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......

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......

The best reason to attend the 2nd Street District birthday bash next Thursday is not the live entertainment, or the cupcakes, champagne or gelato. No, no. It’s the grand prize giveaway: an "ultimate shopping experience" style spree worth over $2,000. All stores in the area will be giving away freebies or providing some sort of cool discount. Meanwhile, shoppers can register for the style spree once at each store for the 10 p.m. drawing. Other......

Austin's own Pink (a bicycle "love courier" service we profiled back in December) was recently nominated for "Best Independent Project of the Year" by the Austin Critics Table. To celebrate, they're taking their special brand of two-wheeled viral love-spreading to Portland, just in time for that bike-smitten city's Pedalpalooza fest. But first, they invite you to join them for a bike-in double feature tonight at Café Mundi, where you can take in both Pee Wee's......

We are crushed that one of the hottest event at the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival - tonight’s Sip and Stroll done got sold out. We are completely missing out on both champagne and chatting up the Bubbly Professor - Jane Nickles. We are also missing out on wandering down to (sometimes yay, sometimes nay) Cru Wine Bar, where we would have been force-fed white wine. We are also, alas, not heading......

Vino Vino wine shop on Guadalupe is simply rad. Big, dark, clean and mellow, this stylish store is the kind of place midtown (or uptown or whatever they're calling it now) has been dreaming of. Owner Jeff and Manager Jerry has turned us on to some great wines in the short time they've been open in their retail store, which we hope becomes a full service wine bar soon. Unfortunately, not everyone has met......

Hot on the heels of Emo's being listed as one of Playboy.com's top rock clubs, Nightclub & Bar magazine today published their annual Editors' Choice Top 100 rankings of bars and clubs in the country. VICCI and Stubb's BBQ both made the list. The two venues couldn't be more different: the former is a ritzy, bleached-blonde dance club in the swanky Warehouse District, while the latter serves up Texas-sized helpings of rock and roll......

Lisa Machac of Clifford's Original Wine Bar in Wimberley sent a reminder to stop tonight from 7 to 9 p.m. for complementary tastings of several Texas wines, including selections from Driftwood Vineyards, Texas Hill Vineyard, Becker Vineyard. Have one for us, but drink responsibly. Clifford's Original Wine Bar 16920 RR 12 In other culinary news, can we borrow $130 a ticket for some kick-ass supper this Sunday? Outstanding in the Field presents an open-air......

FRIDAY [4] [music] Just Guns, Peel, Boxing Lesson at Emo's LINK [music] Masonic CD Release with Crash Gallery, Shane Bartell at The Parish Room LINK [music] The Black, Aux, Black Before Red at Hole in the Wall (10pm) LINK [music] Leatherbag and the Cows at End of an Ear (6pm) LINK [music] Scott Biram CD Release at The Continental Club (10pm) LINK [music] Golden Bear, The Channel, Driftin' Luke & His Personalities at Flamingo......

We weren’t sure how to answer the question, “Who are you with?” when we stepped up to 2nd Street’s new wine bar, Cru, last week, until they explained that what we thought was opening night was actually an INVITATION ONLY VIP HOITY-TOITY soiree. “LA DEE DA!” we thought, insisted we were with the DJ and managed to fake our way to the bar where the highly-poised and professional bartender, Elise, gave us the rundown. “What’s......

FRIDAY [5] [music] The Paul Green SCHOOL OF ROCK Presents "A Tribute to the Ramones" -at Redrum ($10, 7pm, also Saturday at 6pm) (info) [music] Mute Math, Love Drug, and Radiant at Stubb's (info) [music] Eisley with Simon Dawes, Brighten at La Zona Rosa (8pm) (info) [music] Sonya Kitchell at Waterloo Records (Free, 5pm) (info) [music] Zom Zoms CD release at End of an Ear (Free, 6pm) (info) [music] Ugly Beats, Bad Rackets, The Remainder......

Starting this Friday, Austinist has yet another perfect excuse for getting out of the city for a day and enjoying the nearby hill country: Clifford's Original Wine Bar is opening its doors. [Visit Clifford's Website] Built in a clearing on the rolling hills of Wimberley, just minutes from Wimberley Square (roughly 40 minutes from Travis Heights), Clifford's Original stocks a fabulous selection of wines both domestic and international, with a well-represented assortment of reds and......

This post is by future Austinist contributor Karin L. Kross. Sometimes, you're on your way to a movie or a show and you just want a quick bite to eat, but you want something a little more interesting than fast food. Or maybe you want to meet up with some friends in a quiet, civilized place where you can get a glass of wine and some food without TVs distracting everyone. In either of......

Hey Folks, this post is by future contributor Karin L. Kross. We love Italian food -- one of the (very small) handful of things we missed about Houston was the ready availability of quality Italian restaurants -- but we're embarrassed to admit that we've never tried Vespaio. We have, however, sampled the goods at the new Enoteca Vespaio, and pronounce our need for good Italian food to be well-satisfied. An enoteca, according to our......

Tomorrow, June 4th, our beloved neighborhood gourmet market/coffeeshop/wine bar/gift store Parallel is shutting it's doors, for what it says is some rethinking of their strategies. We are so gonna miss them, especially now that we've come to rely on them for our quickie, microwavable gourmet meals, which were always delcious. We will miss the 50 cent coffee, the gourmet breakfast tacos (asparagus and parmesan!), the delicious homemade muffins. We will miss Saturday morning story......