Sun's out, buns out

Famous East Coast bun brand slides into Austin grocery stores for first time ever

Martin's Famous Potato Rolls are now available at H-E-B.

Martin's Famous Potato Rolls and Bread/ Facebook

Every grocery shopper has brand loyalties. Mid-Atlantic transplants sparkle when they see Utz Crab Chips tucked in next to Lay's on convenience store shelves and Southerners can have Capulet-Montague divisions over whether one is from a Duke's or Hellman's family.

But few supermarket staples have attracted such international adulation as a Pennsylvania potato roll company launched by Lloyd and Lois Martin in 1955.

Now, Martin's Famous Potato Rolls and Bread are finally coming to Texas shoppers. According to a release, H-E-B locations in Austin and Houston now offer a wide assortment of Martin's carbs, including long rolls (aka hot dog buns); real butter bread; and whole wheat bread. Although the buns have been available to restaurants and foodservice venues since July 2015, this is the first expansion to Texas retail outlets.

Still branded with distinctive '50s-era typography, Martin's turmeric-yellow buns have become a modern phenomenon, aided in part by their use in Shake Shack locations worldwide. Though nostalgia no doubt fuels some of that zeal, chefs also routinely wax poetic about the bun's pillowy softness and the flavor profile's balance between savory and sweet.

That owes plenty to the company's standards. The release makes hay out of consumers' increasing turn towards all-natural ingredients, boasting that Martin's eschews high fructose corn syrup and other cost-cutting ingredients in favor of unbleached wheat flour, real milk, and pure cane sugar.

The components give the potato rolls an uncommonly brief shelf life of only three to four days on average. To accommodate, the Pennsylvania-owned company hired locally based sales employees to service the stores.

Whether that will convince Austin customers to swap Martin's for Texas' ubiquitous Mrs. Baird's remains to be seen. Given the temperate forecast for most of February, it might be time for a backyard burger taste test — arguments about which mayo to use notwithstanding.

news-you-can-eat

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.