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 July.
Murph Willcott, mover and shaker and badass baker of the once and future Texas French Bread bakery and bistro (2900 Rio Grande), tells us that he’s “moving expeditiously toward securing a building permit” to build back better after the fire that devastated the venue in January of last year. We can’t think of a more intensely missed culinary icon – especially not one resplendent with the promise of such fine victuals – and wish the crew a speedy path through Austin’s notorious jungle of red tape. (You have a spare hour or two? Ask our Culture Editor Richard Whittaker what he thinks of this city’s permitting process.) “We’re also imagining generous skylights over a cappuccino bar and bakery wall along the north side of the old dining room,” says Willcott. Meanwhile, though, you can easily sign up for a weekly bread subscription through their Table22 portal and have your most warm and fluffy and deliciously nourishing dreams fulfilled on the reg…
In less pleasant news, the first brick-and-mortar of Radix House (11600 Menchaca Rd.), that haven of hemp-derived CBD and powerfully delicious coffee, is in some dire straits – having to ditch the bricks due to what might be called landlord shenanigans. The Radix House food truck iterations at West William Cannon and West Slaughter will keep on, um, truckin’ as well as they can; meanwhile, these javalicious proponents of mental health are hoping for a bit of community help…
Y’ever hear the phrase “That goes together like pizza and brisket and barbecue sauce” as you’ve made your way through our burgeoning burg? You may be hearing it more, as Black’s Barbecue is again partnering with the Detroit-style pie technicians of Via 313 for their July feature: the Ol’ Smokey BBQ pizza, made with brisket and sauce from Black’s, topped with pickled red onions and ready for your delectation at all Austin locations through Aug. 6. Bonus: $1 from each Ol’ Smokey supports The Other Ones Foundation, a nonprofit that offers humanitarian aid, case management, and low-barrier work opportunities to people experiencing homelessness in Austin…
And Amir and Ali Hajimaleki’s Keepers Coastal Kitchen (5701 W. Slaughter) has shifted the popular seafood venue to a more fine-dining vibe. They’d kept it way casual during those mid-pandemic days (you remember those, right?), but now they’re as upscale as they wanna be – while retaining all the menu favorites like shrimp tacos, ceviche verde, the lobster roll, oysters and oysters and oysters, and the impressive pineapple upside-down cake. Excellent cocktails, too, ranging from a Coastal Spritz to that Keeper’s Mule…
Let’s see – what else, what else? Things have been getting a mite bookish, what with our current paper edition still gracing the stands, and so we’ve got a look at the history of Texas whiskey via Still Austin co-founder Andrew Braunberg’s Fires, Floods, Explosions, and Bloodshed… and barbecue brilliants Aaron Franklin and Jordan Mackay offering more than vaporware with their new Franklin Smoke, featuring photos by the estimable Wyatt McSpadden… and, oh, you might want to click here in case there are any tickets left for Salt & Time’s La Cruz de Comal wine pairing dinner on Friday, July 7… and nearby Driftwood is well worthy of a jaunt next Thursday for Vista Brewing’s Hive Mind Honey Ale beer release party…
WUXTRY! The Alice Cocktail Experience will be popping up in Austin sometime this August, so you can “revisit the surreal world of Wonderland and embark on an alternate reality adventure.” With much fancy booze and costumed whimsy, we imagine (though that mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson may have rolled his eyes at the notion), so maybe it’s of interest? Find the deets and the hype on Instagram…
Now eat as well as you can, tip like it’s going out of style, and pay attention to what your heart and your gut are telling you.
This article appears in July 7 • 2023 and The Books Issue.