Food-o-File
Austin farmers' markets are on the move, and several Downtown restaurants shuffle chefs
By Virginia B. Wood, Fri., Jan. 15, 2010
Both of Austin's remarkably successful farmers' markets have geographically small but logistically significant moves scheduled in the next few weeks. The Austin Farmers' Market (Fourth & Guadalupe, www.austinfarmersmarket.org) will move from Fourth Street into Republic Square Park. Shoppers will be able to enjoy most of the market in the shade or the interior green space of the park, and the stage/seated dining area will be located on a newly constructed wooden deck under the shelter of the historic Auction Oaks. A "Market in the Park" party is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 23, to celebrate this weekend's move. Meanwhile, the Sunset Valley Farmers Market (www.svfm.org) will be moving from the concrete of the Burger Center parking lot onto a contiguous piece of green space that belongs to the city of Sunset Valley. Look for this move to take place by early March. This weekend, customers at both markets will welcome the long-awaited return of North Central Texas dairyman Mark Ganske (formerly Remember When Dairy), who's now doing business as Way Back When Dairy. Ganske's exemplary milk, buttermilk, cream, butter, and yogurt will be for sale at both markets and Wheatsville Co-op beginning this weekend and will re-emerge in the dairy cases of local retailers Central Market and Whole Foods Market in the very near future. I'll be lining up for buttermilk myself... Longtime Austin restaurateur Jeff Weinberger and key members of his staff have spent the last several months developing a sustainable seafood policy for the Shoreline Grill (98 San Jacinto, 477-3300, www.shorelinegrill.com), and now the eatery is proud to announce that it's the first Texas restaurant to be certified as a sustainable seafood provider by the Seafood Watch Restaurant Program operated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, Calif. This means the Shoreline menu will only feature seafood sourced by "environmentally safe methods and from areas supporting healthy ecosystems." New Shoreline Executive Chef Quinten Frye is busy developing menu items in keeping with the new guidelines... Olivia (2043 S. Lamar, 804-2700, www.olivia-austin.com) chef/owner James Holmes announced this week that Chef de Cuisine Morgan Angelone will be leaving to take some time off before pursuing projects of her own and that chef Andrew Francisco will replace her as chef de cuisine by the end of the month. Taff Mayberry, most recently of Shoreline, is the new pastry chef... After opening Mizu (3001 RR 620 South, 263-2801, www.mizuaustin.com) near Lake Travis, chef Chris Bauer is back in Downtown Austin as executive chef at Eddie V's Prime Seafood (301 E. Fifth, 472-1860, www.eddiev.com), where he replaced J.P. LaCoste, who recently moved on to Max's Wine Dive (207 San Jacinto, 904-0111, www.maxswinedive.com).
