After a Fashion
This week, your Style Avatar dresses to the nines and eats well
By Stephen MacMillan Moser, Fri., Jan. 23, 2004
JINGLE ALL THE WAY I had called my friend Steven Aichlmayr about three hours before. "Hurry! Dig out your formal wear, and pick me up at 6:30. Don't ask any questions; just look fabulous, and be on time." He did show up looking fabulous and about as on time as possible for him (only 45 minutes late). We went to a lovely preparty get-together at Margaret Shaw's house in Clarksville -- a spread of excellent food and wine guaranteed to have us all prepared for the night ahead. At around 8:30pm, we moved on to the real destination of the evening: the 10th anniversary of the annual Jingle Ball -- a swank private affair with 20 hosts who each invite 20 guests. I rather like to think of it as Mrs. Astor's 400. Free from the pressure of being a fundraiser or benefit, it is simply a lovely post-holiday affair where guests dress to the nines and dance the night away to the big band sounds of the Nash Hernandez Orchestra. Hosts include some of Austin's well-known citizens and business owners: Housing consultant Margaret Shaw; Roy Fredericks of Avant; his brother Ron Fredericks and Ron's wife, Tiffany (both of Innu Salon); and Michael Terrazas of Club DeVille, among many others. Last year I said that the plague of the ball was evening gowns with daytime hair. This year, it was too many short, less formal dresses, but generally (with some notable exceptions) the hair was very appropriate for the event. Guests included Milkshake Media's Kat Jones, Tim Flocos of the state attorney general's office, writer Mark Sullivan, the glamorous Cindy Morgan, Neil Diaz of Bella Salon, accessories designer Suzie Rapp, Evan Voyles and Gail Chovan of Blackmail, designer Linda Asaf, medicine woman Claudia Voyles and her beau, psychologist/singer-songwriter Lee Edwards, entrepreneur Elizabeth Pecor, the glorious Laura Cisneros (who may be a mother now, but definitely reclaimed her title of Party Girl No. 1), and about 375 other people too fabulous to mention.
DOWNTOWN My ardent fan and dear friend Mark Ashby of Ashby-Ames Interiors took me running around downtown the other night. We considered having dinner at the new Hilton (I was hoping some of the money we'd spend would trickle down and help Paris Hilton buy a few more square inches of clothing). The hotel looked pretty good: The cavernous lobby must be the largest in Austin, well-appointed and gracious with good-looking furniture, inviting seating arrangements, and a carpet with a rope pattern and lone stars to remind us we are in Texas. We glanced in the coffee shop -- cute, but not what we had in mind for an evening's repast. The main restaurant, Finn & Porter, was not open yet but promises to be the star of the establishment. The Liberty Tavern was attractive and appealing, and we considered eating there but decided to try the lobby bar instead. That's when we learned the awful truth: The entire building is nonsmoking (with the exception of some of the guest rooms). While that fact will bring praise from many people, it will also in fact chase some of us away. So Mark and I continued on our way and headed straight over to Moonshine (the former Emilia's space at 303 Red River). The renovated restaurant looked great, with hardly a trace of Emilia's to be seen. It was also seriously crowded, and we had to wait a few minutes for our table on the patio, but our server, the excellent Amber, made it happen quickly, and we were seated in no time. After ordering Planter's Punch and Harvest Moon Tea (do not let these sweet names fool you -- the drinks can be lethal), we ordered cups of gumbo as appetizers. With both Mark and me hailing from Louisiana, we gave the gumbo high marks -- dark and spicy and completely satisfying. For dinner, we both chose the Texas Flat Iron Steak: a tender slab of meat, cooked to perfection and topped with bleu-cheese butter and port-wine sauce. It came with a generous portion of seasonal vegetables (corn with red-pepper relish, green beans almondine, and glazed carrots) and a choice of side dishes. The sides were excellent -- thick-cut and lightly seasoned steak fries, baked beans with Parmesan cheese, and a truly fabulous baked macaroni made with pimento cheese. Amber gave us excellent service -- helpful, friendly, and efficient. After dinner, we relaxed some more, ordered another drink, and had dessert. The peanut-butter pie was heavenly -- light and fluffy with a thick Oreo cookie-crust, and the red velvet cake with cream cheese icing was the reddest, velvetiest red velvet cake I'd ever tried. Divine. It was uptown, down-home comfort food at its finest, and seeing all the delicious food passing us on the way to other tables, we agreed we must come back soon and try more of the menu.
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