Opening Alert

Long-awaited East Austin restaurant opens with all the pretty things

Pitchfork Pretty opens for dinner June 14.

East Austin's newest restaurant and bar has finally arrived. Originally slated to debut in March, Hill Country-inspired Pitchfork Pretty officially opened its doors with breakfast service Thursday, June 8.

The cafe-style breakfast — featuring pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and coffee — is served weekdays from 7 to 10:30 am. An anticipated dinner menu will launch Wednesday, June 14.

Owner Seth Baas, who owned Blanca restaurant in San Diego, California, returned to his Texas roots with a passion for making high-end food accessible. The Lone Star State is a melting pot of international influences, from German to Mexican, and Pitchfork Pretty will fuse these cuisines, while incorporating old-world and wood-fired cooking methods.

Also on the team are chef Max Snyder (an Austin native with an impressive San Francisco restaurant resume); general manager Alexander Dubey (most recently from Otoko and Apis Restaurant and Apiary); and bar director Ryan Nolan (Girl & The Goat, Chicago).

The regional, seasonal dinner menu is broken into four sections: snacks, appetizers, entrees, and sweets. Snacks range from oysters to buckwheat cornbread, and appetizers include a snapper crudo and eggplant gazpacho. A half chicken is available as an entree — either fried or barbecued — as is a smoked beef rib, sausage, and tongue, which serves two.

"The name comes from the owner wanting to pay homage to the farmer (pitchfork) and convey the restaurant's role in taking the farm's rustic elements and raw bounty into our hands to respectfully refine it for diners (pretty)," a restaurant spokesperson told CultureMap in a previous interview.

The restaurant is designed to be an open, contemporary space for the growing East Cesar Chavez neighborhood. Dinner hours are 5 to 10 pm, Tuesday through Thursday, 5 to 11 pm, Friday and Saturday.

openings east-austin

More pumpkin, less milk

Austin-based vegan milk ready for fall with new pumpkin spice flavor

Photo courtesy of Malk

Pumpkin is one of the first ingredients in this flavored almond milk.

Vegans may avoid dairy, but they deserve a pumpkin spice latte in the fall. Malk Organics, an Austin-based almond milk company, is taking care of that with a new pumpkin spice variety.

This seasonal flavor is hitting shelves now, and will be available "throughout the fall season while supplies last," according to a news release. It joins three standard flavors — unsweetened, vanilla, and chocolate — for a total of four almond milks across the board. The company also makes oat and cashew milk, or "malk," and some creamers.

The second ingredient after filtered water is organic pumpkin, so that flavor should come out strong in whatever drink it's spicing up. It also contains almond butter and sugar, plus extracts of vanilla, cinnamon bark, nutmeg, ginger, and clove — all organic, too.

"With the popularity of the pumpkin spice flavor profile, we wanted to offer consumers a healthier way to enjoy their favorite fall beverages." said Malk CEO Jason Bronstad in the release. "We have meticulously crafted a pumpkin spice SKU featuring the cleanest ingredients without compromising on delicious flavor."

When Bronstad talks about health, he's referring to claims made in the release that distance the completely organic product from "gums, oils, and fillers." The brand prides itself on these things, plus few enough ingredients to count on one hand — not quite the case for this more intricately spiced product, but surely an exception can be made for that pumpkin pie flavor.

This isn't Malk's only seasonal effort; it's also bringing back its holiday nog made with almonds, maple syrup, nutmeg extract, and Himalayan pink salt. So far there aren't really any exotic flavors on the permanent menu, but a caramel creamer enhances the otherwise vanilla and unflavored line.

For those who feel called by the dairy-free pumpkin spice but don't know what to make with it, Malk has plenty of recipes on its site that might be nice to spice up. The Pumpkin Protein Pancakes are an obvious candidate for an extra bit of pumpkin oomph, as is the Pumpkin Pie Smoothie. Actually, there are lots of pumpkin recipes already on the website using other varieties of Malk; but perhaps the Caramel Pecan Cheesecake Bars could use some additional adventure.

Pumpkin Spice Malk ($6.99 for 28 ounces) can be found at Whole Foods, Sprouts, Erewhon, Gelsons, HEB, Fresh Market, and other local retailers. Find nearby options at malkorganics.com.