2013 Tastemakers
Meet the Tastemakers: Austin's top chefs on menu inspiration and our growing food mecca
Mar 29, 2013 | 9:30 am
Austin is the place for food right now. The city is bursting with culinary talent — some new and some old — and it is a marvelous time to be in the Capital City, partaking in the creativity and entrepreneurial energy. We recently chatted with the 2013 CultureMap Tastemaker Award nominees for chef to find out where they get their inspiration, why they think Austin is a food mecca, and who they would invite over for dinner.
Shawn Cirkiel Parkside [http: /parkside-austin.com/], The Backspace [http://thebackspace-austin.com/], Olive & June [http://oliveandjune-austin.com/] Five years ago Shawn Cirkiel opened Parkside, the city’s first gastro pub. He’d already garnered a following after taking the reigns at the beloved Jean-Luc’s Bistro, but with his own restaurant, he began to push the culinary boundaries even more. His initial success led to Backspace, a popular Neapolitan-style pizzeria, and Olive & June, a twist on family-style Southern Italian dining. The Austin native has always felt a sense of stewardship, and he’s made his mark on the community as the founding chef of the Sustainable Food Center’s Farmers' Market and other service projects. What is your favorite aspect of your job? I think it is being a part of so many people’s lives in so many different ways, from the farmers and ranchers to the guests and employees. I think it is a fun and unique way to have an opportunity to impact people’s lives. How and why has Austin become a food mecca? I think part of the reason is because of all of the people who paved the way before it. I think that the timing in Austin to really explode as an international city happened because of things like SXSW and the Sustainable Food Center. Quite bluntly, the city became more educated, and the people moving here expected a lot more. All these things created this incredibly dynamic food scene thanks to the farms and thanks to the guests. How has your approach to cooking changed in the past year? In my own experiences and where I’ve come from and how I think of food, it is being honest to what it is and treating things right — and so it is somewhat timeless. I’m like a little black dress. Where do you find inspiration for your menu? Inspiration comes in all different ways, and I think that is why it makes it so much fun. Whether it is getting a new shipment of strawberries that are just going nuts right now or eating at a restaurant and seeing somebody do something that makes me excited or looking at an old cookbook, or sometimes just literally sitting there and it magically pops in your head for no reason. You invite three chefs over for dinner at your home. Who would be at your table and what would you be serving? I would invite Charlie Trotter and Emeril Lagasse. I think they single handedly had more to do with food in America than most people ever give them credit for. And then my mentor Robert Curry. I would serve whatever I found that day. Like right now, I would make homemade pasta filled with goat’s milk ricotta with green garlic and roasted strawberries and pecorino-and-onion cheese and a poached egg dish, because eggs are so good right now, wedged on spring morels and a little bit of butter lettuce, a cheese herb, and butter croutons. I would do a spring soup because I love soups like carrot and cardomom with a little bit of yogurt and crusty mustard seed. I would be inspired by the market.
Photo by Bill Sallans