MediterraneanGrocery Wholesalers in Austin, TX

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Halloween season has many of the usual events: haunted houses, costume parties, ghost tours. But in a large city like Austin, there can be too many to track.

Leila Sales and Brian Pennington started tracking Austin-area Halloween events in 2019, a year after the couple moved to the city. The list took a pandemic pause in 2020 and 2021 and returned for 2022 and 2023.

“I have always loved Halloween; I feel like what we do with the newsletter and what we’re interested in is creative, artsy, homegrown, DIY sort of stuff. And I feel like Halloween is the perfect holiday for that,” Sales said.

The list started as a way for the couple to promote their local events newsletter Lite + Brite Events.

“We were trying to find at the time ways to help grow the newsletter,” Pennington said. “[The spreadsheet] made sense on Reddit, because there’s this great community of Austinites there that we want to reach. I think we grew [subscribers] like 100% the first time we did it.”

The full spreadsheet of 100+ events can be viewed here.

As for the couple’s favorites? Sales said she’s excited for “Flood of Spirits” at The Driskill, an immersive theater experience, and Pennington is looking forward to the “Grave Rave.”

According to their website, the Lite + Brite newsletter does “not list normal concerts, normal movie showtimes, normal happy hours, normal trivia nights, etc.” and instead focuses on quirkier events: “art parties, pig beauty pageants, site-specific performances, miniature parades, events with words like ‘menagerie’ in the title, Harry Potter parodies, anything referencing Kate Bush, etc.”

But in a growing and changing city, space and cost are detrimental to weirdness.

“We do a bi-monthly event at West China Tea House, and with the I-35 expansion, they are probably going to have to move. Is there going to be another place that they can afford? I don’t know, I hope so,” Sales said. “The more expensive it is to run a space or a venue, the less experimental you can afford to be in your programming.”

The couple is still positive about the persistence of “weird” Austin despite the changes.

“You just have to know where to look, and if you have the sense of like, ‘my city isn’t cool anymore,’ often what that means is just you’re not cool anymore,” Sales said.

“Change is a constant. If you are not changing as the environment around you changes, you perceive it as like, ‘oh, well, everything I liked is gone,'” Pennington said, “And that might be true, but there might be new things taking the place of the things that you miss. If you’re not open to finding those things, or if you’re not able to find those things, then it creates this perception that Austin as a whole has changed.”

AUSTIN (KXAN) — With hundreds of millions of dollars needed to support the City of Austin’s Interstate 35 Cap and Stitch program, Council Member Mackenzie Kelly submitted a memo Wednesday urging city leadership to evaluate possible public-private partnerships to support funding the initiative.

Kelly shared a copy of her memo in a social media post Wednesday afternoon. The memo, addressed to Interim City Manager Jesús Garza, requested looking into those partnerships “as a potential avenue for funding and managing the Cap and Stitch projects, as well as other future infrastructures projects in the City of Austin.”

In her memo, Kelly also requested more information on the city’s current Certificate of Obligation bond capacity “and the possibility of issuing a public response to these inquiries to inform our residents.”

Public-private partnerships have historically been used as a means of funding infrastructure projects. Working with private sector partners can lean into their expertise “while sharing the risks and rewards of these projects,” Kelly wrote in her memo.

She added a public-private collaboration could help reduce the costs of projects like the Our Future 35 Cap and Stitch program, as well as result in more timely solutions for infrastructure projects across the city.

“My recommendation is that we consider conducting a comprehensive study to assess the potential benefits of [public-private partnerships] for the Cap and Stitch project, so as not to delay the infrastructure execution and further support and develop our relationship with Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT),” Kelly wrote.

It comes just a few weeks after the City of Austin’s mobility committee discussed the funding costs for the Cap and Stitch program. That figure is estimated near roughly $730 million, with city officials needing to identify those funding sources to TxDOT by December 2024 in order for the caps to move forward.

The City of Austin did approve in late September submitting an application for a $105.2 million grant, with the funding available through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program. However, that is a drop in the bucket compared to the additional $625 million estimated for the program, with just over a year to identify all possible funding sources secured.

Kelly’s memo comes a week after Council Member José “Chito” Vela shared his own concerns over securing those funds, with him expressing support for a possible supplemental bond election next fall. If the city were to pursue a bond election, he said he would see it as a way for voters to decide whether to fill out any remaining funding gaps prior to TxDOT’s December 2024 deadline.

“We need to look at all possible funding opportunities,” he told KXAN Oct. 11, adding: “But will those (federal) sources in and of themselves be enough to pay for everything that we want to do along the corridor? I’m not sure that will be the case.”

When it opened on Balcones Drive in mid-June, Yamas basically became an overnight sensation, thanks to word of mouth generated by social media influencers. Photos of luscious seafood dishes and drool-worthy cocktails – and highly filtered skin care girlies dressed for the club – flooded our Instagram feeds, fueling FOMO something fierce.

We made our first visit to Yamas on a Friday night, having booked an 8:45 reservation three weeks in advance (this is a place you need to plan ahead for). When we arrived, I was taken aback by how beautiful the restaurant is, its stark white walls accented with pops of bright Aegean blue and tasteful, sand-colored cushions. Myriad evil eye amulets ward off evil and bad luck; murals of Medusa and a giant octopus reference the darker parts of the sea; pink bougainvillea drips from the walls, lending the space a resort feel. You're definitely meant to feel like you're on vacation at Yamas.

We were seated in the back dining room at a two-top against the wall – perfect for people-watching, as owners Hristos and Roxie Nikolakos flitted around the crowded dining room and Roxie's brother, ponytailed and suit-clad, wandered around doing card tricks for amused diners. The clientele consisted mostly of groups of four to 12 or more; there were many birthdays and bachelorettes celebrating at Yamas that night.

I was taken aback by how beautiful the restaurant is, its stark white walls accented with pops of bright Aegean blue. You’re definitely meant to feel like you’re on vacation at Yamas.

Because it was very busy, it took quite some time for our server to greet us. Once he arrived, he was gracious and hospitable, taking the time to walk us through the extensive menu (there are about 50 items listed), explaining the details of each dish (he even described the fish dishes according to how light to heavy they were). We chose the pikilia appetizer and a couple of cocktails, then settled in.

I loved my Greek sangria, with white wine and chunks of peach and strawberries; it was perfectly refreshing on a very hot late-summer night. My spouse enjoyed his Medusa Margarita, bloodred and rimmed with menacing black salt. The pikilia was delicious and a very strong "dips for dinner" candidate (BYO Gut Milk). The tzatziki was thick and creamy, redolent of dill and cucumber, while the Kalamata olive spread was the perfect blend of salty and umami. The hummus tasted fishy; when we inquired about it, the waiter was surprised to inform us that the kitchen had run out of hummus and replaced it with taramasalata, a dip made with fish roe, olive oil, and lemon juice (vegetarians may want to confirm that they are actually receiving hummus if they order this dish). The roasted pita was warm and delicious and, as we waited quite a while for our mains to arrive, generously replenished.

My spouse loved his scallops, four plump, fresh, perfectly cooked bivalves served atop a delicious dill sauce. I enjoyed my moussaka, a large slab of casserole stuffed with spiced ground beef, tender potatoes, smoky eggplant, and a creamy béchamel. We both liked the lemon potatoes, some of which were a bit undercooked but flavorful nonetheless. We left feeling full and happy, despite the unrelenting din (chatting over dinner is overrated, amirite?).

We returned for a double date with another couple a few weeks later. After we'd been seated for several minutes, our server, whose hospitality ethos could best be described as "perfunctory," greeted us coolly and took our cocktail and mezze orders.

I didn't care at all for my Artemis Spritz; the lime and cucumber juices overpowered the gin, mint, and prosecco (strangely, my friend's tasted much lighter and more balanced), while the Tasos Old Fashioned, described as containing bourbon, cinnamon, and nutmeg, was sweeter and less spiced than anticipated.

The calamari was nicely cooked, with a light, crispy batter, served with a lovely aioli and lemon. The beet salad we ordered never arrived.

For dessert, we were served a lukewarm slab of tough, stale-tasting phyllo filled with a slimy custard. “It’s got hints of school cafeteria,” said my friend’s spouse.

We wandered into tempestuous waters with the entrées. My spouse opted for the chicken souvlaki, while my friend and I chose the seafood youvetsi to share and her spouse selected the short ribs. When our plates arrived, we were disappointed to see that the short rib and seafood entrées were basically interchangeable apart from the proteins: a too-large portion of orzo drowned in a tomato sauce that was a spoonful of sugar shy of Chef Boyardee, topped with a hunk of braised short ribs for him and a smattering of sad mussels and a few pieces each of calamari, lobster meat, and shrimp for us. That said, the short ribs were nicely cooked and seasoned, and fortunately weren't lost in that sea of tomato sauce.

The real kick in the pants, though, was the chicken souvlaki. While the chicken, which came in plump chunks on two skewers, was nicely cooked, it had precisely zero seasoning. Not even the accompanying thick, creamy tzatziki could remedy the lack of flavor. The fries, another too-large portion, were lukewarm and rubbery. They definitely didn't earn their spot on the plate. The price tag? Twenty-nine American dollars for underseasoned chicken and cold, inedible fries.

We reluctantly inquired into dessert; there are three options, two of which contain pistachios, to which I am allergic. So we opted for the galaktoboureko, which the waitress helpfully described as "like a bread pudding but with phyllo dough." What we got was a lukewarm slab of tough, stale-tasting phyllo filled with a slimy custard and swimming in a tepid, too-sweet cinnamon-honey syrup. "It's got hints of school cafeteria," said my friend's spouse.

Finally, it was time for us to launch our ships back out into the world, our Aegean adventure coming to a blessed end. The waitress, who'd spoken maybe two dozen words to us during the entire sojourn, dropped the check and I kicked myself for not having Apple Pay so that I could scan the QR code and hasten the end of a disappointing adjunct to that exciting earlier visit.

Ultimately, the inconsistent food and service sank Yamas for us. If you're looking for a restaurant to celebrate a special occasion alongside your favorite Instagram influencers but you don't care about the cuisine or the service, by all means, book a table at Yamas. But if you're looking for a thoughtfully curated, high-quality meal with service that's commensurate with the price point, you've got a big fat variety of better options.

5308 Balcones, 512/243-7499 Daily, 4-11pm yamasatx.com

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Leander pulled off a huge come-from-behind win 41-40 over Hendrickson at Bible Stadium on Thursday.

Anderson took care of Del Valle 49-17 while Crockett and McCallum both blanked their opponents. Crockett shut out Eastside 47-0 and McCallum blanked Navarro 38-0.

REPORT YOUR SCORE: We’d love to post your team’s score on our website, but we need your help to do it. Email the score of your game to [email protected] and we’ll get it on our website

In other notable scores from around Texas, Mansfield Timberview beat Dallas Sunset 90-0. Timberview is ranked No. 3 in the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football/Associated Press Class 5A-Division I poll.

Check out the rest of the scores from around the area and Texas.

Anderson 49, Del Valle 17

Crockett 47, Eastside 0

Leander 41, Hendrickson 40

McCallum 38, Navarro 0

CLASS 6A

Alief Elsik 21, Alvin 15

Byron Nelson 56, Keller Central 10

Cibolo Steele 52, SA East Central 21

Conroe 35, Grand Oaks 6

Cypress Creek 44, Houston Northbrook 0

Duncanville 49, Dallas Skyline 3

Edinburg Vela 77, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln 0

Fort Bend Clemens 44, Fort Bend Bush 21

Galena Park North Shore 38, Humble 24

Garland Lakeview Centennial 35, Rowlett 13

Houston Heights 62, Houston Westbury 0

Houston Langham Creek 35, Cypress Park 17

Houston Strake Jesuit 20, Alief Hastings 14

Humble Kingwood 34, Beaumont West Brook 0

Katy 42, Katy Cinco Ranch 13

Katy Taylor 30, Jordan 24

Los Fresnos 31, Brownsville Hanna 0

Pasadena Dobie 64, Pasadena Rayburn 0

PSJA 41, Edinburg North 12

Richmond George Ranch 41, Fort Bend Dulles 14

SA Roosevelt 36, SA Clark 21

Southlake Carroll 70, Northwest Eaton 28

Spring Westfield 63, Aldine MacArthur 7

CLASS 5A

Argyle 63, Frisco Independence 0

Arlington Seguin 37, Ennis 34

CC Miller 59, CC Veterans 40

Dallas White 63, Carrollton Turner 28

Edinburg 77, La Joya Jaurez-Lincoln 0

Forney 53, North Mesquite 13

Fort Bend Marshall 42, Fort Bend Willowridge 14

Frisco Wakeland 28, Frisco Lebanon Trail 14

Galveston Ball 66, Houston Waltrip 12

Mansfield Timberview 90, Dallas Sunset 0

Roma 48, PSJA Memorial 40

SA Burbank 35, SA Harlandale 21

SA Legacy 32, Eagle Pass Winn 21

Tomball 45, Klein Forest 7

CLASS 4A

Argyle 63, Frisco Independence 0

Boerne 63, SA Kennedy 0

Brownwood 35, Lubbock Estacado 14

Kennedale 70, FW Diamond Hill-Jarvis 0

Stephenville 31, China Spring 21

CLASS 2A

Big Sandy 22, Gladewater Union Grove 14

CLASS 1A

Gilmer Union Hill 68, Saint Jo 22

Gordon 61, Lingleville 0

Silverton 55, Darrouzett 0

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Conroe Covenant 49, Katy Faith West 0

FW Nazarene 52, Denton Calvary 12

SA Sunnybrook 37, CC Annapolis 30

OTHER

Houston Heights 36, Houston Westbury 0

San Antonio Southwest Legacy 32, Eagle Pass Winn 21

San Marcos Baptist Academy 56, Kerrville Our Lady of the Hills 0

Waco Methodist 60, Community Christian 8

West Plains 72, Perryton 6

AUSTIN, TEXAS – Austin-native and four-time GRAMMY award winner Gary Clark Jr. will headline Longhorn City Limits presented by Still Austin Whiskey on Saturday, October 28! The FREE gameday concert, located on the LBJ Lawn, will take place prior to Texas Football's game versus BYU.

Steeped in the grand tradition of the American songbook, Gary Clark Jr. has emerged as a 21st-century rock 'n' roll messiah; a blues virtuoso who blends in reggae, punk, R&B, hip-hop, and soul, re-shaping the genre for our time. He's been doing his thing since he was a kid in Texas, but made global waves in 2014 following his first GRAMMY Award: Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Please Come Home" from his 2012 debut Blak And Blu. Clark ascended to greater heights in 2019 with his third full-length, the sensual and socially conscious This Land, which hit #6 on the Billboard Top 200, his third consecutive Top 10 debut. This Land garnered acclaim from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and many more. Clark topped bills at festivals and venues like the Hollywood Bowl, made appearances sharing the stage with The Rolling Stones, and performed at the White House for the Obamas. In 2020, Clark cleaned up at the GRAMMYs, taking home Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song ("This Land"), and Best Contemporary Blues Album. He performed "This Land" backed by The Roots during the ceremony, releasing the live version as a single. To date, Clark has six GRAMMY nominations and four wins. He has performed on national TV, making stops at Saturday Night Live, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and more. Clark is currently working on a follow-up to This Land, continuing to experiment and push the possibilities of American roots music.

"When the Longhorn City Limits concept was born, Gary Clark Jr. was immediately an artist we identified as a perfect fit," said Chris Del Conte, Vice President and Athletics Director. "His accolades and influence on musicians across the industry are numerous, and we are so excited to welcome such an incredible artist and hometown legend to the Forty Acres. The LBJ Lawn will be the place to be on October 28."

Live music will begin at 11 a.m. prior to Gary Clark Jr. hitting the stage at 12:30 p.m. approximately. A supporting artist will be announced at a later date.

Fans ages 21 and up can enjoy signature experiences at Longhorn City Limits including the Still Austin Music Lounge. Serving up a full menu of refreshments including the Still Austin Horns Up Bourbon Lemonade on ice, the lounge provides relaxation in a shaded area while enjoying the show. Fans won't want to miss surprises and limited-edition swag curated by Still Austin Whiskey Co, the homegrown grain-to-glass craft distillery using 100% Texas grains.

Also returning for a second consecutive season is the Tito's Tailgate located in front of the LBJ Fountain featuring refreshing Tito's cocktails on tap and shaded views of the stage to tailgate in real Texas fashion.

Concert goers can also enjoy Stubb's BBQ and pregame happy hour pricing featuring select $5 domestic and $6.50 premium beers at Longhorn City Limits.