R.I.P. to DK Lee, Welcome Back to Austin Cider Week, Falling for Local Foods and Loro, Festivals and Fantasies, Free Pancakes for Voters, and More

Here's some of what's happening in Austin's culinary scene, as wrangled from numerous PR releases, words on the digital street, and even the occasional (verified) IRL eavesdroppings.

Yes, citizen, it’s your "Food News Buffet" for the first week of November in the little city that could.

Beloved sushi master and karaoke impresario DK Lee of DK Sushi (6400 S. First) has died, as reported by our canny friends at Eater Austin, though the man’s popular southside restaurant will continue on. Lee’s place was the first sushi venue in the city – opening in 1991 – and his cooking classes were almost as legendary as those wild nights of sake-fueled karaoke…

In much happier news, and in case it somehow escaped your notice, this is the weekend of the Austin Food & Wine Festival…

And let’s not forget to pour one out for old John Chapman, too, as Austin Cider Week returns next week, with Moontower Cider Co., Austin Eastciders, Argus Cidery, Fairweather Cider, and Texas Keeper in cahoots to celebrate the apple-based quaffs they quaft – er, craft – to the highest qualities of refreshment. You can catch the cider crew spreading the good word (and brew) out and about – at Yard Bar, Sour Duck Market, Radio Coffee & Beer, and Ani’s Day & Night, for evening events – from November 8-11. Which is all leading up to the Austin Cider Fest at Moontower (Sat., Nov. 12, 4-9pm), where the mighty coalition of locals will be joined by the Hill Country’s Hye Cider Co. and Lockhart’s Lost Horizon Cider Mill, staging a festival replete with tastings, live music, food trailers, and activities for the whole family. Didn’t click that link already? Then here’s where you can nab some tickets…

Free za for veterans! Cici’s Pizza, the Texas-based with that all-you-can-eat pizza buffet, is offering a free adult buffet to all active and retired military personnel for Veterans Day (Fri., Nov. 11). Note: That’s for dine-in only, doesn’t include a drink, and you’ve gotta have valid active-duty or retired military ID…

Heads up, healthy eaters: Local Foods (454 W. Second), recently debuted Downtown, has a new fall menu going – and they’re introducing it with 25% off all food and beverage (yes, including beer & wine) every day after 4pm – from now through Nov. 15th. Local Foods, you’ll recall, is predicated on that adjective local, which is why you’ll find Gundermann beets and Top of Texas gala apples among the ingredients of their Zack’s Super Duper Bowl; there’s Lion’s Mane ’shrooms from HiFi Mycology and peas from Side Pea Farm and Joe’s sunflower seeds supercharging the Fall Power Bowl; and you can imagine how good their Autumn Mac-and-Cheese is, ’cause it’s enhanced with Mornay sauce from Mill-King. Not to mention the tenderest pork from Falcon Lake Farms for their schnitzle-and-grits, and those pasture-raised eggs from Vital Farms, and – yeah, definitely a good idea to check out this epicenter of freshness…

Of course, Loro – Tyson Cole and Aaron Franklin’s impeccable Asian smokehouse and bar at 2115 S. Lamar – is adding a touch of seasonal goodness to their new menu as well, supercharging the regular offerings with Thai peanuts, smoked three-bean salad, key lime pie, and (this is what’s got us pretty much drooling, omg) a caramelized-onion-and-cheddar burger…

Speaking of fall windfalls, Geraldine’s in the Hotel Van Zandt (605 Davis) has brought back their popular Birds, Bubbles, and Blues event on Thursday nights, featuring spicy fried chicken, sparkling wine specials, and “renowned Austin-based blues artists delivering soulful tunes throughout the evening.” Reckon it’ll be especially wonderful on Thu., Nov. 17, which also happens to be Geraldine’s seventh anniversary…

And, let’s see – what else, what else? This Friday, aerialist and baker Odile Du is collaborating with painter and actor Kaci Beeler to present a pastry-fueled spectacle called Indulgence… the Commodore Perry Estate is hosting Saison Hospitality for an elevated (to put it mildly) celebration of the most delicious possibilities of fermentation… the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest is taking over Lockhart this weekend… on Tuesday, Nixta superstar Edgar Rico is cheffing up the noms for Gina Chavez’s performance at ACL Live… we’ve been sparking nostalgia and stimulating taste buds with Joel Fried’s excellent roundup of “Recipes of Austin Restaurants Past”… and the El Chile Group has launched a new delivery and catering business, Las Tortas ATX, so you can order their tasty Mexican vittles through most delivery platforms like Uber Eats, Postmates, and Grubhub…

WUXTRY! It’s been long enough, right? We’ve held our journo tongue for at least a month, haven’t we? Now we can again exhort you to stop by Foreign & Domestic’s weekend brunch just to get that light-as-a-cloud, gruyere-and-black-pepper popover of theirs, right? Because it’s breakfast perfection, and nothing in this town is a better match for your cup of wake-me-up coffee. Not the scrumptious waffles at Wax Myrtle’s, not the comforting migas at Eldorado, not those fluffy gingerbread pancakes at the Magnolia Cafe. Nothing, baby.

Final reminder: On Tuesday, Nov. 8, all Kerbey Lane Cafe locations will offer a free pancake to anyone showing their “I Voted” sticker. (Note: If you voted early, save that sticker to bring in on Election Day.)

Now eat as well as you can, tip like it’s going out of style, and let’s vote the bastards out and the at-least-potentially-better-than-bastards in.