Austin360 blogs > Dale's Table > Archives > 2007 > October
October 2007
Frisco finds new home
The Frisco Shop, operating near the corner of Koenig Lane and Burnet Road for the past 54 years, will be moving a few blocks away in 2008 — to the Burnet Road location that was operated by Curra’s until it closed on Sunday.
Julia Akin, co-owner of Frisco, said the restaurant should open in February under a new management and ownership agreement with restaurateur and radio personality Bob Cole and his business partner Stan Miller. Akin said the Frisco is nearing completion of a deal for the former Curra’s space involving a longterm lease of at least 20 years.
“It’s a recipe for success,” she said.
According to Akin, the current staff of the Frisco will simply pick up and move to the new location. “Staff is absolutely key,” she said. “They mean an awful lot to us, and they’re coming with us.”
The restaurant is being forced to move because Walgreen’s has purchased the site and intends to build a drugstore there.
Cole said he is excited to be working with the Akin family at the Frisco. He also kept longtime family owners involved in the other two restaurants he took over: Hill’s Cafe and the Tavern.
“Significant lifetime memories are made and forged at places like these, and have been for a century,” Cole said. “While chain restaurants offer convenience and consistency, that special identity that makes Austin unique — and its citizens passionate about living here — can be found in only a handful of places these days. As one of those heritage/traditionalist guys, it’s an honor and, frankly, a no-brainer for me to get involved.”
Curra’s, according to a mailing from the restaurant, is searching for a new midtown location that has a bigger kitchen to accommodate the restaurant’s growing catering business.
Celebrity chef dinner menu
There’s a big night of eating coming up to benefit the Stephan Pyles Scholarship given through the Wine & Food Foundation of Texas. The eighth annual celebrity chef dinner, which will be Nov. 4 at the Stephan Pyles restaurant in Dallas, features five amazing courses. Tickets are $175 per person. For reservations, call 327-7555 or register at the foundation’s Web site. Here’s the menu:
First Course — Stephan Pyles of Stephan Pyles, Dallas
Lobster-Pumpkin Chowder with White Truffle Foam with Lucien Albrecht Gewurztraminer Reserve 2006, Alsace, France
Second Course — Tyson Cole of Uchi, Austin
Pacific Diver Scallop with Preserved Lemon, Huile d’olive, White Corn Sorbet, Smoked Butter Gelee and White Soy with Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc 2006, Marlborough, New Zealand
Third Course — David Bull of the Stoneleigh Hotel & Spa, Dallas
Foie Gras Brulee, Celery Root Puree, Green Apple Salad with Iron Horse Pinot Noir 2005, Sonoma-Green Valley, California
Entree — John Tesar of Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas
The Mansion’s Free Range Texas Guinea Hen, Smoked Bacon and Green Lentil Stew, with Red Wine Shallot Puree and Black Truffle Emulsion with Etienne Guigal Gigondas 2003, Rhone, France
Dessert — Shannon Swindle of Craft, Dallas
Forelle Pear Turnovers with Organic Ennis Hazelnuts, Tupelo Honey and Juniper with Domaine des Baumard Coteaux du Layon Carte D’Or 2005, Loire, France
Fogo de Chao will open Nov. 8 in Austin
Fogo de Chao, an upscale Brazilian steakhouse, will open Nov. 8 in downtown Austin near the convention center.
The restaurant (309 E. Third St., 472-0220) will have seating for 300 and is certain to increase dining traffic in the area that now includes P.F. Chang’s, Fleming’s and Roy’s.
Fogo de Chao offers an expensive, fixed-price menu at lunch and dinner that includes an impressive salad bar and all-you-can-eat servings of meat brought to the table on long skewers and cut individually for each diner.
Spicewood Vineyards sale is final
Ronald Yates, a 2001 graduate of the University of Texas and co-owner of High Wire Music, a small Austin music management company and record label, has closed on his purchase of Spicewood Vineyards. He bought the estate winery from Ed and Madeleine Manigold, who are retiring but who intend to stay on as consultants as long as Yates needs them.
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Bull & Boar closed
The restaurant that emphasized eating locally, trying to use meat and produce from area growers as much as possible, has closed. The Bull & Boar shut its doors two weeks ago, its Web site notes, “due to business circumstances.” Although today I couldn’t reach Andrew or John Page, the brothers who founded and ran the place, to confirm my assessment outright, I’m sure the Del Valle location worked against them.
I was there for dinner a few weeks ago, and there were only two other tables occupied that night. (After all six diners at another table ordered the country-fried steak, I decided to try it, too, and it was one of the best of the old-fashioned chicken fried steaks I’ve had in the area.) Clearly, few people were willing to make the drive to the out-of-the-way location well past the airport — even for the opportunity to eat locally.
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Burger battle heats up
The competition for the best burgers in Austin isn’t letting up. In the last week of November, a new place will hit the grill in North Austin: Mighty Fine Burgers, Fries & Shakes in the Arbor Walk Shopping Center.
Mighty Fine is the creation of K&N Management, which currently operates the four Austin locations of Rudy’s Country Store & Bar-B-Q.
The new restaurant’s burgers will be made from all-natural beef that is ground and made into hand-formed patties daily in the kitchen. The fries will be crinkle-cut, thanks to a $38,000 machine the burger joint has purchased for that purpose. Hand-dipped shakes and hand-squeezed lemonade will provide a fitting beverage.
Should quickly become a stop on the trail of those seeking Austin’s ultimate burger.
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Wine and pie
Royers pies, made famous at the cafe in Round Top, got a great plug this week in an unlikely place: a Washington Post wine column by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. Page and Dornenburg were encouraging the pairing of port wine and autumn pies when they noted, “After spying the first bright-orange pumpkins of fall, we craved pumpkin pie so intensely that we mail-ordered the only version we’ve ever loved: the pie from Royers Round Top Cafe in Round Top …” They also ordered a pecan pie and a chocolate chip pie. Now I’m pondering what port to have with Royers strawberry-rhubarb, my favorite.
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Dinner with your dog
In a one-night event, the new McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant at the Domain is inviting dog owners to bring along their pets for dinner on the patio from 7 to 10 p.m. Oct. 30. A portion of the dining proceeds will be donated to Austin-based Pets America, which works to educate pet owners about emergency preparedness and disaster relief services. Pets who attend will receive a bag of treats from Groovy Dog Bakery. And if your dog wants to dress for the occasion, there will be a pet Halloween costume contest at 8 p.m., with the winner receiving a McCormick & Schmick’s dining certificate.
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Cozy up to Cosi
The open-flame hearth plays a starring role at the new Cosi in Sunset Valley. It is the first Cosi for Texas, at 5207 Brodie Lane in the Sunset Valley Homestead Village Shopping Center.
The chain, which has more than 100 restaurants, is concentrated on the East Coast and in the Midwest. Two more Cosis are planned for Central Texas, one in San Antonio in November and a second in Austin in December.
Its menu includes hearth-baked sandwiches and pizzas, along with salads, soups and coffee drinks.
Tour de Vin
Tour the world in wine and food while traversing the rooftop plaza of Whole Foods Market this Thursday. Whole Foods, at Sixth Street and Lamar Boulevard, is joining the Wine & Food Foundation of Texas to host the fifth annual Tour de Vin from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday.
The event will feature more than 100 wines — from France to the Texas Hill Country — and the fare from a wide variety of local restaurants and caterers, including NoRTH, Botticelli’s, Dagar’s Catering, Doña Emilia’s South American Bar and Grill, Eddie V’s Edgewater Grille, Fête Accompli, Kenichi, Roy’s Restaurant, Satay, Uchi and Zocalo Café.
General admission is $75 per person and reservations may be made through the Wine & Food Foundation.
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