Old Austin remembered - Mad Dog & Beans

[utee94 15,878]

Large Savage for $13.50.  Those were the days.

 

[DoobieWah 1,475]

BTW, has anyone else noticed that the OP  was a spam post?

 

[Ally 0]

Resurrecting this very old thread, because I just heard a guy Clark song that refers to mad dog margaritas, which sent me on a nostalgic Google trip, which led me here.  This wasn’t part of my maddog experience. Maybe because I as in high school in the 80s, I mainly remember the milkshakes and onion rings.  Was I missing out?? Did they serve margaritas?  

[ftf82 486]

That reference is to the Texas Chili Parlor @Ally

[jimmyjazz 46,470]

1 hour ago, ftf82 said:

That reference is to the Texas Chili Parlor @Ally

I mean, it's right there at the top of the song:

Well, I wished I was in Austin

In the Chili Parlor bar

Drinking Mad Dog margaritas

And not caring where you are

[ftf82 486]

I mean, I was just being polite and answering the question, @jimmyjazz  heh

[Crispy 0]

My girlfriend worked there in the very early ‘90s, when I was new to town. I ate there a few times because she was there, but one day she called me to tell me that the feds had arrived and were closing the place down, and auctioning off the place’s equipment in the parking lot. I heard it was because they weren’t paying their taxes, but maybe it was the money laundering referenced upthread. That was probably ‘92 or so.

 

a couple of years later I was housemates with this women who worked at Pipes Plus, and while I don’t know the details, there were shady goings on there too. As I recall. It’s been a long time.

[jTower 246]

Mad Dog and Beans name resurrected in New York City. Any relation?

[DalTxHornFan 3,122]

8 hours ago, jTower said:

Mad Dog and Beans name resurrected in New York City. Any relation?

No obvious connection that I can see.  NY version is a Mexican food joint.  Austin's was a burger joint that may have also had nachos and maybe some enchiladas -- especially at the 6th street store.

[Deej 77,162]

The restaurant on W. 6th was named "Beans", was it not, and no relation to Mad Dog & Beans? Or am I mistaken?

[jTower 246]

I was thinking of the one on 24th. It looked different, just didn’t know if some selected the name out of nostalgia. 

[jimmyjazz 46,470]

2 hours ago, Deej said:

The restaurant on W. 6th was named "Beans", was it not, and no relation to Mad Dog & Beans? Or am I mistaken?

No relation.  Mad Dog and Beans was only on 24th, just west of Les Amis, and sold burgers, milkshakes, and pot.

[DalTxHornFan 3,122]

3 hours ago, Deej said:

The restaurant on W. 6th was named "Beans", was it not, and no relation to Mad Dog & Beans? Or am I mistaken?

IDK.  I thought that there was some connection between those two stores.

[utee94 15,878]

Here's a Youtube video with a guy dramatically smoking a cigarette and lamenting the loss of Northcross Mall.

However, he does show some inside shots from right before it was torn down, which is kind of cool.

 

[Lidig8r 1,880]

Was in Austin between 1977 and 1981.  Go to restaurants included:

Casita Jorge's on Lavaca (back when their margs were KILLER);

Mad Dog & Beans;

Cisco's on East 6th Street for Sunday brunch;

Matt's El Rancho on 1st Street;

The Stallion for chicken fried steak;

Dirty's (Kumback) -- great greasy hangover food;

The County Line

Katz's Deli for those late night drunk fests

Kerbey Lane Cafe for hippy weekend brunch

Many more.

[mammarymemories 6]

Wow, I was waxing nostalgic for my wayward youth and the old Austin scene and decided to look up Mad Dog & Beans. So much fun to see so many posts about the place. I worked there for 3 years, charred the hell out of some burgers and mixed up the thickest cookies and cream shakes and malts the mixer could handle! I still love and refer to the "Poultrygeist," a marinated grilled chicken bosom sandwich, topped with guacamole (freshly made onsite every morning). Pair that with onion rings and a Shiner Bock, and the picture is complete. Does anyone else remember the 'Geist? The parking guys were always running small side scams, and I once was witness to a near street brawl in the parking lot at night, complete with drunken frat boys who brandished a broken beer bottle in their best Westside Story imitation. The manager scolded them to drop it, which they gratefully did, as I suspect there was no real intent to slice anyone up. Oh, the innocence! But the crew at Mad Dog's was such a fun gang to work with, including members of several local bands such as Poison 13 and Zeitgeist. Loved going to see Scratch Acid, Ha Ha, and the Butthole Surfers at the Continental Club and other dives. Rick Linklater used to stop by Mad Dog's on the regular, and all the people in his first film did as well. Great times, formative years, but I ultimately had to leave Austin in the late 1980s after 5 years of college with no degree in sight! I moved to Richmond VA, got on with adulthood. I think RVA is smaller than Austin these days, without the relentless influx of startups and TikTokers. When I mention that I lived in Austin back in the day, people are always impressed for some reason! Maybe because I had the strength of will to move away, even with the vortex sucking people back... but in my opinion it's sometimes best to keep one's college town in the rearview mirror... The memories will live on though, and I love to visit!!

[jimmyjazz 46,470]

28 minutes ago, mammarymemories said:

Wow, I was waxing nostalgic for my wayward youth and the old Austin scene and decided to look up Mad Dog & Beans. So much fun to see so many posts about the place. I worked there for 3 years, 

Ever work with a guy named Norman?

[dcbc 14,568]

On 12/8/2022 at 7:53 AM, Crispy said:

My girlfriend worked there in the very early ‘90s, when I was new to town. I ate there a few times because she was there, but one day she called me to tell me that the feds had arrived and were closing the place down, and auctioning off the place’s equipment in the parking lot. I heard it was because they weren’t paying their taxes, but maybe it was the money laundering referenced upthread. That was probably ‘92 or so.

 

a couple of years later I was housemates with this women who worked at Pipes Plus, and while I don’t know the details, there were shady goings on there too. As I recall. It’s been a long time.

Yep.  September 1992.  My freshman year.  I'd eaten the shit out of MD&B when my sister was at UT in the early 80s, and once I got to UT, I got to go exactly twice before it shut down.

[dcbc 14,568]

6 hours ago, mammarymemories said:

and mixed up the thickest cookies and cream shakes and malts the mixer could handle

Nine year old DCBC loves you for that.  Those Cookies and Cream milkshakes were the best I've ever had, full stop.

 

Also, if there has been a better inaugural post than this one (the whole post, not the snippet I posted, although that snippet was awful damned good) on this forum, I'd love to see it.

Edited June 4 by dcbc

[mammarymemories 6]

Oh, yes, I worked with Norman. He was the manager, and possibly the owner. Although I didn't much care at the time, so I'm not sure exactly his role. He and the other managers would spend a lot of time out in the office, which was a tiny hovel of a building in the parking lot. Did you work there too?

On 6/4/2024 at 12:52 PM, jimmyjazz said:

Ever work with a guy named Norman?

[jimmyjazz 46,470]

1 hour ago, mammarymemories said:

Oh, yes, I worked with Norman. He was the manager, and possibly the owner. Although I didn't much care at the time, so I'm not sure exactly his role. He and the other managers would spend a lot of time out in the office, which was a tiny hovel of a building in the parking lot. Did you work there too?

No, he's an old friend.  He wasn't the owner.  (Unless there's a different Norman.)

[thrillhammer 684]

the california burger, with sprouts and avocado was a top 10 burger of austin all time.  belongs in the austin burger hall of fame.   i could never afford the shakes.  hell i probably never even bought a drink there.  i was a poor college student but i was happy.  the problem mad dogs had was texadelphia was about a block away and i probably liked it better, and then there's gm steakhouse, just up from that.  in my opinon the alltime greatest austin burger ever made.  #1 in the austin burger hall of fame.

[cafe society 2,880]

I just stumbled upon this thread.  Man oh man, the hours I spent at the corner of 24th and San Antonio.  My go to at Mad Dogs wavered between the Austin's Favorite and the Bandido.  I was an undergrad '78-'82, and this was such a terrific little college neighborhood.  I spent so much money and time at Inner Sanctum that it's a wonder I graduated.  And we would go see movies at night at The Varsity Theater (for some, the Tower Records space) and at the end scoot out the back exit and poof!  There was Les Amis, the cultural heart of west campus.  We'd smoke and drink and do an autopsy on the movie we'd just watched, which was usually a great film.  And nearly 10 years earlier, my brother had worked at Les Amis  and later managed a Mexican food joint called La Fonda on the back side of the Mad Dogs parking lot in the narrow building that was later Linklater's apartment, where the early scenes of Slacker were filmed.
 
Inner Sanctum and Mad Dogs would hold music shows in the parking lot that were fabulous, bands like Toxic Shock, Terminal Mind, Sharon Tate's Baby, The Next and many others would draw large audiences.  And there was even the first Whole Earth Provision Company in Austin right around the corner on San Antonio.  A block west was Abel's, and another couple of blocks west was The Posse West.  And the women!  Holy crap, it was like - and no disrespect to Native Americans, my wife (no pics you degenerates) is partly Native American - the Happy Hunting Ground for finding beautiful women.  

I have great memories of The Stallion (double cfs on Sunday evenings) and Jorge's on Riverside.  Beans at 6th and Guadalupe was not connected to Mad Dogs.  It was one of our go-tos for concerts and shows, sometimes before, sometimes after, sometimes both.  I don't care for sweet drinks, but they made a Pina Colada that would make you levitate.

Enough, TL; dr.

 

[cafe society 2,880]

14 minutes ago, thrillhammer said:

the california burger, with sprouts and avocado was a top 10 burger of austin all time.  belongs in the austin burger hall of fame.   i could never afford the shakes.  hell i probably never even bought a drink there.  i was a poor college student but i was happy.  the problem mad dogs had was texadelphia was about a block away and i probably liked it better, and then there's gm steakhouse, just up from that.  in my opinon the alltime greatest austin burger ever made.  #1 in the austin burger hall of fame.

Texadelphia was a pale imitation of its predecessor (same location), called Harvey's Heros.  It was a big Daily Texan staff hangout.

Edited June 12 by cafe society
This trip down memory lane has caused my brain to snap

[thrillhammer 684]

13 minutes ago, cafe society said:

Texadelphia was a pale imitation of its predecessor (same location), called Harvey's Heros.  It was a big Daily Texan staff hangout.

dont remember harvey's heros.  i do remember texadelphia wasnt there when i first started at ut in '82, but had no clue what was there.

[Deej 77,162]

I know it's been mentioned, but I'd kill every single one of you for an eggroll stand eggroll right now. 

Edited June 12 by Deej

[DalTxHornFan 3,122]

18 minutes ago, Deej said:

I know it's been mentioned, but I'd kill every single one of you for an eggroll stand eggroll right now. 

I saw Earl and his brothers eating those.

[jimmyjazz 46,470]

Any of you medium olds ever eat Logan's BBQ?  That was my standard hangover cure when I lived in Jester.  I'm sure it sucked, but it got the job done.

[TwiceHorn 31,677]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

Any of you medium olds ever eat Logan's BBQ?  That was my standard hangover cure when I lived in Jester.  I'm sure it sucked, but it got the job done.

Yeah quite a bit. I've always hated unrendered fatty brisket, so my go to has always been a sausage sandwich at less than stellar joints. IIRC that was my jam at Logans Corner. 

[zlavydra 2,125]

Yep, I put away a few Poultrygeists freshman year (89-90). 

[DalTxHornFan 3,122]

I know that this ages me, but the Villa Capri (where the Longhorn football practice bubble is now located) was considered to be fine dining in Austin when @Armybrat and I were growing up.  Here are some of their TV commercials.

https://texasarchive.org/2010_01862

[Armybrat 40,987]

10 minutes ago, DalTxHornFan said:

I know that this ages me, but the Villa Capri (where the Longhorn football practice bubble is now located) was considered to be fine dining in Austin when @Armybrat and I were growing up.  Here are some of their TV commercials.

https://texasarchive.org/2010_01862

It was also the location for DKR’s informal postgame pressers withthe media.

[royiv 9,447]

13 minutes ago, DalTxHornFan said:

I know that this ages me, but the Villa Capri (where the Longhorn football practice bubble is now located) was considered to be fine dining in Austin when @Armybrat and I were growing up.  Here are some of their TV commercials.

https://texasarchive.org/2010_01862

Those are awesome.

[cafe society 2,880]

1 hour ago, DalTxHornFan said:

I know that this ages me, but the Villa Capri (where the Longhorn football practice bubble is now located) was considered to be fine dining in Austin when @Armybrat and I were growing up.  Here are some of their TV commercials.

https://texasarchive.org/2010_01862

We'd drive in from Fort Worth and my dad would drop us off at our grandparents in south Austin and he would head back to the Villa Capri.  He never told us anything about what went on there.  I always assumed the worst.

[TwiceHorn 31,677]

Was Villa Capri at one time only a restaurant?  

[DalTxHornFan 3,122]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

Was Villa Capri at one time only a restaurant?  

Pretty sure that it always included the hotel component.

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1227546/

[jimmyjazz 46,470]

8 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Was Villa Capri at one time only a restaurant?  

I don't know about its entire history, but it was a hotel in 1982, because my dad and I stayed there on my first campus visit that spring.

[TwiceHorn 31,677]

7 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I don't know about its entire history, but it was a hotel in 1982, because my dad and I stayed there on my first campus visit that spring.

Yeah never stayed there, but it was still kicking most of my time on the 40.  As a hotel, mostly, but I suppose it had a restaurant.

Edited June 14 by TwiceHorn

[thrillhammer 684]

Never knew it as a restaurant, or as a city draw as a restaurant.  The commercials seemed as failed attempts to make it so.   It was used for student housing in 82 as overflow for overbooked jester residents.

[DalTxHornFan 3,122]

10 hours ago, thrillhammer said:

Never knew it as a restaurant, or as a city draw as a restaurant.  The commercials seemed as failed attempts to make it so.   It was used for student housing in 82 as overflow for overbooked jester residents.

Those TV ads were from the early 1960s.  Villa Capri's restaurant was considered to be a really big deal back then.  Christie's, Norman Eaton's Polynesian Room, Nighthawk. The Barn, and private places like Headliners and Austin Club were the height of the Austin fine dining scene back then.  The restaurant world in Austin changed in a big way after liquor by the drink become legal.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,822]

On 6/12/2024 at 9:48 PM, DalTxHornFan said:

I know that this ages me, but the Villa Capri (where the Longhorn football practice bubble is now located) was considered to be fine dining in Austin when @Armybrat and I were growing up.  Here are some of their TV commercials.

https://texasarchive.org/2010_01862

Reminds me of the old Cottonwood Inn in La Grange, back when the funhouse was still active.  I was a kid so didn’t partake.  I only had about a year at UT before GM on the drag shut down. When I was 15 I went with my older brother to Aaron’s Rock and Roll and bought a couple shirts, one was The Clash, the other was black and said “eat shit and die”.  I got sent home from school for wearing the latter as an undershirt.

[Ten Bears 2,486]

I remember the GM Steakhouse tip jar had a sign that said Tips is Spit Spelled Backwards. I acted like Jerry at the soup nazi place when I was in there.