Saturday Night on Sixth Street--January 29, 2011

Here we are with our friend Pam Cirkiel.  (Her husband Marty is the photographer).  Their son Sean owns the Back Space, a restaurant at Sixth and San Jacinto.  Incredible Italian food!  Yes, that's a pizza box, but not just any pizza box.  It contains some of Sean's arugula pizza, as well as pizza made with sausage that is made with a hand-turned sausage grinder on the premises.  Sean also imported a real Italian pizza oven that bakes at 900 degrees!  And he has Italian beer on tap.  As if that isn't enough, one of the three desserts (!) we tried was a chocolate mousse with hazelnuts and whipped cream.  Tom and Marty first met in 1981 in Kansas City, when Tom was on a road trip and stopped in at an Indian food restaurant that was owned by Marty and Pam.  A few years later, Marty and Pam moved to Austin, and Tom ran into Marty, who was a social worker (he's now an attorney).  Pam, a real estate broker, is the person who sold Tom our house back in 1984.  The shefflera in our kitchen was a gift from her at closing (it was much, much smaller back then, of course).  Good to spend an evening with friends.

Upstairs at Seans' other restaurant, Parkside.  Outdoor area closed due to rain forecast.

View of Frost Tower, my favorite Austin building, from the Parkside upstairs area.  I wish the photo were in focus....