What would be the obvious career path for someone who went to Harvard for undergrad and Yale for law school? Well, write and publish restaurant guides, of course. Duh. Houstonist had the opportunity to sit with author/entrepreneur/foodie/publisher/world-traveller Robin Goldstein and his managing editor/foodie/marketer/public-relations-exec/S.O. Alexis Herschkowitsch. Robin has just released his Houston restaurant guide – Fearless Critic, Houston Restaurant Guide (one of the very first complete printed guides in Houston - and no, Zagat doesn't count).......

Callaloo, among the top literary magazines in the country, is sending four writers (all faculty from Callaloo's Creative Writing Workshops) to read in Houston for one night only. Terrance Hayes, Mat Johnson, Tayari Jones, and Tracy K. Smith will give a public reading Thursday, August 16 at 6:00 p.m. at the Ensemble Theatre, located at 3535 Main Street. These four writers have won more than a dozen national awards and fellowships; they are at......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

Weingarten Realty Investors released news today (via BusinessWire - login required) that $15 million will be used to redevelop the northeast corner of the River Oaks Shopping Center. Two new multi-story buildings are going to replace what is currently on the site, but they assure that the curved facade will remain, and the new pieces will be architecturally sympathetic (kind of reminds us of the Royalton's Gulf Publishing frieze...). The release also mentions that "[Patty]......

Just so you know, Houstonist has never had the urge to live in a luxury high-rise. Sure, we might keep a weekend place for those times we jet up to New York, but in general, we prefer a home that's closer to the ground. But we know some people think it would be great to have a deluxe apartment in the sky, and with that in mind, we bring you this 22nd-floor unit at......

Last month, we unveiled the first Houstonist iMix. We got a kick out of sharing our favorite songs, and it seems like some of our 11 readers enjoyed it, too. So, we decided to make it a monthly ritual. We now bring you the Houstonist iMix: March 2007 (albeit a week late — we had trouble with the publishing feature on iTunes, but it has now been fixed). This month’s iMix includes some upcoming indie......

If you haven't already made lunch plans, why not go ahead and have that triple cheeseburger, large order of fries and milkshake? And why not wash it down with a giant dessert? A celebration is in order, you see: Houston has slipped to No. 6 in the Men's Fitness annual ranking of America's fattest cities. Looks like Mayor White's Jazzercise really paid off. In this year's MF rankings, Las Vegas takes the coveted title of......

Local Artist Hosts Sacred Heart Series Showing @ Kobain William K. Stidham came to painting after a bruising experience in trying to get his contemporary fiction novel published. Having spent 4 years in writing, editing, choosing an agent,more editing, then shopping publishing houses and hitting a dead end... William decided to pick up a watercolor kit from the local Walgreen's in order to do something different with his creative energy. His latest series, Sacred......

Gilbert Amezquita, a man who spent eight years in prison on what might have been a false rape arrest, has begun the process of getting $200,000 in state compensation for his jail time. Amezquita was arrested in connection with the 1998 rape and beating of Kathy Bingham at her father's publishing company, which left Bingham in a coma for 10 days. When she woke up, she told police that "Gilbert" had attacked her; based primarily......

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. In Austin, bands are beginning to confirm for SXSW and the rumor mill is up and running. Good thing, too, because we all know how much Austinites love live performances. Austin also found itself in the national spotlight, with Longhorn Legend......

The 1929 Robinson Public Warehouse (Nimmons, Carr, and Wright, architects), at the corner of Allen Parkway and Montrose Blvd, is on its way to the building afterlife. It was originally a Sears, Roebuck, and Co. store, and was also the first (and temporary) home of Baylor College of Medicine in the mid to late forties. Demolition is about to begin, and we've been watching for the wrecking ball which is due to make an......

The shot from flickr user and houstonist photo contributor phototainable. This is a cool shot, the likes of which you don't see a lot of, because, as the photographer says: "A shot I took whilst living in one of the few Houston high rise condos with a good view. An early morning shot. " I guess that's the case, the best view one normally gets in Houston is of the dumpster... but some live......

From Off the Kuff last week came a brief remembrance of the now-demolished Ed Sacks Waste Paper Co. complex at 440 Studemont. Houstonist had often wondered what was going on at Sacks, which never really looked like a bustling enterprise and apparently closed for good about a year and a half ago. We never did business with Sacks, but we remember thinking when we were kids that a paper recycling company named "Sacks" was pretty......