Someone Threw a Buc-ee’s Beaver Toy Onto Blink-182’s Stage During Austin Concert

Punk rock band Blink-182 played in Austin last week at the Moody Center, and during the set, someone threw a stuffed animal beaver from Texas-based gas station market chain Buc-ee’s onto the stage, per Reddit. Bassist and singer Mark Hoppus actually picked up and held the toy for a moment.

Texas barbecue is wonderful

The New York Times digs into the wonder that is the new-school Texas barbecue age, where the state’s pitmasters are diversifying their flavors and techniques to create significant and fantastic smoked meats. The article highlights Lockhart’s newest barbecue restaurant Barbs B Q and Austin trucks LeRoy & Lewis and Distant Relatives. Then, its list of the 20 best new barbecue restaurants in the state includes those three places, plus San Antonio’s 2M Smokehouse, Austin’s Kemuri Tatsu-ya, and Buda’s Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ.

Cream cheese-chile crisp collaboration

Austin bagel shop-slash-company Rosen’s is teaming up with FIlipino-Vietnamese food truck Fil N’ Viet to create a spicy cream cheese schmear for the month of July. The result is the lime cilantro chile crunch schmear made with the food truck’s crunchy chile oil. It’s available at both locations of Rosen’s in North Burnet and in downtown Austin. Likewise, the Rosewood truck will be serving a very limited offering: a bagel sandwich made with pork tocino, scrambled eggs, boursin cheese, mayonnaise, and pickled red onions on a sesame bagel. This one will be available on Saturday and Sunday, July 15 and 16 for lunch. Two dollars of every bagel sandwich sold will be donated to the GoFundMe campaign for Rosen’s managing partner Joe Carr’s colon cancer medical expenses.

Texas pizza chain expansion in Austin

Dallas-based pizza chain Zalat is opening two first-ever locations in Austin this year. There’s one set for West Campus at 2222 Rio Grande Street, and then a second at Arbor Walk in Gateway at 10515 North Mopac Expressway. Along with pizza, there are Za’Bites, which are bits of pizza dough-based pretzel bites with sauces and cheeses.

Hill Country bakery break

Dripping Springs bakery Abby Jane Bakeshop is currently on a summer break, which started on July 8 and will run through July 19. It’ll reopen on Thursday, July 20.

Wine accolades

Many Austin restaurants snagged slots on Wine Spectator’s restaurant awards of 2023. These include Hestia, Garrison, Qi, and others.