Commitment

I truly dislike signing up to be at a certain place at a certain time; it just ruins a weekend. On the way back, we checked out Mandola's. It's so funny to see kids in those deli duds. The hats are cloth, too, and not paper. We went around until we found an unlocked door. The by-the-glass prices for wine looked very reasonable. They're still really stocking the shelves and doing various tryouts and events, not officially open to the public until Monday, but not shutting anybody out, either. Fancy pastry items were free for the trying. The omelets were huge. I hope this outfit succeeds. The acoustics aren't good, and when there got to be so many members of the public there, a tape was fired up with all the disgusting "Neapolitan" songs of the 'Fifties, mixed in with plenty of Sinatra from the creepy era. We may be the only people left in town who remember a business called Old World Bakery and Grocery, or some such, sort of near Hancock and that movie theater that's been closed for so long, in a strip semi-warehouse center. They had real pasta beyond fideo and canned spaghetti (quite a novelty at the time) and baked true Italian bread in many shapes of loaves. They didn't last all that long, but while they were here, we went there every week. One of the very best things about the idea of Mandola's is that it will be open every day of the week beginning at 6:30. Austin has its few all-night joints but not much variety or much doing in the early morning. You'd think that it may turn out to be a sort of corner store and sandwich shop for the Triangle-dwellers and also get pick-up-and-go breakfast and lunch business from the UT and State offices nearby.