Latest / Austin Signal / UT Austin officials say new mobility plan is coming as cyclists worry about potential bike ban

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UT Austin officials say new mobility plan is coming as cyclists worry about potential bike ban · Austin Signal

0:08
Changes are coming to where you can
0:10
and cannot ride your bike on the UT
0:12
Austin campus, but the new
0:14
restrictions are only expected to
0:15
impact electric bikes and scooters,
0:17
we'll tell you what we know so far.
0:19
And there's an invasive aquatic
0:21
plant that's expressing itself in
0:22
some local waterways that's after it
0:24
was essentially eradicated close
0:26
to a decade ago.
0:28
More about that back and forth
0:29
that's coming up on today's show.
0:31
The Austin Signal is a production
0:33
of KUT News, hosted by
0:35
Jerry Kehanel.
0:36
An annual movie festival all
0:38
about the intersection of film and
0:40
music is, for the first time, being
0:41
produced entirely right here in
0:43
Austin. We'll tell you their story
0:45
and what to see at Sound Unseen.
0:48
Plus, summer break is almost over,
0:50
but the heat isn't going away.
0:51
We've got some frosty
0:53
recommendations to help you cool
0:54
off. That's coming up next.
0:56
It's right here on Austin
0:58
Signal.
1:03
Bye.
1:08
Howdy out there, this is Austin
1:10
Signal. I'm your host, Jerry Kekano.
1:12
It is Thursday, the sixth day
1:14
of August. Thank you for tuning in
1:17
to listener-supported public radio.
1:19
This is KUT News.
1:22
New orange signage on the UT Austin
1:24
campus has some folks worried about
1:26
bike use through a main corridor of
1:28
the 40 acres, but university
1:30
officials say it's not going to
1:32
affect every set of wheels that
1:33
rolls across the campus.
1:35
Here to tell us more is Greta
1:37
Diaz-Gonzalez-Vazquez.
1:38
She is KUT's education reporter.
1:40
Welcome back to the show, Greta.
1:41
Hi Jerry!
1:42
So this kerfuffle traces back to
1:44
some new signs on campus, I
1:46
mentioned those, and some
1:46
regulations that were posted on the
1:48
campus website.
1:49
But let's start with the signs, what
1:51
exactly do they say?
1:52
Yeah, so there are signs that were
1:53
posted on Speedway Mall and
1:56
they show, they say dismount
1:58
sewn, walk your wheels, and
2:00
they showed a person with a bike
2:02
and a scooter next to him.
2:04
I'm going to say him because it
2:05
looks like a man, but it does
2:07
say walk your wheel.
2:09
Okay, okay, so the implication
2:11
here being that any kinds of
2:13
wheels that you're rolling through
2:14
at this point need to be You
2:16
need to get off of that scooter
2:18
or that bicycle and walk your
2:19
wheels, right? That's what it seems
2:20
like at least
2:21
I mean, yes, without previous
2:22
information or without more
2:23
information, that's what people
2:25
assumed.
2:26
There was also a post
2:28
on or a
2:30
website on UT's website earlier
2:32
last week, and it
2:34
talked about the dismount zone.
2:36
It didn't quite have a lot of
2:38
details, but people immediately
2:39
thought it would mean that Speedway
2:41
will become a dismount so where
2:42
people wouldn't be able to ride
2:44
their bikes or their scooters.
2:46
Yeah, which is a big concern because
2:47
if you ever spend any time here on
2:49
the UT campus, lots
2:50
and lots of scooter and bicycle use
2:52
and obviously lots and lot of
2:54
pedestrians there as well.
2:56
This caused a lot of confusion,
2:57
you've spoken to a lot folks, let's
2:59
start with UT officials, What did
3:00
they have to say?
3:01
Yeah, I talked to UT officials and
3:03
first they told us they had a new
3:05
plan coming soon but that they
3:06
weren't ready to share any
3:09
more details and later
3:11
on they did share a little bit more
3:12
and they told that the
3:14
new plan wouldn't include banning
3:17
manually operated bikes so
3:18
that manually operated bike will
3:20
be safe.
3:21
Okay, so this is more for these
3:23
e-bikes, these assisted bikes.
3:24
Well, we don't exactly know
3:26
more. Those were the details that
3:28
were shared, but that's
3:30
part of what caused a lot of
3:31
uncertainty among not only
3:33
the UT community, but also
3:35
Austinites in general.
3:36
Yeah, lots of bikes on our
3:38
roadways here. Let's start with the
3:39
UT community first.
3:42
You spoke to one student who rides
3:43
his bike to get to campus, but also
3:45
rides his bike to East Austin to get
3:47
work. What did he tell you about
3:48
these possible changes?
3:49
Yeah, so that was Eddie Diaz and
3:51
he doesn't have a car, so he uses
3:53
his bag to go everywhere.
3:54
He said he has been hit twice on
3:57
San Jacinto or St. Jack or San
3:59
Jacento.
4:00
He has been twice there
4:01
and once by a scooter
4:03
on Guadalupe.
4:05
So initially he said he worried that
4:07
people wouldn't be able to go
4:08
on speedway and so because they need
4:10
to go places quicker, they can't
4:12
always walk their bikes, then people
4:14
would be forced to go in these other
4:15
two roads where there's cars and
4:17
there's not always a
4:21
bike path, a protected
4:23
lane. And I mean, you bike,
4:25
Gerry, and you know how
4:27
scary that is.
4:29
Absolutely, especially if you've
4:30
already been hit by a car before.
4:33
Right. So initially without having
4:34
the information that it wouldn't
4:36
affect manually
4:37
operated bikes, he was very worried
4:39
about that.
4:40
And once I told him about
4:42
the change that UT let us know that
4:44
it wouldn t affect those bikes,
4:46
he said he then worried about people
4:48
who ride electric bikes because they
4:50
can't ride a manual one.
4:52
And he said that also raised
4:53
questions of like, does this include
4:54
scooters like electric scooters?
4:56
Does it not?
4:57
And also why does this
4:59
the signs that we are seeing, why do
5:01
they not? Say exactly that it's
5:03
for electric bikes
5:05
and scooters.
5:05
Yeah, because we have a picture of
5:07
one of these signs at KUT.org,
5:09
and if I saw that, I would just
5:10
assume, well, I guess I have to get
5:12
off of my bike here.
5:13
It's not really super clear.
5:15
But you mentioned that it's not just
5:16
students who ride their bikes, there
5:17
are lots of Austinites use that
5:19
corridor. Who else did you speak
5:20
with?
5:20
Yeah, so I spoke to Alejandro de la
5:22
Vega, who's the Chair of the Bicycle
5:24
Advisory Council of the City of
5:25
Austin. And he said that any changes
5:27
that UT makes affect the whole
5:29
city, especially, you know, people
5:31
who go from North Austin to
5:33
downtown, they use a lot of
5:35
UT's roads, including
5:37
the infrastructures, including
5:39
speedway.
5:40
So he also mentioned initially when
5:41
we thought it would include all
5:43
bikes that, you know, it would push
5:44
people to unsafe roads and
5:46
that there's not enough bike
5:48
lanes around UT to do that.
5:50
And then I talked to Michael Hart
5:52
who uses Speedway
5:54
regularly.
5:55
And, um, well, he said, you
5:57
know, it would affect him.
5:59
He, but he doesn't use an electric
6:01
bike. So once again, once we knew
6:02
the information, he's that he
6:04
had concerns about what
6:06
it means for people who use e-bikes,
6:08
but then he also raised the question
6:10
about the cap Metro's bike share
6:12
program because they have a
6:14
station of electric assist
6:16
bikes on Speedway.
6:17
So he said.
6:18
This is a quote, it's kind of silly
6:20
to have an e-bike stand in the
6:21
middle of a zone that you're where
6:23
you're not allowing e-bikes on.
6:26
And then he also raised the question
6:28
of was the community involved
6:30
in this like that UT asked the
6:32
community and he asked if there was
6:34
any analysis or research done before
6:36
this decision.
6:37
And you know that UT, yes, while
6:39
they serve students, they're also a
6:41
big part of the city and Austinites
6:43
are involved so that he would I'd
6:44
like to see that.
6:46
UT get an input from everybody.
6:49
And that's something that also Eddie
6:50
Diaz told me, that as a student,
6:52
he would have liked to see UT reach
6:54
out and say, hey, we're
6:56
making changes.
6:57
Now, UT is making changes
6:59
to their
7:02
plan, their master plan.
7:03
And on their website, they say
7:05
they're gonna get input from
7:07
people, but so far Diaz said
7:08
he hadn't heard anything.
7:10
Okay, well, we're a little less
7:12
than three weeks away from the start
7:13
of the school year here on the UT
7:14
campus. When should we expect more
7:16
guidance on this dismount zone?
7:19
So we are expecting to
7:21
know more next Monday.
7:22
The UT spokesperson said that they
7:24
would have more information and they
7:25
would tell us about the plan on
7:27
Monday and that they're very excited
7:30
to share those changes
7:31
that will make UT more
7:34
safe.
7:35
Okay, well, when we know more about
7:36
those changes, we'll let you know
7:38
right here on Austin Signal.
7:39
That is Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez.
7:41
She is KUT's education reporter,
7:43
and we'll have a link to her
7:44
reporting in today's show notes.
7:46
Thank you, Greta.
7:47
Thank you, Jerry.
7:53
A non-native invasive aquatic
7:56
plant has made a major comeback
7:57
in some of Austin's waterways.
7:59
Acreage of hydrilla is near an
8:01
all-time high, that is
8:03
according to a memo last month from
8:05
Austin Watershed Protection to City
8:06
Council.
8:07
To help deal with that problem, some
8:09
are calling for the lowering of
8:11
Lake Austin.
8:12
That resurgence comes after nearly a
8:14
decade of it being virtually
8:16
eradicated from the lake.
8:17
But, as Austin signals
8:19
Alexandra Hart explains, that
8:21
wasn't exactly ideal either.
8:24
Hydrilla has been a pervasive
8:26
problem in the state for years.
8:28
Basically it's been present in Texas
8:29
water bodies for many decades.
8:32
I would say, I think I've read that
8:33
half of Texas public reservoirs
8:35
have had hydrilla at some point or
8:37
another.
8:37
That's Patrick Ireland, district
8:39
fisheries biologist for Texas Parks
8:41
and Wildlife Department.
8:42
They monitor hydrilla and other
8:44
invasive aquatic species around the
8:46
state.
8:46
So it's not a new phenomenon.
8:48
It comes and goes.
8:49
Oftentimes it'll show up in a
8:50
reservoir, proliferate due to
8:52
ideal conditions such as drought,
8:54
nutrients, warmth, but
8:56
then it'll disappear just on its
8:58
own.
8:58
Locally, it's been particularly bad
9:00
in Lake Austin.
9:02
Overgrowth of hydrilla is a problem
9:03
because it can lead to water quality
9:05
issues, crowd out native species,
9:07
and get tangled in boat motors.
9:09
Brent Spellinger, conservation
9:11
program supervisor with Austin
9:12
Watershed Protection, says lowering
9:14
water levels in reservoirs helps
9:16
manage hydrila.
9:17
But during drought, that's not
9:19
possible.
9:19
Plus, hydrilia thrives in drought
9:21
because water is more stagnant.
9:23
So it really started growing in the
9:24
early 2010s when we had a prolonged
9:27
dry spell.
9:28
Here's Spellinger.
9:29
You know, unfortunately during the
9:30
drought period, they weren't able to
9:32
do any lowerings.
9:33
So in response to kind
9:35
of seeing the plant really
9:37
take off, because it wasn't
9:39
being checked by any large
9:42
flooding events, and so it was
9:44
just getting ahead of the grass
9:45
our consumption.
9:47
That grass carp he mentioned, it's
9:49
a large fish that feeds on hydrilla.
9:51
Releasing these sterile grass carp
9:53
into hydrila-infested waterways is
9:55
one way to manage the problem.
9:57
The city of Austin originally
9:58
started doing that in 2003.
10:00
But as Spellinger mentioned,
10:02
extended drought was causing the
10:04
hydrillar growth to outpace what
10:06
the carp could eat.
10:07
So in 2011, the city ramped up
10:09
carp stocking to try to compensate.
10:11
And it worked.
10:12
A little too well.
10:14
Population got to be so large
10:16
that then the carp kind of
10:18
flipped the tables and the
10:20
hydrilla and all vegetation was
10:22
effectively eradicated from Lake
10:24
Austin.
10:24
By 2014, the large population
10:26
of carp had eaten all the hydrilla,
10:28
and having run out of that food
10:30
source, the carp moved on to eating
10:32
other plants, until eventually they
10:34
ate all the other plants.
10:36
The lack of vegetation persisted for
10:38
nearly a decade.
10:39
According to the recent Watershed
10:41
Protection Department memo to City
10:43
Council, that event caused, quote,
10:45
a cascade of negative effects,
10:47
including increased planktonic algae
10:49
blooms and a lack of habitat.
10:51
Leading to a collapse of the fishery
10:53
and poorer overall water quality,"
10:55
end quote.
10:57
But nature heals, and around
10:59
2022, native aquatic vegetation
11:01
began bouncing back, and
11:03
eventually the hydrilla came back
11:04
too, which has now rebounded
11:06
to nearly peak levels.
11:08
This time though, the city is taking
11:10
a more measured approach.
11:12
Residents along Lake Austin are
11:13
asking for the lake to be lowered,
11:14
and it's something that's being
11:16
considered.
11:17
According to Patrick Ireland from
11:18
TPWD, all the rain we've gotten
11:20
this year may also help disperse
11:22
nutrients that feed hydrilla as
11:24
well as pushing some of the plant
11:26
out of reservoirs.
11:27
Optimistically, I think if nature
11:29
cooperates and we get flows from
11:31
Lake Travis through, that
11:33
can actually act as a natural
11:34
mitigation.
11:35
So that's one of the things we
11:36
watch. Maybe this El Nino year will
11:38
provide that. We don't know.
11:39
Meanwhile, the city of Austin
11:40
resumed carp stocking last year,
11:43
and Spellinger says they're taking
11:44
it a little more slowly this
11:46
go-around.
11:46
The thing that we've tried to
11:48
emphasize is that this is a
11:49
long-term, you know, they can have a
11:51
decadal kind of control and
11:53
effect on the system.
11:54
And we don't want to repeat what
11:56
happened in 2012, 2013,
11:59
overreact, overstock.
12:01
Watershed Protection says it will
12:02
likely request another grass carp
12:04
stocking in the fall.
12:06
I'm Alexandra Hart in Austin.
12:09
And today, the National Weather
12:10
Service is forecasting another
12:12
triple-digit high in Austin.
12:13
That would be the fifth in a row and
12:16
the 10th overall this summer.
12:18
The service expects that the
12:20
temperature for the next few days is
12:21
gonna stick below 100, so appreciate
12:24
that while you have it.
12:25
And we got more Austin Signal for
12:27
you after this break.
12:30
This is Austin Signal.
12:32
Welcome back.
12:33
Austin is of course a big
12:35
music town, most people know that by
12:37
now, and even better it also has
12:39
a thriving film industry to
12:41
boot.
12:42
This week those two cultures come
12:43
together for a four
12:45
day festival, and for
12:47
KUT's art beat Stephanie Federico
12:49
introduces us to the Austin woman
12:51
who is running it for the first
12:53
time.
12:54
Walking through Becky Ariaga's
12:56
house, you can just tell she's
12:58
a music person.
12:59
The hallway leading to her home
13:00
office is lined with Austin City
13:02
Limits posters.
13:04
But that's not why I'm here.
13:05
We're here to talk about movies.
13:08
Becky is producing Austin's Sound
13:10
Unseen Festival this year.
13:11
I'm the Technically Festival
13:13
Director, which is a
13:15
great fancy title for doer of all
13:17
things.
13:17
Sound Unseen started in Minneapolis
13:19
in 1999.
13:21
Becky met the organizer, Jim
13:23
Brunzel, when he was living briefly
13:24
in Austin.
13:25
He told her about this film festival
13:27
that was all about music.
13:29
I'm like, time out, Jim.
13:30
You do know that we are the live
13:31
music capital of the world.
13:33
And he goes, oh, yes, I've heard
13:34
that.
13:35
And so I was
13:37
like, we need this festival.
13:38
Why don't we have this festival here
13:39
in Austin?
13:40
After she bugged him for a few
13:42
years, Jim agreed to expand the
13:43
festival to Austin in 2020.
13:46
Then last year, he decided to take a
13:48
break.
13:48
That gave Becky and other
13:50
co-producers here a chance to
13:51
rethink the festival, which had
13:53
always been held in December.
13:56
They wanted to suggest a summer run.
13:58
It's hot in Austin.
13:59
People appreciate the AC in a movie
14:01
theater. But Becky said Jim had
14:03
an even better idea.
14:05
You guys run your own schedule,
14:07
run your own submissions, and invite
14:09
the films you want.
14:10
It's all yours.
14:11
This was literally a dream come true
14:13
for me.
14:14
Becky and her all-volunteer team of
14:16
five people got cracking.
14:17
After putting out a call, they
14:19
received more than 200 submissions
14:21
of movies, videos, and shorts
14:23
related to music.
14:25
They fought over their favorites and
14:26
then finally were able to whittle it
14:28
down to seven feature-length films
14:30
and six shorts.
14:31
They'll all be shown this weekend at
14:33
the Austin Film Society Cinema
14:35
in Central Austin.
14:36
The four-day program will also
14:38
feature filmmaker Q&As,
14:40
live music, and industry meetups.
14:42
I mean, we're a music town and we're
14:44
film town. I mean how many cities
14:46
across the country get to have those
14:47
two, you know, those two
14:49
claims to fame.
14:50
So I love just
14:52
mixing these two communities
14:53
together in one theater and
14:56
seeing what happens.
14:57
2, 3, 4
15:02
One of the filmmakers showing this
15:03
year is Lorne Yapp.
15:05
They produced a short documentary
15:06
about Meatjoy, an Austin
15:08
punk band from the 80s.
15:13
America's Entertainment Nightmares,
15:15
the first movie Lauren has directed
15:17
that's been in a film festival.
15:19
So that means a lot to
15:21
me.
15:22
And also this will be the
15:24
premiere of the film itself
15:26
publicly.
15:27
And so I'm glad to be doing it
15:29
locally at AFS
15:31
with folks who
15:33
are just obsessed
15:35
with music and film.
15:37
And like, it feels like the perfect
15:39
audience.
15:40
Meat Joy connected with Lauren a
15:41
couple years ago through Outsider
15:43
Festival, the annual LGBTQ
15:45
transmedia arts event in Austin.
15:48
The experimental band had reunited
15:50
for a pair of shows and they were
15:51
looking for someone to make a film
15:52
about them.
15:54
Lauren was inspired by how genuine
15:55
and radical Meat Joy.
15:57
So the documentary,
15:59
it's a few stories
16:01
that kind of, I think encapsulates
16:04
their energy as a band, which is
16:06
very cooperative,
16:08
very grassroots, very
16:10
anyone can do anything,
16:12
you know, just wanting to encourage
16:13
each other, like a beginner's mind,
16:15
you now. Lauren thought the film was
16:16
a perfect fit for Sound Unseen.
16:18
They're both pretty DIY.
16:20
You know, like it is all fully
16:21
locally run and it's
16:23
by filmmakers, by music lovers,
16:26
musicians, like.
16:27
Who have this passion for that,
16:29
right?
16:29
First of all, director Becky Arriaga
16:31
says Sound Unseen is going to have a
16:33
bit more Texas flair this year.
16:35
Opening night will feature the 20th
16:37
anniversary screening of the chicks'
16:39
Shut Up and Sing.
16:40
She says the documentary is
16:42
especially relevant in today's
16:43
political climate and looking at
16:45
what has and has not changed.
16:48
Just so you know, we're ashamed the
16:49
president of the United States is
16:51
from Texas.
16:52
A documentary about the Austin punk
16:54
band Big Boys will also be shown,
16:56
and there See videos from locals,
16:58
telenovela, and Mama Duke.
17:00
Becky can't wait for those bands to
17:01
see their work at AFS.
17:03
It's so rewarding to
17:05
watch their eyes light up when they
17:07
see their music video
17:09
on a giant screen
17:11
versus they're typically watching it
17:12
on their phone screen.
17:14
So that is quite a different
17:15
experience and that's just super
17:17
cool.
17:17
She's also excited to be screening a
17:19
movie about Grammy Award winner Sara
17:21
Bareilles.
17:22
Right on
17:24
us,
17:27
say it honestly
17:33
The film is called Good Grief.
17:35
It just premiered at the Tribeca
17:36
Film Festival and the director will
17:38
be in town.
17:40
Becky says there's something for
17:41
everyone and every decade starting
17:43
with early rock and roll star Eddie
17:44
Cochran.
17:45
I'm a gonna do, but there ain't
17:47
no cure for the summertime blues
17:51
I only wish that everybody
17:53
in Austin could watch every one of
17:55
these films because they're so good.
17:57
She's already looking ahead to where
17:58
the local version of the festival
18:00
goes next.
18:01
For KUT's Art Beat, I'm Stephanie
18:03
Federico in Austin.
18:12
Well, it's been said a couple of
18:14
times on today's show, but it is
18:16
very hot out there.
18:17
And while the summer heat is far
18:19
from over, summer break is
18:21
approaching its last days, and
18:23
one classic way to cool down is
18:25
by taking in an ice-cold frozen
18:27
beverage.
18:32
For the On Our Plates segment,
18:34
where we talk all things food,
18:36
drink, and industry here in Austin,
18:38
I spoke earlier today with Matthew
18:40
Odom, the restaurant critic for
18:42
the Austin American Statesman.
18:44
You know, this isn't the most
18:45
conventional, straightforward list
18:47
of frozen drinks.
18:48
How did you go about reporting the
18:50
story?
18:50
So, you know, as you said, it's hot
18:52
and nothing's better than a frozen
18:53
drink and, you know that could be
18:55
ice cold water or a smoothie, but
18:57
you know as part of the job, uh, I'd
18:59
like to have a drink or two.
19:01
Uh, so we wanted to run around and
19:03
find, you know, obviously a frozen
19:05
margarita is probably the trademark
19:07
cold drink in Austin and
19:08
Texas in general, but we wanted to
19:10
find, uh variations.
19:12
You know, you just see those frozen
19:13
machines behind bars all over town.
19:15
Now, uh people, especially at
19:17
happy hour offer great deals.
19:19
Uh, and then in terms of writing
19:21
it, you know,
19:23
how, how many words do you really
19:24
need to spill on a, on a cocktail?
19:26
That's pretty, that's a good point,
19:28
I mean, it should be pretty
19:29
straightforward, I feel like.
19:30
Yeah, I think the name kind of tells
19:31
you a lot, but I had
19:33
the idea in talking to my colleague
19:35
Ana Gutierrez that it would be
19:37
fun to do this list in
19:39
haiku style.
19:41
There's something simple and clean
19:43
about it, pun intended, I guess.
19:45
And so we came up with a list of
19:47
10 all over town and we
19:49
wrote haikus as little
19:51
modes to those.
19:53
Okay, fantastic.
19:54
You can find the full list of haikus
19:55
at statesman.com slash restaurants
19:57
Just to pull the curtain back a
19:59
little bit because of all the
20:01
recording hecticness here at KUT
20:02
today Matthew you and I are
20:04
recording in studio 1a So I'm
20:06
gonna ask you to dramatically
20:07
perform some of these haiku's if you
20:09
don't mind We were you know yodeling
20:11
before we started recording.
20:13
So let's let's start
20:15
with the give me the first one What
20:16
do you what do you have for me?
20:17
Yeah, I feel like this is the
20:18
closest I'll ever be to a rock star,
20:20
yet I'm eating haikus.
20:22
You know, I was in
20:24
a neighborhood restaurant in South
20:25
Austin the other day, the High Road
20:27
Deli and Bar,
20:29
and frozen margaritas aren't my
20:31
first go-to for a frozen drink.
20:33
Big Red is not my first goto for
20:35
a soda, but the Big
20:37
Red margarita at High Road Deli
20:39
and Bar really captured me, so the
20:42
haiku. Marriage
20:43
of two greats.
20:45
Vanilla and orange sing
20:47
Texas forever
20:51
You know there the people wonder
20:53
like what is the flavor profile of a
20:55
big red, you know It's it tastes
20:56
like red soda.
20:57
You know, there's vanilla and
20:58
there's orange in there And so that
21:00
citrus really works off of the
21:01
the lime and the citrus and a
21:03
margarita Uh, it's it's a
21:05
really great drink and it's pretty
21:07
to look at as well
21:08
All right, that's not one that I had
21:09
heard of. I am a big Red fan though,
21:11
as a native Texan, so that sounds
21:13
like something that will
21:15
be right up
21:17
my alley.
21:18
Let's keep the poetry going.
21:20
What else you got for us?
21:21
Frozen Saturn at Holiday
21:23
on 7th.
21:24
The Saturn is a classic cocktail
21:25
dating back about 100, I think about
21:28
60 years and
21:30
it was made into a Frozen at
21:32
the bar on East 7th Street.
21:33
So the Frozen Saturday at Holiday
21:35
7th, tropical classic
21:37
passion fruit and almond
21:39
glow. I dream
21:41
of Tiki.
21:43
I really feel like there's so many
21:44
instruments around us right now,
21:46
there should be like a strum of the
21:47
guitar, or we need like a
21:49
drum-tum-tun, okay, okay.
21:52
I gotta admit, I'm not familiar with
21:53
either of the drinks you've told me
21:55
about so far.
21:56
How hard was it to whittle it
21:58
down to just these 10?
21:59
You know, I kind of bounced around
22:01
and I just whatever kind of captured
22:03
my my spirit at the
22:05
time pun intended yet again
22:07
The performer in you is really
22:08
coming out.
22:09
I'm really being a hack this
22:11
week But you know, we also have
22:13
some some classics like the frozen
22:14
margarita. It did nada There's
22:17
one on Ices a Chavez.
22:19
There's on on South 1st Street.
22:20
They come in those pink cups They've
22:22
become somewhat famous My
22:24
colleague Ana Gutierrez wrote the
22:26
haiku for that one.
22:27
I'll go ahead and perform her
22:30
writing To Marg
22:32
limit stands lime
22:34
tequila salted rim
22:36
best sipped with care
22:38
Wow Okay.
22:39
Cause there's a two limit on those.
22:40
I think they put kind of an
22:42
excessive amount of tequila in
22:43
there, maybe double the amount that
22:45
you'd usually find in a frozen.
22:47
Uh, so things get a little loose
22:48
over at Denada, but it's become a
22:50
beloved Cantina in South Austin
22:52
as it is in on, on East Cesar
22:54
Chavez as well.
22:55
Yeah, well, I wasn't familiar with
22:56
the first ones you mentioned, but I
22:57
might be too familiar with that one.
23:00
Okay, well again, the full list
23:02
from Matthew and Anna is at
23:04
statesman.com slash restaurants.
23:06
Before you get out of here, Matthew,
23:07
you also had a story out last week
23:09
about hot dogs.
23:10
I think a cold drink and a hot dog
23:11
is like that's how you really beat
23:13
the summer heat here in Texas.
23:15
You don't have to give us all the
23:16
list, but just maybe one that really
23:18
is your your go-to during the
23:19
summer.
23:20
You know, I'll give you two real
23:21
quick. There's, there's kind of the,
23:23
the high end, um, fancy
23:25
one is at distant relatives,
23:27
which is a barbecue truck, uh,
23:29
in the East Austin, Southeast
23:30
Austin. That meanwhile brewing, uh
23:33
he fries it in beef tallow and he
23:34
serves it open face.
23:36
So there's a hot dog and sandwich.
23:37
No, but he does serve it on this
23:38
open face Texas toast that he
23:40
fries in beef tallow, which is the
23:42
best toast I've ever had in my life.
23:43
Uh, so that's a distant relatives.
23:45
And then if you want kind of a more
23:46
traditional one, They do a ripper,
23:48
a fried dog at Frasier's long
23:50
and low.
23:51
You know, it's tricky with the fried
23:53
dog because you don't want to over
23:54
fry it and get it dry and tough.
23:56
They sizzle it just nice
23:58
snap casing with a
24:00
cheese sauce and mustard and onions
24:02
on top. It's a great dive bar.
24:04
It's really great afternoon snack
24:06
when you're watching the Astros and
24:08
having a cold one.
24:08
That's right, I don't mean to brag,
24:10
but that is my local bar,
24:12
Frasier's. All right, well, you can
24:13
find all of Matthew's work over
24:14
at the Austin American Statesman.
24:16
That is where he is the restaurant
24:18
critic, reporter, and haiku writer,
24:20
Matthew. Thank you again for
24:21
stopping by.
24:22
Always a pleasure, Jerry.
24:23
And thank you out there for
24:25
spending the day here with us on
24:27
Austin Signal.
24:28
Another plug here real quick,
24:30
Sound and Scene kicks off tonight.
24:31
Our old boss, Debbie Hyatt,
24:33
is gonna be conducting the Q&A
24:35
after the film that's happening
24:37
tonight. So go on out there Support
24:39
Debbie, support film, and
24:41
you can go to kut.org
24:43
slash signal to keep up with
24:44
everything that we are doing right
24:46
here.
24:47
Rene Chavez is our technical
24:48
director, Alexandra Hart is our
24:50
producer, and Kristen Cabrera is
24:52
our managing producer.
24:54
I'm Jerry Kehannel.
24:55
Austin Signal will be back at the
24:57
same time tomorrow.