Members of the Belgian Culinary Team under the direction
of chef Christian Echterbille are currently in Austin and will be cooking at
Cafe Armageddon, 2015 Manor Rd. (478-4857) on Saturday, July 20 and at The
Belgian Restaurant (328-0580) on Sunday, July 21… Amandine Fine European
Desserts chef/owner Alain Braux helped Southwest Airlines celebrate their 25th
Anniversary with the winning entry in their 25th Anniversary Cake Contest.
Braux created a cake replica of a Southwest plane flying into the clouds and
was awarded two round-trip tickets to any Southwest destination in the
country…
Scott Campbell, one of the founders of Ruta Maya Coffee & Tobacco House,
has opened the HighLife Cafe at 407 E. Seventh with partner Mary Hall Rodman.
The new cafe occupies the former Wine Cellar location on E. Seventh and
includes a cigar lounge with a line of fine smokables selected by Campbell for
cigar aficionados. Hall and Rodman’s concept is to provide pleasant, light
meals (waffles, scrambled eggs and trout, soups, fruit and green salads) and
excellent coffee drinks to the downtown crowd. They expect to have a liquor
license by fall… There are some small, quality goat cheese makers in the
Austin area turning out delicious products. The most familiar is Larsen Farms
Texas Chevre, available for several years in local markets such as Whole Foods,
Randall’s, Central Market, etc. The newest contender is Pure Luck Organics
Farmstead Goat Cheese produced by Denny and Sarah Bolton at their farm near
Dripping Springs. Look for small wheels of plain, herbed, black, or red pepper
farmstead goat cheese at the farmstands at Craftsman Farm and Boggy Creek Farm,
at Bon Fresh Food Market in Westlake, at the Kitchen Door on Kerbey Lane and
Real Foods in Dripping Springs. Pure Luck cheeses are also popular with local
chefs and are finding their way onto restaurant menus. Their newest product is
a marvelous brine-packed Feta which is great crumbled on sliced cucumbers and
fresh tomatoes…
Green Gourmet Diana Welsch teaches a summer salads class called “Using the
Bounty of the Garden” at Central Market on Tue., July 24. Chronicle food
writer Patrick Earvolino will finish up that week at Central Market with a
class based on recipes from his fine first cookbook, Low-Fat Mexican Cooking
(Voyageur Press,$14.95,paper). Learn some high-flavor, low-fat Mexican
specialties on Friday, July 26. Call 458-3068 to register. At Williams-Sonoma,
try out a Fresh & Fast Mediterranean Feast for 4 from Appetite of Austin’s
Greg Petrosewicz on July 22 and Summer Mediterranean Fare from Jean Luc-Salles
of Jean-Luc’s French Bistro on July 31. 338-4080…
Winemaker Chester Osborn of the legendary Australian vineyard d’Arenburg
Vineyards will be the featured guest at an “Old Vines” Dinner at Brio on
Monday, July 22 at 7pm. Osborn will be pouring five wines made from grenache
and shiraz, warm climate varietals planted on his property in the 19th century.
A stellar five-course meal will be prepared by Brio chefs Raymond Tatum and
Michael Barnes. 499-0442.
This article appears in July 19 • 1996 and July 19 • 1996 (Cover).