Espirit de Corps

By Jessica Dupuy
Photography by Dustin Meyer 

When opening a distillery, there’s a lot more to consider than simply the resulting spirits to be made. Processes and ingredients used and waste and environmental impact, among other things, are facets that require attention and careful thought. And for many Central Texas distillers, sustainability is playing a key role in planning.

Potato Gnocchi

By Will Packwood
Photography by Jenna Noel

A little over a decade ago, gnocchi was an unpronounceable word with an even more confusing meaning. Today, gnocchi is no stranger to restaurant menus and can even be found on most supermarket shelves. Though the word gnocchi in Italian refers to any dumpling—from potato to semolina to bread, cheese, even pumpkin—here in the U.S. potato is king. The best potato readily available in most markets is the russet.

In Search of a Raw (I)deal

By Betsy Levy

Directions to the pick-up point come through a crackling phone connection. The newcomer pulls into a deserted warehouse parking lot, exits her car, warily looks both ways, and approaches a side door. The woman—let’s call her My Friend, and she isn’t me—furtively collects a package, and bolts.

What shadowy activity is My Friend mixed up in? Not the return of Prohibition, although a drink is definitely involved.

What I Eat and Why: Eating Seasonally

As a child, I was a picky eater—often too disgusted with the appearance and texture of foods to even attempt to eat them. And these were not exotic foods! I wouldn’t, for instance, go near a tomato. And I had serious doubts about cucumbers.

It wasn’t until I went to the Middle East at 19 that my palate expanded.

Game On

By Robin Chotzinoff

Photography by Jody Horton

In 1983, when Mike Hughes went into the wild-game meat business, there was no such thing. Americans ate what they harvested during hunting season, but venison and antelope seldom appeared on restaurant menus. Mike had lived and worked in Europe, and there it was a different story. European chefs were thrilled to get their hands on ingredients then considered exotic in the United States.

Emmett and Lisa Fox

By Shannon Oelrich
Photography by Marc Brown

Emmett and Lisa Fox, owners of Austin restaurants ASTI Trattoria and FINO Restaurant Patio & Bar, share a passion for travel and food. They go to Europe every year, and to New York and California when new restaurants beckon. “We love to see what other chefs are doing,” says Lisa, who chronicles their travel and food adventures in her blog, foodisforsharing.com.

Susan Jamie

By Jardine Libaire
Photos by Tracey Maurer

The coffee industry is sprawling and international—coffee being a top-ranking commodity worldwide—and it provides a livelihood for millions of people. This huge structure, however, lacks a common technical language, which results in chaos and even corruption. Universal certifications for those who grade, buy, sell, import and export coffee bolster fair negotiations, and devoted coffee businesspeople and artisans have been going to great lengths to organize this system.

Spring Desserts Garnished

By Lucinda Hutson
Photography by Karen Dickey

I’m not much of a baker or a dessert maker. Culinary arts requiring precise measuring and strict attention to timing don’t often fit my improvisational style of cooking. (Okay, I have a few exceptions—like my lemon verbena pound cake, Spanish citrus flan or hoppin’ jalapeño carrot cake—celebrated in my cookbooks.) However, after I’ve spent hours creating a special feast, I sometimes just want to serve something quick and easy for dessert—candy for the eyes and palate. 

Apple Scrap Vinegar

By Kate Payne
Photography by Jo Ann Santangelo

My first time making vinegar was completely an accident. In my early years of discovering mason jars and their handy pantry presence, I’d decanted the tail end of a bottle of red wine into a wide-mouth pint jar and stuck it on a pantry shelf where, after about two or three months, I rediscovered it. A pungent aroma (distinctly vinegar) filled my nostrils and I pitched away the liquid thinking it was probably dangerous.

DE-LUXE

Janel Jefferson, Ophelia, 2010, Acrylic, charcoal, and dried flowers on paper, 68 x 36 inches, courtesy of the artist and Wally Workman Gallery

COLLECTION SELECTIONS: DE-LUXE

on view at Laguna Gloria  |  3809 W. 35th Street
August 24 – December 2, 2012

Green Corn Project: Dig Ins

By Suzanne Hurley

When Susannah Reilly bought her house in Crestview last year, the sellers put an unusual stipulation in the contract. Their asparagus plants were not part of the sale. And though the sellers may have cleared out the established harbinger of spring, they did leave behind a fenced-in garden plot that Susannah and her boyfriend, Brian Tomlin, were eager to fill.

“I never had a real vegetable garden, only tomatoes and herbs in containers,” says Susannah. “When I was little, I made my poor dad dig a 4’x4’ plot in the Houston gumbo clay. It didn’t last long!”

To prepare for their gardening adventure, Susannah and Brian volunteered at a “Dig-in” hosted by local garden-building nonprofit Green Corn Project (GCP). During the months of March and September, GCP holds Dig-ins for five days over three separate weekends. Groups of four or five volunteers, led by Dig-in leaders (volunteers who’ve received additional training on GCP’s gardening methods) spread out across Central Texas to create and refurbish vegetable beds.

A Couple of Chefs

By MM Pack 
Photography by Jenna Noel

What could be better for two talented, experienced chefs than living and working in Manhattan, food epicenter of the Western world? For Jessica Maher and Todd Duplechan, it’s living and working in Austin, Texas.

Handiwork: Date Loaf Candy

Story and Photography by Lisa Fain

I come from a candy-making family. You’d know Christmastime was fast approaching when Great-Grandma Gibson and my great-aunt Pearl could be found buzzing around the kitchen, whipping up big batches of fondants, fudge, divinity, dipped chocolates and date-loaf candy. They’d lovingly package the homemade confections in decorated boxes and deliver them to their rural North Texas neighbors as gifts.

Texas Hills Vineyard

By Terry Thompson-Anderson
Photography by Bill Albrecht

When Gary and Kathy Gilstrap bought their land—on which they would plant their vineyard—in 1994, they brought a new perspective to the Texas wine industry. Both Gilstraps are pharmacists by trade, with well-established scientific backgrounds, so their methods and approach to the business of grape-growing and winemaking have often skirted tradition. And some of those methods have not only been heeded and applied by other winemakers following the Gilstraps’ example, but also have led to a new, more modern wave of traditions in the Texas industry.

Mill-King Market & Creamery

Story and Photography By Kelly Yandell

Waco, like many growing Texas cities, is ever expanding into the countryside. But just west of Waco, away from the bustle, in the small town of McGregor, sits a still-bucolic, beautiful parcel of land dotted with grazing cows and owned by some of the nicest people you’d ever care to meet. Mill-King Market & Creamery is one of a growing number of Texas dairy farms on the road to abandoning the conventional route to marketing milk.

Chiles con Queso

By Lucinda Hutson
Photography by John Pozdro

Growing up in the West Texas town of El Paso, I’d never heard of chicken-fried steak smothered in gravy, or eaten plump Gulf shrimp or lip-smackin’ pit barbecue doused in a tangy sauce. But I’ll bet my boots that many other Texans have never tasted chiles rellenos (stuffed green chiles) like the ones we devoured in the fall when the long, bright green chiles (commonly known around here as Hatch chiles, or also as Anaheim or California chiles) came fresh from the fields of the neighboring New Mexico valleys.

Nick Cave

Nick Cave, Soundsuit, 2011, Dogwood twigs, wire, upholstery, basket, and mannequin, 86” x 36” x 28” Courtesy of the Chaney Family Collection, Photograph: James Prinz Photography, Chicago

Presented by AMOA-Arthouse  |  The Jones Center
On view through February 24, 2013

Find Fair Bean at RunTex

You can stoke up on Fair Bean coffee drinks and selected baked goods now while shopping or preparing for training and racing events at RunTex's Riverside Drive location. But you will still want to go to Fair Bean Coffee (2210 South First Street) for their popular Rotos, "World's Best" Tortilla Espanola (owner Andres Salvador says it's as ubiquitous as peanut butter and jelly in Spain) made with Jeremiah Cunningham's organic and pastured eggs, and both Sweet and Savory Empandas.

Ask the Permie Pro

By Dick Pierce 

Dear Permie Pro,
Q: We’ve planted, tended and nearly harvested our entire spring garden. We’re planning to finish harvesting, then mulch heavily and water only occasionally—to let our garden, and ourselves, relax this summer. What else can we do during this dormant time besides avoid the sun and drink margaritas?

Sincerely,
Not a Fan of the Heat

A:  Dear Not,
It sounds like you’ve done everything right for your particular gardening style—you planted early, harvested in the cooler weather and treated your garden right with moisture under mulch for the summer.

Vanishing Act

By Valerie Broussard
Photography by Shaun Jones and Carrie Kenny