The folks at Salvation Pizza (624 W. 34th, 535-0076) are pleased to announce they now have a beer-and-wine license and encourage pizza lovers to come by for a brew and a slice… Check out both the revamped menus with more nutritional information and the new signature apparel options at any of the four local Freebirds World Burrito (www.freebirds.com) outlets… The September issue of Details magazine lists two delicious options from the Central Texas barbecue trail in the feature “22 Sandwiches That Will Change Your Life” – the brisket from Black’s BBQ in Lockhart and the beef sausage from Southside Market in Elgin… I’m curious about two food shows that debuted in the fall television season this past week. Gourmet magazine’s new PBS culinary travelogue, Diary of a Foodie, will air on Saturdays, and the second season of Bravo’s Top Chef with Tom Colicchio is scheduled for Wednesday evenings. I’ll keep you posted… Speaking of chefs and culinary travels, longtime Chronicle contributor Mick Vann has just been awarded a Bell Travel Grant from the International Association of Culinary Professionals to continue research on his upcoming cookbook/market-guide titled Savoring Siam. Mick will spend much of December in Thailand working on his book. Not to be outdone, Chronicle wine writer Wes Marshall and his wife, Emily, will spend the next two weeks in Europe enjoying wines in Austria and the Czech Republic followed by some serious pub-crawling in the west of Ireland… Local chocolate entrepreneur Rick Bristow e-mailed about the recent completion of his new temperature- and humidity-controlled production facility “especially designed for and dedicated exclusively to the production of fine artisan chocolates” in the Granite Business Park on Hudson Bend Road. The new facility is home to Bristow’s decadent SXUL Chocolates (www.sxulchocolates.com), as well as two new items: a dark-chocolate cake frosting and a dark-chocolate sauce. Look for these distinctive chocolate delicacies exclusively at Grape Vine Market (7938 Great Northern Blvd., 323-5900).
This article appears in October 20 • 2006.