When the Chronicle food section decided to add a listings and
news
column several years ago, I asked Phil Born, an old hand on the Austin
restaurant scene, to write it for us. As a frequent reviewer of both
restaurants and books for the Chronicle, Phil was a natural
choice. He
came up with the name for the column, “Food-O-File,” and was its first
contributor. This week, it is my sad duty to say goodbye to the
original
“foodophile.” On May 4th, his thirty-ninth birthday, Phil Born took his
life at
his South Austin home.
Phil came by his food experience the old-fashioned way. Over the last
two
decades, he had managed Joe’s 6th Street Deli, was a chef at Basil’s,
managed
the Waterloo Ice House and Avenue Restaurant on Congress, and was the
bar
manager and wine buyer at the Shoreline Grill. He was most recently
involved in
the start-up of the new restaurant in the Whole Foods store at 6th and
Lamar,
where he would have been the manager.
While Phil was always enthusiastic about food and wine, movies and
books were
really his first loves. He earned bachelor’s degrees in both
Radio-Television-Film and English Literature from the University of
Texas at
Austin. He studied film criticism with the founders of this publication
and was
also a sympathetic reader for many Austin writers who sought his
opinions on
works-in-progress.
With his Southern manners, his kindness, and his enormous heart, he
was the
very definition of a gentleman. For all those who remember Phil’s
charming
manner and enthusiastic spirit, his decision to take his life comes as
an awful
shock. He never wanted to trouble anyone with the pain and torment that
the
endured throughout his life, but in the end, he couldn’t live with it
any more.
There probably isn’t a synagogue or funeral home in town big enough
to hold
all the people whose lives Phil Born touched. So instead, I invite the
whole
city to join me in the most fitting memorial I can think of. Whether
you’re at
Antone’s, the Shoreline, Cedar Street, the Continental Club or any
other of
Phil’s old hang-outs this weekend, or just sitting around at home –
raise a
glass of Bushmill’s Irish Whiskey on the rocks and join me in a
toast:
To Phil Born, a world class eater, a world class drinker, and a
world class
human being. May he finally be at peace.
This article appears in May 12 • 1995 and May 12 • 1995 (Cover).