Great Eats Austin

Great Eats Austin Austin

The Ins and Outs of Owning a Resturant in Austin The p.4 Ins and Outs of Owning a Resturant An Inside Look at in Austin Food Critiquing p.4 p.10 The In’s and Out’s An Inside Look at of Owning a Gelato Straight Resturant in Austin Food Critiquing From Italy p.p.10 5 p.16 An Inside Look at Food Critiquing Gelato Straight Chilantro’s Rise to p.

11 From Italy Food Glory Gelato p.16 Straight From Italy p.22 p.

17 Chilantro’s Rise to Chilantro’s Food GloryRise to Food Glory p.p.22 23

A Letter From the Dear Reader,

Editors

Food is something that many people can appreciate. We hope that every single one of our readers can take something away after reading our magazine. We hope to inspire readers and inform them about food in the city of Austin.

With help from our four editors, we put together a magazine that we believe Austinites would enjoy. In this magazine you’ll read all about food critics, new restaurants, and the inside scoop of owning Austin food businesses.

Our goal is to hopefully inspire others to broaden the diverse environment that Austin already has set up. We feel that with the increase of restaurants, more people will be able to creatively express themselves, and more cultures can be spread. With food comes people becoming closer together since there are many people out there in which you can immerse yourself with and find that you have similar taste to others around you.

We hope you enjoy our magazine and what it has to offer. Additionally, we hope that you learn about the culture that comes with food, the reality of food critiquing, the insight on what it means to own a restaurant, the expansion of food trucks, gelato in Austin, and most importantly, be inspired!

Best Regards,

Table of Contents

4

Keep Austin Tasty

8

Just Desserts

10 In With the Know

14

10 of Austin’s Comfort Foods

16 An Authentic Gelato Experience

20 Homemade Buttermilk Pancakes and Flavorful Fruit Bowl Recipe

22 From Food Truck to Food Chain

26 Four Flavorful Favorites From Austin

Keep Austin Tasty Inside Owning a Resturant in Austin

By Tess Ancipink

4

M

ost people love Austin restaurants but they probably don’t know how to run one.

There are so many restaurants in Austin and each one has an owner. Austin is full of many different people and food. Great Eats Austin talked to three different restaurant owners about the challenges, the purpose, and the reward in owning a restaurant.

Austin restaurant owners are trying to create the best place possible for the Austin community. Their purpose is to give people a memorable experience and a good time.

“I hope that people leave with an internal smile even if they are not smiling outwardly but

inside they feel just a little bit better when they came in” said owner of Red’s Porch and North by Northwest, Davis Tucker, ”I really want people when they come to Red’s and North By to leave feeling just a little better then when they came in or a lot better then when they came in.”

Restaurant owners in Austin also take pride in and have fun owning their restaurants.

“The best part of owning a restaurant is hosting and celebrating good times with your friends.” said Scott Hentschel.

“The fact that I do what I love for me it’s, I think in English they say, ‘If you do what you like you never work a day in your life’. ” Claude Benayoun, the owner of Vespaio and Enoteca explained, “I’m the lucky one. I’m one of the lucky ones. I never considered coming to work it’s my life” Restaurant owners also want to create a place for the community to enjoy.

“First, before thinking of anything else, [think] first about creating a place for the community” said Claude Benayoun.

Easy Tiger logo on wall above patio area.

Photo by Tess Ancipink.

Main dining area at Red’s Porch owned by Davis Tucker. Photo by Tess Ancipink.

5

As Austin grows, new challenges along with old ones emerge for restaurant owners.

Scott Hentschel, part of the ELM restaurant group, who owns many restaurants around town one of them being Easy Tiger, discussed one of the challenges of owning a restaurant.

“It’s getting harder and harder to find employees,” Hentschel said. “We need hardworking and friendly employees and so many restaurants, hotels, high-tech companies are opening in Austin that it is getting difficult to find quality people.”

Owner of Vespio and Enoteca, Claude Benayoun, agreed “One challenge is staffing its getting really hard to find good staff.”

Hentschel spoke of another challenge that has emerged with Austin’s growth.

“The challenges of the restaurant business in Austin is the overwhelming number of new restaurants. You have to be fully focused on taking

6

Table at Red’s Porch. Photo by Tess Ancipink.

care of your guests or they will go somewhere else.”

Tucker explained another challenge related to restaurant staff as well as customers.

“The daily challenge is you’ve obviously got hundreds of personalities going on between staff you and the staff, the staff and the customer, you and the customer, not everybody is always going to see thing the same,” said Tucker.

Bread display inside of Easy Tiger. Photo by Tess Ancipink.

Window outside of Enoteca. Photo by Tess Ancipink.

To have a successful restaurant you have to keep a few important things in mind.

Scott Hentschel agreed, “Being constantly dedicated to complete customer satisfaction.”

Davis Tucker said, “You start with paying attention to the customer first and that’s so cliche but it’s true.”

“It’s an equation; it’s not just one thing, it’s got many parameters, many variables, and the equation works only if you find all of these variables.” Benayoun explained,“It’s important to understand that it has to all work together.”

“Service, atmosphere, relationship, all this is gonna make a restaurant successful or not.”

Benayoun adds.

Many things go into owning a restaurant in Austin, but along with challenges there are also great rewards to being a restaurant owner in this amazing city.

Sign outside of Red’s Porch. Photo by Tess Ancipink.

25 7

Graphics and Photos by Tess Ancipink

Pumpkin and choclate ice cream from Amy’s Ice Cream on South Congress.

Just

Ice Cream Ingredients:

The main ingredients in ice cream are milk, sugar, cream, egg yolks, flavoring, and sometimes coloring.

8

Ice Cream contains less cream Served at 0 to 2 degrees Fahrenheit Contains 14 to 25 percent butterfat

Salted carmel and chocolate gelato from Dulce Neve on 1st Street.

Desserts Gelato Ingredients:

The main ingrendients in Gelato are milk, cream, sugar, flavoring, and sometimes coloring.

Gelato uses much more cream than ice cream Served at 7 to 12 degrees Fahrenheit Contains 4 to 6 percent butterfat Sources: Food Network

9

In With the Know the dining culture of the city and having eaten in other cities and countries around the world and knowing

By Kinda Abou-Hamdan if a restaurant starts trying to be this or what the best Photos By Kinda Abou-Hamdan version of that would be and knowing where they would fall short and where they succeed,” he said, explaining ith all the spots available in Austin, no one what qualities and experiences a critic should have before should ever have regrets about going into a reviewing a restaurant. restaurant for the first time and making the right food choices.

Food and restaurants are big elements of that make up Austin, and there are lots of insightful information that guests, customers, or people in general should be familiar with. People should be knowledgeable of certain details when visiting a restaurant and should be open to exposing themselves to unique dishes and cultures. All the unique aspects of Austin’s restaurants should be explored in order to gain the best possible experience with every meal ordered!

W

Critique Like a Pro While everyday-people make decisions on whether or not a restaurant or a certain dish meets their specific standards, it’s a bit of a different process critiquing if you’re a professional food critic.

“You don’t make it as personal,” explained Matthew Odam, the restaurant critic of the Austin-American Statesman. “I think a lot of people take a lot of, like, if you read a Yelp or something ‒ ‘I would give it five stars, but he’s so mean to me and left my water empty.’ ” Being a pro critic involves more than just a restaurant’s service, it takes a certain degree of analysis and needs to capture all aspects of a dish in order to provide accurate and reliable findings.

Professionalism comes from the “breadth of the background,” Odam added.

“Having a context of how this restaurant fits into

21 10

This is an image of fried ice cream; the chefs definitely put their creative minds to work with this dish.

Purpose of Restaurants Although restaurants serve the obvious reason of providing the public with the food they have to offer, they also play other important roles in a city as big and developed as Austin.

“They serve as a place for people to gather and serve as a place for people to creatively express themselves ‒ the cooks, that is, and the chefs,” Odam said.

“They serve as a big economic driver; they’re a big part of our economy. They’re important in that they allow people to express their culture and allow people to eat food from other cultures and so that broadens the cultural discussion of what the city can be, so if we have restaurants from a bunch of different cultures, that makes a city a richer place than if we just had hamburger and cheeseburger places.”

Be on the Lookout for...

that probably permutes the whole culture.

The fact that that can exist is not a good sign, so if When out and about, people tend to stop by restaurants you’ve gone to a place more than once and have the same or cafes for obvious reasons: to satiate their hunger and bad experience, then you probably shouldn’t go back enjoy their time. At times, however, people may stumble because it’s not gonna change.” by a place they’ve never gone to eat at or aren’t as familiar Successful vs. Not-So-Successful with, and it’s important to be aware of certain elements a

Restaurants restaurant may display.

Individuals should be aware of certain meals they Some restaurants seem to be more successful in order, such as brunch, where restaurants attempt to make money off of leftovers or make simple dishes that cost an Austin than others, including “comfort food, you know, Texas food for lack of a better word,” Odam said. excessive amount.

“The most popular restaurant in town, or one of, “People should watch out for special nights, like seems to be Jack Allen’s Kitchen; they make chicken-fried Valentine’s or Mother’s Day,” Odam said. “They’re often a way for restaurants to make a lot of money pretty easily, steak, pecan-crusted salmon, and kind of just ‘Texas-y’ and they might say, ‘This is our three-course meal, and food ‒ southwestern Texas food.”

Other places, which carry a sort of a natural or outdoor it costs $85,’ and they know exactly what they’re serving vibe, seem to present themselves with some fame. to how many people they’re serving, so they just buy “Places like the Oasis that have a really great view are ‘x’ amount of food, and they’re just opportunities for popular. Mexican food is always popular.” restaurants to make a lot of money.”

However, some restaurants fall short and lack certain People should also look out for slow nights, like aspects when it comes to their success. sunday nights or monday nights, when the chef might not “Fine-dining restaurants seem to be having trouble in be there and the B-team might be at work. In return, those restaurants might not be at their top form and may not Austin ‒ places that cost a whole lot of money, not like $60 offer the quality of food and service they would normally. per person, but like $100 per person, because it’s more of “Watch out for places that aren’t original,” Odam a casual town, so I think it’s always been hard for finesaid. “Watch out for lazy or bad service because usually dining to really take off,” Odam conveyed. restaurants reflect, kind of, the chef or the top management, so if you have arrogant staff or lazy staff or a mean staff,

Downtown Austin provides opportunities to experience an apple pie like this one. By bringing business to fine-dining restaurants, you’ll increase their success and enjoy the best of the best!

22 11

a quickly-growing city, there’s not a lot of great opportunities for dining in the center of the city Food plays a huge role in one’s life and can for ethnic food, and I think our traffic problems possibly carry on different meanings based on an and our lack of public transportation makes that difficult,” Odam described. individual’s thoughts or beliefs.

“Like, if you’ve been to New York City, there’s Eric Bakos, the handler of a Vert’s Mediterranean Grill here in Austin, asserted, “I treat food as a neighborhood called Queens, or it’s one of the bureaus, and it’s not in Manhattan but it’s further medicine because food can do wonders for you.”

Exposure to new foods and cultures is an away, but you can take a train there in thirty minutes, and you’re surrounded by every food in interesting experience for one to have.

“You know, of course food and culture comes the world, but here we don’t have the opportunity from all different parts of the world, so it really to do that; you have to sit in traffic, and it’s harder should be exciting, especially if you’ve never to explore neighborhoods the way it is in a city like experienced a certain type of food or a certain type New York, so that makes it difficult.”

When it comes to reporting on food that may of culture.” seem foreign, a more attentive process may be required for a restaurant critic to complete their Cultural Restaurants in Austin tasks.

“In terms of reviewing them, you know, it’s Due to the large population in Austin, there oftentimes not food that I’ve grown up with, so in are many restaurants to aid terms of the customs or in terms of what the in providing for the large platonic ideal of what that food should be, number of people. With a lot I don’t always know, so it requires more of restaurants in town, a lot “Learn about research; it requires asking questions of variations of food are other people, at restaurants, asking questions of needed to help diversify chefs if you get the opportunity the community and learn what they to, but it’s a great way to learn meet the interests like to do, and learn about people and to learn about of the people. cultures,” Odam added.

“I mean I what they like to eat.

However, cultural restaurants always think we Their food is always may not always be the first place could use more; that comes into mind for people in better anyways.”

I think a lot of the Austin when they decide to go out to ethnic food restaurants -Kristen, Verts eat somewhere. are usually kind of being “That’s definitely a challenge of our customer pushed further out of the food that we serve because a lot of people city because of rent prices here in the south don’t really know what and because of often, you know, Mediterranean food is or they just generalize it immigrants that don’t have a lot of money or don’t have big financial-backers, need a place that has into sort of what they want, so that’s definitely a rent that they can afford, and so as a new city but challenge here,” Mr. Bakos explained.

Food and Culture

20 21 12 19

The culture behind Mediterranean food tries to be expressed in ways other than just through the food. “[Customers should be] educated on just why and how instead of just serving them food and then letting them dictate if it’s good or not,” Mr. Bakos added.

There are certain elements a guest or customer may enjoy about a restaurant and the food they serve.

“I really like the different colors and the textures,” said Kristen, a customer at Verts. “I really like colorful stuff.”

She believes that being exposed to new things is a positive.

“Eating one thing all the time is boring,” Kristen said. “You have to try new things.”

“I think it’s always good to be open to new stuff, so I mean learn about other people, learn what they like to do, and learn what they like to eat. Their food is always better anyways.”

Take Action! Spread the Word!

A major city should be entitled to a variety of restaurants and foods to choose from.

“Hopefully we’ll have more ethnic restaurants opening,” Odam said. “It’s been a fairly white city for a long time, but hopefully that’s changing some.”

Mr. Bakos encouraged the idea to “just keep educating yourself, so we can educate our guests on what our food is, so it will spread knowledge within ourselves, but yes, I think a lot of people are taking the concept that we have given, or maybe the Chipotle concept, but [they have] taken that concept and are trying to perfect it to where they would like themselves.”

“Definitely here in Austin, you are able to [expand a food culture] because we have a lot of food truck startups, and so Austin allows the dream that you want to become made because of that as well.“

This is an example of a dish you can order at Verts Mediterranean Grill. This dish is known as the “Spicy Meatball Rice Bowl” and can be found on the “Chef Creations” menu.

25 13

10 of Austin’s Comfort Foods

Must-Try Pizza Sushi Tex-Mex Pasta Burger

Las Cazuelas

to’s asi pp Pa

Ch

uy

’s

By Kinda Abou-Hamdan Photos By Kinda Abou-Hamdan

East Side Pies

Fla

mi

ng

Piz

za

Torchy’s

Via Uc

hik o

313 Patrizi’s

to So

y

hi

us

dd

do

p Ho

iZ sh

Su

14

DK Sushi

Shake

Food Krispy Kreme

ut

Sh ipl ey

Do -N

uts

hn ug Do oo od Vo

Taco Pretzel Cupcake Donut Fro-Yo

Pr etz

Go urd ou gh ’s

elm ak er

Auntie Anne’s

Tacos

Pin

kb

err

y

BY

TC

Sp

rin

kle

Yogurt Planet

Fiv eG

uys

Hey Cupcake!

Shack

Searching for comfort on a bad day?

Delight yourself with some of Austin’s enticing eats, and boost your mood with a step inside one of the listed restaurants.Your cravings will lead the way, and you will follow.

15

An Authentic Gelato Experience

Venezia Gelato’s Owner and Origins

By Joshua Urrutia

The sign outside Venezia Gelato and Cafe. Photo by Joshua Urrutia.

16

V

enezia Cafe provides one of the most authentic Italian coffee and gelato experiences in Austin; the cafe has a modern design, as well as authentic gelato and coffee straight from Italy.

Venezia is owned by Nikolas Morella, an immigrant from Italy, who moved to America with dreams of opening a business. Morella is the owner, gelato and coffee maker, and sole worker of Venezia Cafe.

Morella decided to leave Italy due to the politics and the slump in the economy.

“It’s a little bit growing right now,” Morella said, “We moved from Italy thanks to politics. It’s impossible to have a business.

You pay 70 percent tax. Not 17 percent tax, 70 percent tax.

They are stealing, ain’t nobody making nothing. You go to jail, or you pay. Or you become a stealer, like the politicians. My choice is I pay the tax, but I want to leave.”

The owner of Venezia Gelato and Cafe, Nikolas Morella, scooping ice cream for a customer.

Photo by Joshua Urrutia.

After immigrating to Austin, opportunity to just the big brand.” a major problem for Morella was finding a location for his gelato The store is located on Lamar, place. a very busy street in Austin.

Its location helps introduce “If you are small and if it’s a customers to the store. family company and if you make it by hand, artisanal product, it “I was stuck in traffic on is big trouble because they[the Lamar,” said Ricardo Maldonado people who lease property] don’t “And they had a guy with an ice know if you can pay the rent,” cream cart waving at people. The Morella said “And this is a big sign said coffee and I stopped in trouble in the USA cause they give to get out of traffic.”w

Morella comes from the city of Vicenza, but he chose to name it after the section of Italy he comes from, Veneto.

“A lot of people don’t know about our city but our most famous city by us is Venice.” said Morella.

Venezia is focused on Italian gelato and other cream

17

A scoop of Cookies and Cream and a scoop of Vanilla gelato besides an espresso. Photo by Joshua Urrutia.

pastries. Venezia sells cannolis, This is the true artisanal Italian MR. Ring, a cream filled ring kind of gelato. For example, for covered in icing, but most importantly gelato.

“We sell gelato. We have two different types of gelato, one is a cream base, with milk. We have a three different kind of the milk based. And then the sherbert it’s the water base.” Morella explained, ”So it’s two different kind of gelato. And for each kind there is three different ways to make a gelato flavor.

18

“That is the reason it is completely artisanal. From A to Z, From the beginning to the final product. It is completely with hand.” -Nikola Morella, Owner

our chocolate we start from the cocoa powder, then we build.

That is the reason it is completely artisanal. From A to Z, From the beginning to the final product. It is completely with hand.”

Venezia doesn’t use billboards or magazine advertisements to attract customers. Venezia relies solely on word of mouth to spread its name to new customers.

“We tried it with a PR, but we don’t have nobody to promote [as

of now],” Morella said. “It’s too expensive, and they say that they are working for you, but really not.

We try two different PR then we try with a newspaper. Newspaper work, but it’s more what you’re paying than what you get. It’s not worth it, it’s too expensive. If you explain things, they say ‘okay, right we want to make you the best price,’ but it’s still high. Cause if you spend $2000, you get $1500, you can’t cover the advertising.

The best advertising is the word, the spreadable word.”

This method seems to be working, Venezia has gained a lot of customers from their good reviews on food websites like Yelp.

“It had good ratings, and it was nearby,” a second costumer, with her boyfriend, said. “So I was like,‘Let’s try it,’ and I liked, and I brought him.”

Morella noticed some differences in American citizens compared to European citizens.

One of the main differences being that Europeans are more outgoing.

“I think what the big difference is between the American and European people is that the USA people are hard workers, good people, but they are shy!” Morella said. “Why? Don’t worry about me. If you’re alone don’t worry about that, stay! Sit, you know?

Stay and enjoy your gelato! “ Venezia is located at 1701 South Lamar, Austin, Texas.

Morella welcomes everybody into his shop to try his gelato.

The storefront of Venezia Gelato. Photo by Joshua Urrutia.

19

Homemade Buttermilk Pancakes

By Joshua Urrutia Photos By Joshua Urrutia

Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes Makes 8 servings Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 egg

3 tablespoons melted butter

1/4 tablespoon vanilla

Directions: 1. In a large bowl, combine the flour,

baking powder, salt, and white sugar in a bowl.

2. Beat the egg in a separate bowl.

3. Add in the buttermilk, egg, melted butter, and vanilla in the divot of the mixture.

4. Mix the mixture until smooth.

5. Heat up a lightly oiled or buttered griddle and pour the batter onto the griddle. Use about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake.

6. Cook each side until each side is brown.

20

Based on a pancake recipe from Allrecipes.com: Kelly, Dakota. “Good Old Fashioned Pancakes Recipe.�

Allrecipes, Allrecipes, 23 May 2006, allrecipes.com/recipe/21014/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/.

Easy and Sweet Fruit Bowl

Prep time: 5 minutes Makes 2 servings Ingredients:

1 banana

1/2 cup of blueberries

1 cup of strawberries

2 tablespoons of honey

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 mint leaf for decoration

Whip Cream (Optional)

Directions: 1. Wash the strawberries and the

blueberries.

2. Cut off the leaves of the strawberries, and slice them in half.

3. Cut the banana into slices.

4. Place all of the fruit into a bowl.

5. Place the honey onto the fruit, and

mix thoroughly.

6. Sprinkle the sugar onto the mixture, and top with a mint leaf.

7. Top the bowl of fruit with whip cream, at any amount you like.

21

From Food Truck to Food Chain Chi’Lantro and the Story of their Success

By Emily Wootton

22

A crowd of people line up for Chi’Lantro’s food truck in its early stages at South By South West. Photo courtesy of Mike Posser.

T

he Austin restaurant Chi’Lantro is a Mexican-Korean cuisine establishment that started less than 10 years ago. Jae Kim started off his Korean barbeque business as a food truck in Austin during the year of 2010. What started off as a simple idea has now become a successful business with multiple brick and mortar locations all around Austin.

The business has five locations around Austin,

each with a modern, clean, and welcoming feel.

“It looks like a very pip and welcoming place.”

-Michaela Weimer, customer “It’s really bright and colorful,” said Michaela Weimer, a customer. “I like the

wood decorations on the walls.

It has a very eco-friendly look, and it looks like a very pip and welcoming place” she said.

One of the most difficult things about running a food truck or restaurant is getting started, and for Jae Kim, the CEO of Chi’Lantro, it was definitely a challenge.

“When I first started, there was no vision. The only thing that I said that I would do was survive and give everything that I had to the business,” Kim said.

23

accomplished that and we had one. We saw the vision to have two, and three. Now we have [a] vision to have forty and fifty in the future”.

His main goal when starting out was to have his own restaurant, but now his idea has totally changed. Now that he has experience, Kim is planning on expanding Chi’Lantro further outside of Austin.

Jae Kim, CEO of Chi’Lantro. Photo by Emily Wootton.

When starting the food truck, Kim had maxed out his credit card, and he only had $30,000 to start his business.

He had about six months to get the ball rolling if he wanted to survive as a business.

“I would work eighteen hour days and twenty hour days if I needed to, and I wanted to,” Kim said. He was determined to work hard towards his goals, because he already had two unsucessful businesses before Chi’Lantro.

His mindset was different.

“It’s all about knowing myself and how much I can put into myself,” Kim said.

24

Since this was his first successful business, Kim didn’t know exactly what to expect.

“I think the constant struggle is keeping the culture.”

-Kim Jae, Owner Kim said, “There were a lot of uncertainties and insecurities, but the vision when we had a food truck was to go into a one restaurant. We

“We had a very interesting opportunity [given] to us... growing a business the right way, and right partners wanting to come in and help us out, so I think that the sky’s the limit,” said Kim. Kim is relentless and believes that working hard is worth it in the long run.

While the business is expanding, that means everything is much harder to control now. Kim must rely on more employees to represent his brand, and trust them to keep the mission of Chi’Lantro. The mission of Chi’Lantro is to inspire the way people eat and think about Korean barbeque. But that’s not always easy now that all the employees don’t fit into a single food truck.

Kim said, “I think the constant struggle is keeping

the culture, and our business is the success measured through people, how much people are dedicated, how much people are putting into our business and wanting to grow”.

Customer from Chi’Lantro, Mandy Chan, said, “trying out new cultural foods with different types of ingredients and having more diverse food

makes it interesting.” To this day, Kim is still dedicated to the cause as much as he was on day one.

“I wanna leave [a] legacy behind,” he said.

about his job is being able to set an example for other young entrepreneurs beginning their journey. With a currently successful business, Kim will continue to serve for the mission he created.

Jae Kim has definitely proven how determination and motivation towards a goal pays off. Kim’s favorite part

Chi’Lantro serves a variety of Korean and Mexican inspired food. Their most popular item being their kimchi fries.

Photo courtesy of Chi’lantro.

25

Four Flavorful Favorites From Austin

Four Diverse Restaurants in Austin, Texas to Try

By Emily Wootton

1 The Swad Vegetarian Restaurant is a great place to try some Indian food in Austin. Since their menu changes quite often, you can try a variety of different foods from India. Most of their dishes are under five dollars too! If you’re looking for some traditional Indian food, try their dosas or their thalis. Thalis are traditional Indian platters that consist of many dishes, and dosas are crepelike pancakes made out of rice and black gram. Swad has won over many Austin citizens with their spicy and recognizable Indian food.

The front of the Swad Vegetarian restuarant. Photo courtesy of Swad Indian Vedetarian Cuisine.

2 Phonatic is a great place to go if you’re new to Vietnamese food. They make the restaurant easy for anyone to visit, that way the menu isn’t confusing to anyone, and no one feels intimidated. They take pride in their fresh ingredients and quality food. Phonatic provides a casual environment for anyone to go to. They do a great job in making Vietnamese food less intimidating to people.

26

Phonatic has a wide variety of different Vietnamese food. Photo courtesy of Phonatic.

3 Hat Creek, a burger company founded in 2008, started off as a small food truck. Now they have multiple brick and mortar locations. Hat Creek is dedicated to the quality of their burgers but also to their service. They aim to be fast and friendly. With multiple locations, they serve many every single day.

Hat Creek has many locations, each with the wecoming Hat Creek sign. Photo courtesy of Hat Creek.

4 Mandola’s Italian Kitchen is a great place to go if you love homestyle Italian food. Unlike other Italian cuisine spots in Austin, Mandola’s also offers an old-school grocery.

They have a wide variety of selections that anyone can enjoy. From chicken dishes, to classic pasta, Mandola’s has something for everyone. They have a lunch, dinner, wine, coffee, happy hour, and a family style menu.

Visit Mandola’s for a night out, or a casual lunch. To top it all off, Mandola’s offers a wide variety of desserts including sorbets and gelato.

Be sure to check out their gelato of the month--varying from italian classics to nutella flavored--on their Facebook and Instagram.

Mandola’s has a wide selection of many different gelato flavors.

Photo courtesy of Mandola’s Italian Kitchen.

27

Credits Kinda Abou-Hamdan Kinda Abou-Hamdan was born in Austin, Texas and attends the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. She is a proud marcher of the LBJ Jaguar Band, plays the clarinet as well as lacrosse, and appreciates the people she surrounds herself with everyday.

Tess Ancipink Tess Ancipink is a freshman at LASA High School. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends. She plays Lacrosse as well as Guitar and enjoys baking, sewing, and gardening.

21 28

Joshua Urrutia Joshua Urrutia is a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. He is part of the LBJ baseball team. In his free time, he enjoys baking desserts, being with friends, and petting his dog, Benjamin.

Emily Wootton Emily Wootton is a freshman attending LASA High School. Emily enjoys spending time with friends and family, and she also enjoys drawing. She likes to play volleyball in her free time.

21 29