What say you, interwebs? To accommodate the Austin and Aspen posts, I thought it’d be prudent to have three posts displaying in the primetime spot on the site. If you RSS read, you do not probably care. If you don’t, however, hello!!
Since the new design is all suave-eh, say adios to my sweet but awfully wonky header graphic (and thanks to my bro for a little teeny rework). R.I.P.:
You will be missed, little graphic.
The opening of Uchiko, the 42nd & Lamar sister to Austin’s world-renowned Uchi, has been delayed again and again. But they’re tracking their progress with sweet construction pics and menu updates at http://uchikoaustin.com/. Should be open this summer.
They’re also HIRING, a hiring event takes place April 26, 27 and 28th. Uchiko, like Uchi, will serve upscale Japanese fare and applicants should have experience working in a high volume, fast-paced service environment. Here are the deets:
Hosts and Reservationists
Monday, April 26, 10am – 4pm
* Minimum of 2 years recent experience in a high-volume restaurant or hospitality position.
* Must possess above-average typing skills.
Servers and Bartenders
Tuesday, April 27, 10am – 4pm
Wednesday, April 28, 10am – 4pm
* Minimum of 4 years food service experience is mandatory, with a proven, stable work history in a high-volume establishment.
* Must be able to learn and explain extensive menu of Japanese cuisine on a comprehensive level.
* Must be able to learn and explain extensive wine and sake menu.
* All applicants must be TABC and food handler certified.
Mercury Hall is located at 615 Cardinal Lane.
K&N Management, owner and creator of Mighty Fine Burgers, Fries & Shakes, made history by being the first restaurant group to receive the prestigious Texas Award for Performance Excellence (TAPE). To celebrate receiving the state’s highest recognition for quality, Mighty Fine Burgers, Fries & Shakes will have in-store celebrations and offer free “champagne” hand-dipped shakes made with peak-of-season champagne mangoes (no alcohol!) at all three locations from 5-8pm through Friday at all three locations.
Recognizing the highest level of quality, the TAPE Award considers performance and the application of quality and customer service principles.
I like Mighty Fine because they use free-range meat and fry their french fries in olive oil.* They were also one of the first burgers I ate coming off of my “I don’t eat burgers” lifetime. Check out the first post on ‘em here.
*I talked to them about it one time, and they did say their meat was free-range, but that was only one experience. Matt, my commentor here, is correct though, they do fry their fries in peanut oil. 
No more Mighty Fine for me.
As we all “get back to business” now that SXSW is over (phew … I spent most of Sunday on my couch watching Center Stage 2: Turn it Up), there’s a really cool opportunity for someone really getting back to business: earlier this month, agency vets James Moody and Kevin Whitley announced the creation of Guerilla Suit (GS), a full-service agency dedicated to building and growing businesses in the modern age through ‘operations-tailored branding’.
To REALLY introduce the company, however, they’re throwing a contest where the winner gets all their services FREE for one lucky small business, non-profit, charity, or cause.
“We call what we do ‘operations-tailored branding,’” says Kevin Whitley, “It’s auditing HOW our clients do what they do from an operations perspective and working backward from there to ensure their brand marketing is strategically supporting the entire process. We encourage the form to follow the function until the two blend seamlessly together.”
Clients include Schering-Plough Coporation, The Mohawk Austin (Moody owns), Urbanspace Realtors, Active Life Movement, Morsels, Inc., Transmission Entertainment, Fun Fun Fun Fest (Moody co-founded), HELM handmade boots, and Bluecoat Systems.
The deadline for submissions is April 5, 2010 and the winner will be chosen on April 20th, 2010.
Guerilla Suit will offer a suite of services that include business consultation, brand development, logo and identity design, website design, market planning, and advertising … based on the needs of the business or organization that is chosen. The entire suite, excluding vendor and production costs, will be delivered at no cost to the winning client. The PROVE IT! winner will get a complete brand suit … harhar. Guerilla suit. Get it?
Enter your biz or fave cause here: http://guerillasuit.com/submissions/
I’ve been nominated (thanks, someone out there!) for the Statesman Texas Social Media Awards.
Anyone could nominate anyone, and a judging panel of Michelle Greer (@michellegreer), Addie Broyles (@broylesa) and Robert Quigley (@robquig and @statesman) will decide who the top 25 social media users are in the state. The top 25 will be chosen and displayed by March 4; an overall winner will be announced sometime in March.
They say: “The judges will take your comments into consideration.”
I say: if you have a second, write a comment. Can be short– “I love Lyssa!” is a stellar one. 
THANKS, lovely readers!
Despite all evidence to the contrary, turns out, I’m not invincible.
Well damn.
Though I’d like to be at the Gables Sneak Peek or a Whole Foods tour in honor of Dishola’s Dish-for-Dish (review a dish already, people!) or a happy hour birthday party at Piranha (man do I love their sushi) or Beer and Bingo at Jo’s, I am going to be on a couch, toilet paper roll nearby (don’t have Kleenex around), lemon-infused water in hand. Yes, allergies and/or a cold have knocked me down.
In my honor, YOU should please enjoy one of these fun Wednesday activities:
Drag Queen “Sapphire” will be reading the numbers, there’ll be a DJ and great prizes.
Beer is $3 and cards are $1; all money from the cards goes to Caritas.
I’m constantly evangelizing about Austin Post – an online newspaper by, of, and for the people – where anyone can post, comment, vote, etc. At its finest, it’ll be totally edited, reported on, and curated by its readers. (It’s totally not there yet, but it will get there)
Anyway, today Austin Post announced its Real Time Reporting functionality that is both an iPhone app (AP 2.0) and a widget on the site (www.austinpost.org). It’ll do this: when I’m sitting in traffic and there’s a crazy man trying to commit suicide off the bridge at Mopac & 290 and traffic is backed up for miles and miles because negotiators have been talking to him for three hours and I’m wondering why I’m sitting there because I don’t know about the crazy man, I turn to twitter. But I have to find someone else on mopac but further up, or someone who is listening to the news, between the tweets about cool links and 140-character ironies and Gossip Girl and Crossfit (ok, that’s what my twitter account looks like). So Austin Post Real Time Reporters categorize everything when they submit, which means if you want to find out what’s going on with Traffic, you look no further than the City category with its #traffic hashtag. Beautiful.
Download the app at the iTunes app store, check out the widget here.
BEST OF ALL, YOU CAN WIN $$ BY SUBMITTING REPORTS! Here’s the breakdown:
Aviary Décor Introduces a Hip Wine Bar with Modern Sophistication
South Austin haute home décor shop Aviary is now making its mark as a hip sip-and-shop wine lounge offering a fresh new twist on a “night out” with a chic home-like setting. After three and a half years as one of Austin’s hottest home décor shops, Aviary has shed its shop-only moniker, donned a new name, the Lounge @ Aviary, and beginning this Thursday October 29, will be the place to unwind with friends over a glass of wine and a few tasty nibbles.
Located at 2110 South Lamar, the Lounge @ Aviary is looking forward to building on its offerings. With a variety of wines from around the world on a regularly updated menu, the Lounge @ Aviary will have a perfect complement to its daily assortment of artisanal cheese plates, locally-grown produce, and hand-made charcuteries from A Noble Beast.
Owner Marco Fiorilo, who is originally from Argentina, says “I grew up where wine is a part of life. It’s a natural thing to enjoy with friends and I wanted to have a place where people could have a piece of the way I grew up.”
Patrons of the Lounge @ Aviary can hang out on the chic accent furniture, enjoy the outdoor patio, or shop woven placemats from Chilewich, glassware from Iittala, or pillows in vintage Italian silk from Lotus Designs. Local art includes concrete tables from Eric Billig, repurposed re-bar and steel furniture from Derek Mizner, and reclaimed wood and steel furniture from Ryan Anderson designs.
“Being well traveled, we noticed a need that was not being satisfied in our city. If you go to New York, Buenos Aires, or Paris you will find standout shops that offer more than amazing wares and atmosphere, they also offer a lounge within which to experience their offerings,” says Fiorilo. “Our idea is to incorporate the modern design from around the world, the wine, tapas, and atmosphere along with exceptional local designs and bring them to one of the fastest growing communities in the U.S.”
Warning: shameless self-promotion ahead. Please help my SXSW Panel get voted into SXSW 2010! http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3405
If people can write it, shoot it, video it, twitter it, and post it, does that make it news? Real-time news by, of, and for the people is redefining journalism. What do new newspapers look like, how do they work, and can they be trusted?
We propose to answer (or at least discuss) the following questions:
I’d appreciate your help in getting our panel into 2010 SXSW Interactive. Again, you can vote for it here:
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