The Journal
Longer-form pieces from inside the precinct. New entries every few weeks. Older posts stay live and we update them when the details shift.
The Journal is the column's longer-form section. It is where we keep posts that do not fit the monthly cadence: pieces about how the precinct has shifted over the years, longer interviews with the people who run the kitchens, festival write-ups that need more room than the events calendar provides, and the occasional archive piece.
Currently in the Journal
Eat with us, the rotating shortlist. The longer of our two food pages. Where we actually eat in the precinct this month, updated monthly, with the rationale for each pick. The standby places that we never normally write about are listed at the bottom.
The Saturday food-truck roster, finally written down. Five regulars, two rotating, one wildcard. Built from three years of standing in the same paddock most Saturdays and writing down the names.
Dogs Day Out is back this long weekend. The eight-year history of an event that started behind a bottle shop with forty dogs and now occupies a grassy block. The schnauzer parade origin story is in here.
Brisbane Gin Festival drops in for a long weekend. Sixteen distillers under one roof on Abbotsford Road. Includes the timetable and the bit about the designated walker.
The Rosé and Cheese party, year four. Two cheesemakers, three rosés, a slightly chaotic courtyard. The notes from year three are linked from inside the piece.
Espresso Martini Festival, the morning-after edition. Twelve bars, one drink, a leaderboard nobody asked for. The Tropic Lab edition won, again.
Southern Smoke Co's quiet menu update. Burnt ends are back on Tuesdays. The brisket roll has new pickles. Short post. That is the entire post.
From the archive
The Tiny Dog Festival, 2020. The pandemic-era pop-up that became the prototype for what is now Dogs Day Out. Kept live because readers still link to it.
Reference pages
The pages we point readers at constantly: the monthly what's on calendar, the book a table page for our regulars, and the slowly-growing Local List of trades and small businesses we recommend around the precinct. The About page explains who writes the column and why, and the contact page is the way in for tips and corrections.
What is in the queue
Drafted and waiting on photo edits: a long piece on the warehouse-conversion bars of upper Brookes Street, an interview with the founder of the Saturday market, a 2,000-word account of the night the Espresso Martini leaderboard was almost rigged. New entries appear here as they go live. Bookmark the page or subscribe via the contact page for the Friday email.