Pizza Fanta-sy

Austin's Via 313 finally unboxes long-awaited San Antonio location

San Antonio's first Via 313 opens its doors on August 1.

Via 313 is following the trend of Austinites moving to San Antonio. On Monday, August 1, Alamo City welcomes its first-ever Via 313, the celebrated Austin-based chain famed for its deep dish pies, Fanta, and other Midwest favorites.

For its first foray into South Texas (we say first because CultureMap recently noted the chain's eyeing another spot at The Rim), Via 313 is unboxing its new location at 8435 Wurzbach Rd., Ste. 213 on the Northwest Side. It is the company’s seventh restaurant statewide and its first Texas store outside the Austin metro area. (The pizza chain also has locations in Colorado and Utah.)

“We’re thrilled to finally bring our Motor City flavor to San Antonio,” says co-founder Brandon Hunt in a release. “We’ve loved sharing our Detroit-style pizza with the Austin area and can’t wait to join the amazing community in Alamo City. We look forward to welcoming everyone into our new spot and celebrating at the grand opening together!”

That grand opening has been more than a year in the making, and included a ribbon-cutting ceremony and friends and family dinner on Friday, July 29 before Via 313 officially opens its doors on Monday, August 1. Patrons can order up a Cadillac (a Detroit-style deep dish with gorgonzola, fig preserves, prosciutto, Parmesan, and balsamic glaze) or choose from a menu of thin crust bar-style pies. The chain’s full menu of cocktails, appetizers, salads, and funky desserts will also be available.

Since 2011, Brandon Hunt and his brother, Zane, have been slinging pizzas inspired by their hometown of Detroit in their adopted hometown of Austin. They began operating out of a food trailer on Austin’s east side and quickly garnered attention for their high-quality, innovative pies. The pizza is baked in a rectangular pan inspired by the automotive factories of Detroit, which not only creates the pie’s unique shape, but a crispy, chewy crust that has developed nothing short of a cult following.

Over the past decade, Via 313 continued its modest growth across the Capital City, adding three brick-and-mortars. That growth, however, got a supercharge in October 2020 when the brothers received a multimillion-dollar investment from the Utah-based Savory, an investment fund that infuses up-and-coming culinary brands with capital. In less than two years, the pizza chain has expanded into the Austin ‘burbs and added those additional locations in Colorado and Utah.

Beginning August 1, the Wurzbach Road location will be open Sunday through Thursday from 11 am to 10 pm, Friday and Saturday from 11 am to 11 pm.

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.