Wine & Swine Releases Talent List

Everyone shows up for the Austin Food & Wine Alliance, Walton's makes a burger, and your brunch choice gets more difficult in today's food news.

Juliet Ristorante will be adding brunch and lunch beginning Saturday, October 24. Chef Jacob Weaver’s brunch menu will include brioche bread pudding, brunch risotto, and the P.E.L.T. (focaccia, pancetta, egg, lettuce, tomato, smashed fried potatoes, and calabrese aïoli). The lunch will have pizza selections, fresh salads and sandwiches, and some dinner favorites like the spaghetti carbonara.

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Épicerie, more than one Chronicle editor's favorite place to buy afternoon beignets, is beginning breakfast service this Thursday in an obvious attempt to get said editors to miss deadlines. Chef/owner Sarah McIntosh will bring it with dishes like pulled pork and brown rice with fermented kale, soft poached egg and hot sauce and savory oats with raclette. There’s a new coffee program too, because duh.

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In other am news, Jacoby’s Restaurant and Mercantile is adding Saturday brunch beginning 10:30am October 3. But let’s face it, you’ll get there closer to 2pm to enjoy chef Carlos Ysaguirre's new offerings like duck confit migas and country ham schnitzel. The restaurant will sadly be discontinuing lunch service because they have to rest sometime.

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The Austin Food & Wine Alliance, a group of superheroes not unlike the Justice League, have released the culinary talent list for this year’s Wine & Swine.  Chefs and artisans include Aaron Franklin (Franklin Barbecue), Michael Fojtasek and Grae Nonas (Olamaie), Rene Ortiz and Laura Sawicki (Launderette),  John Bates (Noble Sandwich Co.), Adam Brick (Apis Restaurant & Apiary), Richard Blankenship and Joel Orsini (CBD Provisions – Dallas), Pieter Sypesteyn (The Cookhouse – San Antonio), Stefan Bowers (Feast Restaurant – San Antonio), Brandi Key (Punk’s Simple Southern Food – Houston), Nicole Patel (Delysia Chocolatier), Andrew Wiseheart (Gardner), Leo Ferrarese, Francesca Silvestrini, and Marco Silvestrini (Dolce Neve), Alma Alcocer-Thomas (El Alma Café & Cantina), Nicholas Yanes (Juniper), Ned Elliott (Foreign & Domestic), Todd Duplechan (Lenoir), Nathan Lemley (parkside), Joshua Jones (Salt & Time Butcher Shop & Salumeria), Courtney Whittington (Whole Foods Market), Christopher Wilson (The Carillon), and (whew) Ji Peng Chen and Ling Qi Wu (Wu Chow). Ticket sales begin today for the November 8 event.

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Walton’s Fancy and Staple is getting into the burger game on Wednesdays. The components read like a poem from a particularly hungry 16th century troubadour: Strube Ranch Wagyu beef, tarragon & thyme aïoli, Treviso radicchio, Perlagrigia sotto cenere, and pumpernickel bun – all served with a side of Parmesan fried potatoes.