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November 2008
Tips to keep your Black Friday plumber free
Apparently, the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for plumbers, many of whom are called in due to problems associated with the kitchen sink.
InSinkErator, the world’s largest manufacturer of food waste disposers, says it receives 43 percent more calls on that day. Don’t assume your disposer can grind anything. Turkey bones, potato peels and coffee grounds are particularly bad.
Here are some dos and don’ts from InSinkErator:
Don’t put grease or fat down the disposer, or any drain. It can build up in pipes and cause blockage. Instead, pour it into a glass or tin container, and then discard waste in the trash once it solidifies.
Do grind hard materials such as small bones, fruit pits and ice. Contrary to what you might think, it’s good to grind these types of items in your disposer because it helps scrape the inside of your pipes and disposer, removing any build up that might be there, such as grease build up.
Do have a container for dirty silverware so that guests do not toss their utensils in the sink. Glass, plastic, metal or other non-food materials can seriously damage the disposer.
Do run cold water down the drain for 30 seconds before and after disposer use to flush the food waste through the plumbing system and keep debris from settling in the pipes. Hot water can melt fatty/greasy waste and allow it to re-solidify, which may lead to jams and clogs.
Don’t hurry through clean-up as this is one of the main reasons users overfill or jam their disposers - simply because they are not paying attention.
Don’t use your disposer like a garbage can. Avoid letting items like tea bags, bread ties and bottle caps fall into the sink as they can easily run down the drain and cause jams.
Do grind lemons and other citrus fruits. This will give your disposer a fresh scent.
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Cookbook giveaway question
Hopefully Martha Stewart’s new book will help reader Holly’s sister-in-law learn how to throw a successful Thanksgiving dinner. (Cold, pink turkey is never a good sign…)
For next week’s book, “Made in Spain: Spanish Dishes for the American Kitchen” by PBS host Jose Andres, tell me about your favorite ethnic dish you wish you could pull off in your own kitchen.
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Note to self: Don’t serve Ina Garten a pumpkin pie
Ina Garten is not a pumpkin pie person.
Instead, she serves desserts such as pumpkin banana tart or pumpkin mousse parfait; this year, she’ll be making a pumpkin roulade filled with mascarpone (recipe below) on Wednesday to serve for her husband and six guests on Thursday.
These informal gatherings at her house are the focus of “Barefoot Contessa,” which is in its seventh season. A second show, named after her most recent cookbook, “Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics,” premiered last month and is also filmed in her own kitchen.
“I try to include more information about cooking” in the new show, she says over the phone this morning from her kitchen/office in the East Hamptons. “Tips, what you can make in advance…It has a slightly different energy.” Filming both shows in her home was part of the deal from the beginning. “I wanted it to feel real. My friends, my family, my home, not in a studio,” she says.
“Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics” has been in the works for four years, even though its publishing happens to coincide with rough economic times when many people are heading back to the kitchen. “Many of my recipes are basic anyway, so I couldn’t make it more basic,” she says. “So I decided to write about how to get the most flavor out of the ingredients.”
“I can’t tell you how many people have said to me, ‘This economic thing is a disaster’,” she says. There is a silver lining: It’s reminding us what’s important this holiday season. “It’s not all about the stuff and the Santa cards, but it brings you back to bringing people closer and spending time with family and friends. ”
She also had a few thoughts on Michelle and Barack Obama. “I am so thrilled and so excited for his intelligence, his deliberateness and centeredness and how grounded he is,” she says. That is so important for the economy. (She should know; before she became a celebrity cook, she worked on budgets in the Ford and Carter administrations.)
She also says that Michelle Obama is the perfect person to show what is so great about this county. It’s not about entertaining; it’s about showcasing the best of what we have, from food to clothes to theater, she says.
I couldn’t help but point out that the forecast for Thanksgiving in Central Texas is a warm 77 degrees. “You can spend it in your bikini,” she says with a chuckle.
A few people on Twitter had some additional questions for Ina:
@csharo: “Back to Basics” often calls for “outdoor grill.” Any Contessa-approved alternatives? Will grill pan do? One of the most popular recipes from the new book is the Tuscan lemon chicken. I’ve heard of people broiling and baking the chicken and it turned out fine, so you don’t have to grill many of the dishes.
@natanyap: What advice do you have for those who want to change careers like you did and move from a non-food related job to a foodie job? Just jump off the cliff, she says. Focus your attention and you’ll figure out how to do it. It’s not an easy transition. I love the food business. It keeps me up at night, which I love. You have to roll up your sleeves and dive in. I don’t know that blogs would create a professional base for you. I think you really need to be out there in a kitchen or with a food store or with a culinary degree. Work your way up. Be prepared for a few years of learning your way through the food business.
@allenweiner: What about low fat alternatives? I do have some recipes that are quite high fat, she says. I like to balance a meal with things that are low fat and things that are richer. People feel better when they have a balance, she says. I tend not to substitute, but I will make a recipe that’s lower in fat.
@dquack: I’d also be interested to hear your take on the sustainable food movement. I think everybody needs to look around their neighborhood and see what’s made there. There’s a chicken farm in East Hampton, so I cook a lot of chicken. I buy Italian sausages made in a store near here. I write a menu around what’s available and what’s in season. Focus on the ingredients that are available, then fill in the gaps.
Pumpkin Roulade with Ginger Buttercream
For cake:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus extra for dusting
For filling:
12 oz. Italian mascarpone cheese
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 Tbsp. heavy cream
1/4 cup minced dried crystallized ginger (not in syrup)
Pinch of kosher salt
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 13 inch by 18 inch sheet pan that’s about an inch deep. Line the pan with parchment paper and grease and flour the paper. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt and stir to combine. Place the eggs and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed for three minutes, until light yellow and thickened. With the mixer on low, add the pumpkin, then slowly add the flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Finish mixing the batter by hand with a rubber spatula. Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake the cake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the top springs back when gently touched.
While the cake is baking, lay out a clean, thin cotton dish towel on a flat surface and sift the entire 1/4 cup of confectioners’ sugar evenly over it. (This will prevent the cake from sticking to the towel.) As soon as you remove the cake from the oven, loosen it around the edges and invert it squarely onto the prepared towel. Peel away the parchment paper. With a light touch, roll the warm cake and the towel together (don’t press!), starting at the short end of the cake. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
Meanwhile, make the filling. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the mascarpone, confectioners’ sugar, and cream together for about a minute, until light and fluffy. Stir in the crystallized ginger and salt.
To assemble, carefully unroll the cake onto a board with the towel underneath. Spread the cake evenly with the filling. Reroll the cake in a spiral using the towel as a guide. Remove the towel and trim the ends to make a neat edge. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve sliced.
Serves 8. You can make this a day before serving. Be sure to serve cool, so bring it out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving.
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Dr. (and mommy friend) Jenny Kokai: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
I met Jenny Kokai exactly two years ago when we were both heavily pregnant in a natural childbirth class and wondering how the hell we were going to do this whole child-rearing thing and continue with our pre-motherhood plans. She was in the middle of getting her doctorate in Theatre and Dance at UT and I was a copy editor twitching to get back into writing.
Even though our birth plans didn’t go our way (we were the only two moms in the class who ended up with C-sections), we forged ahead, balancing diapers, sleepless nights and quickly growing boys with the day-to-day work that inched us closer to our goals. This has meant pleas for babysitting, late night hours at the computer, pumping at work or in the library and more time away from our kids than we’d probably have liked.
But it has paid off. As of this week, she’s Dr. Kokai.
Yesterday, she defended her project, which is on women and performance in Boston around the time of the American Revolution, which means she’s reached her goal of finishing school before she’s 30. She says now she gets to focus on getting a job and taking care of her sweet son, Oliver. She’ll leave the cooking up to her husband, Eric.
Oh, and she promises that all the liquor wasn’t there to help her finish the degree. It’s for Thanksgiving with the family, she swears.
What three things are always in your fridge? hard tofu (cheap protein, basis for many dinners), non-dairy coffee creamer (low calorie dessert is Mocha Almond Fudge creamer and decaf coffee), jalapeno stuffed olives (snacks and Mexican Martinis, of course).
What’s your favorite condiment? Salsa… great on everything. Especially Leal’s.
What’s your go-to snack for the little one? Lately the wee one wants pancakes, so we make up a big batch of fruit filled pancakes on Sunday and keep them in tupperware in the fridge so he can eat them through out the week.
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Empty bowls, Mama Fu’s and free Dr Pepper on Sunday
Three (unrelated) awesome things happening on Sunday:
A new Mama Fu’s is opening downtown in the Second Street District at the corner of Colorado and Cesar Chavez streets. It’s the fourth location for the made-to-order Asian restaurant, which has counter service at lunch and full-service dining at dinner. This location will offer a full bar as well.
But the best thing happening Sunday is the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas’ 12th annual Empty Bowl Project. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Mexican American Cultural Center, you can buy a hand-made bowl filled with delicious soup for $15. Area potters have donated thousands of bowls and dozens of restaurants, including Cafe Josie, Sazon, Mandola’s, Corazon and The Soup Peddler, have donated bread and soup. The proceeds go to the food bank, which is always in need of extra help this time of year.
Besides a great meal benefiting a wonderful organization, you also get a funky bowl to take home with you!
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Top Notch to reopen
After closing a few weeks ago after the death of its manager, Top Notch, the beloved hamburger restaurant on Burnet Road, will reopen on Monday.
“We’ve had a lot of feedback from people almost begging us to try to stay open,” says Janet Stanish-Knue, whose brother and Top Notch manager James Stanish died unexpectedly in his sleep earlier this month.
To the heartbreak of many in the community, they closed the restaurant, which played a prominent role in Richard Linklater’s 1983 film “Dazed and Confused,” and had doubts they could reopen without Stanish’s leadership.
We’re going to give it a try, she says, but “it’s going to be different, though, to do it without my brother.”
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Turkey live chat with TCA instructor Stephen Cash
The recipes for injected deep-fried turkey and a brined and roasted turkey are after the jump….
Injected deep-fried turkey
1 cup water
2 Tbsp. onion powder
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. cumin
2 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. cayenne powder
1/2 tsp. all spice
Allow bird to come to room temperature (about an hour). Bring your frying rig to 325 degrees. Bring water to a boil and then turn off heat. All all of the remaining ingredients and stir vigorously. Allow to cool and load in injector. Inject small amount in many places rather than large amounts in few. Aim for the middle of the large muscles. Fry the bird to an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Remove from fryer and allow to rest.
Brined and roasted turkey
For the brine:
1 1/2 cup salt
3 cups sugar
3 gallons of water
Put about a gallon of water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Stir in the salt and sugar until they are completely dissolved. Remove from heat.
In a sterilized five-gallon bucket, mix the brine concentrate with the remaining water. Submerge the bird in the water and place a heavy plate or similar object on top to keep it submerged. Keep the bird below 40 degrees and allow it to brine for about 12 hours or more if you’re roasting a bird that’s more than 12 pounds.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the bird and pat dry. Place the bird on a tall roasting rack in a lined pan. Put the bird in the oven.
After 30 minutes, remove the bird and baste it with the fat that has accumulated in the pan. You can use clarified butter if you want. Continue to baste the bird every 15 to 20 minutes, until the thermometer reads 160 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh.
Allow the bird to rest. Carve and serve.
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Win a copy of Martha Stewart’s new book
Now for this week’s giveaway question: What is the worst Thanksgiving fiasco you’ve ever witnessed or played a role in?
I’ll draw names next week for a copy of Ms. Fiasco herself’s latest, “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook.”
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Giving turkey a second (or third or fourth) chance
Ham has always won in my book, but who can serve a Thanksgiving dinner without Mr. Gobble Gobble himself?
But it is not as if turkeys cook themselves. (You’ll remember my run-in with turkey in Spain a few years back.) They are large, once-a-year traditions that, like most fowl, are unremarkable in flavor without some effort on the cook’s part.
But the class, led by Texas Culinary Academy instructor Stephen Cash, opened my eyes to how delicious a turkey can be — if cooked properly. The roasted turkey, which had been brined, was moist and tender enough to fall apart even when cut into fat slices. The fried turkey, which cooked in less than an hour, wasn’t quite a delectable, but it was still better than any turkey I’ve ever served or been served on Thanksgiving.
Cash, who indeed marks his coffee travel mugs with a dollar sign, will tell us exactly how you cook that perfect turkey in a live chat here on Relish Austin at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
As if the turkey wasn’t enough, TCA had an awesome mulled cider for us to drink, served with a scoop of butter and a dash of spiced rum. The recipe, which will be the only thing I actually make for the family T-day dinner next week, is after the jump…
Mulled cider
1 gallon apple cider
2 cinnamon sticks
4 cloves
2 star anise
10 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
zest of one lemon
1 cup sugar
Put everything into a pot. Bring to a simmer, but do not boil. Simmer for 30-45 minutes, strain and serve. Optional: Add a teaspoon of butter and a dash of spiced rum.
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AMOA director Dana Friis-Hansen: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
Dana and Mark are foodies with a deep interest in local foods. In their fridge, you’ll see evidence of trips to the downtown farmers’ market with food from Aster’s Ethiopian Catering and Thai Fresh and Rio’s sauces. Just last night, their book club met to discuss Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” so they celebrated with fish and shrimp from Roberto San Miguel’s seafood company and dishes made with local arugula, peppers and radishes.
Friis-Hansen, who has been the AMOA’s executive director since 2002, must relish in the dining aspect of the museum’s newest exhibit, “The Texas Chair Project,” which is opening this weekend. It is a result of Austin artist Damian Priour’s experiment two years ago in which he sent 100 limestone-and-glass chairs to fellow artists and requested that they send him a chair of their own in return. The exhibit will be open through February at the downtown location, 823 Congress Ave.
What three things are always in your fridge? Garlic, champagne, three kinds of mustard, cowboy burgers, low sodium v-8, olives, cheeses, arugula, something from Soup Peddler, something from Farmer’s market vendors… ok, that’s more than three.
What is your favorite condiment? Wasabi mustard … We lived in Tokyo for five years, so this is a great mix of East and West…
What meal have you eaten that’s worthy of a museum still life? There are many great still lives in art history, but I am lucky to be friends with a truly multi-media artist, Doug Fitch, who creates food extravaganzas and events under the rubric “Orphic Feast”. Last Thanksgiving a group of friends, including Doug, celebrated a wonderful weekend in Marfa at the home of artist Charles Mary Kubricht, it was a collage of flavors and colors!!!
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Calling pizza freaks and beer oddities
It’s not even the week before Thanksgiving, yet one could not want for more fun food activities:
The Black Star beer co-op is hosting a beer social from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. this Saturday. Bring a chair, your ID and snacks. (Curious how these socials work? Check out this explainer.)
More beer news: Craft Austin has the first glimpse of what the 100th anniversary Shiner beer will look like next year.
If you don’t feel like getting out, the newest season of Top Chef just started, so you’ll have plenty of knife-wielding and cat fights to watch from the comfort of your living room. Serious Eats has a wrap-up of last night’s premiere.
For more at-home entertainment, how about a contest? Alexandra Bruskoff, the delightful baker behind Alexandra’s Cookie Dreams, has collaborated with the Insatiable Critic, Gael Greene, for a virtual contest called the Insatiable Cookie Chase. Follow clues, find the answer, win cookies. The contest ends on Saturday, December 10, and you can learn about the details here.
One more fun thing to check out: Chow shows off the best food tattoos, because, as you can see above, you never want to forget where pork loin comes from.
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Another restaurant closes in Marble Falls
On the heels of the recent closing of Cafe 909 in Marble Falls comes news of another restaurant closing in that city. Patton’s on Main, which showcased the cooking of Pat Robertson, shut its doors on Nov. 8.
Patton’s Web site, www.pattonsonmain.com, reports that Robertson will work with the Wolfgang Puck Corp. on a new restaurant in Dallas’ Reunion Tower.
The closing leaves Marble Falls gourmands with few fine-dining options. The Falls Bistro also closed this summer. Still standing is Russo’s Texitally Cafe (602 Steve Hawkins Parkway, Marble Falls. 830-693-7091, www.texitally.com), where owner John Russo serves Italian dishes with Texan and Mexican influences.
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Win a book: Tell me which beer is worth fighting for
A $2,000 meal in San Francisco in the dot-com days and a Valentine’s Day dinner at Zoot won Matt and Maggie this week’s fancy cookbooks.
A copy of “Shine On: 100 Years of Shiner Beer” will go to the randomly drawn winner.
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Carlos Santana says his corazón is in new Austin restaurant
Carlos Santana has a new restaurant downtown, and he wants you to know that he’s not just in it for the money.
Although the name, Maria Maria, is cringe-worthy — you can thank me later for getting that song stuck in your head — the food is good and the motive seems as heartfelt as Santana himself.
At a media event at Maria Maria on Monday night, Santana, clad in brown and his trademark stocking cap, said he sees the restaurants — there are four total — and even his line of shoes as a way to return the blessings he’s received, to invest in people to give them an opportunity to financially, psychologically and spirituality grow.
Former Fonda San Miguel chef Roberto Santibañez developed the menu, which is the same for each of the four Maria Marias. (The first opened in Walnut Creek, Calif., a year ago.) Apparently it was Santibañez’ dream to open a cooking school in Oaxaca that won him the job, which fits with Santana’s goal sharing the literal and proverbial wealth with those who aren’t Grammy-winning artists or world-class chefs.
Despite rough times for both the music and restaurant industries (His spirited response: “Music puts wings in your heart; we’ll never get rid of it.”) he is planning several more Maria Marias in the next few years, including in Boca Raton, Fla., and Houston.
He spoke freely about his feelings about the country and its president-elect. After the past eight years (“Halloween with no candy,” he calls it), “we’re believing in the intangibles again,” he says. If you invest in trust, hope and faith, you can go beyond a life inside a hamster wheel, he reminded the half dozen journalists scribbling away each of his words during our 20 minutes together.
As for his favorite dishes? He likes the pato (duck) tacos that we sampled before he arrived. Rich duck inside tortillas covered in a sweet, smoky and spicy tomato-habanero cream.
“The secret of life is in the sauce.”
Sounds cheesy — his words, not the sauce — but I couldn’t help but believe the guy. He’s known these days as much for his devout spirituality as his signature guitar solos, so I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt (and awfully sugary sweet Maria Maria sangria).
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For 20th birthday, Mangia Pizza offers deal on pies
It’s been 20 years since Mangia Pizza brought Chicago-style deep-dish pizza to Austin, and the six Central Texas locations are celebrating this weekend with 20 cent pizzas. Buy one pizza and get a second of equal or less size for 20 cents. They are also giving away $5 gift certificates for every purchase of $10 or more.
That piping hot sauce on top. That stringy cheese. Mangia’s carnivore pie is my favorite, but I won’t ever, ever turn down any of their slices.
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Petersen brings the heat with line of salsas
Petersen is still planning to open a restaurant in Austin, tentatively called 12 Gage, sometime in 2009.
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Stortini shutters doors; Red House still open
Stortini, the Italian restaurant on Manor Road operated by the owners of El Chile, has closed its doors in favor of focusing on the pizza-and-drinks Red House Lounge, which is housed in the back lounge of the former barbecue joint, and the new El Chilito on South Congress that opened late last month.
With Café 909 announcing its move to Houston yesterday, it looks more and more that the economy is hitting Central Texas restaurants hard.
Some good news, though. Russell’s Bistro at Jefferson Square, the second location of Russell’s Bakery and Coffee Bar (3339 Hancock Dr.), will open in the old Vin Bistro location on Kerbey Lane sometime in December, says owner Russell Millner.
Russell, whose original location is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, says he wants to introduce Sunday morning brunch and eventually a full-service dinner menu at the new location.
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New restaurant critic Mike Sutter: What’s in Your Fridge Friday?
The annual dining guide hits your front porch this morning, and in it — in addition to 12 new reviews of Austin’s top restaurants — is the answer to the burning question many astute diners have had for the past few months since the Statesman’s restaurant critic Dale Rice left the paper to teach at Texas A&M.
In the state of the newspaper industry, I guess there were two questions: Will Dale be replaced? If so, by whom? Both answers you’ll be pleased with.
Yes, and his name is Mike Sutter.
Mike has worked at the Statesman for 23 years, 14 of which as XL art director (in fact, he’s the brain and artist behind many of the creative XL covers in the past decade). I’ve had the pleasure of eating with him while working on this year’s dining guide and found out that A) he is as insightful and sharp as his desk is clean and XL covers are brilliant B) he thinks like father-of-two-girls/reporter/chef/average diner all at once C) he loves trailer tacos as much as he does fancy foie gras.
Although his appearance will remain anonymous (it’s incredible that in 2008, a Google image search of his name yields not a single image), you’ll get to know his voice and perspective well in the coming months through his reviews, stories and an as-yet-untitled blog that will launch by the end of the year.
But first, have a peek in his fridge:
What three things are always in your fridge? Maxwell House coffee: Judge if you will. I brew the big-dollar beans, too. Nothing better than a walk from the American-Statesman to Whole Foods for coffee roasted that very second. But there has to be a morning standard, a bomb-shelter staple. Maxwell House is the first pot of the day, for shuffling our 9-year-old to the schoolbus, for chasing the squirrels away from the tomato plants, for figuring out what-on-earth-could-be-wrong-with-the-Volkswagen-now. My Mom wants her ashes buried in a Maxwell House can.
Beer for any mood: There are at least six different kinds of beer in there at any given time. And the labels must be fronted — that is, turned so they face foreward, for easy inventory. Current stock: Giddy-Up, Mothership Wit, Fat Tire and 1554 Black Ale from New Belgium; Celebration and Pale Ale from Sierra Nevada; Sam Adams Double Bock; plus Belgian farmhouse and British session ales I brewed myself.
Limes: My wife is an amazing cook. She loves plucking cilantro leaves to freshen up salads, mincing and crushing fat cloves of garlic for marinara, slicing shallots to caramelize with Brussels sprouts. And she always buys limes. Handfuls of perfect, shiny green limes. My guess is that they act as ballast for the produce drawer, because we
never actually use them. They just sit there until they’re Hulky-brown and hard as hand grenades. I use them to chase away squirrels while I drink my Maxwell House.
What’s your favorite condiment? My Aunt Debbie’s jalapeño sweet pickles. They’re perfect in, on and around any kind of sandwich, with grilled meat, with fancy restaurant leftovers. And no, you can’t have any. I’m down to my last jar.
How do you use leftovers from fancy restaurants? Taking home doggie bags is dodgy business. You want to maintain some illusion of cool detachment from reality in a nice place, but there’s no way you’re leaving behind the rest of that $45 steak just for the sake of looking smooth. Plus, if I ate every single thing on the table in a single sitting every single time, I’d be looking at my outgrown fat pants in the upstairs closet and thinking, “Man, those were some lean and hungry times.”
So we abide by the mantra, “This will taste great on eggs in the morning.” Duck from Aquarelle? Great on eggs. Pork belly from Uchi? Beyond great on eggs. Egg-and-prosciutto pizza from Vespaio? Um, great on eggs!
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Cafe 909 in Marble Falls closes
Café 909, the well-regarded “Rustic Gourmet” restaurant run by Mark and Shelly Schmidt, has served its last meal in Marble Falls.
The Schmidts are moving to Houston, where Mark Schmidt said they hope to open another restaurant with the same level of quality but with a larger potential customer base. “We didn’t have to close,” he said. “We did well enough to stay open, but just that.”
The decision to close Oct. 31 arose from a combination of factors, Schmidt said, including lingering effects of flooding in 2007, a change in Marble Falls laws that allowed liquor sales in more downtown businesses, difficulties attracting staff and the spike in gas prices, which kept some of the restaurant’s Austin customer base from making the hourlong drive.
Schmidt made a name for Café 909 — placing in the American-Statesman’s Top 10 lists from 2004 to 2007 — with innovative twists on classic dishes, including escargot “pot pie” and foie gras with caramelized-onion-and-smoked-bacon oatmeal with a maple syrup demiglace.
The Schmidts opened Café 909 in 2003. Before that, Mark Schmidt served as executive chef at one of Stephan Pyles’ famed spots, Aquanox in Dallas, and worked at the Compound in Santa Fe, N.M.
Marble Falls Mayor Raymond Whitman called the closing of Café 909 “heartbreaking and a great loss for our community.” Whitman, who said the restaurant’s stuffed pork chop and pistachio parfait were among his favorites, said the 2006 flood and the recent economic downturn have hurt many Marble Falls businesses.
The closing leaves Marble Falls gourmands with few fine-dining options. Patton’s on Main and the Falls Bistro have closed. Still standing is Russo’s Texitally Cafe (602 Steve Hawkins Parkway, Marble Falls. 830-693-7091, www.texitaly.com), where owner John Russo serves Italian dishes with Texan and Mexican influences.
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Can you really get high off brown rice?
Early students of Michio Kushi were hippies looking for enlightenment, Warren Kramer says, and Kushi tried to show them that you can get high from eating brown rice.
Those macrobiotics folks aren’t lying when they say what they eat is as much about spirituality as it is food.
People may scoff at the idea that eating brown rice will get you high, but I doubt anyone can say they haven’t felt that sublime, head-in-the-clouds feeling after eating something exquisite. (Sushi, for example, always gives me a physical and mental buzz.)
Science proves that food directly affects our bodies and our brains. Why do you think we all go for soup when we’re feeling under the weather? The warm, savory liquid has as much power over us psychologically as it does physically. For some, the mere smell of cookies baking will release relaxing chemicals in the brain. How many of us have a special breakfast we eat to prepare us for a particularly challenging day?
What about that feeling after you eat a giant salad for lunch? Your belly feels good because it is digesting healthy nutrients and your mind feels good because it knows you’ve eaten well.
Macrobiotics acknowledges the power of one’s actions while cooking as well. How many of us have said, “You can taste the love in this _”? While making this video on how to make miso soup, chef Morna Neal did a few interesting things: She lovingly washed each vegetable by itself, and then after cutting the carrot or celery very slowly with a knife, she wiped the cutting board to honor the integrity of each vegetable, she said.
The best part about my job is getting to know not just people who love to eat, but people who love the food they eat with every molecule of their body.
If you do that, you are already living the “Great Life,” even if the word macrobiotics never comes out of your mouth.
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Your A-List: Best Happy Hour
That might have something to do with the long afternoon-to-evening hours or maybe it’s the $.50 to $1 off drinks, including their famous margaritas and beer. (Happy hour varies from location to location. It is all day Monday and Tuesday through Friday 2-7 p.m. at the north location; Monday through Friday until 7 p.m. at the south location and 2-7 p.m. Monday through Friday at the original location near the University of Texas campus.)
Others receiving votes
- McCormick & Schmick’s, 15 percent
- Baby Acapulco, 10 percent
- Roaring Fork, 10 percent
- Doc’s, 9 percent
- Continental Club, 8 percent
- Cedar Door, 7 percent
- Kyoto, 6 percent
- Brown Bar, 3 percent
- Saxon Pub, 1 percent
Write-ins: 1890 Ranch, Chuy’s, Little Woodrow’s, Parkside
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Cookbook winner and next week’s giveaway question
The Halloween smells of pumpkin seeds and licorice won cookbooks for Ann and Dirty Snowflake! Congrats and thanks for sharing!
For next week’s cookbooks, tell me about the most expensive meal you’ve ever eaten (either that you’ve made at home or spent money on in a restaurant)…
Two fancy-pants cookbooks up for grabs: “The Complete Robuchon” by French chef Joel Robuchon (whom Mark Bittman calls the unofficial World’s Greatest Chef on the back cover) and “Barefoot Contessa’s Back to Basics” by Ina Garten.
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Freebies on Election Day
Ben and Jerry’s wants to give out free ice cream to voters. Krispy Kreme is offering free donuts.
You can also face the lines and get a free coffee at Starbucks or head to possibly shorter lines and undoubtedly worse coffee for a free cup at McDonald’s.
All these national chains have freebies lined up for voters today. Are any local businesses doing the same?
Update: NoRTH, up at The Domain, is offering half-price bottles of wine.
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Eating our books, part two
Day two of the Texas Book Festival:
Amanda Hesser, the former New York Times food editor who professed her love of Twitter to me last month, whipped up a few dishes from the mega cookbook she’s working on that will be a compilation of recipes from the Times dating back to the 1850s.
The cookbook will be released in the next year or so, but Hesser’s newest book, “Eat, Memory,” a collection of essays printed in a column of the same name in the New York Times Magazine, comes out this week. Hesser and moderator/fellow cookbook author Paula Disbrowe, who both have young toddlers at home, got on swimmingly on the cooking stage, especially when the petite Hesser wielded a giant blowtorch to finish a meringue.
Later in the day at the cooking tent, the hilarious sisters Marilynn and Sheila Brass cackled their way through a cooking demo that featured a coconut pie from their new book “Heirloom Cooking With the Brass Sisters: Recipes You Remember and Love.” Even through mic troubles the New England gals were hootin’ and hollerin’ about discovering their favorite heirloom recipes and why a mere drizzle of chocolate is never enough.
Former Houston Chronicle food editor John DeMers held the attention of a full tent while he explained the savory tales of some of the 119 barbecue joints he went to in writing “Follow the Smoke: 14,783 Miles of Great Texas Barbecue.” (Although this is his 37th book, Sunday was his first Texas Book Festival as a speaker.) “People tell us their story through what they cook,” he said. “What better way for Texans to tell their story than through barbecue?”
So why did the New Orleans native move to Houston and then write a book about one of Texas’ most important foods? “If I want to stay here for the rest of my life, I’d better get on the barbecue thing,” he says. “So I put the wheels on the road to find out what it means to be a Texan.”
Later that day, I found out that another thing it takes to be a Texan: Getting your photo taken with a guy in an outfit that looks like a grocery bag from one of the state’s biggest (and homegrown) grocers.
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Eating our books, part one
The Texas Book Festival — a delightful gem of a festival in a festival-laden city — is open about its adoration of all things food.
Each year, dozens of food writers, chefs and cookbook authors descend upon the Capitol to illuminate what’s happening with food, not only in kitchens around the world, but everywhere from the smallest of barbecue joints to the Capitol chambers.
I couldn’t make it to all the events (there were nearly 20 on food alone), but here are the highlights of Saturday’s festival:
Terry Thompson-Anderson, author of “Texas Hill Country: A food and wine lover’s paradise” who lives in Fredericksburg, spoke about the glories of living in the Hill Country (“You can see where the day starts and where the day ends” when the sun rises and sets over the Hill Country horizon) to a standing-room-only crowd on Saturday. She said she drove about 20,000 miles, many of them with her sister Sandy Wilson, who took the photos for the book, researching the area’s growing agricultural tourism industry.
One of the highlights was getting to know Poodie Locke of Poodie’s Hilltop Bar and Grill, whose day job for the past 30 years has been touring the country as Willie Nelson’s road manager. (She asked how many people had been to Poodie’s and only two of us raised our hands. For shame, folks! Put down your books for two hours and head out to Spicewood for a beer and a burger. You won’t regret it…)
Local food was one of the hottest topics in the cooking tent on Saturday. A panel of local farmers and ranchers — including Carol Ann Sayle of Boggy Creek Farm, Corby Kummer, author of The Pleasures of Slow Food, Loncito Cartwright of Loncito’s Grass-Fed Lamb, Brad Stufflebeam of Home Sweet Farm and Hugh Fitzsimons of Thunder Heart Bison — talked about the economic, nutritional benefits of eating food that is, as Sayle said, “quivering with life” when you buy it five minutes after it is picked from the field.
Fitzsimons described the humane way he shoots bison on his farm west of Austin, and Cartwright reminded festival-goers that, if done properly, you are harvesting animals not slaughtering them. Kummer reminded the audience how lucky they are to live in Austin, where food that is, echoing Sayle, “quivering with life” is so easy to find.
“Baked: New Frontiers in Baking” authors Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito showed off some recipes from their popular Brooklyn bakery Baked and signed books for some very happy customers after the demo. (Have a peek in their fridges and learn how to make their famous brownie in last week’s What’s in Your Fridge Friday.)
Later this afternoon, I’ll post a recap from Sunday.
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Second El Chilito opens downtown
El Chilito, the little brother of the El Chile, Stortini family, now has a second location at 918 Congress Ave., where Will Packwood’s Cibo closed down earlier this year. El Chilito, whose Manor Road location is always hopping, is following the Monday-through-Friday-only hours of so many other downtown eateries, which doesn’t do much for the City’s efforts to revitalize Congress Avenue.
It also closes at 2 p.m., so plan ahead if you get a 3 p.m. taco craving and happen to work downtown.
Update: Over the weekend, the new El Chilito switched its hours to 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day of the week, which is much better in my book than the original hours of operation. (Downtown folks need tacos on the weekend, too!)
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