Swift’s gives Chopped the Zack attack, Paula Forbes revisits Austin, and more afternoon bites.
We don’t usually stop the presses for menu editions, but Shake Shack fanboys rival the Bey Hive in their collective zeal. And they will surely sing Hosannas at the news that a chicken sandwich (the Chick’n Shack) has been added to the menus of both Austin locations starting today. The sandwich will feature a buttermilk-marinated chicken breast with herb mayo on a potato roll. We’ll leave those other chicken sandwiches to Team Breezy.
In other launch news, Bridget Dunlap’s Burn Pizza + Bar is opening for lunch starting tomorrow, Jan. 15. The lunch will feature soup and panini along with pizza and select pastas. That same day, the eatery will also be adding a few winter menu items like Umbrian fried chicken and two new seasonal pastas.
Normally when we think of brunch battles, we imagine the violence that happens when someone reaches over and pops my Benedict’s yolk. Turns out, the Food Network isn’t so bloodthirsty. On Monday, Jan. 19, the long-running competition series Chopped will be airing their own brunch battle with Swift’s Attic executive chef Zack Northcutt in the hot seat. Will our hometown hero waffle under pressure or will the competition have egg on their face? Find out at 9pm.
Local producer Stephanie Chastain’s series Take Me Out with host Nathalie Holmes of Esther’s Follies has been picked up by KLRU. The show will take various notables out o the town to discuss music, culture, and, of course, food. Chastain says the show has “confirmed interest from Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson, Eddie Wilson, Quita Culpepper, comics Maggie Maye and Kerry Awn, filmmaker Kat Candler, and Ballet Austin’s Stephen Mills,” among others.
Eater Austin alum and senior editor/ cookbook critic at Epicurious, Paula Forbes, will have a cookbook coming out in Spring 2018. The book, AUSTIN TX, will explore our dining scene through Texas’ rich culinary heritage. We’re stoked.
This article appears in January 8 • 2016.