Food-o-File

Central Market's live-fire cooking demonstration and dinner featuring Argentine chef Francis Mallmann last Friday night was a spectacular success. Read more about it on my blog, and check out Mick Vann's review of chef Mallmann's award-winning cookbook, Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way, in our summer reading section this week on p.38... Congratulations to Austin chef/nutritherapist Alain Braux, who has just been advised that his self-published book, How to Lower Your Cholesterol With French Gourmet Food: A Practical Guide, won the cookbook category at the Paris Book Festival this spring, received honorable mentions in the cookbook category at recent book festivals in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and was a finalist in the Nutrition category at the 2010 National Indie Excellence Book Awards – great news for a local author! Buy his book at www.alainbraux.com... Bakerman's Bakery (120 E. Seventh, 476-0060, www.bakermansbakery.com) co-owner Jeff Ontiveros was one of the competitors in the pilot segment of a new TLC show called The Chocolate Wars, which aired earlier this month. Ontiveros, a former pastry instructor at Le Cordon Bleu College, demonstrated his skills and techniques for developing chocolate molds while creating a fantastic chocolate zoo animal show piece for the competition, but ultimately did not win... Popular West Austin takeout spot Cipollina (1213 West Lynn, 477-5211, www.cipollina-austin.com) has undergone some changes recently. New general manager Jonny Humble and new chef Daniel Hunt are now offering full service at both lunch and dinner daily, with a Mediterranean-inspired menu based on local ingredients. Enjoy the daily happy hour where thin-crust pizzas and carafes of wine are half-price from 5 to 6pm... Both locations of Hyde Park Bar & Grill (4206 Duval St., 458-3168; 4521 West Gate Blvd., 899-2700; www.hpbng.com) are celebrating its recent win for Best French Fries in The Austin Chronicle Restaurant Poll by offering half-orders of its famous fries for half-price through May 30... If you're looking for a great deal on Memorial Day, both outlets of the Roaring Fork (701 Congress, 583-0000; 10850 Stonelake, 342-2700) are offering all-day, all-night happy hours May 31, with drink specials and reduced prices on appetizers, including the signature Roaring Fork "Big Ass" Burger ($7)... Austinite Ray-Scott Miller is the local franchisee for the first of several planned outlets of Newk's Express Cafe (9722 Great Hills Trail, 795-7507, www.newks.com). The Missis­sip­pi-based quick-casual chain is known for fresh salads, soups, oven-baked sandwiches, California-style pizzas, and homemade cakes. During its grand opening week, May 31 through June 5, Newk's will donate a portion of the proceeds to Big Brothers Big Sisters... Summer fruit is making an appearance at all of our local farmers' markets – look for peaches and blackberries now, with tomatoes not far behind. Peach growers report that this should be a good peach season as a result of the cool, wet winter. Hooray! I'm keeping my eyes out for plums and am determined to try for jelly rather than syrup this year.