The 2GoNow3: Austin,Texas

Our regular 2GoNow3 ™ feature cuts through the online travelspatter by providing links to the only three travel resources you need to prepare for a trip.

This week’s 3fer: Everybody’s favorite, if increasingly overexposed, Red Star Edge City. In chronological order:

Austin: Keepin’ it Weird
By Beth D’Addono, The City Traveler
Friday, September 25, 2009
Full of pointers to a short list of good music venues and restaurants to check out.  Tweet-size summary:

The only blue dot on the red map of Texas, Austin’s town slogan is “Keep Austin Weird.” Enough said. We were there.

Off-Beat Austin? Rock On
by Roy Furchgott, The Washington Post
Sept. 21, 2008
Solid high-points rundown for first-time weirdness pilgrims, with details. Money quote:

In just one weekend there, I was photographed with El Vez, the Mexican Elvis; had drinks next to a guy with an ostentatious mustache and the garb of a 1920s movie cowboy; was overcharged at not one but two fine establishments; and was befriended by people who cheerfully claimed to have done jail time.

The Austinist
Insider blog provides a deeper dive, with high-snark notes on events and news that suggests the texture of–and provides pointers to–life as it’s experienced by local hip-ners. It’s the most popular resource of the users of the social bookmarking site Delicious. Recent ripe observation:

The Mohawk offers up a hell of a future-look tonight, as even if the bands on this docket aren’t familiar to you yet, give it time: they will be. With a trifold bill featuring not one, but two bands whose debut albums garnered the much sought-after Best New Music designation from the loved or loathed pillar of tastemaking, Pitchfork Media, this is one of those lovely opportunities to go to a show and later brag about it to all the fools who were a step behind.

2GoNow2™ bonus: Two 2.0 Tools

Austin slideshow via Flickr: Irresistibly vivid visual overview

Centered in Austin Twitter feed: Up-to-the-minute news and notes

Russia: On the Trail of Uncle Yakov

Not long ago my son Jordan and I traveled to Russia, to learn what we could about great-great-great Uncle Yakov.

This ancestor, Yakov Sverdlov, was among many other things a Big Dog Bolshevik–Vladimir Lenin’s right-hand man, primary author of the Soviet constitution, leader of the political body that gave rise to the Soviet Union.

He was lucky enough to die a Bolshevik hero in 1918 of the Spanish flu. His colleagues lived long enough to face under Josef Stalin a fate not much different from the fate faced by the Tsar whom they replaced.

In St. Petersburg (l to r): Jordan, Eternal Flame to Revolutionary Martyrs, me

Our ancestral trip took us to Moscow and St. Petersburg in April 2009. We traveled to the places where he ran the government, held meetings and generally behaved as a leading communist functionary. The highlight moment, on our father/son trip to Russia, written for The Washington Post. [June 14, 2009]

“Cover for me,” my son Jordan whispers.

We are in Hall No. 19 of the Kshesinskaya Mansion in St. Petersburg, Russia, a faded beaux-arts pile built as a private home but seized in 1917 for use as headquarters of the nascent Bolshevik government. Today it is the Museum of Political History of Russia. Hall No. 19 was once the nerve center of the new regime. It features a desk lined with neat stacks of bundled documents, a wonderful old telephone, a small bookcase and, in the corner, a blood-red banner drooping between two wooden poles. Jordan intends to creep beyond the rope for a closer look.

The office of Yakov Sverdlov

I slyly return to the adjacent room to distract the drowsy museum attendant. I figure that asking a question in English will keep her tied up for a couple of minutes at least.

But suddenly an alarm’s woo-woo shriek breaks the silence. The guard slowly pushes herself to her feet. By the time she reaches Hall No. 19, Jordan is back on the lawful side of the rope, his face bearing the internationally recognized look of feigned innocence. The babushka points to the motion sensor on the wall and scolds him in a Slavic flurry. We retreat peaceably.

So ends our closest Russian encounter with our great-great-great uncle Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov, the man who from this very room commanded the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Party of Bolsheviks — which is to say, ran the party that brought Communism to the country and launched the USSR. Jordan was hoping to sit in Uncle Yakov’s chair and get a closer look at what was on his desk.

The article includes some how-to info on planning a Russia trip, including getting a visa, where we stayed, train travel and some inside dope on a good Georgian restaurant.

2GoNow resources

Facebook photo album of our Russian travels

Flickr slide show of Russian travel photos posted in 2009

Pre-Revolutionary Russia, in photos, as Sverdlov would have seen it

Bobbing-photo tag cloud of Sverdlov images, courtesy Viewzi

The Other French Laundry: Fenton, Michigan

We traveled this summer to the renowned French Laundry restaurant, to enjoy the spectacular cuisine served at the birthplace of “New American” cuisine.

Actually, that’s a total lie.

We went to the French Laundry and had great meals, all right. But the restaurant of that name we visited is in Fenton, Michigan, a town outside the culinary capital of…Flint.

French Laundry, Fenton, Michigan. Courtesy John Ransom, www.johnransom.com

While Fenton is a fairly affluent and sophisticated area, even there the restaurant is an extraordinary outlier. Located in a wittily renovated cinder-block [!] stand-alone building, it’s designed and decorated with an unerring eye.

The low main dining room roof is extended upward with a low shaft of multi-colored glass windows. The tables and chairs are tastefully mismatched; coffee cups are thrift-shop cast-offs. The staff wear black. The vibe is stylish fun. Photos.

But go for the food.

Okay, the chef is not Alice Waters [New American cuisine doyenne and founder of the "other" French Laundry in Napa, California]. But it’s still spectacularly good. It’s American, with a mix of comfort-food, French and [yes] New American twists. A few favorites:

Butter and Salame
Slices of hard salami; smear them with butter. You may need a nitro-glycerine chaser, but it’s a wonderful meal-starter.

Chimichurri Pork Tenderloin
Served with a sweet Argentian-style sauce

Turkey Meatloaf
Neither a camp resurrection nor a precious elevation, it’s a hearty, nostalgic dish made with the usual ingredients plus a few chopped vegetables, high-end cheddar and a touch of Dijon mustard.

Blackened Grouper
Sweet, flaky fish with a spicy coat, topped with homemade salsa and a side of beans and rice.

Creme Brulee
Served in low dish, its body is a near-perfect mix of egg and cream flavors, the top a delicate pane of sweetness that yields easily to the spoon.

Michigan’s economic troubles notwithstanding, The French Laundry isn’t cheap. Dinner entrees average $20; there’s a good wine list and some smart matches on the menu. Lunches and breakfasts will cost you $10 to $15 per person.

No, it’s not worth a visit to the greater Detroit/Flint/Ann Arbor/Lansing-ish region just for a meal there. But if you find yourself in that part of the country, it’s worth a special trip. Map.

2GoNow Resources

Flickr slideshow

Real-time Tweets

Yelp reviews