Short Cuts

Eating Jacqueline Bisset Dept.: Summer in Austin traditionally means bone-dripping barbecue slathered with thick red goo, a fistful of Shiners, and an evening well spent at the Paramount Theatre's summer film series (see above). That's unless, of course, you're one of the few, the proud, the epicurious who've wisely chosen to augment their diet of spicy borachos y tequila in favor of the gastronomically sublime conclusion to the Chronicle and Alamo Drafthouse's Eat, Drink, Watch Movies series, which wraps up this coming Monday, May 26, 7pm, at the brand-spanking-new Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek (13729 Research in the Lake Creek Shopping Center) with a screening of the 1978 comedy-mystery Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (starring Bisset, George Segal, and Jean Rochefort). Proceeds benefit the Capital Area Food Bank, and the $60 per person four-course feast features roasted stuffed quail en croute with spring greens and truffle sauce (from Shawn Cirkiel of Jean-Luc's Bistro), poached Maine lobster with artichokes, truffles, and leeks in brandy coral sauce (from Jean Maxwell of The Mansion at Judges' Hill) and more. If you couldn't make it to Cannes this year, trust me, this is the next best thing. Purchase tickets online at www.drafthouse.com... The National Film Preservation Foundation has announced its list of annual grants, and the University of Texas at Austin's copy of Norman Bel Geddes' 1931 documentary on the making of his epic stage production of Hamlet is among 33 "orphan" films that will receive a cash grant. By "orphan," the NFPF refers to "historically and culturally significant film not preserved by commercial interests," and Geddes' film is in particularly good company alongside color footage of Admiral Byrd's 1939 expedition to Antarctica and avant-garde works by Nathaniel Dorsky, Jules Engel, and Larry Jordan. Check out the complete list of more than 600 films the NFPF has salvaged over the years at www.filmpreservation.org.