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Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Are Rockstar Bagels worth the hype?
Drummer Joe Humel’s hands are about to get even more worn out.
The New York native, who toured with bands on and off since the 1990s, got used to the rock-star life and the wear and tear on his cubs. But now his hands are getting used to the baker’s life, during which he gets up early and stays up late hand-rolling bagels for his newest venture, Rockstar Bagels.
He’ll be staying up later and later after the enormous amount of press lately, including this item in tomorrow’s food section:
“I always wanted to make bagels,” says Humel, 35. The self-described jack of all trades wanted to break away from touring and start his own business, so in January, he started spending up to 12 hours a day researching bagels online. In between watching videos and poring over recipes, he would bake batches of bagels in his kitchen, tweaking the recipes until he made a bagel that reminded him of home.
“I’m still tweaking all the time,” he says, but he’s getting busier by the day, filling orders from 15 coffee shops and stores, as well as personal orders via e-mail. He and two assistants are rolling by hand and baking more than 2,000 bagels a week in a small kitchen off West Fourth Street.
So what of the claim that New York’s bagels are better because of the city’s tap water? “New York has fantastic tap water, but Austin has great tap water as well,” Humel says. He’s planning on bringing back water from his next trip to New York to do a side-by-side test, but the bagels — which are made with malt instead of sugar and come in plain, salt, poppy seed, sesame, garlic, onion and “everything” — are already a hit with former New Yorkers used to lamenting that Austin doesn’t have any good bagels.
Places to find Rockstar Bagels include Summermoon Coffee Bar, Cherrywood Coffeehouse, Blue Dahlia Bistro, Cafe Pacha, Spider House Cafe and Royal Blue Grocery. To order bagels or find out where else to buy them, go to the Web site.
But are they worth their weight in New York tap water?
I brought back a half dozen bagels to the office last week and specifically asked the former New Yorkers for their opinions. All-in-all, they were impressed, especially, they said, considering there haven’t been any bagels with the right crust and fluffy inside that come close to what they used to get in The City.
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Learn about compost, herbs at free Natural Gardener classes
The Natural Gardener, the organic gardening mecca in Oak Hill, hosts tons of classes to help both newbies (me!) and veterans (Renee of Renee’s Roots) learn everything they need to know to grow plants in the strange climate and soil conditions of Central Texas.
From the Web site, here are the free classes they have slated for this summer:
9 a.m. on June 13 — Betsy Ross of Ross Farm, Sustainable Growth Texas, and Soils Alive! presents “Compost Tea: The Power and Importance of Soil Biology.” We are very excited and privileged to host one of the region’s authorities in compost tea and soil biology, Betsy Ross. Betsy has been a certified Soil Foodweb Advisor since 2004. She operates, with her family, a 530-acre ranch in eastern Williamson County. “Betsy Ross Grass-fed Beef” is sold through Whole Foods, Peoples Pharmacy, and Greenling Organic Food Delivery, as well as online and on the farm. No corn, hormones, antibiotics, synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, or insecticides are used. She is also the CEO and a founding partner in Sustainable Growth Texas, a biological services company. They manufacture liquid compost extract and blend it with biological and organic amendments to promote soil quality and crop growth. They treat pastures, prairies, orchards, lawns, revegetation sites and farms. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about the benefits and uses of compost tea from Texas’ foremost expert on the soil foodweb!
9 a.m. on June 20 — Lucinda Hutson presents “Culinary Herb Gardens from Around the World.” Life is a fiesta with Lucinda Hutson! She’s written two cookbooks, The Herb Garden Cookbook and Tequila! Cooking with the Spirit of Mexico, along with numerous articles for magazines. She also designs gardens and interiors, and is a much sought-after lecturer. Our very own herb garden is designed by Lucinda, and has been featured in Kitchen Gardening and Fine Gardening magazines, among others. Come travel the world with Lucinda and learn all about herbs on the way - without ever leaving Central Texas!
9 a.m. on June 27 — Roger Igo, Rosina Newton, and Sharon Truett offer a grounds tour of The Natural Gardener! This is the first time we have offered an inside look at the plants, the design and a little of the history of extensive grounds of the Natural Gardener. Happening the last Saturday of each month in June, July and August, this tour will be structured, but also led by attendees’ interest, so who knows how far we’ll get in an hour? Roger is the Grounds Master, Rosina is the Horticulturist, and Sharon is the General Manager of The Natural Gardener. Come have fun with this trio of old-timers.
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Lunch bombs away!
Greenling Organic Delivery is always coming up with cool ideas to interact with the community, even with people who don’t buy produce from them. Today, for example, Greenling founder Mason Arnold and company have thrown together a “lunch bomb” at Somnio’s Cafe, the South First eatery that gets nearly all of its ingredients from local sources.
“There are lots of restaurants around town striving to use local products and they need us eating there,” the Facebook invite says. “We’ll try to fill the restaurant up to let them know we appreciate what they do.”
Sure, Greenling gets great exposure for doing this, as do other food businesses, caterers, restaurants, etc. when they sponsor fundraisers or donate goods. But unlike bigger projects that take a lot of time and resources to execute, today’s lunch bomb is merely a bunch of like-minded people getting together to grab a bite to eat at a restaurant that is just getting its roots set.
I love seeing businesses think outside the traditional marketing box to support other businesses and bring the food community together.
Social media makes it easy to organize and get the word out, so it’s up to us to come up with the ideas.
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