Austinist Interviews: Superstar Food Blogger Julie Powell

In your writing, you've been known to drop an f-bomb or two, and you're pretty candidly liberal. Have any of your blog readers (or bleaders as you call them) ever broken up with you over your politics or language?

Eh. I don't really concern myself with that. When I started the blog, it was a totally personal endeavor, and part and parcel of maintaining honesty and intimacy with my readers was maintaining my real voice and talking about the things that were worrying/elating/angering me at any given moment, be that my brilliant souffle smashed on the sidewalk (longish story) or my rage at the various ways this country is being run into the ground (longer story, but one everyone knows.) If people don't like what I have to say - and of course plenty of people don't - then by all means don't read me. But I've found that I've been able to bridge lots of gaps with people who don't necessarily agree with my views, don't always like the terms I couch my views in, but can see past that to something the two of us have in common. That to me is the most valuable relationship I can have with a reader.

We are not ashamed to admit that your book was one of the few in the past few years (and certainly one of the few food books ever) that at times left us laughing out loud in public spaces. Did you ever think that food nerds everywhere would be sitting around in random locales, chuckling over your adventures and mishaps?

'It is absolutely the craziest most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me, and I'm eternally grateful. I don't fool myself that I have hundreds of thousands of rabid fans out there or anything, but they do pop up in the oddest places. I was once staying alone in a cabin in the Adirondacks with my (110-pound) dog. We were sitting there one afternoon - me working, Rob the dog snoring - when all of a sudden he jumped and ran helter skelter out the door toward this couple and their poor terrified terrier taking a walk in the woods. I ran after him, caught him, shouting "It's okay! It's okay! He won't hurt you!".... So we got to talking - and she was a blog fan! I was so glad my dog didn't kill her.

In your book, you mention several Austin culinary landmarks - like Hut's Hamburgers and Central Market. What are your top five Austin culinary musts?

'Oh gosh, this is always one of the hardest questions to answer, because it changes all the time, and because any answer I give will be inadequate. As of this particular moment in time I'd say (in the order that they come to mind:)

Angie's - awesome tortillas, and awesome everything else.
Pok-E-Jo's - good barbecue near my folks' house, plus fried okra
Texadelphia - an absolute must.
Fonda San Miguel - an obvious choice, perhaps, but I so crave excellent Mexican food when I come home.
Vin - this is my parents' favorite place ever. They go there like weekly, and are treated like royalty. The fish is lovely, wine pairings unfailingly great, and they make a fantastic martini.

You're having the best dream ever where you're throwing a flawless dinner party. Who's there?

Oh so hard. Okay, Joss Whedon. My friend Elizabeth Gilbert ("Eat Pray Love.") Samuel Pepys. Mary McCarthy. Casanova. My husband. My friends Emily, Helen and Dan.

What are you doing now?

At this very moment, I am listening to the yelling of Catholic school children outside my apartment window in the Congresos barrio of Buenos Aires. I'm hear for a month, hopefully to study butchery for my new book, tentatively titled "The Dying Art."