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April 2010
Cissi’s Market on South Congress closes
Cissi’s Market, the wine bar and South Congress stop for sandwiches, pastries, coffees and specialty groceries, closed Friday at 4 p.m., a spokesperson confirmed Friday.
Cissi’s opened in 2007 as a neighborhood gourmet grocery along the high-energy development blocks of South Congress Avenue that include Perla’s, Jo’s, Hotel San Jose, Guero’s Taco Bar and more.
No details were available Friday on what would replace Cissi’s at 1400 S. Congress Ave.
The market attracted some top-flight wine and food talent in its three-year-run, including chefs Deegan McClung (pictured above left, now at Jeffrey’s), Rebecca Meeker (above right, who left last summer to help open a Joel Robuchon restaurant in Taipei) and sommelier Nat Davis.
Current Cissi’s chef Coi Burruss, who was a contestant on the reality show “Hell’s Kitchen,” will continue her joint duties at Town Market, another gourmet grocery venture from Cissi’s owner Victoria Lynden.
Town Market (43 Rainey St., Suite 103; 499-8696, www.townmarketaustin.com) features a mix of prepared foods and groceries, plus wine and beer available by delivery.
(American-Statesman photos)
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So Happy It’s Thursday: 50 Worst Restaurants
Pat Sharpe of Texas Monthly shared this link from the Chicago Tribune’s Stew blog.
The 50 Worst Restaurants in the World.
I’ll add five:
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The local score: Quattro Gatti: 1 star; El Arbol: 3 stars
Last week, I wrote about two chain restaurants at the Domain: Maggiano’s and Gloria’s. Both are suited to their shopping-center environments, obviously tested to meet the tastes of the mass market. Nothing to cause sharp spikes up or down.
This week, the spikes fly as I survey a pair of local Italian and Latin American restaurants: Quattro Gatti and El Arbol. With no multimarket master plan, these places are free to make or break their own fortunes. Both of them do so, with equal but opposite conviction.
Read the one-star Quattro Gatti review here. It’s the first one-star rating I’ve given, a milestone I’m not celebrating. I went three times, and there were problems with food, service, atmosphere or value each time.
Read the three-star El Arbol review here. If we gave out half-stars, this would be three and a half. The service and atmosphere of this three-level ’50s-era space-age bachelor pad are among the best in town at any price. The sommelier? He remembered which wine I ordered the last time I’d been there. And it was one of the cheapest bottles. A good bottle, though, proof that price alone doesn’t make decent wine. With some work on the food temperatures and respectable sides to build more value into the steaks and grill plates, El Arbol could have four-star potential.
(American-Statesman photos)
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‘Yes We’re Open’ Report: Houston’s changes names; Three Legged Willie’s; bye-bye Pie Guys
• Changing names: Houston’s restaurant at 2408 W. Anderson Lane has been bought by longtime franchise owner Tim Bartlett, who is changing the restaurant’s name to Bartlett’s. The menu will remain mostly unchanged, a spokesperson said Monday.
• Open: Three Legged Willie’s Restaurant and Bar, serving Hill Country cuisine with Southern flair, named for Texas historical figure Robert McAlpin Williamson. 708 S. Austin Ave., Georgetown. 512-868-8900, www.threeleggedwillies.com.
• Open: Wholy Bagel, a New York-style bagel store that also sells breakfast and lunch bagel sandwiches and homemade cream cheese ‘schmears,’ at 4404 W. William Cannon Drive. 899-0200.
• Open: Your Mom’s Burger Bar, a hamburger joint at 1701 E. Cesar Chavez St. 474-6667, www.yourmoms.net.
• Closed: Pie Guys, the pizzeria at 2222 Rio Grande St.
• Closed: The Hog Island Deli location at 407 Lavaca St. The location at 1612 Lavaca St. is still open. 482-9090, www.hogislanddeli.com.
• Closed: The Veranda, a bar and grill at 2525 W. Anderson Lane.
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Restaurant Recipe: Olivia’s Boggy Creek Farms Risotto
Earlier this month, Olivia chef-owner James Holmes hung out with Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford on NBC’s “Today” show to make a bright spring risotto, a dish that occasionally finds a home on the South Austin restaurant’s changing-daily menu, depending on what the chef and his staff find fresh at the farmers’ markets.
Holmes had been in New York to cook at the James Beard Foundation, where he showcased Texas farm products.
After sitting in a makeup chair next Carol Burnett, Holmes said, he had a tough act to follow in the “Today” show kitchen: “I said, ‘Really? You’ve got me cooking risotto after Mario Battali?’ I started to feel a little sick to my stomach.”
See the video of his appearance below.
Boggy Creek Farms Risotto
Fennel mix:
1 bulb fennel, shaved
5 stalks green garlic, shaved
Texas extra-virgin olive oil
Splash of lemon juice
1 Tbsp. chopped parsley
Pinch of salt
Risotto:
5 spring onions, cut on bias
2 stalks green garlic
2 cups arborio rice
White wine to cover rice
2 quarts chicken stock
Half cup fava beans, hulled and blanched
Half cup snow peas, blanched
1 tsp. lemon zest
Quarter cup lemon juice
1 cup creme fraiche
1 cup butter, cubed
Salt to taste
Toss fennel and green garlic in extra-virgin olive oil, lemon and parsley and pinch of salt. Set aside.
Heat a large skillet with extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat and add spring onions and green garlic. Saute until garlic is soft.
Add rice and stir until coated with oil. Add wine to cover the rice, stirring constantly, and cook until wine is fully absorbed.
Add warm chicken stock ladle by ladle, stirring constantly, allowing the stock to absorb fully with each addition.
After 20 minutes, risotto should be perfectly cooked, creamy, yet still al dente.
In the last 5 minutes of cooking, when rice is tender and cooked, add fava beans, snow peas, lemon zest, lemon juice, creme fraiche and butter. Salt to taste.
Top risotto with fennel mix and serve immediately.
— James Holmes, Olivia’s (2043 S. Lamar Blvd. 804-2700, olivia-austin.com)
(American-Statesman photo by Laura Skelding)
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More photos from Gloria’s and Maggiano’s
In today’s Austin360, I’ve written about Gloria’s and Maggiano’s Little Italy, two new chain locations at the Domain.
They’re both pretty good at what they do, Gloria’s with Tex-Mex and food from El Salvador, Maggiano’s with baseline Italian at decent prices in an upscale setting.
Read the reviews here. But here are a few more photos.
Top right: A beef fajita chimichanga from Gloria’s with rice, refried beans and guacamole, topped with chile con queso.
Bottom left: Lasagna with meat sauce from Maggiano’s, a portion heated at home as the second entree from the “Today & Tomorrow” part of the menu.
Gloria’s. 3309 Esperanza Crossing, Suite 100, in the Domain. 833-6400, www.gloriasrestaurants.com.
Maggiano’s Little Italy. 10910 Domain Drive, Suite 100, in the Domain. 501-7870, www.maggianos.com.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
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Stunt chicken: KFC’s Double Down
You have people like me to thank for the KFC Double Down, the bacon sandwich with fried chicken in place of a bun.
When fast food goes so stupidly over the top, food writers all over the country feel the need to weigh in. I’ve never been to Hardee’s, but I know about the Monster Thickburger, because that much meat, cheese and grease sets media tongues to clucking.
It’s free publicity, delivered in that scolding, superior tone that makes people hate critics.
KFC’s Double Down turned into a kind of trap for Sam Sifton, the restaurant critic for the New York Times. He let it be known that he’d be trying it, and a website spy took pictures of him in the act. The pictures hit the site.
So much for anonymity, one of the most important tools in a restaurant critic’s toolbox. In short, anonymity allows critics to see how a restaurant will treat everybody, not just the food-media types.
The Double Down was an innocent bystander in Sifton’s drama, but I’m holding a grudge by association because KFC’s publicity stunt led to the whole thing.
I won’t be lured into a full tasting report. I like fried chicken. I wrote a big, long story about fried chicken. The double down is bacon, cheese and spicy mayonnaise between two pieces of boneless fried chicken for $4.99. It’s way too salty, and the grilled version is even saltier. I couldn’t get newspaper people to eat it. And newspaper people will eat anything.
If you like KFC in general, you’ll like the Double Down fine. But at the Riverside Drive KFC, I lost 23 minutes of my life waiting in a mostly-empty restaurant for it.
I have only myself to blame.
(American-Statesman photo by Mike Sutter)
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Closing notes: Joe DiMaggio’s at the Domain
Putting together a review of Maggiano’s Little Italy at the Domain, I wondered aloud how two Italian places with soft double-Gs in the name could exist simultaneously in the same shopping center, the other spot being Joe DiMaggio’s Italian Chophouse.
That’s no longer an issue. Word reached us today, and a manager confirmed, that Joe DiMaggio’s has closed.
In February of last year, my well-traveled Sicilian-American father-in-law said DiMaggio’s had the best veal Marsala he’d ever eaten.
From that same visit, I wrote that: “A concept so long removed from the man’s life feels manufactured, a well-dressed ticket to putting Italian food on a high-end steakhouse menu. Call it A-Rod’s Asterisk Cafe or Ozzie Smith’s Pancake Flippery or Goose Gossage’s House of Hot Wings. In the end, it’s just a baseball player’s name attached to a building.”
DiMaggio’s was an elegant place, ringed with black-and-white photos of ballplayers and movie stars. Its firepit lounge was an open-air boys’ club, and if you had $40 to spare, a good place for a steak.
More details as they become available.
(American-Statesman photos by Ralph Barrera)
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Wine & Food Fest: Why port is like Lyle Lovett
“If I had a boat, I’d go out on the ocean. And if I had a pony, I’d ride him on my boat.”
That, ladies and gentleman, is what I call fortified songwriting. And nobody can touch Lyle Lovett for personality (not to mention a striking resemblance to Ferlin Husky).
What’s this got to do with wine? Glad you asked. For the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival., I sat down with Peter Scott of Premium Port Wines, the umbrella company for the big Symington family of ports, madeiras and other wines with long histories and veils of mysteries. Their wines will be part of Stars Across Texas, the Sunday Fair and other events during the festival, which runs through Sunday.
Scott brought Graham’s Six Grapes ruby port, Dow’s 10-year tawny port and a little bottle of the newly declared 2007 vintage Quinta do Vesuvio straight from the cask, a wine with the aroma of the big, fat green-hulled pecans that rained like hailstones from my grandparents’ trees in Northeast Texas.
My goal was to find ways to move port from the dessert menu to the savory side of the street, so we tried it with Angus sliders and caramelized onions, with a plate of pates and sausages, with Medjool dates stuffed with chorizo and wrapped with bacon.
More on how that worked later, but here’s why I brought up Lyle Lovett and why I think port is the Lyle Lovett of the wine world:
The people who love it, they really love it. Fanatical. The rest, they don’t quite know what to make of it, the wine that’s like wine but nothing like it. It’s long and quirky, unapologetic. Sweet but wiry, never easy.
Port will ride its pony wherever it damn well pleases.
(American-Statesman photo by Mike Sutter)
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Texas25 canceled tonight
The rain has forced the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival to cancel what was to be the inaugural Texas25 event on the Whole Foods Market rooftop plaza from 7 to 9 p.m. today.
People who have already purchased the $25 Texas25 tickets can use them toward the early bird price of admission ($40) to the Sunday Fair at the Vineyards at the Salt Lick, which takes place from noon to 5 p.m. Tickets are now $45 for that event.
For questions or more information, call Giant Noise at 382-9017.
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Wine and Food Fest: 5 wines worth tasting
• Joseph Carr wines: “Especially for Whole Foods Market, they’re excellent value wines. We do really well with the Napa Valley cabernet and the chardonnay. They’re very good examples, stylistically, of what they’re supposed to represent.” - Devon Broglie, a sommelier and Whole Foods Market specialty coordinator for the Southwest region.
• McPherson Cellars Sangiovese (Texas): “The thing that impressed me so much was how fresh it was and how much the winemaker let the classic characteristics of that grape variety shine through. It had the acidity and that type of classic sangiovese plum fruit that make that wine so food-friendly, such a great steak wine. With McPherson, they planted an Italian variety, but they’re not trying to turn it into a Californian wine.” - Jeremy Parzen, Austin-based wine industry marketing consultant.
• Murphy-Goode wines: “Primarily known for their cabernet and zinfandel. They’re really down-to-Earth, nice people, and that is reflected in their wines. I think sometimes the people behind the winery influence the wine as much as the terroir and they become part of it. Big, industrial wineries produce a big, industrial kind of wine, and honest family people doing honest work produce honest wine. And Murphy-Goode is definitely that.” - Rob Moshein, the Austin Wine Guy blogger.
• Quintessa Rutherford Napa Valley Red Wine: “That’s a winery with a commitment to quality. It’s a balanced, age-worthy California cabernet, year-in and year-out. I would rather have wines of balance any day than a monster wine that’s gotten wild scores in its first year of conception. To me, Quintessa falls within that category of tried-and-true.” - Mark Sayre, sommelier of Trio at the Four Seasons Hotel.
• Tablas Creek Vineyard (California): “Excellent examples of Old World wines done in a New World setting. They’re all Rhone-style wines - blends of syrah, mourvedre, grenache, whites as well - that are done in a very elegant, traditional style.” - Devon Broglie.
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‘Yes We’re Open’ Report: Trailers, wine & peanut butter-and-‘nana sandwiches
• Open: Edible Earth (above left), a vegan trailer serving burritos, baked potatoes, salads and sweets from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. 1207 S. First St.
• Open: The Trailer (above right), an Airstream serving burgers, dogs, quesadillas, salads and more from 4 to 10:30 p.m. Sundays through Wednesdays and 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays beside the new cocktail lounge called the Gibson. 1109 S. Lamar Blvd.
• Open: East End Wines, a wine retail store at 1209 Rosewood Ave. The store will be celebrating with grand opening on Saturday. 904-9056, www.eastendwinesatx.com.
• Open: A Little Dippy Doughnut Co., serving plain, sugared and iced mini doughnuts from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. 2324 Cesar Chavez St. 476-1703.
• Open: Turf ’n’ Surf Po Boy, a trailer serving po’ boy sandwiches at the corner of Second Street and Congress Avenue. 965-4679, www.turfnsurfpoboy.com.
• Open: Opa! Coffee and Wine Bar, located in the former Music Cafe at 2050 S. Lamar Blvd., serving drinks and appetizers. 326-8742.
• Opening Saturday: Beale Street Tavern, a bar, restaurant and nightclub with an Elvis Presley theme. The menu includes, burgers, chicken-fried steak, fish and chips and, of course, a deep-fried peanut butter-and-banana sandwich. 214-B E. Sixth St. 680-2346, www.bealestreettavern.com.
• Coming soon: Tart, a shop selling organic frozen yogurt at 241 W. Second St. 803-1156, www.tart-yogurt.com.
• Coming soon: Baguette et Chocolat, a bakery and pastry shop at 12101 Bee Cave Road. Scheduled to open in late April. www.baguetteetchocolat.com.
• Moved: TaKorea, a Korean taco truck, to the Longhorn Food Court at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Rio Grande Street. www.eastmeetsmex.com.
• Moved: The Onion, a pizzeria formerly on West Fifth Street, to 408 Brazos St. 476-6466, www.onionbaby.com.
• Closed: Sampaio’s, (bottom photo) the Brazilian restaurant on Burnet Road.
• Closed: The Z Pizza location at 452 W. Second St.
• Closed: Paciugo, a gelato shop at 241 W. Second St.
(American-Statesman photos)
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Hill Country Wine & Food Fest: 5 Wine People
Meet five influential wine people who’ll be part of the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival April 15-18.
• Jonathan Nagy, winemaker for Byron Vineyard & Winery: Being a basketball coach himself, Nagy followed the NCAA men’s tournament, watching powerhouse Duke edge out the underdogs from Butler. In the tournament brackets, where would this California winery in the Santa Maria Valley be? “We’d be a little more like Butler. Kind of under-the-radar, but comfortable with ourselves,” Nagy said. “I was impressed by how they do all the little things right.” Butler might be called a cult favorite this year, and Byron has developed its own cult following among pinot noir and chardonnay drinkers. This is Byron’s first appearance at this festival.
Featured events: Stars Across Texas Grand Tasting, Palate Cleanser, Sunday Fair.
• Mike Martini, winemaker for Louis M. Martini: This grandson of California cabernet royalty is part of the original 1986 festival. With at best a fledgling Texas wine industry then, what drew him to Austin? “The music,” he told me by phone from a cruise ship off the coast of Genoa, Italy, where Martini and a band of fellow winemakers were giving wine lectures in the morning and playing shows at night. “It was a different world then. They were trying to do the carbernets and hadn’t really started on tempranillos yet. So it wasn’t Hill Country wine then. It wasn’t as attractive as Sixth Street.” If Louis M. Martini were a record label instead of a winery, what bands would they sign? “I think Carlos Santana would be a really good hit, because I really like that really rich, mellow — at the same time spicy — that type of wine.”
Featured events: Texas Culinary Masters Dinner, Stars Across Texas Grand Tasting, Big Dog Reds, Sunday Fair.
•Karen MacNeil, wine educator and author of “The Wine Bible”: Just as she did during the inaugural festival in 1986, MacNeil will conduct a tasting of sparkling wines. “Back then, nobody would have imagined you could have champagne on a Friday night with barbecue. But of course we know today that — for the same reasons that beer is great with a lot of food because it’s bubbly and cold — sparkling wine and champagne is great with a lot of food because it’s bubbly and cold.” Her advice to people discovering wine: “Everybody eats, and everybody feels pretty comfortable with solid flavor. Wine is just merely liquid flavor.”
Featured events: Toast to Stars, Test Your Tastebuds, Quintessa Reserve Tasting.
•Russell Smith, winemaker for Becker Vineyards: This respected Stonewall winery (its Iconoclast red was the house wine at two recent parties thrown by food-conscious friends of mine) is featured all over this festival. Smith plans to show Becker’s flagship Raven blend of malbec and petit verdot at the Big Dog Reds tasting. “It’s a really nice little wine. Really rich and dense, great dried fruits and toffee.” Some favorites of late? “We bottled our 2008 Prairie Rotie — that’s our Rhone blend — and it’s tasting really good right now. … We’re making less merlot, and really trying to kick it up a notch. With this 2008 (Reserve Merlot) we just bottled, it’s really delicious.”
Featured events: Becker Vineyards Luncheon, Stars Across Texas Grand Tasting, Texas Wine and Cheese Pairing, Big Dog Reds, Sunday Fair.
•Austin Hope, winemaker for Treana Winery and Hope Family Wines: “I love Texas. It’s one of the better food places around, especially Austin,” said Hope, who’s been bringing his Paso Robles, Calif., wines to the festival for about 10 years. In his downtime from overseeing the family labels — including Treana, Austin Hope, Candor and Liberty School — Hope hunts the occasional duck. So which Hope wines go best with duck? “Treana Red and the Austin Hope grenache,” he said. “You’ve got to cook them over oak. That’s the best way to eat wild duck.”
Featured events: Treana Tasting, Big Dog Reds, Palate Cleanser, Stars Across Texas, Sunday Fair.
(Clockwise from top left: Jonathan Nagy, Mike Martini, Austin Hope, Karen MacNeil and Russell Smith, center.)
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Trailer Treasure: Good Bike Cafe
Many a late Saturday night, I’ve walked home past the little mysterious coffee shack called Good Bike Cafe. I’ve seen it grow, Stephen King “Rose Red” style, from trailer on the corner of the Freewheeling Bicycles parking lot to a big, sprawling coffee hut.
First a storage container, then the trailer got bigger, then a canopy appeared, then tables and chairs — the parking lot doesn’t stand much of a chance. Every now and then, the owners pull out a movie screen and I catch 15 seconds of a war scene as I walk past. And the coffee guy is there, always there, with a hefty paperback book in hand, jamming to music when I’m walking home.
Food and drink options very well might occupy different ZIP codes on the random menu boards. I didn’t know what to order, because I wasn’t sure where to look. I scanned the specials board, which promised my drink would be “awesome” and ”groovy” and that my treats would be “organic” and “rockin.’ ”
The pierced, mellow coffee dude was glad to serve as a tour guide. “Which tea?” I quandered. He shook a container of citrusy, herbal loose tea ($1.50) under my nose. And after a little conversation, it’s clear he knows more than just tea. For instance, he knows that starting around midnight on Friday and Saturday he needs to get busy heating up Hebrew National hot dogs ($2) and pizza paninis ($3) in preparation for the West Campus bar rush that staggers right past the walk-up window.
There’s a difference between night food and day food here. At night, processed, pre-made munchies bring in more money than Heidi Montag’s plastic surgeon. But during the day, fresh Italian wraps and bagel sandwiches with lox ($5) are big sellers.
The lox sandwich would be a good grab-en-route-to-class lunch. A Rockstar ‘everything’ bagel (sesame seeds, garlic, salt, poppyseeds and more) is slathered in a healthy dose of cream cheese, sprinkled with capers and crunchy red unions, then topped with salmon.
It paired well with my cafe con panna using locally roasted Cuvee Coffee beans ($2.50) and organic raisins, but I could have used a fire extinguisher full of Listerine to eradicate the garlic and espresso from my breath.
And despite a recent price spike, a heap of firm red tomatoes was stacked neatly by the window, ready to dress fresh sandwiches — because this is more than just a sprawling shanty next to a bike shop, it’s a West Campus fueling station.
Good Bike Cafe. 2401 San Gabriel St. 425-0853, www.goodbikecafe.com. Hours: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
— Emily Macrander, food team intern
(American-Statesman photos by Emily Macrander)
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Hookah a brother up: Smoke on the water
Six days, six hookah lounges. By now, my body mass is 30 percent smoke, which makes me one of the “Watchmen,” at least. The Whisp, they’d call me, able to float through anything and forget almost everything. My super-power? The Sonic Mellow. Get a taste of the Austin hookah-lounge life today in Austin360. Here’s a taste. The rest? that’s gonna cost you a click.
Ask Sami Romman the health question and you get cheeseburgers.
‘If you eat cheeseburgers five times a week, that’s not good for you,’ said the co-owner of Austin’s Kasbah hookah lounge. ‘But you have a cheeseburger once a week, maybe that’s not so bad.’
He’s answering this question: Is smoking a hookah as bad for you as smoking cigarettes?
You don’t have to watch Dr. Oz to know that lighting and then breathing anything isn’t good for you. But the hookah smoke is so cool after it passes through the water, expansive and perfumed, sweet as a campfire marshmallow. And because it’s not acrid and hot, you might be tempted to inhale, passing it back through your mouth and nose like the condensed breath of fall’s first morning.
Back here in the less-prosaic world, I’ve cleaned enough hookahs to know this: The black, resinous particulate matter that builds up in those satin-girdled hookah hoses? Some of that’s getting into your mouth and in your lungs. When you’ve tried, let’s say, six places in six days for a story on hookah lounges, it makes for a fine flinty cough.
In those six days, I also learned that first, most people have no idea what a hookah is. That I can fix. (It’s what the caterpillar is smoking in ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ the one who sounds like Professor Snape.)
And second, the hookah can bring together cultures that are half a world apart physically, a whole world apart philosophically.
See there? Hookahs and cheeseburgers. With nothing more than tobacco and saturated fat, we’ve built a bridge between the Middle East and America.
Just set that coffee down next to my Nobel Prize.
(American-Statesman photo by Mike Sutter)
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‘Top Chef Masters’ returns
Hosted by Kelly Choi, with judges Gael Greene, James Oseland and obligatory salty Brit-crit Jay Rayner, the series’ chef lineup includes food-geek favorite Wylie Dufresne, the lovable Graham Elliot Bowles and Houston’s Monica Pope (at right).
The preview promises yelling, lots of yelling.
(Bravo TV photo)
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Wine lines: Ruth’s Chris Dinner, the big Fest, the auction
• The same weekend as the festival, the Wine & Food Foundation of Texas will host an auction of rare and fine wines to benefit the foundation’s charity programs at 6 p.m. April 17 at the Four Seasons Hotel. The $250 ticket includes a champagne reception, wine and an hors d’oeuvres buffet. 327-7555, www.winefoodfoundation.org.
• Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse will host a wine dinner with Freemark Abbey at 7 p.m. on April 15. $100. 107 W. Sixth St. 477-7884.
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East Side openings: Magic Madgie’s, Connie’s (Beer) Garden
• Open: Magic Madgie’s Red Hot Trailer, serving German and barbecue sandwiches, plus Frito pie, burgers and hot dogs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays at 515 Pedernales St.
Parked next to the former Peacock Lounge, Madgie’s is run by Artz Rib House owner Art Blondin (left) and appeals attorney David Schulman (right), two guys with full-time day jobs.
Why? ‘If you did what I do — and only what I do — you’d go crazy,’ said Schulman, whose clients include death-row prisoners.
The trailer traveled to fairs and festivals as the Schnitzel Wagon before Blondin and Schulman bought it. Blondin said they wanted to preserve some of the trailer’s German roots, and they hope to add German breakfast tacos to the lineup eventually.
The trailer’s name comes from a third partner in the business, Madgie Hollingshead, a local legend for her handmade Hawaiian shirts when she’s not working as a computer-assisted drafting artist.
• On the way: Speaking of the Peacock Lounge, a source tells us plans are in the works for the site to open this year as the Double Down Lounge.
• Open: Connie’s (Beer) Garden, the backyard sit-and-sip annex at Joe Cook and Connie Green’s weekday lunch spot called Joe’s Place, which opened in September.
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Joe’s Place serves sandwiches with kettle chips, salads, daily specials, even duck pate.
Connie’s (Beer) Garden is open during lunch hours and from 3 to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, serving 17 bottled beers (Guinness, Brooklyn Brewing Co., Independence and more) and three wines, plus food.
In the former Stark’s Grocery building at 1814 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 472-3105, www.joefood.biz.
In other restaurant news, from my colleague Matthew Odam at The M.O.:
• Closed: Mother Egan’s, an Irish pub and restaurant at 715 W. Sixth St. According to a publicist, Egan’s owners Will and Ward Luedecke hope to open another pub or a sports bar early next year, likely in East Austin.
• On the way: A fifth location of Kerbey Lane Cafe. A Kerbey Lane insider said the restaurant will occupy the former site of Dimassi’s Mediterranean Buffet at 4301 W. William Cannon Drive and that management hopes to open by August at the latest.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
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Easter brunch sampler, expanded
Easter is April 4, and here’s an updated sampler of Easter brunches around town. Most require reservations, so call ahead.
• The Carillon (AT&T Executive Conference Center, 1900 University Ave. 404-3655, www.meetattexas.com): Champagne and Bloody Mary bar, brunch buffet with omelet and waffle stations, smoked seafood, roasted chicken grilled salmon, beef medallions, dessert bar and more. $36.95. $16.95 for 12 and younger. 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
• Cru a Wine Bar (238 W. Second St., 472-9463; 11410 Century Oaks Terrace, Suite 104 in the Domain. 339-9463, www.cruawinebar.com): Three-course brunch with choices such as a seafood cocktails, goat-cheese beignets, roasted lamb, steak-and-eggs and molten chocolate cake. $21.95. Half-price for children 12 and younger. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Driskill Grill (604 Brazos St. 391-7121, www.driskillgrill.com): Brunch buffet with a champagne and mimosa bar, truffled egg custard, omelets, lobster Benedict, banana bread French toast, corned duck, oysters, profiteroles and more.$65. $32.50 ages 6-12. Free for children under 6. 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• European Bistro (111 E. Main St., Pflugerville. 512-835-1919, www.european-bistro.com): Four-course fixed-price menu with soup, salad, main course and dessert. Main courses include lamb, pork tenderloin, wienerschnitzel, Cornish hen and rainbow trout. $35. A la carte and kids’ menus available. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar (11600 Century Oaks Terrace, Suite 140 at the Domain, 835-9463; 320 E. Second St. 457-1500; www.flemingssteakhouse.com): Three-course brunch with main courses such as filet Benedict, crab frittata, berry-stuffed French toast and more. $29.95. 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Four Seasons Hotel Austin (98 San Jacinto Blvd. 685-8300, www.fourseasons.com): Buffet options include salads, pastas, pastries, pates, crab claws, sushi, prime rib and desserts. $75 at Trio, $68 in the ballroom. $20 children 6-11. Free for children 5 and younger. 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Green Pastures (811 W. Live Oak St., 444-4747, www.greenpasturesrestaurant.com): Brunch buffet with prime rib, smoked ham, game hen, rainbow trout, eggs Benedict, bread pudding, a chocolate fountain and more. $55. 11 a.m., with last reservations at 1:45 p.m.
• Hyatt Regency Lost Pines (575 Hyatt Lost Pines Road in Cedar Creek, 512-308-4860, www.lostpines.hyatt.com): Brunch buffet with breakfast standards, omelets, smoked and fresh seafood, cheeses, antipasti, carving station, dessert station and more. $47. $23.50 ages 4-12. Free for 3 and younger. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Lakehouse Cafe (406 Sleat Drive at Lake Travis in Spicewood. 512-264-7040, www.lakehousecafe.com): Brunch buffet with breakfast standards and a carving station. $15.95. $7.95 for kids. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Renaissance Austin Hotel (9721 Arboretum Blvd., 795-6100, www.renaissancehotels.com/aussh): Brunch buffet with shrimp, coq au vin, paella, cheeses, roasted lamb a dessert station and more. $45. $19 ages 6-12. Free for children 5 and younger. 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
• Roaring Fork (10850 Stonelake Blvd., 342-2700, www.eddiev.com): A la carte brunch dishes, including prime rib, leg of lamb, strawberry shortcake and more. Prices vary. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Roy’s Austin (340 E. Second St. 391-1500, www.roysrestaurant.com): Three-course brunch with appetizer, main course and dessert. Main courses range from macadamia nut pancakes to crabcakes Benedict to steak-and-eggs to misoyaki butterfish. $29.95-$46.95. $12.95 kids’ menu. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Sagra (1610 San Antonio St. 535-5988, www.sagrarestaurant.net): Brunch with a choice of main course and dessert, plus muffins, bread and fresh fruit. Main course options include Italian quiche, roasted lamb and rigatoni Bolognese. $20. Mimosas and bellinis are $1. 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• T.G.I. Friday’s on Town Lake (111 Cesar Chavez St. in the Radisson Hotel. 478-2991, www.tgifridays.com): Brunch buffet with breakfast standards, omelets, ham, honey-pecan chicken, steamship beef, desserts and more. $23.95. $11.95 kids under 12. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
MORE PLACES OPEN FOR EASTER BRUNCH:
• Ciola’s Italian-American Restaurant (1310 RM 620 S. 263-9936, www.ciolas.com)
• Eddie V’s at the Arboretum (9400-B Arboretum Blvd. 342-2642, www.eddiev.com)
• Hudson’s on the Bend (3509 N. RM 620. 266-1369, www.hudsonsonthebend.com)
• La Condesa (400-A W. Second St. 499-0300, www.lacondesaaustin.com)
• McCormick & Schmick’s (11600 Century Oaks Terrace, Suite 100 in the Domain, 836-0500; 401 Congress Ave., 236-9600, www.mccormickandschmicks.com)
• Monument Cafe (500 S. Austin Ave. in Georgetown. 512-930.9586, www.themonumentcafe.com)
• Shoreline Grill (98 San Jacinto Blvd., 477-3300, www.shorelinegrill.com)
• SWB at the Hyatt Regency Austin (208 Barton Springs Road. 480-2035)
