Food on TV

Austin Eavesdropper's Tolly Moseley represents Texas in new YouTube series,Hungry In...

Austin hasn't always been known as a foodie destination. But thanks to the televised efforts of some phenomenal chefs winning top national prizes, we're gaining quite a bit of momentum in that department.

Adding embers to that flame, auburn-haired blogger and all-around gal about town Tolly Moseley (aka Austin Eavesdropper), is now one of four hosts of the new food lovers' web series Hungry In..., which premiered Friday on YouTube's new Hungry Channel, which collects some of the best clips about cooking and food you'll find anywhere on the Internet.

In the series, Moseley reps our city proudly, exploring Austin's many neighborhoods and their secret tastebud treasures, while fellow hosts from New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco do the same for their cities. While the other three may have the advantage in size, we've got the added Texas charm of our very own Eavesdropper who knows this city inside and out.

We talked with Moseley about her experiences shooting Hungry In... over the past few months, her culinary TV idols and what we have to look forward to in the first tantalizing season.

CultureMap: First of all, congrats on the series! This is another happy case of local gal making it big. Are you still going to keep the name "Austin Eavesdropper" when you're a national celebrity?

Tolly Moseley: Thank you! "National celebrity" might be pushing it! But I'm very proud of the team I'm working with, so hopefully it will get lots of views and support. Anyway, I think I'll keep the name Austin Eavesdropper. I honestly don't know what else I'd call myself.

CM: This is such an amazing opportunity to showcase the city and to demonstrate your talents and strengths. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got selected to be a part of this show? Was it a submission process or a case of just knowing the right people at the right time?

TM: At the beginning of this year, my friends and I started making a webisode series for kicks called AETV. At around the same time, I also started doing contract work with Citysearch, mostly writing local reviews. They hired my crew and I to make a video for SXSW where I interviewed a naked Matthew McConaughey puppet.

Citysearch's headquarters are in L.A., and they are across the street from Electus, a television studio. Electus had just gotten a grant from YouTube to start a food channel, and Citysearch showed them my video, which they liked. So Citysearch pitched them a show focused on local eating, Electus greenlit it, and together, Citysearch and The Hungry Channel launched the show with four markets and four hosts, with me being the Austin host.

CM: You've been filming your episodes here in Austin since July. Is your filming crew the same people you worked with on AETV or are they folks that YouTube assigned you?

TM: As far as my Austin crew, it's a lot of the guys who did AETV with me. My good friend, director Carlos Funes, as well as Chad Leathers and Christian Remde, both on cameras and direction. When Carlos went to NYC to film a movie this summer, I reached out to Christian to step in. I've been a fan of his work (namely his short food films) for a long time, and knew he had lots of food relationships in town. He, Chad, and Carlos are the reasons our food looks so porn-tastic.

CM: Which Austin neighborhoods are you visiting throughout the season, and what is the best meal you've eaten so far on the show?

TM: For the first season, the neighborhoods will already be very familiar to the food-loving Austinite: South Lamar, Hyde Park, etc. In seasons to come though, I would really like to visit hidden, not-so-popular neighborhoods. There's a tiny Mexican bakery near my house, for example, that's not hip and trendy in the slightest, but damn, their bunuelos are fucking great.

The best meal I've eaten so far, though? Tough question! I had a tea party with Sophie Parrott of Marvelous Vintage Tea Party, where we sipped Earl Grey out of a very famous monarch's tea set. That was pretty exciting. Kyle, the pastry chef at Barley Swine, made me some whiskey donuts, too. I'm not sure I can pick just one meal.

CM: Will there be any surprises or upsets from you on this season of Hungry In...?

TM: No upsets... We peddle happiness, of course! But we do make a cocktail in one episode that involves duck fat, which is kind of surprising...

CM: Which neighborhoods do you still want to go film for the series?

TM: Austin's East Side — both the gentrified stuff and the been-there-for-years, down-the-street-from-a-pinata-shop stuff. Victory Grill. Green & White Grocer. Hoover's Kitchen. Asian restaurants in North Austin. I feel like I wouldn't be doing my Texas duty if we didn't have a BBQ episode. I'm a San Antonio girl so at some point we need to do a Taco Wars episode.

We would love, LOVE for people to recommend their favorite, lesser-known culinary pockets to cover as well. If we get to do more seasons, I'd like to have a balance of "culinary chic" places (East Side Show Room, Swift's Attic, etc.) and hole-in-the-wall taco stands and burger joints. I'd like to show off to the rest of the world that Austin is "weird" in part because we have some rich ethnic pockets that don't always get shown off in the national media.

CM: You're working with Bruce Seidel, formerly of the FOOD Network, on this project. He's worked with some of the biggest names in the cooking show industry. Who are your food television idols and inspirations?

TM: I've always liked food hosts that were "on foot" so to speak, like Anthony Bourdain (I know! Everyone says him, but it's true!) and Andrew Zimmern that give you a historical sense of place and people as they eat. For that matter, Josh Ozersky, my co-host in New York, is also a role model. He's a Notre Dame-trained historian, and brings that sensibility to his food-writing. I'm much more comfortable in that realm: telling people about a place and the people who animate it, then talking about flavor composition or plate presentation. I've been freelance writing about Austin for five years, so I've been lucky to get an ad-hoc food education along the way.

Also, Alex Guarnaschelli (a real-life celebrity chef) and — though these two women don't have shows — Kim Severson and Ruth Reichl. All three are extraordinary food writers. I've read all of Ruth's books, and I wrote a fan letter to Kim for her book Spoon Fed. All three have a way of talking about food in an artful way that involves memory and relationships, and I aspire to write that way too.

CM: Are you a good cook at home, or are you the expert at picking restaurants to go out to?

TM: I'm not a good cook. Definitely the pick-out-a-restaurant type of person. I'm a city expert!

CM: Between blogging, writing and now an online TV show, what is next for Tolly Moseley?

TM: Yoga certification! I love all the media work I do and consider myself very, VERY lucky to have gotten this latest opportunity. But too much computer/media time can make you crazy, and yoga is my salve. I've wanted to get certified for a long time and share it with people.

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You can watch Moseley and the whole Hungry In... crew by subscribing to the Hungry Channel on YouTube. New episodes release every Friday morning, on The Hungry In... page, where you can also search for the restaurants Tolly describes on Citysearch.

Back to the Plow

Homey Austin jam and bake shop closing and returning to farmers market

Confituras fig crackers

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.

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