Arts and Culture

Neighborhood restaurants, those located in residential areas, are often welcome members of a community. Sometimes they trigger concern over issues such as traffic, as was the case with Épicerie Cafe & Grocery in the Rosedale neighborhood. 

But now that the has restaurant been open for several months, Austin American-Statesman restaurant critic Matthew Odam has had a chance to taste the menu, which is the subject of his latest review.  Odam joined me to talk about Épicerie and share some of his other favorite neighborhood restaurants. Listen to our conversation by clicking the player above. 

If you’re ever looking to take a barbecue road trip through Texas, you’d have trouble finding a better book to guide you than The Prophets of Smoked Meat: A Journey Through Texas Barbecue by Daniel Vaughn. It’s the first book published on Anthony Bourdain’s new HarperCollins imprint, Ecco. KUT’s Nathan Bernier talked with Vaughn about what goes into good brisket and how to find the good out-of-the-way spots.

The children's book, Octopus Alone, by Austin writer/illustrator Divya Srinivasan is released today. It's already being called a remarkable story that teaches children that it's OK to be by yourself in a safe and quite place.

Octopus is shy. She lives on a reef where there’s always a lot going on. Sometimes it’s more than she can take. One day, she finds herself in a new place far from home, all alone.

Imagine: The world as you know it has ended. People are gone. Food is scarce. Vicious animal roam freely. You are alone, fighting an enemy so devious, so powerful, so undetectable, you question your own sanity. You are 16.

That is the premise of Rick Yancey’s new young-adult novel, The 5th Wave. KUT’s Emily Donahue spoke with Yancey about the existential questions the characters grapple with along the way.

A new kind of comic book launches today in Austin.

Scripted by Austinites Karen Davidson and Morgan Coy, with Polish artist Chris Chalik, “Shadow Healer” is the first segment of a graphic novel in four parts