the service isn’t great, but for me, that’s turned into part of its charm.  The dishes have fun names, and the star dish is definitely the Protein 2000.  Deliciously fried vegetable protein bits covered in a flavorful brown sauce, it’s a dish that anyone will love.  The steamed Curry Bun makes a great appetizer, and the honey lemonade is delicious.

A little further north in the Hyde Park area is Mother’s Cafe and Garden.  Well worth trying is the BBQ Tofu, but don’t pass on the Bueno Burger (which I think is the best veggie burger in town).  Served with an incredible super-course mustard, add the wheat roast (trust me) for a good bit of flavor.  Do the side salad, because you have to try their cashew tamari dressing, which is so good I could eat it on its own.  Even nicer is that right across the street is one of Austin’s best bakeries, Quack’s, and Austin’s best cheese shop, Antonelli’s.

If you don’t mind a bit of a drive, check out Swad up on North Lamar just past Rundberg.  The decor may be dated, but the food is great.  They call the dosa an appetizer, but it can easily feed two.  Same with the thali, which really gives a great sampling of a bunch of different tastes.  I think it’s time for me to head back up there…

Quality Seafood
Quality Seafood

Those three are great to get you started, but I’ll leave you with one more suggestion.  As a pescatarian, I feel like I should recommend something involving seafood.  There are some great high-end seafood places that you should try and some fantastic sushi places, but the hungry college student should head up to Quality Seafood on Airport just before 2222.  What’s great is that this place started as just a seafood market, bringing stuff right off the boat to sell to restaurants.  They still operate the market where you can grab some very reasonably priced seafood for home, but also have a restaurant where you can get some of the freshest seafood in Austin for a fantastic price.

For a city our size, Austin has a really awesome selection of places to eat.  It’s easy to hit up Jester or the SAC given their convenience, but don’t miss out on what the city has to offer off campus.

This week’s accounting joke:

How does the Lipton company manage their money?

Using tea charts.

Austin, Brooks

Central Texas Barbecue Trail Part I

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If you weren’t hungry already, you probably are now.

In the first installment of my Texas barbecue quest, I wrote generally about the differences between Texas and Memphis barbecue styles. Now it’s time to talk about some real live Texas barbecue.

For my first foray into Texas barbecue, I didn’t want to be disappointed so I went after the best I could find. There are a few local favorites, but I ultimately decided on The Salt Lick. The Salt Lick is a central Texas institution located about 45 minutes southwest of downtown Austin on a nice spread of land in Driftwood. In 1967 Thurman Roberts built their first pit to supply locals with great food using family recipes passed down since just after the Civil War. From there, popularity grew and now the full-service restaurant seats over 800 patrons.

When you first arrive, you feel like you are entering a ranch. After driving through country roads for a bit, the entrance to Salt Lick is obvious and bounded by its own vineyard. Since it is a BYOB establishment (!), and us being a fresh group of MPA students enjoying a beautiful Saturday, we carried our beer to the hostess stand and were immediately seated. Right as you walk in, you see what all the fuss is about. The pit is there to greet you and lay out your options in plain sight. It definitely didn’t make choosing what meat to eat any easier.

So, as you can tell, at this point I am pretty excited about eating some barbecue. Since I’ve heard brisket is the centerpiece of Texas barbecue, I went with a combo platter of burnt brisket and ribs (to compare to my Memphis ribs, of course!). It wasn’t long before our meals arrived. The ribs were “fallin’ off the bone” good and a formidable match for the legendary Rendezvous ribs in downtown Memphis. The brisket came in three styles, but after hearing the description of the burnt brisket, I had to try it first. It was caramelized to perfection. On top of that, the tangy sauce meshed perfectly with everything. Yes, this is as good as or better than West Tennessee barbecue.

While you’re in Austin, you have to try The Salt Lick. You will not be disappointed! There are a few other places I’ve heard about and still need to get around to trying, such as Franklin’s and la Barbecue. Nonetheless, I am now a believer in Central Texas Barbecue!

Academics, Austin, Student Life

Balancing Life And Books

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As a first semester Integrated MPA student, I have a lot to learn about the program. The transition from being a BBA to an iMPA is a tough road. There are times when you feel like you cannot read another tax law exception or your brain will explode from information overload. All MPAs know this feeling. The key is to balance your life in school with a life outside of school. I know we hear this all the time but the importance of this advice never hit me until this semester. Take that study break you have been dreaming about for the past three quiz days and go out and have fun in the greatest city in Texas! Go to that football game even though you have two exams the next week! You can do fun things as an MPA as long as you maximize the time that you actually spend hitting those books.

Last week I had my first tax exam and financial concepts exam on the same day. These two classes are typically taken during the first year of iMPA. Naturally, I was so scared to take these exams, the week before I was already stressing myself out. Fortunately, I have a great friend who took me to a One Republic concert Thursday night, the weekend before my exams. The concert was at ACL Live’s Mood Theater, which is an awesome venue downtown. It was such a great show and definitely one of my favorite experiences here in Austin thus far. As a bonus, it was just the thing I needed to clear my head and forget about tax rules and financial concepts for a few hours. Sometimes you have to have a little fun to get things done!

What are your favorite things to do when you are on study breaks?

Austin, Events, Student Life

Bon Qui Qui Visits Austin

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Welcome to King Burger where you can have it your way but don’t get crazy!

If you’re familiar with this snippet from a Mad TV comedy clip, then you’d be excited to know that the laugh out loud Bon Qui Qui visited Austin over the weekend. With all the hustle and bustle on campus, a comic relief is always a very welcome invitation. This past Saturday, my favorite comedienne Anjelah Johnson performed at the iconic Paramount Theater to a full house. From the opening act to the very last second she was on stage, the show was just hilarious and purely entertaining. I sure got an ab workout from all the laughter, which was a nice bonus.

I went to the show with my good friend Ruth. What’s so funny is that we didn’t even know about it until that Saturday morning. But as dedicated fans, we decided to go anyway and see the girl who has made us laugh to tears with her YouTube videos. This is another reason why Austin is such a fabulous place to live. It is a small city with a big name that it attract stars like Anjelah Johnson.. There were three back-to-back shows and I believe all of them were sold out.

With perfect timing and clean jokes, Anj (’cause we’re close) did a fabulous job of entertaining the audience! I could have stayed for a later show, but figured I’ll give other people a chance. It’s experiences like these that remind me that some things really are priceless. As I sat there and listened to the chorus of laughter, I forgot about the stresses of school and recruiting and just enjoyed the fun.

It was a wonderful experience and made for a great Saturday night. It was just what I needed as two exams, a final, and a few interviews come. I feel like I’ve gained my perspective back and I can go through all these with a new sense of excitement. All work and no play make a person go mad. So before that happened, I’m glad to have taken my mind of off school for a little bit. Thanks Anjelah!

Academics, Alexandria, Student Life, Study Abroad

Czech it Out- Cultural Excursions

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In Old Town Square before our walking tour!

Yet another installment of my summer abroad experience!

While in the study abroad program, you have a cultural liaison who is affiliated with UT (usually a masters or PhD student) that is familiar with the culture and fluent in the language. Your liaison is responsible for organizing cultural events every week so you get a good taste of the culture in your short time abroad.

Our liaison was Jaro, a UT PhD student from Slovakia, and he did an excellent job organizing our events so we would get a feel for the distinctive culture in Prague.

The cultural event for our first week was an extensive walking tour of the city so we could get our bearings. This was very informal and a good way to start to get to know our fellow MPA students also in Prague. Prague is a city rich with history: stretching back from being the cultural center of the Holy Roman Empire under Emperor Charles IV, being invaded by Prussians, becoming the capital of Czechoslovakia, being invaded by Nazis, being taken over by communist powers at the end of WWII, to leading the Velvet Revolution to end the communist regime. Prague also is one of the most picturesque cities in the world with it beautiful baroque architecture that is everywhere you turn. The only unfortunate thing about the walking tour is that we found ourselves in the worst flood of the decade (and a nation-wide state of emergency) so some of the areas close to the Vltava river, including the famous Charles Bridge, were closed.

Jaro leading our tour in the Communist Museum

The next week, Jaro was our personal tour guide through the Prague Communist museum. Jaro shared his personal experience growing up in a communist country, and the experiences of his family during the communist regime. This is where the effect of Communism became really apparent, and it became impossible to ignore how often you saw its impact on the city throughout the rest of the trip.

Prague is a city famous for its jazz music. Some go as far to say it’s the best city next to New Orleans for jazz in the world. The city has many famous jazz clubs where all the American greats have performed out. Even Bill Clinton graced the citizens of Prague with a performance on the saxophone while he was here as US president. Jaro booked us a jazz river cruise for the night after our exam for Professor Kamas’ half of the course. I think he was so nice to us since we missed the river sights on our earlier cultural experiences due to flooding. We enjoyed the company of our fellow MPAs, Professor Kamas and his wife, wonderful jazz music, and the beautiful sights of the Prague waterfront.

Our last cultural experience was a visit to the opera. Prague is famous for its opera, and it was definitely a … hmmm, how do I say this…. cultural experience. So, it turns out opera is not my cup of tea, but it was still a wonderful experience and I can now say that I have attended an opera!

 

MPA Student Life Blog