Best New Restaurants

Bon Appétit nominates 3 local gems for America's Best New Restaurants 2014

Bon Appétit released its highly anticipated America's Best New Restaurants 2014 nominations on Wednesday, August 13. Of the 50 best in the country, three are located in Austin and seven in the state of Texas.

The three local gems BA deemed the best of the best include Qui, Odd Duck and Thai-Koon@Wonderland. Both Qui and Thai-Koon@Wonderland are, of course, part of Paul Qui's ever-expanding delicious Austin empire.

While Qui is the Top Chef's flagship brick-and-mortar, Thai-Koon is his newest food trailer with frequent collaborator Motoyasu Utsunomiya. Thai-Koon specializes in Thai street food like Thai-Kun Fried Chicken and Thai-Kun Fish Cakes.

Odd Duck is the trailer-turned-brick-and-mortar from chef Bryce Gilmore. Gilmore, a celebrated chef in his own right, is also the mastermind behind Barley Swine.

In order to determine the best new restaurants, Bon Appétit restaurant and drinks editor Andrew Knowlton made multiple trips to these places throughout the year. We have no idea how Knowlton got his job, but we dream of the day a magazine will repeatedly send us to the 50 best restaurants over the course of a year.

Other Texas restaurants nominated for best in the U.S. include CBD Provisions in Dallas, Coltivare in Houston, and Cured and Hot Joy in San Antonio.

On August 19, Bon Appétit will announce the winners in its release of The Hot 10: America’s Best New Restaurants 2014. We're not gamblers, but if we were, we'd would put our money on Paul Qui showing up at least once.

Motoyasu Utsunomiya and Paul Qui.

Photo courtesy of East Side King Facebook

Motoyasu Utsunomiya and Paul Qui.

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Back to the Plow

Homey Austin jam and bake shop closing and returning to farmers market

Confituras/Instagram

Confituras Little Kitchen is closing its brick-and-mortar store, but feeling optimistic about the future.

A famers market find is returning to its natural environment after six years in a brick-and-mortar location. Confituras Little Kitchen, which specializes in locally sourced preserves, is closing its jam and biscuit shop after service on Sunday, December 22. However, it will continue selling goods at the Barton Creek Farmers Market and via retailers.

Confituras announced the change in a newsletter to its customers in December. The letter called the news "bittersweet."

"Although the brick and mortar will no longer be, the good news is that this will be a fresh new start for us – we are bursting with energy and creativity at the thought of being back out in the community where it all started for confituras," it said.

The kitchen is closing because the lease is up, and the team has decided to "give up the chase." The newsletter emphasized the ups-and-downs of business over the past several years — ones that were chaotic for just about any business, let alone a small, fairly niche food operation.

"So much has happened since we decided to open a brick + mortar – a wonderful kickstarter fundraiser, THE PANDEMIC, the AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC, and an ever growing city," the letter says. "We tried so very hard but never really got our footing. We know we are not alone, many small business are in the same boat. We renewed our lease during the pandemic because we were hopeful we could make it work - the changing times had other ideas."

Finally, it shared how customers could keep enjoying Confituras creations:

The Barton Creek Farmers Market is open at 2901 S. Capital of Texas Hwy. every Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm.
A list on confituras.net compiles retailers including Royal Blue Grocery, Farmhouse Delivery, and Antonelli's Cheese Shop.
Jam share and Table22 subscription customers will have more instructions coming soon about picking up their goods in January at the same space, 2129 Goodrich Ave.
Customers may also reach out to inquire about continuing to order meals directly.

The kitchen also hosted frequent events and workshops, but the letter did not address this aspect of the business.

A shorter message shared on Instagram has inspired 63 comments so far, five days later. Customers eulogized the shop for its community feel and providing a sense of regularity during the height of the pandemic thanks to weekend pick-ups.