Olive & June, the latest venture from backspace and parkside chef/owner Shawn Cirkiel, is officially open for business. Shortly after the beautiful yet flawed El Arbol shuttered last year, Cirkiel announced his plans to open a Southern Italian eatery in the three-story architectural gem it left behind. more ›

Less than a year ago, parkside chef Shawn Cirkiel told us that he was reluctant to open a third restaurant, saying: "This is enough for now. I'm stressed enough as it is." It seems that Cirkiel has a high tolerance for stress, then, as he dished to Addie Broyles in yesterday's Statesman about plans to open an Italian restaurant in the former El Arbol space in Spring 2012. more ›

Popular Italian spot Sagra had a rough spring. A kitchen fire in early April forced the rustic Italian enoteca and trattoria at 1610 San Antonio Street to close for a few weeks. They quietly reopened a while back, but Sagra chef Gabriel Pellegrini wants to officially celebrate their return by throwing a summer-inspired family-style feast. more ›

About this time of year, we start to daydream about escaping to someplace where the temperature never climbs above 84 degrees, the wine is plentiful, and people buzz around on scooters waving "Ciao" to one another. Maybe a trip to the Amalfi Coast is in your budget (jerks), but it's certainly not in ours. Luckily Aviary Lounge is offering the chance to send your mouth on a mini Italian vacation with their Cork Dork Night, featuring six Italian wines paired with snacks. more ›

Hundreds of lobsters make their tasty transition to the afterlife this week at Asti, a small, modern Italian trattoria in Hyde Park. The highly regarded and bustling restaurant is owned by culinary power team Emmett and Lisa Fox, who also man FINO. more ›

Designs from Stella McCartney, Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren, Zac Posen and Eskander will be showcased, but our interest level is definitely leaning towards mojitos, champagne, Italian cocktails, and snacks from The Steeping Room, North, Jaspers, The Daily Grill and Viva Chocolato. more ›

Tonight at the Salvage Vanguard Theater, music and film will be united in odd, unexpected ways. Italian musician Giuseppe Ielasi and Austrian filmmaker Michaela Grill are the guests of honor at this event sponsored by the Church of the Friendly Ghost. Ielasi has a long history with improvised music and uses “guitars as primary sound sources by integrating microphones and multichannel speaker systems in order to create complex networks for sound diffusion in relation to space” according to this event's press release. Sounds confusing, but obviously far from typical. more ›

Photo by Nash Cook Care Stereo (Wars) and Strut Boutique present The Strut Christmas PartyFriday, December 7The Mohawk (912 Red River)$8, doors at 9 pm[info] What do you get when you mix together Austin’s next big band, next sizzling DJ and next hot boutique? Tonight’s wicked Christmas party unwittingly plucked from Andy Langer’s dreams. Join Strut Boutique and Car Stereo (Wars) for Mohawk merriment with White Denim, the Corto Maltese and the Carrots. Headliner White... more ›

The Austin Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Austin: Handel’s MessiahDecember 4, 2007 at 8:00 p.m.4214 N. Capitol of Texas Highway (4214 N. Capitol of Texas Highway)Riverbend Centre[info] | [tickets] Sir Thomas Beecham wrote of Handel in his memoirs, "Since his time mankind has heard no music written for voices which can even feebly rival his for grandeur of build and tone, nobility and tenderness of melody, scholastic skill and ingenuity and inexhaustible variety of effect…Handel…is... more ›

Sip 'N' Stroll: As a warm-up for next spring's Hill Country Wine and Food Festival, the organization is sponsoring a very enjoyable-sounding Sip 'N' Stroll event at three of The Domain's new restaurants. The concept is simple: you wander from restaurant to restaurant in groups, and each of them serves you a flight of wines and some paired appetizers. NoRTH features Italian eats, so naturally they'll be focusing on Italy's wine varietals. Regan Jasper, the... more ›

Hand food: it's almost as awesome as food on sticks, but boasts the added bonus of carbohydrates! Food that comes in its own container is perfect for busy Fall days at work and school. Austin offers some great options for sandwich-y goodness on the go, so jump in your preferred mode of transport and grab some grub that requires little else than a hungry stomach, and perhaps a napkin or three. Hog Island Italian Deli... more ›

If you're interested in cuisine as well as creating, Texas Culinary Academy is hosting its 2nd Annual Mediterranean Festival tomorrow from 10am-4pm. The event will showcase traditional foods of the Mediterranean, complete with a Mediterranean food symposium, cooking demonstrations, hands-on cooking classes for adults and children, and wine tastings. The cooking demonstrations will offer tips and tricks for Meze, Tapas, and Tagine from Noon-3pm, while the hands-on classes for adults and children (which will include... more ›

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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... more ›

Doctors plugged an Italian tourist into a drip-feed of vodka to save him at a hospital in Australia that ran out of the medicinal alcohol it would normally have used for treatment. Plants chatter amongst themselves to spread information, a lot like humans and other animals, new research suggests. Actor Nick Nolte is a father again at age 66 after his British girlfriend of several years, Clytie Lane, gave birth to the couple's first... more ›

*The views expressed in Truesday are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole. Thank heavens.* -The Editors Bro-dawgs, huddle around the Axe Body Wash fountain and check this out: There’s a new lounge opening up where that freakshow movie place used to be, and it’s gonna be sweet bangin’ with more honeys than we’ll be able to drug in a single night, and more lesser bro-hams than we’ll be... more ›

Welcome to the latest edition of Band Slam!, wherein I navigate the murky waters of Austin's club listings for the best and worst band names playing this week. The only rule: I can't know anything about the actual band, thus limiting my critique strictly to the band's chosen moniker. Let's cook!! Harptallica - Elysium, Friday 10/05 After the Radiohead reggae album, all bets are off as far as taking ultimate creative license with canonized... more ›

Fall is here, the weather is cooling, and the prospect of an outdoor food and wine tasting has mentally moved from "it's too hot!" to "that sounds perfect." One of the marquee wine events of the fall, Tour De Vin pairs eleven chefs and over 100 wines in a "sip and stroll" format tasting on Thursday, October 4th. This is the fifth anniversary of the event, and the wine lineup looks to be the... more ›

Primizie Osteria (Italian) Location: 1000 E. 11th St., Ste. 150 [map] Phone: (512) 472-9299 Cost: Entrees $9-11 Atmosphere: Casually urban decor, concrete floors, wine bar. Counter ordering. Food: The new Primizie Osteria serves simple but elegant Italian at good prices in a comfortable, casual setting in semi-gentrified East Austin. Eastside denizens are lucky to have such a place close by for a spur of the moment relaxed dinner or a to-go run for a... more ›

Just hours before venerable Hoboken indie rock institution Yo La Tengo descend upon The Parish on September 17th, they'll be all up in your Alamo as part of the Alamo's Cinema Under the Influence Series. In a dazzlingly cross-referency evening, Yo La Tengo will present Four Flies on Grey Velvet, the Dario Argento flick that most influenced them as a band. Also on the bill is Cockaboody, an animated film drawn by YLT drummer... more ›

Teenagers from the Isle of Man, Back Door Slam are a blues-rock three-piece drawing influences from all corners of the blues genre, even some outside of it. In fact, although most of Roll Away is littered with embellished guitar solos and high notes (the kind you can picture way down on the base of the guitar neck), some of the tracks are more folk-centered, even acoustic, and sound akin to contemporary country and western. Yet, with the depth and rasp of a 60-year-old blues veteran, vocalist Davy Knowles keeps the trio grounded in a true blue sound. more ›

We totally wish we were 16 or under again, 'cuz the folks at Fantastic Fest have just announced a kickass new contest called “Reel Heroes: the Fantastic Fest Trailer Competition”. more ›

Friday, July 6artB Scene - Too Darn Hot! at Blanton Museum of Art, MLK at Congress ($5-$10) booksAlan Porter presents Before They Were Beatles, with Beatles cover band Daytripper at BookPeople (7:00pm) comedyJohn O’Connell with Jesse Pangelinian at Cap City Comedy Club comedyPunchline, open mic stand up comedy at ColdTowne Theater (10pm) comedyLovey and Lovey at ColdTowne Theater (8pm) comedyWeekly Improv Cage Match! at ColdTowne Theater (11:30) film"Bonnie & Clyde" and "White Heat" at The... more ›

If the Italian name of the vampires-in-space sci-fi movie playing tonight at the Alamo Downtown (that would be "TERRORE NELLO SPAZIO") doesn't give you a thrill of glee, how about this line of the description? "...the crew soon discovers the crashed Argos—and learns that her crew died fighting each other!" No? You have a hard and boring heart, my friend. This film, part of the AFS' summer foreign scifi series, "Other Minds, Other Worlds: Global... more ›

From big blockbusters to foreign films, there's something for everyone being released today. These overviews should help you choose which movies you'd like to shell out for this weekend. DOA: Dead or Alive We thought DOA meant dead on arrival, but fans of video games and girls in bikinis likely won't quibble with the title of this action movie featuring scantily clad heroines. Babes! Yeah! Eagle vs. Shark Nerds kiss while wearing animal costumes,... more ›

Although it may just look like a pizza stand parked in a Mobil gas station on Barton Skyway and South Lamar, Giovanni's Pizza Stand may be one of the greatest South Austin pizza joints since Austin's Pizza (Ed Note: and Home Slice Pizza, ahem). Barton Hills residents don't have far to look for value-priced pizza with a ton of toppings to satisfy their hunger after a jump in Barton Springs, a spin around The... more ›

There are quite a few mentionables this week, including Dappled Cities' Granddance, produced by Jim Fairchild (of Grandaddy) and Peter Walker, and mixed by Jaquire King (Modest Mouse). Dappled Cities are an Australian indie rock band that we've grown rather fond of as of late, mostly because of "Fire, Fire Fire". Also of note this week is the latest from Ladybug Transistor and the latest Eccentric Soul compilation, The Prix Label. As usual, do... more ›

After moving to Austin from New York last year, it was easy to feel disappointment in the limited food delivery options available. The restaurant delivery services aren't always prompt and charge steep delivery fees, many of the good ethnic food restaurants are dine-in or take-out only, and the best of the pizza places only deliver within a mile or two of their locations. Which brings us to The Soup Peddler, a unique concept in... more ›

Wilco Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch) Recorded in Wilco's own Chicago studio, the album was recorded by TJ Doherty (the Hold Steady, Sonic Youth) and mixed by Jim Scott (the Rolling Stones, the Dixie Chicks), Sky Blue Sky finds Tweedy & Co. leaning closer to the down-home gritty side of their sound, all while bending glass with avant-jazz guitar hero Nels Cline. Full of guitars and electricity, songs like "Impossible Germany" highlight the relationship between... more ›

Okay, okay—so it's not that big a deal that the Alamo Downtown is relocating. All it really means is that we have to walk a few extra blocks to get there, which, quite frankly, will be good for our waistline. Plus, there'll be more seating and bigger screens, so we guess we'll learn to cope. But we're definitely sad to see the old theatre go; we've spent a lot of nights eating, drinking, laughing, cheering... more ›