Naz Hamid - Design is in the Details - SXSW, Austin, TX

Nick Finck - The Contextual Web - SXSW, Austin, TX

Las Manitas, Austin, TX

Las Manitas, Austin, TX

Las Manitas Combo, Austin, TX

Las Manitas Chalupas, Austin, TX

Saturday morning I caught two panels: Design is in the Details, presented by Chicago’s own Naz Hamid, and The Contextual Web by Nick Finck. My first impressions of SXSW panels now compared to 4-5 years ago: What was once 3-4 people sitting at a folding table with a projector that hopefully worked and talking into a mic to people jammed in a room is now a big stage with concert-like lighting, sound systems and projection screens. At least in the big rooms. Some of the smaller rooms were more old school. Also, all of the panels available were once on the 4th floor of the convention center all in the same hallway and now they’re all over the entire convention center and sometimes at the Hilton across the street even. It’s WAY bigger than it used to be.

After the panels I met up with John, Matt and Justin for lunch. Last year when Justin was at SXSW he met a guy who lived in Austin. This guy’s wife was Latina and her mother owned a restaurant in town which served some really great TexMex food. The restaurant is called Las Manitas, and this is where we had lunch. As a testament to how great the food is, there was a huge line of people waiting to get in. It was nice and sunny in Austin and we had an hour and a half lunch break, so we decided to wait. Plus we had Justin’s glowing recommendation from the year before.

After maybe a half hour we were seated at a table near the door. The decor inside Las Manitas is simple, with some local art on the walls. There’s a counter one one side and some booths on the other and some tables in between. The food is pretty simple, although they do have many items on the menu. Prices range from $5 - $8 for lunch entrees. How did it taste? I thought it was great. Matt and I each had a combo plate, Justin had enchiladas, and John had the chalupas. We were all happy with the food and were talking about going back for breakfast one day, but sadly it didn’t happen.

Also, I just was looking to see if Las Manitas has a site online (they don’t) and saw this site dedicated to saving the restaurant. The site says “Las Manitas and Escuelita del Alma are two of Austin’s most well known cultural institutions. They exist to serve the needs of their customers and clients, while also ensuring a diverse downtown. Because of plans for the redevelopment of the block, Las Manitas and Escuelita del Alma are at risk of non-renewal of their leases.” I hope this isn’t an issue for Las Manitas any more, because I really liked it and would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Austin who wants high quality food for a low price.

PS. I’m sure there were some NSFW menu items at Las Manitas, although I can’t remember them now. I did decide at this lunch that my new band name would be “Swayed by Pork” after talking about the dinner I had the night before at Habana.