Austin Food Bloggers = Awesome

Last night Justin and I headed over to Sagra for a food blogger happy hour. We had such a great time!

First great thing: the people. Austin food bloggers are a super-fun, super-friendly group! Everyone was so approachable and like-minded…I’m so grateful that our pal Addie set this up for us. I was able to meet and chat with the authors of these lovely blogs:

Cookie Madness
James Eats
The French Fork
The Cookery
Apron Adventures
The Hungry Engineer
The Schell Cafe
and of course, the organizer, Addie, of Relish Austin

I was also able to meet Lesley, who writes for the Austin Onion A.V. Club, as well as a few new Twitter friends who represent local restaurants, wines, and event planners (@denisefraser, @notaslutsky, @perkypeggy, @jettemomant).

Second great thing: Sagra! We stopped in for happy hour, and stayed much longer. The folks at Sagra were so accommodating and gracious, warming up the outside patio for us (since the temperature had dropped to the 30s – weird), bringing out snacks, and completely spoiling us rotten. I had a couple of Blood Orange Cosmos, which were really good, and several people tried the Basil Martinis, which smelled delicious. During happy hour, all of Sagra’s drinks, including wine and beer, are $2 off, and the pizzas are half price. We were able to taste the Margherita, Romana, and Quattro Formaggi pizzas, all of which were delicious (I loved their sweet tomato sauce).

Perhaps even better were the cheese plate and charcuterie plate…just my kind of snacking. The cheese plate was massive, featuring fontina, Texas goat cheese, robiola, Parmigiano Reggiano, Taleggio and gorgonzola dolce, with fruit and nuts and crackers and mustards…it was a lavish spread, probably one of the best I’ve seen in Austin. The charcuterie plate had several cured meats (I wish I knew what they were, they were soooo good), olives, and cornichons.

I’m anxious to go back to try the Sagra pizza, which is topped with tomato sauce, fried egg, pecorino and spinach (please see my previous post regarding my infatuation with runny yolks) as well as the pastas and baked dishes. It’s such a nice little spot…I remember when Mars used to be there, and it was so dark (it was hard to read the menus), but now it’s cozy and a bit brighter, though the lights are still romantically low.

All in all, a wonderful evening! A huge thank you to Addie, who has done so much to bring the Austin food community together.

6 responses to “Austin Food Bloggers = Awesome”

  1. It was great meeting you last night, C! I look forward to seeing the Austin food bloggers at the next event. Wish I could have met everyone, but I guess it will take some time. It’s nice of Addie to put these things together.

    Maybe next time we can try Uchi ;). I think that’s still my favorite restaurant, but I also like Trio quite a bit. Sagra was a lot of fun and the staff was extra nice.

  2. It was great meeting you last night Crystal, and agreed, Sagra was really fantastic! I can vouch for the deliciousness of the basil martini. Hope to see you at future foodie events- happy holidays!

  3. Damn I’m sad I had to miss this! I was traveling all weekend and then last night was exhausted. I’ll be at the next blogger happy hour for sure!

  4. I was really blown away by how wonderful all you food bloggers were. I had high expectations because of our e-mail, blog and twitter interactions, but you really impressed me. Lots of excitement about food, but most of all, a friendly attitude toward fellow bloggers. I think it was decided that food bloggers have to be the most laid-back, fun and non-competitive bloggers out there (especially when compared to the unstated mommy blogger tension that is rampant out there…)

    I can’t wait to do this again! Feel free to throw out suggestions and/or make plans on the Austin Food Blogger group on Facebook. Keep February 10 open. I think one of the cooking schools in town is going to host a special cooking class for us (hopefully for free!).

  5. Sounds like we will have to make a date of it and try Sagra.

    Great post! I appreciate all the food bloggers info.

    Ciao

  6. It was great meeting you on Monday!! What a great night!! I can’t wait for next time we meet again. I can’t wait to go have dinner at Sagra now.

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