Logo from Edible AustinEdible Austin’s first annual Eat Local Week celebration runs from Saturday December 8th through Saturday December 15th. While you’re nourishing body and soul with locally-grown and handmade foods from an extensive list of participating restaurants and markets, a portion of proceeds will go to Urban Roots, a program which teaches sustainable agriculture fundamentals to East Austin youth. 15-20 participants aged 14-18 will be awarded a paid internship to grow food on an......

Few things are as restorative as the perfectly lazy Sunday brunch — for us, it's the ideal tonic for those especially brutish weekend ragers, which, in this town, happen all too often. Starting this weekend, East Austin's Blue Dahlia Bistro will be serving up its own version of the classic Sunday brunch, with DJs spinning a variety of vintage tunes and cheap mimosas on the menu. The "European-style bistro" takes over the space formerly housing......

Gypsy (Northern Italian) Location: 1025 Barton Springs Road [map] Phone: (512) 499-0200 Cost: Lunch salads ($7-$10) Panini and Entrees ($8-$12) Dinner Apps ($5-$9), Salads ($6-$10) Entrees ($14-$20) Food: Gypsy, a new Northern Italian Bistro on Barton Springs Road next door to Vinny's on Italian Row, is the newest incarnation in a space that has seen an endless chain of eateries open and close. Only time will tell if this iteration will remain, but here's our......

Austinist wondered, "What are the top spots these days to get your wine on?" Certainly one can order a lovely glass of wine most anywhere - but, for the distinguished Austin wino who wants to polish off a beautiful bottle or sample a creative wine flight in a sassy setting, we suggest the following: Vin Bistro Vin Bistro knows how to treat a guest. By far, this is the most excellent service we have enjoyed......

Sixty restaurants, thirty wineries, and you. This is perhaps the simplest way to describe the indulgence that is the Stars Across Texas tasting at the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival. A veritable "who's who" of Texas restaurants each prepare small portions of signature dishes for guests to sample, making the most difficult choice simply what to eat before you run out of room. Last year, we had sushi tarts from Roy's, Shiner-braised......

FRIDAY [26] film • El Automovil Gris at McCullough Theatre ® art • Opening Reception: Ishmael Soto: Vessels and Inspirations: Ceramic and Sculptural Work at Mexic-Arte Museum (7-9pm, free) books • Sarah Lewis presents Indecent at BookPeople (7:00pm) comedy • Bil Dwyer at Cap City Comedy Club film • Spike & Mike's Sick & Twisted Festival 2007 at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown ® film • The Bridge at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar community • Meeting......

At the top of the Austinist don't-miss list for people who eat and/or drink is The Wine & Food Foundation of Texas' fourth annual Tour de Vin on the downtown Whole Foods Market terrace next Thursday, October 5, from 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. Participating chefs and restaurants include Austin culinary heavyweights; Amuse Bouche – A Catering Company, Aquarelle, Bistro 88, Castle Hill Café, Cibo (Will Packwood, a Food & Wine’s 2001 Best New Chef......

TUESDAY [15] art • Opening Reception for "Dogs Among Men" at Gallery Lombardi (7pm) ® film • Oh Brother, Where Art Thou at Jo's Coffee (7pm) film • Zoom Lost & Found Show with Tommy White Live at Alamo Downtown (7pm, $8) film • Maltese Falcon at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) film • Three Black Panthers and the Last Slave Plantation benefiting ABC Legal Services and the National Angola-3 Coalition at MonkeyWrench Books (8pm,......

If you love women who know good wine, or know women who love good wine, tonight just may be your night. From 7-9pm at Cork & Company, Austin wine-ista Miss Jane Nickles will host “Miss Jane’s Zinposium” – a Zinfandel class and tasting at Cork and Company. In Miss Jane’s words, “Rich, spicy, dark red Zinfandel is one of life's greatest pleasures. Many people are confused by Zinfandel, from its mysterious past as ‘California's......

MONDAY [14] film • Excellent Cadavers, the story of the Italian Mafia, at Alamo Downtown (7pm) ® film • Touches Pas Au Grusbi at Paramount Theatre (7:15pm) film • Brick at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) film • Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels at Austin Java (8pm, Free) film • Bukowski: Born into This at Café Mundi (8:30pm, FREE) film • Classe Tous Risques at Paramount Theatre (9:15pm) ® music • Horns of Happiness,......

The New York Times suddenly has a hankering for Texas food. Over the past ten days, three separate articles have praised the virtues of everything from Salt Lick BBQ sauce to Whataburger. You foodies may not consider these items haute cuisine, but it's exotic enough to get attention, we suppose. Other objects of the Times' devotion include Blue Bell Ice Cream and Shiner Bock. We take all of these items for granted, so it's......

Lucky for our sweet tooth, May 1st-7th gives us a week of eating dessert first. Yes, readers, it is Eat Dessert First Week. We don't know who thought this deliciousness up, but we want to cover them in whipped cream kisses. Of course, we are a little late getting started, so let's get busy. We are convinced that eating more pie and cake will solve the world's problems! Our picks for the best places......

Little Texas Bistro, the small restaurant with a big reputation, has closed the doors on its Main St. location in downtown Buda. Chef-owner Paul Petersen started the business as a deli and catering service out of the same location after returning to Texas from a stint in some of New York's finest restaurants. The Culinary Institute of America-trained chef started what became a destination eatery for Austinites looking for a great meal, albeit in......

Sometimes there just isn't enough time in one's life to have dinner and a movie--at least not if dinner and a movie are in separate places. Did we say dinner and a movie? We mean a movie and dinner. We often catch flicks at the AMC theater at Barton Creek Square Mall or the theaters at Barton Creek Cinema across the road. Somehow we can never figure out what place to eat that will......

La Traviata is busy on a Saturday night. We didn't have reservations, but we were lucky enough to snag the last free table of the evening from the very kind hostess. For our dinner we ordered the Lamb Ragu without the lamb. A truly amazing feat if we do say so ourselves. Hey, it had red sauce and we like our red sauce. But we don't like our lamb. There was no problem in......

Stealing The Oasis' Thunder We told you yesterday that a fire broke out at the beloved Bitter End Bistro. Today, the Statesman reported that the damage will cost $250K, but it is covered by the restaurant owners' insurance. Fire damage was contained to the kitchen, but the brewing equipment was affected. Owner Reed Clemons who has had a bout of bad luck with restaurants lately (he recently closed Mezzaluna but is gutting it and......

This week's IST list is a work in progress. Bear with us -- we're tired and hungover. M O N D A Y music · I Eat Records label launch show at Emo's with: The Glass Family, Thor & Friends, Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater, The Casting Couch, Orange Mothers, Ethan Azarian, Will Sheff (of Okkervil River), Hitchhike, The Handsome Charlies, Fluffers Union, and Fine Fifteen. Benefiting SafePlace and Capital Area Food Bank, new compilation CDs......

This week, July 25-July 31, Majic 95.5 is bringing us Restaurant Week. Your fine dining experience will help Austin's needy. You spend $25 and $5 becomes a contribution to Caritas of Austin, which is a local non profit benefitting Austin families and individuals in need by helping provide rent, utilities, food, and general support. Participating restaurants include Moonshine, Sao Paulos, Santa Rita, Roaring Fork, Iron Cactus, 34th Street Cafe, Zin Bistro, County Line, Cool......

Local news channel KXAN alerted us of a nifty new feature on Austin City's website that allows the public to view restaurant inspection scores from the Austin/Travis County Health Department. The online records date back to early 2003, which means you might find up to three consecutive scores for local restaurants. Austinist ran a quick search on a few of our favorite eateries and some more famous ones, and found the following (scores out......