Sweet nothings

New sweets shop fluffs up North Austin with homemade meringue and more

From glittery churros to mermaid everything, there are a lot of adorable desserts filling up the hummingbird feed of Instagram. But for pure squee factor, it’s difficult to top meringues. Bite-sized and dusted with color, the sweet treats come immediately ready for a close-up — and taste just as good as they look.

But no one has to convince Fluff Meringues & More owner Kristin Collins about their virtues. The local entrepreneur is spreading the gospel with a new shop at 4800 Burnet Rd. #450 (the former home of Apothecary Cafe & Wine Bar) devoted to the cloud-like treats. After capping off a soft opening week, Collins tells CultureMap the patisserie will be open for regular hours starting October 1.

The meringues aren't the only things that are photogenic in the shop. Design firm Matt Fajkus Architecture wrapped the space with a graphic black and white wallpaper and blonde-wood banquettes. Crisp chartreuse pillows add some pop, while hanging boxwood spheres provide more visual interest without distracting from the rainbow colors in the cases.

Rotating flavors of meringues are, of course, the star of the show, but Collins takes the “more” part of the name seriously with a variety of other sweets including marshmallows, iced cakes, tarts, biscotti, and scones. Specialties like baked Alaskas, S’Mores, and Antonelli’s cheese boards can also be made to order.

If guests are feeling creative, they can build their own pavlova starting with a choice of vanilla or a seasonally flavored shell. Then, fillings like lemon curd, Greek yogurt, whipped cream, and passionfruit mousse are spooned inside before being sprinkled with toppings like pecans, fruit, and coconut drizzled with sauces like dark chocolate, ginger caramel, and smoked butterscotch.

For drinks, Fluff carries a curated selection of wines, mead, and beer. Tea service is additionally offered with an assortment of goodies. Guests can add Champagne is they are feeling extra fancy.

Not just content to please the palate, Collins carved out a small corner of the storefront to sell ceramics, cards, bath and beauty products, and coffee supplies. A marbled porcelain cake stand from Austin artist Eliana Bernard would showcase the meringues swimmingly.

Bold wallpaper sets the tone in Fluff's dining room.

Photo courtesy of Fluff Meringues

Bold wallpaper sets the tone in Fluff's dining room.

Belles of the Ballroom

9 Austin bar and venue experts take over popular Old Austin space near UT

29th Street Ballroom/Facebook

Changes are coming at the 29th Street Ballroom, but the goal is to preserve what already makes it special.

The evolution continues at the 29th Street Ballroom, the music venue formerly attached to Spider House Café. It's no secret, Resound Presents CEO and co-founder Graham Williams says, that he and a large team of other industry pros are taking over the space; but now they're ready to talk about what comes next for the venue and adjoining bar.

Although Spider House Café closed in 2020, the Ballroom stayed open, and has continued serving University of Texas students and anyone else who wants to see a show outside of the ordinary: punk shows, burlesque revues, fundraisers, and more. It'll stay open through most of the renovations, scheduled through January of 2025, and is expected to hold a grand opening in March.

Now Resound — one of Austin's top live music organizers, which was itself born from the ashes of another Austin institution — is lending two of its co-founders to managing the space going forward: Williams and Ian Orth. They're joining seven other team members from venues around town, many of them overlapping: Amy Mullins, Brian Tweedy, Jason McNeely, John Yaklin, and Shannon LeBoeuf of Hotel Vegas, Chess Club, Kinda Tropical, Tweedy’s, and Yellow Jacket Social Club, in varying capacities; and Brian Buscemi and Mike Sanchez of the Little Darlin’.

Williams emphasizes that although things will be changing at the Ballroom, the goal isn't to change anything people already love.

"Over the next few months as we kind of ease into the spring, we're using this downtime to revitalize things, decorate, revamp some of the stuff in the venue and the bar, and just kind of get things moving in the right direction," Williams says, "taking what's already popular about the venue and just adding to it, really."

Bar updates
The biggest shift will be turning the bar from an accessory to live shows into its own entity that's open even when there's nothing else going on. Amy Mullins, best known as a co-owner of Yellow Jacket Social Club, is overseeing that transition. She's never operated a venue that is primarily focused on music, and has been enjoying learning more about how to do it; she even worked the door recently when a staff member called out sick.

Mullins echoes Williams in assuring that the change is more about logistics than tone. It'll still feel like Old Austin, but she does express a hope to run more than the "typical venue bar," handing out simple drinks as quickly as possible. She's working on a new menu that includes wine, beer, craft cocktails, and non-alcoholic options like tea, kombucha, or mocktails. Regardless of what's on the schedule on any given night, Mullins says the menu will stay the same.

"There's no drink too complicated for us to make, however busy we are," she says.

Food options
Another goal for the team will be making sure the space works when there's not someone onstage to crowd around. They'll expand the front and side patios and create a food truck food court that features the same trucks that are there now, plus one newcomer. All in all, that includes Yalla Burger & Wings, Gyro Center, Li’l Nonna’s Vegan Pizzeria, Guppy’s Indian Fried Chicken, Waylon J’s BBQ, and Ay Chihuahua Tacos.

The expanded patio will connect to Tweedy's Bar next door, which also has its own food trucks. The idea is to create a space to hang out after shows that feels fit for the purpose. It's possible to stick around after events now, but the layout does create a vague feeling of loitering.

Artist and fan-friendly tweaks
On the entertainment side, Williams says some of the renovations include putting in a new sound system, redoing the green room, updating the facade, and repainting signs. Since the winter is a slower time for live music, they'll be taking advantage of the extra time to work on things before packing the calendar with more events than before. Resound will handle most of the bookings in live music, comedy, and DJ sets, welcoming both national and local talent.

Whatever the details end up being, this team has proved to Austinites that they know how to run venues worth visiting. And since they're all friends and business partners on multiple levels, it sounds like having this many cooks in the kitchen just isn't an issue.

"Some of us have been roommates and known each other since we were young," says Williams. "It's a good mix of people who are all very like minded, so a lot is being brought to the table per decision. So yeah, it's it's really exciting. Sometimes that's not the case. .... But with this project, it's a lot of really great, creative people that are good at what they do [and] they trust each other."

bars live music concerts comedy