Bits and Bites -- Food News!

                                                      Events -- Mark Your Calendars

-- Now in it's fourth year, the Austin Give 5% campaign is back for Earth Day. On Monday, April 22nd, participating businesses will donate 5% of their gross sales to seven area environmentally friendly non-profit organizations; last year's event raised $60,000. There are a ton of restaurants on here so go eat!

-- Lustre Pearl is hosting the Earth Day Happy Hour Benefit Concert on Friday, April 19th from 5 - 9 pm, which will benefit the Rainforest Partnership, that works to protect tropical forests in Ecuador and Peru. $50/person

-- The Tanger Outlets in San Marcos are hosting A Taste and Style Experience, on Saturday, April 20th, and Australian chef Curtis Stone will be there at 2 pm signing books; a variety of area food trucks will be on hand too.

-- Lambert's is presenting Vaca y Vino, a cow-roast, inspired by Argentinean beef traditions, on April 21st. Tickets are $100 or $120, including transportation from downtown to the event site, which is just outside of Austin. Chefs Larry McGuire and Lou Lambert will be at the helm (or horns?), Argentine wines and other Argentine foods will be available. Proceeds will benefit the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance. 

-- The Austin Food and Wine Festival is April 27-28 at Butler Park (adjacent to Auditorium Shores)!

-- Top Chef Fan Favorite Chef Fabio Viviani will be in Austin at BookPeople on April 30th at 7 pm signing copies of his latest book, Fabio's Italian Kitchen, which will be released on the 23rd.

-- La Condesa is having a Cinco de Mayo block party on May 5th from 1 - 9 pm, with free food, music and entertainment. More info is on their Facebook page for the event. 

 -- Jack Allen's Kitchen in Oak Hill will host a Spanish wine pairing dinner on May 7th, $95/person, five courses.  

Exciting News! 

-- Our very own Sugar Mama's Bakeshop WON their Cupcake Wars battle against three other bakeries! Super congrats to owner Olivia O'Neal and her head decorator Andrea Leck, as they created cupcakes to please Weird Al Yankovic. See their Facebook page for updates, they're currently offering one winning cupcake flavor a week (call ahead to reserve!), and I am hoping to interview Olivia in the near future about their experiences!

-- Austin Cake Ball has rebranded their Domain location into Copper Restaurant and Dessert Lounge. I've been invited to try it out, and will report back! 

-- Baker Street Pub on South Lamar is happy to announce their outdoor patio is dog-friendly. 

-- Speakeasy, the 1920s lounge downtown, has remodeled their mezzanine space giving guests a better look at the stage. Also note that the entrance has moved from 412 Congress to the alley, in typical speakeasy style.



-- Oh yeah, I almost forgot! The Austin Food Blogger Alliance (of which I am a member) has produced it's first community cookbook! I am super-excited, as two recipes of mine are included in it, and I helped with some of the editing. Our official book release party is actually tonight, and see the link above to find out how you can purchase a copy!  

Openings
-- Lucy's Fried Chicken will open a second location at 5408 Burnet Road, the former Austin Diner space. Michael Hsu will redesign the space, and look for a fall opening.

-- Zoës Kitchen, a branch of a national Mediterranean chain, is opening in Sunset Valley, 5601 Brodie Lane.

-- Teji's Indian, opening at 2100 Guadalupe, the second from the Round Rock restaurant and grocery.

Closed/Closing
-- Fran's on South Congress at Mary. The family-owned restaurant decided not to renew their lease (I can only imagine what the rent was). I went for a final burger and onion rings lunch on Saturday, April 6th, and wrote a brief obituary you can see here.

-- It's OFFICIAL. The South Congress food trailers have to be out from the lot May 25, as we prepare for a hotel. :(

Lambert's

Well, I finally made it to Lambert's! After how many years it's been open? Four? I've been hearing it's praises forever, and finally got to experience it for myself, on the occasion of my, uh, 29th birthday, with some dear friends. :)

Sunday brunch. Not that almost any meal isn't my favorite meal, but I do especially love brunch. It's that marriage of the sweet (generally maple syrup) and the salty (bacon!) that makes me weak in the knees. Lambert's brunch is perhaps a little different from standard brunches. You can either do the buffet line, or order a la carte from the menu, or, as us smarty pants did: both. Genius! All for one price, so you may as well! And as it turns out, the a la carte items are generally smaller plates, so as not to completely distract you from the buffet at hand.

So we started off with the buffet line...feeling healthy, as I had already eaten a banana at home, I skipped the beautiful bowl of fruit salad, and went straight for the good stuff: bacon, sausage, grits, home fries, potato salad (okay, a little redundant on the potatoes), mac & cheese, and a pork rib. Remember that what Lambert's is is a refined barbeque joint. They know their meat, and they start with high quality meat, so it's hard to go wrong from there. The meat items were really what stood out to me throughout the meal. The applewood smoked bacon was crisp & dry (as in, not greasy) and the breakfast sausage I would guess they may make there, and it had a bit of jalapeno in it. That rib you're looking at (which is covering the bacon & sausage!) is a Berkshire pork rib, done with a little bit of coriander & a maple glaze. Berkshire is an heirloom variety of pork, and is one of the best breeds available. The meat pulled right off the bone, nice smoke ring, not a greasy mess, just tasty as all get out. Not pictured, but acquired on another trip to the buffet was some beautiful Niman Ranch prime rib; great crust on the exterior, tender, moist, perfectly cooked, and served with a creamy horseradish sauce. Didn't try the brisket, but ate more bacon and another rib! If you didn't get it when I said it before, the meats rocked!

The other items were good, but not quite as outstanding. The grits tasty, bit of cheddar & chile pepper in them; I didn't love the texture of the mac & cheese, but others at my table really enjoyed it. Potato salad needed a touch of salt. Oh yeah, and when the waitress came to our table after we sat down with our first round of buffet pickin's to get our drink order, I asked her for salt & pepper. Well, she completely disappeared to get the drinks for about 10 minutes, and I had to ask again for the s & p. Slightly ticked that the need for s & p wasn't immediately picked up upon by our server. And I know I do like my salt, but I felt both the potato salad & grits benefited from just a pinch.

From the a la carte, I ordered the French toast with strawberry butter, made from brioche bread, and the biscuit & gravy. The French toast was tasty, but it wasn't just hot off the griddle, and had been sitting in the syrup for a little bit, so it was a bit soggy. The biscuit dough was a bit overworked, so it wasn't as tender as it could be, and the gravy a bit thin (thought I had taken a picture of that plate, but apparently not). My friends ordered the hanger steak benedict, which was swooned over and the berry smoothie, which we all agreed the addition of fresh mint was was really made it stellar (and why hadn't I thought of that before?!).
For dessert, they had a little table with some offerings... to be honest, I was so mesmerized by the bacon and ribs, I hardly looked at the table (odd, eh?). A few chocolate cream puffs and fried chocolate pies made it over to the table, which were pretty quickly devoured. I left well stuffed. I didn't over-eat, and I wasn't busting at the gut, but I ate plenty. And I will happily return! Plus I've noticed they do half-priced appetizers for happy hour!

And after that meal, I ate an apple for dinner at like 8:30 pm.