foodie52

I'm looking into having t-shirts made: Pigstock '03 with a big ol' hog on the back. If I make a couple dozen, will y'all buy one? It'll pay for my trip!!!!!

Hey BigBoyDan... I've been working at Central Market for 7 years. The 40th and Lamar store was the original CM! It opened in 1994. It was the brainchild of a long-time HEB accountant, John Campbell. The San Antonio store opened a few years after the North Lamar: I helped open it: went down there for a few days. The San Antonio location was an HEB for years. Lots of people were upset when it opened, because they "lost" their regular HEB. Alamo Heights had been shopping there forever, and the newCM format confused a lot of the old folks who were still looking for their Kraft Mac and Cheese and Frito Lay products. I spent most of my three days there consoling old people.

I asked Tony Bourdain , when he was in Austin, if he has ever eaten at Rao's. He got this funny look on his face and said, "That's the only place in the whole world where I can't get a reservation." Pretty funny, huh?

Oh...and I'm bringing tequila. Goes great with pig. Varmint, why don't you pm Tony B? I bet he'll come. And he is truly a fun guy. We had a blast with him in Austin. And maybe we'll all get on the Food Network finally. Would beat some of the crap on right now... ( I already have my 3 seconds of fame on Tyler Florence's Eat the Heat show, but hey: I'm up for more!)

I second that...

I'm thinking about attending: Add two more Texans to the list!

But seriously..... Correct me if I am wrong, all of you out there....WF and CM cater to two very different populations in Austin. WF's weekly income doesn't even begin to approach CM's, and that's not because CM is any better than WF. Bottom line is, it's the battle between the ever-dwindling population of hippies and the white collar shoppers! Go to both stores and check out the shoppers. I shop mostly at CM ( go figure...) but I go to WF once in a while. Most of us do not do the "rounds" of grocery stores every week like cdh apparently does/did. On a side note, CM wouldn't exist if WF hadn't first. WF proved that Austin was ready for quality food. CM's visionary saw that and jumped on it. But WF's main thrust from the start was organics. CM's wasn't... Comments, anybody?

Looks festive and delicious to me

Hmmmm...remembering last Thursday night, I recall that David keeps up pretty well.

Didn't Barnes and Noble bow out? BTW, Whole Foods isn't really in competition with Central Market...two totally different concepts.

Port and ???? I need suggestions, please!

Thank you everyrbody! This topic made me very happy. I had no idea that so many of us share similar experiences across both cultures....and generations!

I spent a good half hour at a wild animal preserve outside of Melbourne, waiting to see a koala move. Gassy too, huh? I guess they just don't qualify as "good eatin'".

My mom cooked from scratch. It was what she knew and was also cheaper. No canned goods for us. Very few cereals, although I do remember Cocoa Puffs on Saturday mornings! I'm wondering who ate those new-fangled TV dinners back then. We sure didn't....I'd go to friends' houses and marvel at what was in their freezers and pantries!!

I'm first generation American. When I was growing up in the 50's , we never had "exotic" foods in our house. Consequently I craved them and snuck tastes whenever I visited my more "American" friends. Here's what I wanted and never had at home. Velveeta Chef Boyardee Spaghetti in a can Twinkies How about y'all?

Koala....a slow-moving critter, so there's no sport in hunting it. That's probably why the Aussies don't eat it.... You think?

Your close personal friend, my ass.

Flatiron is a new cut of beef...they revealed it at the Tx Food and Wine Festival in Austin last month. I didn't get to taste it, though. Didn't make it to Ft. Worth: I hurt my shoulder and didn't relish a car trip....will go when I get better. You'll enjoy Tim's class. He's a wonderful chef. I worked with him at the CM cooking school in Austin: that's how I met him.

Hi Mark! Looking forward to seeing you at the Central Market cooking school soon! You travel a lot and get to meet the people who buy and use your cookbooks. Are you finding that the majority of the folks who attend your classes and buy your books are looking for new ideas or are simply clueless in the kitchen??

Well, I'm just jealous of all those TV guys because they get to play with food all day and meet fun people and everyone wants to publish their books and they are doing what they love ALL THE TIME, and I wish I could, too. So there. And I've met Alton, and he was concerned about being nice to people and doing his job and selling books and filling his cooking class, and he had his photo taken with a zillion people and didn't complain once. I wouldn't mind having his life, and I think that secretly most of you wouldn't mind either. And I bet he thinks about the day when he won't be popular any more and wonders what he's gonna do next.

I'm driving up to Fr. Worth this Thursday to check out the new museum and eat at the restaurant in the evening.

Tony, you're not a treasure...you're a (edited)menace to the IACP! Long may you reign! (And I can't wait to see you in Austin.....) Edited for ladylike-ness....

Well...first of all, it ain't "Joe's", and it ain't "Mike's". It's TONY'S!! And it's great. Memesuze, jaymes and I met there with three of my friends from the Central Market cooking school. We had....chicken fried steak. We had fried catfish. We had porkchops ( done 2 ways...fried and char-broiled.) All entrees were very, very good. The cf steaks were mostly meat, tender with little breading. The gravy was flavorful. Catfish came hot and in huge pieces with tartar sauce on the side. The porkchops were done well, too. I particularly liked the char aspect of the one I ordered broiled. Our waitperson had no problem with me ordering one fried and one charbroiled. Sides were excellent. The sweet potatoes were not too sweet. We determined that there was pineapple in them. Greens were simply prepared....no "stuff" added to them. As for dessert...we had NO room at all, but ordered one banana pudding. The vanilla wafers were still crisp, the banana was fresh and the pudding was creamy and fresh-tasting. We scraped the bottom of the plate. We all agreed that this is a place we would come back to. Prices were more than reasonable. Atmosphere was no nonsense. We felt comfortable and welcome there. You need to try it out.

Have you eaten at Lonesome Dove Bistro in the Ft. Worth stockyards? The chef is Tim Love. If you haven't , do go and try it ( you do need reservations because it is a tiny place.) I'm going there May 15: driving up from Austin just to visit the new museum in FW and to eat at Lonesome Dove.) He has a website....