Food-o-File: Friday Lagniappe

Sometimes there is too much Austin food news to squeeze into the print edition of the Chronicle. Rather than wait a week, we've decided to give our readers a little bite of something extra.

• Wheatsville Co-op (3101 Guadalupe, 4001 S. Lamar) celebrates 39 years of serving Austin as the only retail grocery cooperative in the state this week. Visit either store for birthday festivities. Monday, Mar. 16, 7:30am-11pm.

• Alice Gonzalez of Qui emerged as the winner in the first round of this year's Citywide 86'd competition in February. The second round is set to take place Saturday, Mar. 14, on the campus of the August Escoffier Academy of Culinary Arts. Competitors in the second round will represent Barley Swine, Congress, Lenoir, and Swift's Attic and they'll prepare dishes based on mystery basket ingredients. The judging panel will include chef-owner Iliana de la Vega of El Naranjo, Uchi junior sous chef and 2013 winner Ben Schwartz, Windy Hill Farm owner Ty Wolosin, and KXAN television personality Amanda Tatom. Though the four monthly preliminary rounds are not open to the public, tickets to the finals in June will be available later in the spring.

• The El Chile group celebrates the first anniversary of El Sapo Botanas y Burgers (1900 Manor Rd) with three days of free live music programming curated by the Music for Listeners radio program from San Antonio. The parties will have great music, tasty bar food, and a special cocktail called the Spicy Sapo packed with vitamin C. Thurs., Mar. 19 – Sat., Mar. 21, noon-7pm.

• Launderette (2115 Holly), the hip new eatery from chefs Rene Ortiz and Laura Sawicki, will be open for special “South by Snacky Bits” hours during South by Southwest, Mar. 13-21. On those days, the restaurant will feature daily offerings from the Snacky Bits portion of the dinner menu from noon until 3pm, and then open for regular dinner hours at daily at 5pm.

• Weather Up (1808 E. Cesar Chavez) hosts a Pranom Pop-up supper club featuring a multi-course Thai menu with cocktail pairings for $75 per person, plus tax and tip. Call for reservations at 512/524-0464. Saturday, Mar. 14, 6:30pm and 9pm.