Take a Night Off

How long has it been? When's the last time you didn't go downtown? I know it's been a while. Why don't you give your wallet a break and have a cheap night of drinking at home. I know you're thinking, "How am I going to get blackout drunk and go home with some tasty broad sitting at home?" The answer is to plan ahead.

If you have been to the Belmont/Uchi for happy hour everyday this week, you should plan on staying home Saturday night. Text your best buds and let them know ahead of time that their presence is required and that they could use a night off too. The number of people you get to come over is crucial to a successful night. Count your roommate in because you know he'll be doing whatever you're doing anyway. Your best friend who always crashes on the couch and her plus one are a definite. All you have to do is invite one or two more and you've got a righteous night in planned.

Now all you need is the booze, after that the entertainment will take care of itself. Go get some champagne and pomegranate vodka. I don't even know what this drink is supposed to be called but you take a glass of champagne and pour a shot of vodka in it. Yeah it's not that great. Make sure you get good champagne and not pomegranate vodka. Also avoid the 30 dollar bottle of vodka unless you are getting upsold hardcore by the fine merchants at Warehouse Liquors.

By the next morning, your liver will be in the same lousy place it always is in the morning, but your wallet will be much fuller. Oh and unless you bothered to invite that babe over in the first place, you're gonna be out of luck on the random hookup. So in case you haven't been keeping score that's one new black for drinking at home while playing Taboo and pomegranate vodka is on the blacklist.

Emo's (the remix)

I have to admit something. This is hard for me, because I sort of pride myself on trying out all the typical austin restaurants/festivals/parties/bars/venues/etc- but after 5 years in this city, I just recently had my first Emo's experience. It's not that I hadn't tried- but something about Emo's makes you think you're too cool to buy tickets ahead of time or even get there early...and then after all that coolness runs out, you get there late and the show is sold out.

Well, I finally caught my break last Friday night. It was shaping up to be a rather unremarkable night, and then we got the phone call: Deltron the Funky Homosapien was playing Emo's, do you want to meet up? So we downed a few quick vodka sodas, hopped on the 1L, and jumped in line with the other elite emo's frequenters.

It wasn't long before I found out that I had committed my first emo faux pas: the entire place is cash only. As I almost never carry cash due to losing my wallet approximately once a month, this was a bit of an inconvenience for me. Luckily I was hanging out with some cash-carrying dudes. And lucky for my cash carrying dude friends, beers are pretty cheap at Emo's. That is good thing number one about drinking at Emo's. Good thing number 2 is that the beers are plentiful. Usually venues are notorious for a small selection of overpriced canned beers. And although I do appreciate a nice tall can of Miller High Life (the champagne of beers), sometimes I appreciate the option of a bottle. There was one kid (i'm pretty sure he had just washed the black x's off his hands) who tried to order a whiskey and coke. The bartender, without missing a beat, replied, "No coke. I can give you a shot of whisky." The poor kid looked a bit scared of that shot of whisky, but I think he was more scared of not seeming emo enough, so he took it proudly.

Is there a good thing number 3? You bet. The music. And the outdoors. (that was good thing number 4 i just threw at you.) You really can't beat a night of listening to fantastic music outdoors with a beer in hand.

Would I recommend Emo's to you? Yes I surely would. Just make sure you go to the bathroom before you leave home.

Sunday Afternoons at the Shady Grove

During the quest for an affective hangover cure, I have come up with two certainties:

1. You can't start nursing your hangover until the afternoon. You should be in bed until then.
   
2. Mimosas are perfect. The combination of refreshing orange juice, a dash of "hair of the dog" champagne and some cherries really cut through the hangover fog.

Taking these facts into account will lead you to Shady Grove eventually. A great environment awaits the socialite that enjoyed him or herself too much last night. Expect a wait if you don't have P-Hil on speed dial, but don't dread the wait. Plenty of seating for the waiters allows you to comfortably enjoy pre-meal mimosa's from the bar. The price tends to change depending on the time of day and wether you're getting them from the bar or the dining room, but at any price they are fantastic.
After you order, I would suggest switching to an afternoon drink and take on one of the Texas Martinis. They are better than Trudy's Mexican Martinis even with house Tequila. The menu will be familiar to most texans. The hamburgers are good, the chicken fried steak is a little different and the Hippy Chick sandwich is totally unique and is my personal favorite.
The atmosphere really rounds out the experience. The huge shade trees make the patio cool and calm. Music plays softly from the speakers and next door is some live music from a cover band. When it gets darker they play old westerns on a mini-drive in screen. The excellent drinks, good service and comfortable environment keep me coming back here, so for now, on Sunday afternoons, Shady Grove is the new black.

Welcome to The New Blacklist

If you're viewing this site already then kudos to you. You are on the bleeding edge of the blogging world right now. The New Blacklist has just opened its doors and we are gonna be bringing you the best coverage of every scene in town. We'll be your one stop shop when you need to decide what to do next weekend. Or let's say you've got some place in mind but you need to make sure your wardrobe will be flavaliscious. What if you need to figure out where the best place to get wasted is? The New Blacklist is here for you. We'll give you that hip sarcastic commentary like no one but up-and-coming socialites can. So stay tuned Austin in the days and weeks to come we'll let you in on what is the new black and what's on the black list.