We’reTexas

LUVI. Chef Hao Gong is up for Best Chef-South in this years James Beard awards. The raw dishes were outstanding but the dumplings and noodles were unremarkable. We checked it out because of all the hype and it’s close to our place. It was great, but could have had this in most other cities. Haven’t checked out Lengua Madre yet for that reason.

Margs @ Barrel Proof. The TW crew is here getting after it - love what a small city this is. After the parade on Saturday, hit up LPG. Drinks at the Chloe afterwards

What parts of Prop 13, rent control and CEQA-loving shut-in boomer NIMBYs make no sense to you? The lawsuit against Cal’s proposed student housing is pretty much perfect distillation of everything wrong with California’s housing state right now.

Second line Sunday, VIP Woman and Kids. IMG_5789.MOV Bacchanal Sundays. They may be outclassed by Houston on wine, but this is by now a national institution. They got a James Beard for their wine program, but their food is fantastic. Go for whatever seasonal shrimp dish they offer. The wine shop is finally open after two years, which besides Mardi Gras is my biggest return to normalcy.

Uptown trifecta yesterday: Oyster at Domilise’s, Hansen’s, and Casamento’s. Beers at Kingpin and Ms. Mae’s. Checked out the bar at Chemin a la Mer for drinks and snacks. Was honestly blown away by the experience, but that probably had a little to do with the man himself, Donald Link, sitting behind us. Gulf shrimp and more oysters.

TW, went with the classics. Fried Bologna and collard greens. Tons of Guinness at Tracey’s.

The state’s median home price is like $800k, so not that surprising. Prop 13-loving boomer NIMBYs screwing up CA everywhere.

Clancy’s. There may be better restaurants, but Clancy’s is my favorite place in NO and possibly anywhere. You’ve got to be at the bar or in the front room, though - otherwise you’re not getting the experience. We were at the bar recently amidst an afterparty for the Rex luncheon at Brennan’s, which made for Uptown people-watching at its finest. Clancy’s makes my favorite sazerac. I’ve been drinking it for 15 years and always wondered why, and after all this time I caught Garth Swanson, Clancy’s famed longtime artist/bartender, using Pernod instead of Herbsaint. Shrimp remoulade and oysters brioche to start. Lamb chops Webster and speckled trout covered in crab meat. Gabrielle, another old school favorite. It’s not very photo friendly, but that’s what makes it so good. There’s not much around it, but it’s worth the trek to Mid-City. Crab bisque. They should have crawfish soon. Speckled trout doused in crawfish and crawfish meunière sauce.

Saffron. Turning 5 this year and still absolutely killing it. Their cocktail program has always been fantastic. India Standard Time, with mezcal, Malbec, clove and agave. Always have to get the curried seafood gumbo and oyster bed roast. Tandoori butternut squash. This was fantastic. Pork Vindaloo. Mister Mao’s definitely lived up to the hype and is now in our rotation. Really weird being in the old Dick and Jenny’s space - it’s been totally renovated. D&J was actually our last pre-COVID meal in NOLA, after Bacchus. Octopus aguachile, avocado, pickled chilis and mango. Easily the highlight of the meal, grilled perfectly. Had this with broccoli cooked in crab fat. Pani Puri, basically little bites of chutney and strawberry filled with chili mint water. Scallops w/ applewood bacon and Thai basil. Probably the weakest thing we ordered. Kashmiri fried chicken is one of the few menu staples. Ancho, arbol and Szechuan chilis and tons of cumin, paired with pineapple. These had some great heat. Added bonus: after you get the bill you can walk over two blocks to the greatest concert venue in the world.

Yep, Besh (BRG, whatever) spot best known for its oyster HH deal. Was there recently and enjoyed it, esp the scallop crudo.

Jewel is great. As for dive bars: Brothers III, Parasol’s, Pal’s, Ms. Mae’s, Erin Rose, Pete’s Out in the Cold, Markey’s, Bud Rip’s, Vaughn’s, BJ’s and Snake and Jakes (the GOAT). Been in town for a month. Mardi Gras was great and seems to have kicked the city into full swing. This Saturday is all the St Patrick’s day festivities, so the Irish Channel and Bywater bars I mentioned will be hopping. Lots of pics to post, but in the meantime: Roast Beef at Parasol’s, IMO the best roast beef in the city right now. Edit: Ian McNulty just did a write up on Parasol’s and the block party (with a much better roast beef pic):

Yeah sucks to be Baker Botts’ managing partner right now.

Cambria and Morro Bay have some cool spots, but yeah would check out Paso wineries or drive down to Santa Barbara on the weekend. Solvang is great as well.

I like N7. I know it’s got this Bywater-hipster “we serve $30 canned anchovies in an unmarked alley” vibe but it’s become a really good restaurant and has a great natural wine list. Saint Germain should be fantastic, will probably go in a few weeks as well if only to hang in the patio.

But both of those countries condemn hard drug use and intervene when addicts break laws, including laws against public drug use and public camping. “There’s a clear sign of disapproval in our society to the use of drugs,” the head of Portugal’s drug program, João Goulão, told me. They are also not opposed to coercion. In Portugal, someone caught using heroin in public is arrested, brought to the police station, and either prosecuted for drug dealing or forced to appear before something called a Commission for the Dissuasion of Addiction comprised of a combination of social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and family members who confront addicts in a formal intervention. Something very different is happening in San Francisco. The city is carrying out a bizarre medical experiment whereby addicts are given everything they need to maintain their addiction—cash, hot meals, shelter—in exchange for . . . almost nothing. Voters have found themselves in the strange position of paying for fentanyl, meth and crack use on public property.” It’s mind blowing to me that SF spends over a $1B a year maintaining and supporting their zombie addict community. There are no safe injections sites in SF. Not even a nice try.

Eh, it’s Jazz Fest. I typically avoid the FQ too but it’s great for that week. Straight shot to the fairgrounds and then quick walk to Frenchmen for the evening shows.

One of my favorite projects in the past few years besides Martha Stoumen (and they both operate of the same winery).

I mean yeah it was weird they had a press conference but Powell’s bathroom closed after 9/11 and they’ve been trying to refurnish BART to boost the anemic ridership, but go ahead and keep posting shit you see in Tucker that you know nothing about for self-satisfying points.

I’d argue that the AUMF votes were a pretty good proxy for the ultimate determination that members of Congress made on the Administration’s assessment on Iraq’s WMD development and the threat it posed to the US because that was what it was about, no? Certainly better than pulling a bunch of out of context quotes, like one (seemingly misquoted) line from Ted Kennedy in a speech where he literally argued that Iraq did appear to pose enough of a threat to justify the invasion. I was way too involved the opposition to the Iraq War 20 years ago to let this bullshit “everyone believed” revisionist history slide so Republicans can abscond themselves of the responsibility of one of the biggest disasters is US history - especially on the day when they decided to recast an insurrection as “legitimate political discourse”.

Yeah, no. Many prominent ones did, as well as quite a few liberal pundits (looking at you, Ezra Klein). And their failure to hold themselves accountable has forever tarnished their reputations. But don’t even try to both sides this.

I don’t know why she keeps making predictions. Her whole thing began when UCSF shut her AIDS clinic down. She tried to devise a reopening protocol because COVID is decidedly less serious that AIDS. She also saw the California zero COVID crowd analogous to the prohibitionist HIV crowd in the 80s advocating celibacy when we should have been teaching sex ed, so she began pushing pragmatic harm reductionist policies so things could get moving again. But the zero COVID absolutely hates her and they use her failed predictions to invalidate her policy proposals. I guess she likes the national platform but she’s shooting herself in the foot.

The legislative analysis indicated that Californians spend some $330B on health care a year, but the plan would cost up to $390B a year - that’s $100B more than the state budget. And the financing plan largely assumes the federal government will foot the bill while raising payroll and income taxes to make up the rest. I’d be more supportive of such a transformational move if the financing were supported by another much-needed transformational move: dismantling the absurd Prop 13 system. Also, I don’t think the plan envisions any sort of residency requirement, meaning anyone could come to CA for free care. As with housing, this is well intentioned but something that needs to be addressed at a federal level.