Food-O-File

Damage from an early morning fire at Z'Tejas Grill on W. Sixth last Friday will close the popular downtown eatery for at least six weeks, displacing their staff. While a few of the employees can be absorbed by the company's other outlets (Brio!, Z'Tejas/Arboretum), manager Matt Dodson hopes that local restaurants and clubs can provide temporary work for some of his valued, qualified employees. Restaurant managers who have shifts to cover due to vacations or student staff turnovers can contact Dodson at 499-0442 for recommendations... Next time you're looking for a great quick meal in the central city, check out the 34th Street Cafe, newly opened at 1005 W. 34th Street in the former Purple Plum location. The owners are Granite Cafe alums Eddie Bernal, Tim Albright, and wife Hellen Albright. The menu includes large hot sandwiches in the $3.75-4.25 price range, daily Blue Plate specials for $6, a few thin crust Tuscan pizzas, soups, salads, desserts and coffee drinks. The bright, airy cafe is already doing brisk business and catering is available. Though the cafe is closed evenings, the partners have ambitious plans for the pleasant space: wine tastings, a fine wine dinner series, cooking demonstrations and a series of cigar dinners. A newsletter to announce upcoming events is in the works. To get on their mailing list call 371-3400... If you fancy yourself Austin's answer to Ben, Jerry or Amy, churn up a freezer of your best ice cream and head for the first annual Central Market Homemade Ice Cream Contest this Sunday, July 28. Judging will begin at 2:30pm in two categories, Best Traditional and Most Austintatious. Ice creams will be judged on color, texture, taste and appearance. The $15 entry fee includes a special contest T-shirt; the grand prize is a $200 Central Market shopping spree; and first prize in each category is an engraved ice cream scoop and a $50 spree. For more information on entry procedures, contact Chip Rankin at 206-1000... To complement their Friday night wine-tasting series, Bon Fresh Food Market at 3801 Bee Caves Road, presents an A La Carte dinner on the last Friday of every month. For July 26, chef Nicholas Bogert has designed a special menu of appetizers, soups, salads, and entrées to pair with the featured wines of the evening. Shoppers can order Escargot Bordelais, Texas Caesar salad, creamy eggplant soup w/ roasted garlic, veal scallopini, or broiled pork loin before they begin shopping or wine tasting, and pick up their A La Carte meals in 15 minutes or when they're ready to leave -- whichever comes first... Further West, the prolific folks at Starbucks are opening a new location in the Barnes and Noble bookstore at The Village at Westlake, 701 Capital of Texas Hwy. The new location has an outdoor seating area and will open August 3rd with a benefit for the Westbank Library... Reports of their death due to bankruptcy filing have been greatly exaggerated, says Skyline Grill manager John Woolsey. Skyline is operating on their regular schedule, and offering 2-for-1 venison chicken fried steaks on Tuesday nights and half-price appetizers during happy hour on weekdays... Back from a mid-summer vacation, Bertram's is in fine form; check out chef Peter O'Brien's dynamite roasted boar chop with mussels in a sweet & sour sauce... Globe Bistro (formerly Common Market Cafe) owner Larry Rubin quietly closed the S. Congress restaurant recently and put the business up for sale... In a previous column, we mistakenly created the impression that HighLife Cafe's Scott Campbell was one of the owners of Ruta Maya Coffee House and Tobacco Shop. Campbell is not, nor has he ever been, an owner of Ruta Maya. We regret the error.