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We kicked off South by Southwest 2026 with a special, live one-hour show at Scholz Garten.
We’ll speak with Austin artists Shakey Graves and Kydd Jones about the things they’re working on this year.
We’ll also be joined by the director and producer of the upcoming Netflix documentary “The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson,” about a top-class cyclist murdered on a trip to Austin.
Plus, a roundtable of chefs from Michelin Guide-recognized restaurants Dai Due, La Santa Barbacha and Ramen del Barrio about the cost of a meal in Austin and the ways they’re working to keep them accessible to more Austinites.
Austin Signal is made possible by listeners like you. You can support our work by making a donation at supportthispodcast.org
The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:07] Howdy out there. Thank you for tuning in to Austin Signal. I’m your host Jerry Cunnell. We are kicking off South by Southwest 2026 and coming to you live today from Scholz Garten. Make some noise out there! Excellent. Well we have a jam-packed show to share with you so we’re just gonna jump right in and get it started by talking to our first guest. This is a first for us here on Austin Signal, someone with their own day. February 9, 2012 was recognized by the City of Austin as Shaky Graves Day. And 14 years later, still celebrated here in town most recently, this February at Hole in the Wall. He’s also one of the featured guests at our upcoming and first ever KUT Festival that is happening in May. Please help me welcome to the show, Shaky Graves. Hello, hi, South by Southwest. Yeah, South By Southwest. Speaking of that, I wanted to ask you if you remember your first South by South West, whether as a performer or just an attendee.
Shakey Graves [00:01:03] No, I don’t. That’s a good sign. That means you had fun. This is like the frog in the boiling water thing. I mean, I grew up here, so it was like South by Southwest would kind of happen around me and I would be confused. It was a lot smaller when I was smaller. And then the first one that really, where I was out like grinding in the streets playing music at all sorts of weird, in the backs of people’s houses into like made up venues and schools and stuff, that was like 2013, 2012.
Jerry Quijano [00:01:30] 12, something like that. And now here in 2026, you still enjoy being a part of South by Southwest?
Shakey Graves [00:01:35] Now I feel like an elderly man where it’s like, this is my one day of South by Southwest and I’m out wearing, you can’t see on the radio, like really shiny pants. Yeah, describe them, yeah. It’s, this all I got. This is my One Day. I’m doing this and then I have a show tonight at Sagebrush.
Jerry Quijano [00:01:49] Okay, well thanks for doing it big here with us on Austin Signal. There was some news this month that you’re coming out with a new project in a couple of months. Tell us a little bit about it, what’s it called, and how long you’ve been working on it.
Shakey Graves [00:01:59] Yeah, it’s called Fondness, et cetera. It’s a record that I built mostly on tape, like at my house, and I have a little studio. And yeah, it was really a record that came out of this strange time in my life where I became a father two years ago, thanks. And now I feel like I’m on the other side of some weird parallel universe mirror thing where I’m like, oh, I see, and people are like, one of us. Um, and my time is all messed up. Like I, my, I’ve really traded my late nights for like waking up at six 45 and changing diapers and doing weird stuff.
Jerry Quijano [00:02:37] Yeah, how has that shaped the production and sound of this new album?
Shakey Graves [00:02:40] I, in every way possible. So I built most of it in the weird little windows kind of in between taking her to like daycare in the morning and being like, I gotta do something with my life. And I ended up accidentally making this record that I love that’s, I’m gonna remember forever cause it’s about this weird time in my life and I feel like every record I make kind of snapshots like the last one was like very much in looking back just came out of COVID and Of course, all of those songs are like, what is the world gonna be? You know, they’re like big, big, silly, confused anthems. And this one’s like a lot smaller, you know, it’s about how strange it is to have time just kind of blow by, you now.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:26] Yeah, are you looking to be sort of reassuring now that you have a daughter and she might hear this work later and, you know, take a little bit of solace in it?
Shakey Graves [00:03:33] Yeah, it’s it’s kind of dedicated to her in the you know afterwards when I looked at it all it was like I look forward to her being able to hear kind of the Since I made it at the house You can like hear our yard in it a lot and just like Kind of ambient stuff and she was in the back seat of the car when I would listen to all the mixes and stuff So i’m like maybe somewhere this will seep into her little brain. Yeah, and she’ll be like I don’t care Yeah, but you were there is gonna be awesome
Jerry Quijano [00:04:02] Well, we only have a couple minutes left. We have a lot to share with you today on Austin Signal, but I wanted to ask you, it’s sort of a two-part, you can answer whichever you prefer. What’s something that you’ve learned about songwriting or about fatherhood that was different than what you initially anticipated at the outset?
Shakey Graves [00:04:18] Well, you know, I feel like it’s easy to think that you have to kind of generate bizarre experiences. Like when I was younger, I used to kind mine a lot of suffering for songwriting. I think that’s an easy thing. It’s like a lot, the first songs that I had were kind of heartbreak oriented, you know? And I think it’s easier to kind get into a rut where you manufacture bizarre things to happen in your life. And, uh, and then write songs about them. But I didn’t really factor in that that could work with good things happening in your life as well. So I think the kind of fatherhood angle, it’s been the worst, best thing that has ever happened to me kind of in tandem. So it has the same effect where I feel like I’m still getting my brain messed up by a girl, but now she’s like a foot and a half tall.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:12] And really cute.
Shakey Graves [00:05:13] Yeah, she’s nice. She’s pretty cool, but Yeah, I think I think that What I’ve learned is that you know, it helps to write what you know and and right now what I know is kind of this Small world I’m trapped in so writing about that actually felt better than than trying to Tackle the like what is existence in the war machine and blah blah blah. So
Jerry Quijano [00:05:37] Okay, excellent. Well, we have been talking with Shaky Graves. His new album, Funness, Etc., is coming out May 15th. Hopefully we can have you back on the show to explore a little bit more of that. That’d be great. In a couple weeks before the release of that album, he’s going to be joining us for the first ever KUT Festival. That is happening the first weekend of May. This is ShakyGraves. Thank you for kicking off the show with us. Make some noise. Of course. Thanks for having me. Good job.
Shakey Graves [00:06:00] What’s up, Gary?
Jimmy Maas [00:06:11] Hi, this is Jimmy Mass, Program Director with KUT, and you are listening to The Austin Signal. Today is the first day of South by Southwest 2026, and here’s everything you need to know so that you can pretend you were here the whole time. The festival turns 40 this year, and for the first time ever, the Tech Conference Film Festival and Music Festival are all running at the same time. Seven days of organized chaos across downtown Austin, and it all started earlier today. As you might realize, if you’ve driven by downtown, there is a giant construction pit where the convention center used to be. So this year, South by Southwest will have clubhouses scattered at different hotels and venues around downtown to serve as hubs for each track versus one single hub. On the conference side, the opening keynote is happening right now with author Jennifer B. Wallace. She’s my age and she’s written two New York Times bestsellers, Mattering and Never Enough. It all has me wondering if I matter and if I will ever measure up. Meanwhile, the red carpet is rolling out in front of the Paramount for the world premiere of I Love Boosters this evening that stars Kiki Palmer, Will Poulter, and Demi Moore. That’s directed by Boots Riley, who’s a South by Southwest veteran, appearing here a few times over the years with his rap group, The Coup. And as the sun goes down, Austin’s live music venues fill up with acts that most people haven’t heard of yet. Statistically speaking, at least one of the artists playing a 200-person room right now will be headlining a major festival within a few years. Free stuff. Or at least free-ish stuff.
excerpt [00:07:49] I don’t have to show you any stinking watches!
Jimmy Maas [00:07:52] You can explore the street activations on Congress Avenue, including the KUTX Day Party at Rivian, and a handful of brand experiences that could be fun ducking into. You can always purchase tickets day of for general admission to screenings. Your chances of getting into one of the big premieres is unlikely, but as the week goes on there will be secondary and tertiary screenings and films, and oftentimes the stars show up to those as well. Streets are closed on Congress Avenue. There are probably free whiskey tastings, and perhaps someone just ran into their favorite director at a taco truck. I once stood in line behind John Legend for 15 minutes at the JW Marriott Starbucks. It happens at South By. And I’ll be navigating it all week long so that you don’t have to. I’m Jimmy Maas. You’re listening to The Austin Signal.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:43] And today we’re coming to you live from Scholz Garten. Thank you for joining us here in person and out there on the radio. The tragic murder of Mariah Wilson almost four years ago here in Austin and the subsequent investigation by local law enforcement is the focus of the new documentary, The Truth and Tragedy of Mariel Wilson. The world premiere of the film is happening at 6.15 tonight at the Long Center. Marina Zenovich is the director of the documentary. Evan Hayes produced the project and they’re joining us on Austin Signal. Welcome to the show.
Evan Hayes [00:09:14] Thanks for having us.
Marina Zenovich [00:09:15] Thanks for havin’ us.
Jerry Quijano [00:09:15] So I would like for y’all to take a little bit of time and talk about who Mariah Wilson was. She’s obviously become the victim in this very tragic story, but tell us a little about her. Marina, you wanna start?
Evan Hayes [00:09:29] Oh, Evan can start.
Evan Hayes [00:09:30] Evan, okay, let’s start with Evan. Marino was this, Mariah was this incredibly ascendant professional cyclist. She was on this kind of stratospheric trajectory as an athlete. She had what I felt like was kind of superpower in terms of her work ethic, but she also was raised by this kind fiercely loving family in this very small town in Vermont. And so… You know, part of the emotional impact of working on this film was meeting the Wilson family, Karen and Eric and her brother Matt, and through their eyes, really being able to see a full picture of this human. And that’s why we decided to make this film, to bring some humanity to an incredibly tragic story.
Jerry Quijano [00:10:24] Yeah, and the credits to your film say it was inspired by an article with the same name. How did this story come across your desk and what stood out about it that you wanted to make a documentary about it?
Evan Hayes [00:10:33] Well, I think first for me, you know, there was a lot of press about the event at the time that primarily focused on the darkness of what happened. But I think when some of the longer form pieces came out, especially an article in Bicycling Magazine written by Rowan Garrity that the family participated in, that was an article that I read sitting in bed next to my wife and started to cry. I have a 16-year-old daughter, it hit very close to home, and I immediately called Marina, who I knew of and was a huge admirer of, and that’s how it started.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:14] Well, Mariah’s parents and her brother feature heavily in the documentary. How did y’all get connected with the family and how willing were they to share their story with you?
Marina Zenovich [00:11:23] They were very willing, I mean, surprisingly so. It was, it was, there’s such an open, direct family who really, I think, trusted Evan and me, but it was I think all her friends and everyone we interviewed was so invested in the story. It’s really a story about her and… What happened to her. And it’s a very deep.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:59] Yeah, it is. It’s really deep. I watched it last night, and the film features a lot of archival recordings from the family, some audio, and lots of video. How did that trove of recordings shape the project, the end project that y’all made?
Marina Zenovich [00:12:12] Well, we were looking to, we wanted to hear her voice as much as possible, so it definitely shaped the film. I mean, we want to make this a film about grief and how a family deals with grief, and I think we succeeded.
Evan Hayes [00:12:31] I agree. No, I think at the end of the day, having participants who are willing to share that much with you as a filmmaker, being able to include these home movies of Mariah as a baby, to see her get on skis for the first time, to understand the adversity that she faced in her journey as an athlete. And little moments at home that we all experience that are completely innocuous. You know, this archive allowed us to explore those and really, again, juxtapose this kind of tragic story with something that we feel at the end of the film gives you a sense of positivity in terms of what Mariah felt, what she believed in, the values the family have, And also. How much she loved being on the bike, which I think is not a small aspect of what this movie explores.
Jerry Quijano [00:13:33] And true crime stories can be, a lot of times, maybe end on a sadder note. You mentioned that you wanted to make a true crime story that wasn’t like all the others. Why was that a gold of yours?
Evan Hayes [00:13:46] Number one, Marina and I both have long careers. We’ve made a really diverse set of films over the course of our time in entertainment. Neither of us make true crime films. And so for us, this is really an important, I think, look at a story through a lens that has a lot more humanity to it. And therefore much more impactful. And I think for this community, in Austin in particular, who experienced this tragedy firsthand, our hope is that this film kind of celebrates that other side and people can look at it not just through the lens of the darkness, right?
Jerry Quijano [00:14:32] We only have about a minute left, so can you tell our listeners who might be looking to catch the film, how they can catch it this week in town?
Evan Hayes [00:14:40] Yeah, it’s playing tonight at the Long Center, 6.05, 615. 615 Get there at 6.5, though, just to make sure, yeah. Maybe earlier. Yeah, maybe a little earlier. No, then it’s flying Friday night also at another theater.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:56] You said the Wilson family will be in town.
Evan Hayes [00:14:58] The Wilson’s family’s here now. This is their first time back in Austin since the trial wrapped up. So it’s a kind of emotional moment to come back to Texas. But at the same time, they’re here to celebrate the film and they’re gonna be doing a Q and A with us afterwards tonight.
Jerry Quijano [00:15:16] Okay, The Truth and Tragedy of Mariah Wilson has its world premiere at 6.15 tonight at the Long Center. We have been speaking with Marina Zinovich, director of the documentary, and Evan Hayes, who produced the project. Thank you for making the time. Have a great South by Southwest. Thank you. Thank you too, thanks.
Korey Pereira [00:15:45] This is Korey Pereira, Audio Area Head here at UTRTF, and you are listening to Austin Signal. So specifically Foley involves watching a picture on the screen and having a Foley artist perform those actions you see. So I’d say the biggest misconception is that when you watch a film, all the sounds you’re hearing were captured on set. But the reality is a set is a really noisy place. It’s then in post-production that the world begins to sound like what you hear Or when you go down to a movie theater or turn on Netflix. All right, we are now standing on the brand new-ish Foley stage here at Texas Moody. So a Foley Stage is a space where our students can come in, look up at the screen, and then be able to perform all the actions that characters are doing on screen. So I’d say the coolest part of this is we do actually have multiple Foley pits. So if a student wants to walk in the dirt, we have a box where they can walk on dirt. And if they need to walk on leaves… They can do that too. The back of the room, we have multiple baker’s racks full of hundreds and hundreds of props. The idea here is we kind of gave the students a starting point so that they can. Find a number of sounds they need for their given project. So whether you need a motorcycle helmet. Or a purse? Or an old school telephone, our students can do that right here in this space. When someone has a specific project where they have a straw hat in it, they’re gonna go to Goodwill or their closet and find a straw Hat. And we encourage them to leave that here for the next students that come into the space. This is Korey Pereira, sound artist and audio area head here at the University of Texas at Austin. And this is Austin’s signal.
Jerry Quijano [00:18:03] This is Austin Signal. Welcome back to our South by Southwest special. We are live at Scholz Garten. Let me hear you out there. Probably a few thousand people, but the microphone’s only picking up a few of them. South by Southwest has plenty of official ways to spend your time here in Austin. You’ve got music, TV, and film, but an officially unofficial pastime is, of course, eating all the foods when you’re here. I mean, everybody has to eat somewhere. And with the Michelin Guide’s recent recognition of Texas-based eateries, we wanted to highlight some of the folks who have earned the recognition of Bib Gourmand, highlighting both quality and affordability. So we’re going to host a little roundtable here on the radio. Joining us on stage now is Janie Ramirez, executive chef of Dai Dua. Janie, thanks for being here. Thank you for having me. We are joined by Chris Krinsky. He is the chef and owner of Ramen Del Barrio. Hi, Chris.
Chris Krinsky [00:18:53] How’s it going?
Jerry Quijano [00:18:54] It’s going well. And we also have Daniela de Lima Hernandez and Rosa de Lima Hernández. They are the chefs and owners at La Santa Barbacha. Thanks for joining us.
Daniela de Lima Hernandez [00:19:03] Thank you so much for inviting us.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:04] So I’ll start with you all over here. Just in case our listeners aren’t that familiar, tell us a little bit about your restaurant and how long you’ve been here in Austin.
Daniela de Lima Hernandez [00:19:12] Well, we moved here in different years. I did it in 2017. Mm-hmm. 2020. Okay, a couple years. And then we are a family that moved from Mexico. My dad moved first, and then he’s the one that bring us over here. And with the business, we’ve been doing this for five years, and we started because we wanted to keep our family together. Moving to a new country is not always easy. Having different jobs and different hours. We sometimes struggle to see our mom or dad. That was the, that’s why we started it because I rarely see my mom or my dad and it’s like, let’s have a business together. We did it in Mexico and then we can be all together on a Sunday or cooking or. Do you guys like each other?
Jerry Quijano [00:19:56] Do you guys like each other enough to spend all the time with each other?
Daniela de Lima Hernandez [00:19:58] With each other? Well, at the beginning it was hard to run businesses in the family, but we really enjoyed to be together creating things.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:07] And you started with your food truck on Manor right? That was your first location?
Rosa de Lima Hernandez [00:20:10] Oh, no, it wasn’t South Congress.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:12] South Congress. Okay. And now you have two locations. Where are those locations at?
Rosa de Lima Hernandez [00:20:16] We have one on West 6th Street and then the first one on Main Road.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:22] And how is that going? How long has that second location been open?
Rosa de Lima Hernandez [00:20:25] You can, like, a month. Oh, OK. So that’s a little bit less than a year. Less than a a year, yeah.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:29] And how has that been?
Rosa de Lima Hernandez [00:20:31] It’s been good. Yeah, it’s different people, but it’s so cool.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:35] Very cool. Well, thanks for being on the show. We’ll get back to you here in a little bit. I’m going to turn it over to Janie Ramirez from Die Due. Janie, tell us a little bit about your restaurant.
Janie Ramirez [00:20:44] I’m Dai Due. It’s also a manor road. We’re kind of neighbors. Very cool. We do a lot of wild game we cook a lot invasive species, it’s all about working with our community and It’s very seasonal lots of grilling of meats and seasonal produce
Jerry Quijano [00:21:02] It sounds like very Texas, you know, grilling of meats.
Janie Ramirez [00:21:04] In Perry, Texas.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:05] You’re sort of the statesman of the groups up here. I believe Raman and DiBlario maybe like five or six years, roughly three as sea time flies with the pandemic and everything. How long has Dai Dui been around?
Janie Ramirez [00:21:16] The brick and mortar is 11 and a half years now, and as a business concept they started at the farmers market I think 15 years ago, doing like supper clubs and farmers market like small plates and they’re like ferments and sausages and butcher classes and that kind of thing.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:33] And how long have you been with the restaurant? 11 and a half years. OK, OK. And I understand you’ve done a lot of jobs while you’ve been there. I have. OK, yeah. All of them? Yeah. What does that include?
Janie Ramirez [00:21:43] I started as a part-time prep cook and like a month after they opened and then I became the PM Sue and then the CDC and then the executive chef for a while now.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:53] Okay, what is CDC?
Janie Ramirez [00:21:55] The Chef de Cuisine.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:56] Okay, and what was the one before that? PMC?
Janie Ramirez [00:21:58] Oh, sous-chef.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:59] Sushi. OK, OK. Sorry, I’m learning. No, no, no. No. Just see, it’s helpful for our listeners out there as well, because I definitely knew what that mean. But I just wanted to explain it to the listeners. OK, well, thank you for coming out for a little bit, Janie. And Chris, I wanted to wrap up with you because, you know, these other two locations have sort of brick and mortars have an established location. But tell us what’s going on with your restaurant right now.
Chris Krinsky [00:22:20] Yeah, so Raman del Barrio is in a bit of a transitional period. We were inside of the Hano World Market up on Palmer Lane. That unfortunately closed at the end of 2025. And we’ve been building our brick and mortar over on Metric and Kramer now. Hopefully, we’ll be open in the next few months here.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:36] Yeah, I saw on a recent social media post that you’re having maybe a little trouble with the permitting process. How close are you to maybe opening up the doors and what has that been like?
Chris Krinsky [00:22:46] Yeah, it’s been a really, it has been a big journey to find out all the different pieces of running a restaurant that aren’t just being a cook, which is what I’m actually good at, you know? I’d say we had a few different issues with the construction permits come through, and mostly are minute details, but really the issue is, you now, when you submit something with the city, it is not like you hear back from them in a few days, it like a 28-day cycle, so even if they just want me to change out, say like a two-inch pipe to a three inch pipe. I won’t hear about it for another three weeks.
Jerry Quijano [00:23:18] Then that sounds pretty simple, right? It would be like one for the other. If only. So what has been the most difficult part about learning the parts that aren’t being a chef, essentially?
Chris Krinsky [00:23:29] Well, you know, I had a really incredible opportunity to open RDB when I was only 24 years old, and I was a line cook at the time. And I think it was really the process of learning how to be both a business owner and a leader overnight, right? Having people older than me work in my kitchen and to garner their respect, I had to show them that I was serious, right. I had show them I cared about the food that we were there trying to do something meaningful. And to curate a team of people that really care about the product has been one of the most rewarding experiences, but challenging as well.
Jerry Quijano [00:24:03] Okay, we are speaking with Chris Krinsky, Janie Ramirez, as well as Rosa and Daniela de Lima Hernandez. You’re listening to Austin Signal. We’re doing a special one-hour live episode out at Scholz Garten. So if you happen to be in the downtown area and you’re hearing us on your radio, get down here. It’s a great time, and you obviously maybe are tuning in on the app or online at kut.org. We appreciate you all. And so now I wanna make it a kind of a round table. We’ve talked to everybody a little bit individually. The reason that we wanted to kind of get this roundtable together was that you’ve all been recognized for a Bib Gourmand Award, which highlights quality and affordability. And affordability is always a big topic of concern here in Austin, specifically normally around housing, right? Housing is the big deal, but obviously food as well, because there are lots of ways to spend your money. And we know that our listeners are looking for ways to maximize their dollars. So, I want to, this is a question for anybody here. And if you have, if you want to speak, just raise your hand or start talking. But I want to talk about how important, or how much you all are stressing keeping your product affordable so that you can continue to make it accessible to more people here in Austin. Does anybody want to start? What about, let’s start with you, Chris.
Chris Krinsky [00:25:21] Sure. So, you know, at least with ramen del barrio, ramen is a fast, casual food in a traditional sense. And as a relatively young person, I strive to still keep kind of a broke college kid mindset for my own pricing. I think that no matter what meal you get, if you’re spending under $20 and you leave full, then that’s still a good value, no matter whether it was tacos, sopa, you know, ramen, whatever the case may be, across any… Cuisine because I think a lot of different cultures foods get kind of a stigma of what should be cheap versus what should be expensive and I don’t think that’s necessarily fair to the foods and the cultures themselves. I kind of give myself a price point. If you leave a restaurant and you’re full under 20 bucks, that’s a good deal. I think there’s a lot incredible food in this town and Austin gets a lot criticism for the overall affordability of it. I think so much of the food that deserves all the praise in the world. It’s just locked behind a price point that just isn’t accessible. And although it’s, you know, it’s easy for me to say because ramen is a numbers game, right? It’s a cheap product, you sell it at volume and that’s how you turn a profit. That may be the formula that I’m already in, but regardless, I would much rather get rich serving the many than serving the few.
Jerry Quijano [00:26:39] Excellent. Do you all want to follow up on that? I know that maybe, I think there is sometimes a stigma associated when a business runs out of a food truck. There’s like, oh, I should only pay a certain amount of money because I’m going to a food track. You all have a specialty in barbacoa, right? So as we know about grilling meats, like meat is becoming more expensive and more expensive. How do you stay cognizant or try to focus on keeping your prices affordable for your customers?
Daniela de Lima Hernandez [00:27:11] I mean the main goal to do this in Cerro Barabacoa is make affordable and for everybody, so we cook for everybody and we wish we can keep as much as we can, I wish we came the same prices and accessible for anybody that comes and visit our trucks. That’s why one of the reason we still have the trucks as business owners starting from nothing. Not even having the money to invest when we first started. It’s really, really hard to build what we have. And of course, prices went up and prices are always changing. And we’re trying to keep always the same quality, fresh products, everything we make on hand, which is the most important thing that we make with our time and with our team, taking care of them. Trying to do all of those things and still Of course, focusing on our clientele and our community and make it for everybody is a big, big challenge. Everybody is talking about it and they don’t sometimes believe that we work so hard in the back and the kitchen and then the pricing to make this dish or this taco to look so beautiful and also make that memory for you. And of course, everything really expensive And then we’re still. I am very grateful that people can go and spend their money and change that game a little bit of not having just the tacos. They have more than the tacos in our plate and we really trust what we do and we are so grateful that the people can still visit us and we will continue working hard to keep accessible and affordable prices because we love our community so much.
Jerry Quijano [00:29:04] Yeah, keeping those prices accessible while also taking care of what needs to be taken care of. It is still a business at the end. What about you, Jane? Do you have anything to add to this general conversation?
Janie Ramirez [00:29:15] Um, we are like maybe a little less fast casual. It’s a little bit more upscale. And so, and also we source only locally. And so everything is very expensive and we’re constantly having conversations, um, within the management about, is this a realistic thing that we can put on a menu if it’s going to cost this much money because it feels sometimes offensive to have to charge a price because we have to everything at daydewy requires so many hands to make it because we’re making everything from scratch and we have to pay all of these people and we’ve to pay rents. And for instance, we ended up making the decision to take chicken off of our menu because the price of chicken had gone up so much. It was like, I can’t sell half of a chicken for $40. And I’m not saying that people can’t do it. I’m saying for us, it just didn’t feel okay to do that anymore. And so we’re just constantly making those kinds of decisions. But what I will say, at least at Daijiri, we’re, even if things seem more expensive, you’re definitely getting a deal because your food is like, ethically sourced. It’s made by all the people in our community and it’s made someone who lives down the road and it grown by, you know, it’s, I’m sorry. No, no.
Jerry Quijano [00:30:28] No, no, I think you’re just making this is an Austin product and you know.
Janie Ramirez [00:30:33] Yeah.
Jerry Quijano [00:30:33] In this day and age where you have to choose very wisely how to spend your money, it’s always encouraged to support the community. And obviously your restaurant is doing that, and so the people who patronize your restaurant are in turn supporting those businesses as well. You mentioned the number of hands that are going into creating these things. How many people work at your restaurants? Let’s start with you, Janie. How many, how many people are employed at Dai Duet? Roughly.
Janie Ramirez [00:30:59] Uh, including front of the house, probably.
Jerry Quijano [00:31:01] Okay, and you, Chris?
Chris Krinsky [00:31:03] So we left the market with about nine total employees. That’ll probably jump to like 15 by the time we’re in the new.
Jerry Quijano [00:31:09] Okay, excellent, and y’all?
Rosa de Lima Hernandez [00:31:11] I will have like 12, plus all my family around, so probably like 16, 18.
Jerry Quijano [00:31:17] Okay, yeah, so night of varying sizes.
Daniela de Lima Hernandez [00:31:19] And we also have a lot of people from the city that we have connect with that they help us to run events or if you have something else going on they jump and help.
Jerry Quijano [00:31:30] Excellent. Well, that was kind of my next question. You were saying earlier that the Austin food scene maybe gets a little criticism, but I wanted to hear about, I see there are some social media influencers who are very active in sharing what’s going on in here. So what has the reception been like from the community here in Austin and the kind of collaboration? I’ll start over here with you all.
Daniela de Lima Hernandez [00:31:52] I’m so happy to talk about it because one of the most important person that has been helping us is right in front of me.
Jerry Quijano [00:32:00] Oh really, who is it?
Daniela de Lima Hernandez [00:32:01] I want to thank Patrick Diaz. He’s been such a good friend and a voice for the community as well. So an example is his job. There has been a lot of good opportunities. We have been helped through the platform where we can talk, show what’s behind our projects or we can like literally move our voice or our food and our idea of this project faster. So we are very grateful to how we’ve been connecting with more people. And it’s very, it’s so genuine, like the people we have met, it’s also about who are you as a person, who are you as business owner, and what are your intentions? And I believe that whenever you do good things, good things happen to you. And then that is one of the things I always keep and remind myself. And then, yeah, I’m very happy that we have meet a lot of people through our journey.
Jerry Quijano [00:32:58] I’d love to hear that because, yeah, it appears, at least on social media, that there’s a very collaborative environment here in Austin, people are always doing, you know, things with one another. And speaking of which, Chris, you’ve been without a brick and mortar, but you have been pulling off some residencies that have sure helped you, you to continue to have hope as you move towards the opening of your place.
Chris Krinsky [00:33:17] Yeah, I think what I love the most about the food industry here in town and the way I’ve been able to interact with it is the sheer number of opportunities I’ve had to step into someone else’s kitchen and learn from them or vice versa. They come into my kitchen and so many different flavors and techniques. In every other universe, I’d still be a line cook working and learning for somebody else, and the fact that I have my own business here kind of… Sets me up to enforce my own learning curve, right? Like if I wanna learn how to break down fish, I gotta put fish on the menu. And having the opportunity to meet so many different chefs and learn from their technique and there’s so many ways to do things. And the collaborative effort that I’ve had, and especially now when I don’t have a brick and mortar, I don’t have a place of operations, the amount of people that have reached out to me that. Have given me the opportunity to keep continuity going for Raman del Barrio has been incredible. My friends at Yellow Ranger hosted us for a full month, running lunch service over there. And then Maria La Plancha over here on MLK. And then maybe the Barbacha Girls will let me do something, you know. People right here yeah absolutely but you know these these kind of of collaborative efforts have been what have allowed me to bankroll you know those nine employees i’ve been taking care of them financially without any income of my own it’s just kind of been part of the upstart costs but people reaching out and giving me these opportunities have taken a huge stress off my shoulders and it just reminds me and of just how strong of a community we have amongst chefs and industry people here in town.
Jerry Quijano [00:34:56] Very good. Well, we only have about a minute left. Is that correct over there? About a minute left. Okay. Well then I’m just going to do a rapid fire. If you could do like a recommendation of a place where somebody should eat in town that’s not your restaurant. Chris, you’re shaking your head. So what’s your recommendation?
Chris Krinsky [00:35:10] Yeah, so this place is actually a block from where I live, so I’m spoiled. But Old Alley Hot Pot up on Metric Boulevard. It is the most authentic, high quality Chinese hot pot experience possible. It’s not an all you can eat, but for being in Alacarte, it’s an extraordinarily affordable experience. You’ll spend like 30 to 40 bucks per head and you will leave incredibly stuffed. And it is a focused environment. Okay. It’s the closest thing to going to China.
Jerry Quijano [00:35:33] Hey, Janie.
Janie Ramirez [00:35:35] My current obsession right now is pea ties on airport. Okay, it’s so good. I’ve eaten there like three times in a week. It’s fantastic
Jerry Quijano [00:35:41] That’s the best recommendation, real quick, recommendation.
Rosa de Lima Hernandez [00:35:44] Well, I love barbecue and especially Mediterranean food, so probably KG BBQ is so good, yeah I love it.
Jerry Quijano [00:35:52] All right, well, we have been speaking with Daniela de Lima Hernandez and Rosa de Lima Hernandez of La Santa Barbacha, Chris Krinsky of Ramen del Barrio and Janie Ramirez of Die Due. Thanks so much for spending this time with us. We appreciate y’all.
Chris Krinsky [00:36:04] Thank you so much for having me.
Kristen Cabrera [00:36:16] Hi, I’m Kristen Cabrera, managing producer for Austin Signal. East Austin coffee shop, Mercado Sin Nombre, was also a winner of a Michelin Bib Gros Monde, an award that highlights quality and affordability. Here’s Julian Maltby and Melissa Alvear from Mercado sin Nombre on this award and their commitment to the neighborhood.
Julian Maltby [00:36:35] Are two main products that we focus on are Mexican coffee and Mexican corn, heirloom corn. We work with a company called Tamoa. They are based out of Mexico City. Francisco and I believe his wife started this company and they do really great work with farmers across Mexico. They get their surplus corn that they grow that they don’t need for themselves and then they sell it wholesale to restaurants in the U.S. We’ve been working with them since 2021 and they’re fantastic work. It comes to the coffee, we have a lot of direct relationships with farmers across the country. Veracruz, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, everywhere. And that one we get to be a little bit closer to them, work with them, get some profiles and varieties that we’re interested in that show like the whole breadth of what Mexican coffee can be from your daily drinker, you know, chocolatey nutty delicious cup to something fruity or a geisha or something. And Everything that happens in between is what’s exciting to us and keeping it at a price point that everybody can manage. We’re really interested in making corn and coffee from Mexico accessible to everybody, having interesting masa products be accessible to everyone, and we don’t want to have somebody unable to enjoy what we offer. Even in our neighborhood, in the Hawley neighborhood, we want everybody to be able to enjoy what we’re trying to do.
Melissa Avellar [00:38:00] We want to make sure that y’all are coming in, celebrating with us because this neighborhood is our neighborhood, this neighborhood predominantly, once upon a time Latino, a little bit gentrified now, but in relation to prices, how somebody from that neighborhood again, that has been living there 50, 60 years can come back and have something that they can afford. And even then, so some of these vendors who I grew up just right down the street coming back to celebrating, knowing that Mercado Sin Nombre is something that, they can call their own as well.
Kristen Cabrera [00:38:27] That was Julian Maltby and Melissa Avellar of Mercado Sin Nombre. I’m Kristen Gavrera and this is Austin Signals.
Jerry Quijano [00:38:39] This is Austin Signal. Welcome back to our South by Southwest Special live at Scholz Garten in downtown Austin. Make some noise out there. Whoa, the crowd is doing the wave. So many people out here. We are wrapping up in style. And obviously music is an essential part of the scene here in town and a big part of South by. And for more, we are joined by the Breaks host, Fresh Night and Confucius Jones. They are having their South by South Breaks official showcase tomorrow night. Gentlemen, thanks for joining us.
Confucius Jones [00:39:09] Thanks for having us once again.
Jerry Quijano [00:39:11] It’s great to talk with you all again. So I want to hear first off who’s going to be performing at your showcase tomorrow night.
Fresh Knight [00:39:17] Tomorrow night, we will have the illustrious Kydd Jones, Anastasia Hera, who’s been a former KUTX Artist of the Month, J. Soulja, Project Baby JV, Los Kemet, who, comedian Carlos Miller, said was top five Mississippi artist of all time. Okay. Come out and see him. Come out to see him, Ferris, jeez, you asked me to do this off the top of my head. No, no, no. You’ve done a lot setting up for that.
Jerry Quijano [00:39:43] How many years have y’all done this showcase now, this would be the eighth one
Fresh Knight [00:39:47] Oh, dang!
Jerry Quijano [00:39:48] Lose count. Yeah, no seriously with eight. Well you guys are both longtime Austinites. What is it like hosting your own official showcase as part of this big South by this worldwide event?
Confucius Jones [00:39:58] So there’s two different answers, I’ll tell you mine.
Jerry Quijano [00:39:59] I’ll start with you.
Confucius Jones [00:40:00] Easy peasy you know it’s not stressful you know, it’s just we do the work we show up and I’m glad that people embrace it.
Fresh Knight [00:40:07] Okay, let’s hear the flip side. We do the work was his key word in there. Yeah, it’s work. Yeah, yeah. But I will say it is rewarding seeing these artists, seeing people come out and learning about these artists. People who are descending upon the city who are not from here, from all over the world and coming into the venue and seeing these artist and discovering them and becoming fans of these artists is always rewarding. Seeing artists say like I got this uptick in streams or people was reaching out and asking and following me because they were at the show and seeing them perform.
Jerry Quijano [00:40:45] Okay, so you’re obviously doing your own showcase, but you’re both DJs on KUTX. Who are you excited to see in town this week? Oh wow, okay. Did you really focus your energies on setting up the best south-by-south breaks that you could?
Confucius Jones [00:41:00] Christina Aguilera.
Fresh Knight [00:41:04] Thank you, here.
Confucius Jones [00:41:05] Really? Yeah, it’s Skateland. My cousin’s performing.
Fresh Knight [00:41:08] Oh, she’s doing, they’re doing Sounds on Sounds. Yeah. Yeah, she doing Sounds On Sounds. That’s right. That is right. Sips on Sips. I’m sorry. Sips and Sounds, I believe. Sips And Sounds. They’re not paying us. That’s OK. It’s live radio. We’re just trying to make our best. Who am I looking forward to seeing this year? Will Ferrell is here. OK. Will Ferrel is in town. And I want to see Will Ferrol, because I want see just how funny Will Ferrell is. I haven’t seen Will Ferro outside of a movie. What do you mean?
Confucius Jones [00:41:33] What do you mean you want to see how funny he is because he’s like a sketch comedy artist I want to say Will Ferrell. Are you gonna try to make him crack jokes? Tell me a joke right now will
Jerry Quijano [00:41:42] I’m not sure if wolf is too
Fresh Knight [00:41:44] I always ask a rapper to rap on 16, why not ask him to crack a joke on Spotify? What you mean?
Jerry Quijano [00:41:50] Okay, let’s let’s go back to the South by South breaks One of the artists that you’re gonna be featuring is here with us at Scholz Garten today Let’s welcome Kydd Jones to the stage. Come on up kid
Fresh Knight [00:42:00] Austin’s cultural ambassador.
Jerry Quijano [00:42:03] Yeah, kid’s going to be joining us here. He’s walking up the stage right now. We only got about 10 minutes left in the show. So we’re going to talk a little bit with him. Your event starts tomorrow at 7 30, right?
Fresh Knight [00:42:14] 7Pm, left East Brick Bar, East 6th Street, come on out.
Jerry Quijano [00:42:19] Excellent. Okay. Well now we’re switching over to a Kydd Jones kid. We talked with shaky graves earlier I mentioned he was our first guest with a City of Austin day in recognition of him. You also had the same recognition When was that and and how did that feel as a born and raised Austinite?
Kydd Jones [00:42:36] It was dope. My day is September 1st, and it was actually an amazing day because I got like a, I got a cat that day, and I never had a cat before.
Jerry Quijano [00:42:47] Okay. What’s your catch name?
Kydd Jones [00:42:49] Well, my cat was named Issi Miyake, like after the Japanese designer, but Issi ran away, but I got another cat though.
Jerry Quijano [00:42:56] Okay, does that one still with you? Yeah. Okay. Okay, what’s that cat’s name? Goku. Okay Excellent. So tell us a little bit about the obviously or not obviously here in a second you’re going to perform here to help us close out our show. What other you’re an official artist for this year’s South by what other performances are you doing this for this week.
Kydd Jones [00:43:18] Just this and tomorrow night I left these bar. Okay, sounds right, okay.
Jerry Quijano [00:43:22] Excellent. Well, I wanted to ask you about some of the work that you’re really excited about to produce this year. What’s going on in your world?
Kydd Jones [00:43:30] Lately I’ve been working on a lot of music, been working on my brand, I have a clothing line called Onyx Dior, pretty much everything that I’m in today.
Jerry Quijano [00:43:38] How long have you been doing that?
Kydd Jones [00:43:39] I’ve been doing it since. Yeah, I started doing it in COVID, yeah.
Jerry Quijano [00:43:45] Is that a fun, creative release? Is it just something you always wanted to do or just decided to pick up?
Kydd Jones [00:43:48] Yeah, it’s release therapy to me, you know? So I feel like I’m just an artist in all ways, so whether I’m painting, drawing, producing music, recording music, it just something that I have to do as an artist.
Jerry Quijano [00:44:01] And you said that, you told me a little bit earlier that you made some music with Gary Clark Jr. And Paul Wall, tell us more about that.
Kydd Jones [00:44:08] Yes, me and my brother, Korey Kendricks, we got a song with Paul Wall that’ll be dropping later on this year. It’s just a cool, fun record, Texas, you know, survived.
Jerry Quijano [00:44:17] Yeah, yeah. How you’re I said a born and raised Austinite. How long have you been coming to South by or performing at South by?
Kydd Jones [00:44:24] Since forever, like, like Shaky was saying. You know, when I first started going to South By, I was confused. I was just going downtown, just seeing everybody everywhere and just like, you know, what’s going on. And in my first group that I was in when I was 15, that’s when we first performed at South By Southwest.
Jerry Quijano [00:44:41] Okay, cool. Well, I’m not going to tarry any longer. We’re speaking with Kydd Jones. He’s going to be at the South by South breaks official showcase. That’s tomorrow at lefties brick bar starting at seven o’clock. Uh, you can, it’s open to everyone. Come on out. We would love to see you. We have more information at KU T X dot org. All right now, kid, you’re going to perform a little song for us. Can you tell us, uh, what you’re gonna perform?
Kydd Jones [00:45:03] It’s a song called King. It’s nowhere online. The thing I like to do with my shows is there’s some songs that I, you know, only perform at shows, so you gotta come see me. Okay.
Jerry Quijano [00:45:14] So we’re getting a special treat here on Austin Signal. OK, excellent. Well, we are ready for you whenever you’re ready to go. Kydd Jones is going to perform. Let’s make some noise for him out there, please.
Kydd Jones [00:45:28] Check check check check What’s up, y’all? I go by the name of Kydd Jones, representing Austin, Texas.
Kydd Jones [00:45:48] Lord knows, do we really? I must have been a king in my past life. I must’ve done some things to come in last, right? Took me out the woods, got me addicted to the fast life. That was fast, right. 400 years of a youngin’ getting some act right. Now act light. I ain’t in a position to better my condition. Sell my soul to them folks, but had no condition. Never needed, could’ve been a penitentiary tenant. Riding tenant, made it home, still living. Who knew can catch a death sentence, feel trippin’. I’m a dark little youngin’ in the field with it Modern day Emmett Tillwis will give you chills I just popped another, I don’t wanna feel They wonder why we lootin’ steel, tryin’ to heal Breonna Taylor tears, I ain’t cried in years Oh, yeah Breonna Taylor tears, I ain’t cry in years, y’all Rihanna Taylor tears, I ain’t cried in years, y’all, yuh I must’ve been a king in my past life, dawg No reparations, being black could be a tax write-off I worked the great ship like Kanye, could remember my last night off Used to keep me an eye, now I keep a mask like song Heard it deep in the vine, I’m deep in- The sign scene was a child, young and chain gang. Thought I was doing fine before the pain came. Thought I doing fine, before the paint came. Pull it over, hands up. Black man, bang, bang. Do it over hands up, black man, nah. Rihanna Taylor tears, I ain’t cried in years, y’all Breonna Taylor tears, I ain’t cried in years, y’all
Kydd Jones [00:47:56] I go by the name of Kydd Jones, shout out KZ. Shout out to producer of this beat, Adrian Casada. The breaks, my boys Jerry Quijano My boy Finally got to meet the goat
Jerry Quijano [00:48:47] Make some noise out there, Scholz Garten.
Kydd Jones [00:48:50] Thank God, thank God, Thank God.
Jerry Quijano [00:48:51] That was Kydd Jones right here on Austin Signal on KUT News, 90.5 on the KUT app and online at kut.org. Again, Kid is going to be performing at the South by South Breaks showcase. It’s happening at Lefty’s Brick Bar tomorrow night at seven o’clock. We’ll have more information in the show notes for our podcast. Kid, thank you. Fresh Confucius. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, man. And thank you out there for tuning in. KUTX started the morning out at Scholz Garten today, bright and early at 8 o’clock, I believe. They’re going to be back tomorrow at 7.30, doors open tomorrow and Saturday as well. They’re gonna be out at the Rivian. They have a lot more going on this week as a part of South by Southwest. And I want to say thank you to Scholz Garten and everyone who’s been tuning in today. It’s been a great crowd and a great time here bringing the Austin signal to the community. I want to thank all of our guests. We talked to Shakey Graves, to Marina and Evan, the director and producer of the documentary, The Truth and Tragedy of Mariah Wilson that is premiering tonight at 615 out at the Long Center. We also talked to chefs from Die Due, Ramen Del Barrio, and La Santa Barbacha, and of course, Kydd Jones and the Breaks as well. We want to think you for tuning in and spending part of your Thursday with us. Austin Signal. Is gonna be back tomorrow at one o’clock and we’re gonna have even more South by Southwest coverage. Keep bringing that to you all week long. Rayna Sevilla is our technical director, Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer, and Jimmy Maas is our showrunner. Special thanks to Rene Chavez and Jake Perlman and everyone who made this show possible. We’re coming to you live from the Scholz Garten. Always a tricky wicked, but we made a good run of it today. Thank you to Scholz Garten, thank you to our live audience, and thank you for tuning in, spending part of your Thursday afternoon here with us. We hope you have a fantastic South by Southwest 2026. We’ll see you out on the town. I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. We will talk to you tomorrow.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
