Via 313 and laV Receive National Honors

I don’t want to alarm anyone, but an Austin confetti shortage may be imminent. There have been so many reasons to celebrate of late that the factories (probably) just can’t keep up.

Hot on the heels of Olamaie’s Michael Fojtasek and Grae Nonas being honored by Food & Wine magazine and Travel + Leisure highlighting Lenoir, two more local eateries have received some serious national props.

Designer Marc English tipped us off on his Facebook page last week that we should tune into the Food Network this Monday night. We were not suprised to find that the channel had named Via 313’s the Detroiter as one of its "Top 5 Pizzas in America" on their Top 5 Restaurants program hosted by Geoffrey Zakarian and Sunny Anderson. Of course, we have always been fans of Brandon and Zane Hunt's pepperoni and cheese masterpiece. It’s one of the reasons Via 313 has been on our First Plates list since 2013.

Another of our First Plates picks has helped redefine Austin as a serious wine destination under the leadership of advanced sommelier Vilma Mazaite. In the August issue of Wine Enthusiast, laV was the sole Austin restaurant featured in the magazines list of the “100 Best Wine Restaurants in America.” That honor only went to three other Texas restaurants – Houston’s Pass & Provisions and Underbelly, and Dallas’ FT33.

Congratulations to both restaurants. In lieu of confetti, we will be shooting shooting silly string all over the Chronicle offices.