News You Can Eat
5 things to know in Austin food right now: A night at the Museum of Ice Cream
Editor’s note: We get it. It can be difficult to keep up with the fast pace of Austin’s restaurant and bar scene. We have you covered with our regular roundup of essential food news.
The Museum of Ice Cream is not the place to look for a traditional museum experience, so it follows that it would have an adults-only weekend nights ice cream party, led by an influential local chef. Starting July 8 and running through July 30, that chef is Comedor’s Philip Speer, serving a sundae inspired by another classic summer dessert: s'mores. A base of dark chocolate and vanilla bean ice cream sets the campsite for toasted marshmallow meringue, hot fudge, graham cracker, and smoked cherries. Tickets for the event (ages 21 and up, $35) are available at museumoficecream.com.
The restaurant with merch depicting a cowgirl riding a lobster is living up to that energy and hosting a fundraising event benefiting Planned Parenthood, a press release announces. Garbo’s Fresh Maine Lobster on North Mopac is open Monday, July 11 (usually its day off), and donating all proceeds from the brick-and-mortar location that day. The restaurant will serve fish and chips from 11 am until it sells out. To cut down on operating costs even more, the special service will be staffed by the owner and volunteers.
For one weekend only, July 14 through 17, Truluck’s is offering a decadent Yucatan soft-shell crab dish, piled high with creamed spinach, grilled asparagus, onion, and pepper aioli ($44 for two crabs, $22 for one). Soft shell crabs are only in season for a limited time as the crustaceans molt, making it possible to eat them shell and all. That means less work to get to the meat, and a unique texture that can only be experienced for part of the year.
Other news and notes
The Lone Star State’s own sparkling water, Rambler, is expanding its growing Austin ubiquity with a new energy drink, aiming for “sustained energy without a crash.” The star ingredient is Yaupon, a caffeine-containing holly that is native to Texas and is often compared to yerba mate in taste and effect. In four flavors (peach, pomegranate, blackberry mint, and lime coconut), Yaupon Energy is available in Texas and hoping to branch out from there. Find stock at ramblersparklingwater.com.
A trip to Fareground, the downtown food hall just off the Congress Avenue Bridge, is always a bit like a festival, with so much to mix and match. This August, that festival vibe becomes official as the Fareground Food & Wine Festival kicks off. Every second Saturday from 4 to 8 pm, August through October, the hall is handing out “passports” to be stamped at each food concept — 10 in total. Drink and Ellis (on the corner of Congress Avenue and East Second Street) are providing drinks. Tickets ($45) are available on Eventbrite.
