French Fries All Day

New restaurant in Central Austin will be french fries all the time

French fries in the morning, french fries in the evening.

Photo courtesy of #getfried

French fries are about to rule Austin and, eventually, all of Texas with the arrival of a new restaurant concept in the campus area that's dedicated to french fries. Called Get Fried, it will open at 2021 Guadalupe St.

Get Fried was established in 2015 in Buffalo, New York, and has big plans for 2018, with several more openings in the works, including locations in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio — nearly all of the cities where CultureMap has offices. The only CultureMap city without a Get Fried planned is Fort Worth. What, Get Fried, no fries for FW?

The menu has six versions of french fries: hand-cut, seasoned waffle, coated straight cut, curly, sweet potato, and funnel. You choose a fry and then select a sauce from more than a dozen selections including ketchup, malt vinegar, chipotle mayo, and maple syrup.

You can get "topped" baskets, in which fries are topped with ingredients like bacon, pulled pork, and shredded chicken. A sweet version has sweet potato fries topped with maple syrup, powdered sugar, and cinnamon. Texas cheese fries has cheese, bacon, chive, and chili powder.

There is also poutine, the famed Canada french fry dish topped with cheese curds and gravy; and a few non-FF items such as chicken fingers; Buffalo chicken; and pizza logs, consisting of pepperoni wrapped in dough with a side of marinara.

Get Fried was founded by Chris Covelli, who was inspired by the french fry cafes he saw on a trip to Amsterdam. He'd also heard about Canada's famed poutine shops. He saw an opportunity.

He and his entrepreneurial partner Garrett Green opened their first store in February 2015 in Buffalo, New York. There are now two corporately owned stores in Buffalo, with more franchises teed up for New York City and Texas.

Get Fried first hit Texas in 2016 with a San Antonio franchise. Local franchisor Muhammad Abdullah says that Texas is on track for french fries everywhere. "We already have a food truck in San Antonio, and all of the big cities in Texas will have stores open by the end of the first quarter of 2018," he says.

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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.