Eat & Drink Beat

This week in food: Olivia's new pastry chef, bacon, beer, free cheese and the official Austin drink hunt

Street food wars — Two famed Austin food trucks — The Peached Tortilla and Chi'Lantro BBQ — will compete against one another on February 22 to prove once and for all (or for a little while, at least) who makes the best Asian-fusion cuisine in the city. During the throwdown, both trucks will prepare one existing menu item as well as one specialty dish that demonstrates their culinary chops. Event attendees will vote on the overall winner based on taste tests. Tickets are available at two price levels: a $20 ticket grants you admission, food from The Peached Tortilla and Chi’Lantro and a pint of New Belgium Snapshot Sour Wheat Ale, while a $28 ticket includes all the same perks plus a t-shirt. The exciting competition is hosted by FoodtrailerAustin.com.

Meat and booze — In partnership with Eat Boston, Edible Austinwill host the first-ever Austin Bacon and Beer Festival on Saturday, February 22, at the Marchesa. The unconventional culinary event features a selection of — you guessed it — bacon-centric bites and a nose-to-tail hog demonstration from Salt & Time, as well as craft beers from around Central Texas. Founded in Boston four years ago by Eat Boston, the Bacon and Beer Festival has become popular across the nation in cities like Denver and San Francisco. A portion of the overall proceeds will benefit the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. The Austin Bacon and Beer Festival is open to anyone aged 21 years old or older. Tickets cost $40 and can be purchased here.

Olivia has a new pastry chef — Pastry chef Finney Walter has finally planted his roots after leaving Mettle earlier this year. According to a source close to the chef, Walter will return to James Holmes' Olivia. Here are a few of the desserts the chef is already whipping up for the South Lamar Boulevard restaurant:

Toast & Jam: grapefruit marmalade, malt, lemon lime mousse

Smoked Cherries: black olive marshmallow, chicory, balsamic

Whipped Chocolate Ganache: olive oil gum, pear, pistachio

Free cheese! Antonelli’s Cheese has some exciting events up its sleeve: The Hyde Park shop will host a free Pop-Up Chocolate Shop with Steve Lawrence of The Chocolate Maker's Studio at the Antonelli’s cheese house on Sunday, February 2, noon – 4 p.m. Additionally, the dairy shop has big plans for celebrating its fourth anniversary. Commencing Monday, February 10, it will carry out its annual tradition of giving away free cheese plates for a week at a handful of wholesale partners’ restaurants. All the restaurants noted below will begin offering free cheese plates at 5 pm, unless noted. Better hurry, because these plates will go fast!

Monday, Feb. 10: Cipollina and Easy Tiger

Tuesday, Feb. 11: Bess Bistro and Max’s Wine Dive

Wednesday, Feb. 12: 24 Diner and House Pizzeria

Thursday, Feb. 13: Bufalina (starts at 5:30 pm) and Qui

Friday, Feb. 14: Drink.Well

Sommelier wins big — Nathan Prater of The Red Room Lounge was awarded the winner of the Somms Under Fire Wine & Food Pairing Competition, which took place on January 26. During the high-tension contest, Prater and other contests were judged on their ability to select “perfect” wine and food pairings before being sent to a panel for explanation and critique. Prater was also selected as the fan favorite and scored highest on the theory-based entry exam.

Oasis beer —The Austin beer scene has a fancy new participant: Oasis Texas Brewing Company will begin selling its unique line of beer (both canned and draft) starting this summer. Located in the Hill Country's new Oasis development, the company is lead by head brewer Spencer Tielkemeier, who has worked at both (512) Brewing Co. and Live Oak Brewing Co. Austinites can get a first taste of the new brews on Thursday, February 6, at the grand opening of the brewery’s adjacent space, The Mansfield.

A citywide drink – On Thursday, February 20, The Official Drink of Austin competition returns. The charitable booze event had been on hiatus for the past three years. The six competing bar teams — assembled from myriad local restaurants and bars — include qui, Weather Up, drink.well., Four Seasons Hotel, Midnight Cowboy and Whisler’s. Each of the six teams will be responsible for preparing a drink menu consisting of one long drink, an up drink and a shot and that features Texas spirits and ingredients with Austin-inspired roots. The event takes place at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center and will benefit the Austin Food & Wine Alliance's culinary grants program. Tickets cost $65 and are available through the Austin Food & Wine Alliance website.

Pastry chef Finney Walter returned to Olivia this week.

Olivia restaurant on South Lamar exterior

Photo courtesy of Olivia

Pastry chef Finney Walter returned to Olivia this week.

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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.