Roux the day

Owner of revered East Austin food truck dishes on new Cajun concept

The owner of Patrizi's is branching out into Cajun cuisine.

Patrizi's Austin/Facebook

Nicholas Patrizi admits he didn’t expect to be talking to the press yet about Vic & Al’s, his new project rolling into the former Unit-D Pizzeria space at 2406 Manor Rd. The kitchen space still has to be rebuilt, and he has only begun to think about the menu.

“I still have a lot to work out,” he says.

Still, the owner of the wildly popular Italian food truck Patrizi’s did reveal the first few details of the concept, including a target opening date in October.

Although brick-and-mortar, Vic & Al’s will be a revival of a short-lived trailer that operated in 2016 at the Scoot Inn. Like that truck, also called Vic & Al's, the new restaurant will focus on Cajun cuisine.

Patrizi tells CultureMap that the new eatery may borrow a few dishes from the original — specifically mentioning the truck's cochon de lait po’boy with red cabbage slaw, remoulade, and pickles — but it won’t exactly be a repeat.

Initially, he will start with a smaller menu, focusing on grab-and-go items at lunch and a bar menu for dinner. The other key difference is that the new Vic & Al’s will serve alcohol. “I want to create a local neighborhood watering hole,” Patrizi says.

The sourcing will remain true to Patrizi’s standards. The owner says he is talking to local farms to source sustainable catfish and is bringing in heirloom rice from Louisiana for a dirty rice dish. Vic & Al’s will also be making several of its ingredients in house, including boudin and cheese. The team has already begun fermenting hot sauce.

Sourcing won’t be the only similarity to Patrizi’s. Part of the menu will be devoted to daily specials based on what’s in season, and the service style will also be similar, with guests ordering at the counter.

For now, however, the entrepreneur is focusing on the build-out and getting all the permits secured. The exact menu will be finalized later, during what Patrizi expects to be a long soft-opening period.

“I don’t worry about the food as much,” he says of his enthusiasm for the menu creation process. “Making awesome food isn’t hard for me.”

openings

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.