The Daily Swarm

The world’s music food bloggers descend on Austin.

ALSO: South By Southwest 2008: Where’s the Beef, Pt. 2…

Andy Beta:

Another year of Mexican food in Austin, Texas disguised as a blogging assignment for SXSW over at Idolator.

James Montgomery – MTV:

After messing around with the rest, I went to the best in my never-ending quest to only eat BBQ at SXSW (wow, that’s a lot of rhyming): Stubb’s, Austin’s most awesome ‘que shack/ rock venue.

And quite simply, Stubb’s is the sh–. This here is a “Minor” combo, with beef brisket, pork ribs, a big slice of white bread, spinach and sweet potatoes. Oh, and a huge glass of sweet tea too (a must — Stubb’s gets bonus points for serving it in one of those red plastic cups). The dry-rubbed ribs fell off the bone, the brisket was delicious, and the sauce (add as much as you like) was earthy and tangy. Four million thumbs up.

To put it in more musical terms, Stubb’s is sort of like the Radiohead of BBQ shacks: Everyone tells you how good it is, but you never really believe them until you experience it for yourself. And then you totally get it (or something like that).

Synthesis:

I don’t know if their boastful title is true or not, but the Best Wurst beats Roppolo’s Pizzeria hands down. Both are readily available and in easy stumbling distance from whatever bar you just fell out of. Roppolo’s is kind enough to stay open ’til 3 AM and serve you a gigantic, alcohol sopping slice of pizza, but sponging up all those free vodka drinks seems to be the only thing it’s good for. Well, that and it’s a cheap alternative for a high colonic.

The Best Wurst is pretty much the same deal. It’s good, hot and cheap, but, as far as I can tell, sans the intestinal distress. For now at least. Wish me luck.

Eating Lyssa:

It’s been amazing how much free food and beer there is during SXSW. Even more amazing? One of the places we went yesterday had vegetarian hot dogs! Only in Austin. I can’t even begin to list what I’ve eaten in the past three days, I can only say that next week I will be detoxing from alcohol AND food. It hasn’t been horrible just because I know none of the meat is free-range, so there’s only so much damage I can do–on the boat party on Wednesday I had to eat just beans and rice and chips and salsa because the main course was chicken. There has been a lot of chips and salsa eating, which is no good.

Last night, I was at this party at the Texas Garage, on the rooftop of a parking garage, and by the time we got to the free food, the guy behind the table was apologizing: “All I have left is lettuce and guacamole.” I was thrilled! Lettuce and guacamole! It was delicious. And healthy. So some things are working…

Santogold – L.A. Times:

Diplo happened to be eating Mexican food (my favorite) across the street and I wanted to crash his meal. We’d been bickering all week about this mixtape we’re working on and I thought it might be fun to go slap him around a bit.

He took one look at me and yelled “Santo-skirt!” In Wesley-talk, that meant “Hi, Santi. Oh my god, you’re wearing a dress! And boy, do you look pretty.”

We had a fun lunch on the patio in perfect weather (actually, we mostly just ate chips and dips). A bunch of friends joined us. My boyfriend Trevor (Trouble Andrew) came to meet up, and we all headed over to the Downtown label dinner (i.e., free food), where we ran into all our fellow freeloaders: Steve Aoki, Nick Catchdubs, A-Track. That free dinner went on way too long. I’d meant to go catch my friend Chris play with his band Man Man at 10pm, but pretty much faded out at that point. Luckily, they play again tomorrow.

Village Voice – Sound of the City:

Apologies in advance for being one of the many assholes to blog-taunt you from Austin. But if you’re into schadenfreude—and NYC, I know you are—you’ll be delighted to know that the SOC family-town laptop keyboard committed suicide early this morning, so I spent the last few hours with an Apple Genius at a Texan mall. And so I present the only SXSW snapshot that won’t make those at home jealous: the Barton Creek Food Court.

UPDATE: James Montgomery – MTV:

I’ve been putting it off for three days now — my annual trek to Iron Works BBQ, which was introduced to me four years ago by former MTV great Joe D’Angelo. It is, in my opinion, still the best bar-be-que spot in the city.

I guess I just wanted to sample other things, see what was out there. But I’m here to apologize to you, Iron Works. Because I never should have strayed. I love you.

Idolator – Maura Johnston:

NUMBER OF TACOS CONSUMED: Three (one al pastor, two chicken al carbon).

TOP “WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN AND WHY ARE WE HERE” MOMENT: Watching Don’t Forget The Lyrics as I ate dinner. But I think that show inspires those feelings in me no matter where I am.

ALSO:

South By Southwest 2008: You’re Not There, Pt. 1

South By Southwest 2008: You’re Not There, Pt. 2

South By Southwest 2008: You’re Not There, Pt. 3

South By Southwest 2008: You’re Not There, Pt. 4

South By Southwest 2008: You’re Not There, Pt. 5