Chow Down

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K e r b ey La n e Pa n ca k e s

8 Ways to cook an egg

Fo o d O n W h e e ls

CHOW DOWN

Ta b le o f c o n te n t s

4 Letter From the Editors 6 How to Make Kerbey Lane Pancakes 8 Awe-stin Restaurants 14 8 Ways to Cook an Egg 16 Food on Wheels

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THAN K YO U 22 24 30 32 38

Avocado Toast Recipes Odd, But Honest Baked, Not Faked Hard to Beat Treats Special Thanks

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A Letter From the Editors Dear Readers, The four of your editors share something in common- a love for food. A magazine focused on the entire genre of food was a daunting task for the four of us, so we narrowed our focus to the food of our hometown: Austin, Texas. From our experience growing up in Austin, we have discovered that the Austin food scene is incredibly diverse. We were able to contact restaurant owners from around the city and here we tell their stories from an insider’s perspective.

The owners of these restaurants, bakeries, food trucks, and even ice cream shops see food as something worth working towards. A good meal can bring together families around a picnic table, it can form friendships over week-long summer baking camps, or even introduce a new flavor in the form of redfish ceviche. The ways in which food can affect people are nearly endless. This passion for cuisine was present as we spoke to these wonderful restaurant owners. No two restaurants have the same menu, but each one of them has a story to tell.

We invite you to our tables to feast upon the stories of local cuisine and share in the coming together for the love of food.

Welcome to Chow Down.

The Editors Ella Glasscock, Hootie Judd, Jarai Jabbi, and Lydia Benson.

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Ella Glasscock

Hi there, my name is Ella Glasscock. I am a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin, Texas. Outside of school, I’m either rowing at the Texas Rowing Center, filming or editing short films, making music, going hiking, traveling, or trying new things. I love seeing an item on the menu that I’ve never heard of and getting the chance to add it to the growing list of foods that I enjoy. I am constantly impressed by the creativity of our local cuisine, and I hope to share a slice of these stories .with our readers.

Jarai Jabbi

Hi, my name is Jarai Jabbi and I’m a freshman at Liberal Arts and Science Academy as well. During my free time, I am singing, spending time with friends, or eating. My family is not from the United States, so I am especially appreciative of the multicultural aspect of food in general. Working with my group members has led me to have further interest in other excellent Austin restaurants that I look forward to trying.

Hootie Judd

Hi, my name is Hootie Judd, and like my fellow editors, am a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin. I’ve done a lot of world travel, and gained some very high standards on where I’ll eat because of that. But, thanks to my work here, I think I may start taking more chances when it comes to Austin restaurants. I haven’t been to all the places in this magazine yet, but I now have plenty of new restaurants to have on my radar. I hope those of you with high standards like me are able to enjoy new food thanks to Chow Down too.

Lydia Benson

Hello, my name is Lydia Benson and I am a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin, Texas. Outside of LASA, I spend my time drawing, playing video games with my friends, and walking my do. I was especially interested in local restaurants such as Taco Shack that had been in my life for as long as I can remember, but wanted to learn more about how they got to where they were. Working with the other members has provided me with countless recommendations for new restaurants to try and insight to some of my favorite restaurants.

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P a n c a k e s

By Lydia Benson

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Photo credits: Kerbey Lane on Facebook

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so start your day off right with this delicious recipe!

Ingredients: • 1 cup of Kerbey Lane Cafe Buttermilk Pancake mix • 1 egg • 2/3 cups of water • 2 tbsp of vegetable oil (optional)

Preperation: 1. Heat pan to about 400° over a stove 2. Mix Kerbey Lane pancake mix, water, egg, and oil with a wire whisk. Mix until smooth and lump-free

3. Pour 1/4 of the batter into the pan 4. Cook for about two minutes, then flip and cook another two

5. Repeat steps 3-4 until the batter is gone 6. Enjoy!

Tip: Use a non-stick pan or grease pan with butter before cooking!

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AWe-stin

Restaurants

An inside look at iconic Austin restaurants

By Lydia Benson, April 3, 2018

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View of Downtown Austin Photo Credits to Pexels

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Yoli Arriaga, owner and operator of Taco Shack Photo Credits to Lydia Benson

In Austin, a wide variety of restaurants are able to suit the needs of locals while attracting tourists to many different options of food. Despite Austin’s weird culture, there are tamer restaurants that provide a much-needed break from the zanier restaurants, without losing taste or the desired local vibe.

Taco Shack specializes in traditional Tex-Mex food that takes a different approach to their food than larger Austin chains. Taco Shack has a unique way of giving back to two local high schools through the Taco Shack Bowl. Mozart’s is a cafe that goes the extra step to bringing people comfort, as on the weekends, many people go to grab a quick bite while listening to live local music at this cafe’s stage.

During the holidays, people can catch their Winter

“Every business owner desires the best outcome for guests and employees”

- Stacey Leonard Light show, made up of over one million LED lights.

P. Terry’s is Austin’s homegrown fast-food burger restaurant, which despite being rather young at the age of 13 years, has quickly become a prominent burger place for locals and tourists alike.

These iconic restaurants know that good food does not mean everything: one must also appeal to the diverse crowd Austin holds and cater to every single person with poise and a welcoming environment.

Stacey Leonard, partner at Mozart’s Coffee Roasters Photo credit to Molly Benson

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“Paying attention to details is key to ensuring you are able to consistently deliver on your expectations,” said Stacey Leonard, partner at Mozart’s..

Taco Shack front on Lamar Photo credit to Lydia Benson Middle Photo: Taco Shack sign on Lamar Photo credit to Lydia Benson

“It’s very straight up, simple, traditional tex-mex. Some people just like simple.”

- Yoli Arriaga

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Similarly, Taco Shack Owner and Operator Yoli Arriaga knows that the customer is the utmost priority. “Some of it is from trying to keep your customers happy and keep them coming back,” Arriaga said.

With P. Terry’s being one of Austin’s top fast food burger restaurants, it has done its best to keep on top of its high demand while being honest with quality ingredients.

“We’ve been able to share more with the community while keeping things fresh, affordable, and prepared to order,” said Community Relations Manager Reagon Tankersley.

For the past 25 years on Thursday through Sunday nights, Mozart’s has supplied a stage for bands to perform for Austinites and tourists alike.

“We have several SXSW performances each year as well as benefits for local charities,” Mozart’s Partner Stacey Leonard said.

Not only does Mozart’s provide live music, during the winter, the cafe sets up an extravagant light show that is its gift for Austin. The light show lasts from November 17 through January 1. Families coming in for the holidays can grab a cup of cocoa and view this

While these restaurants provide delicious food, what makes them truly iconic is how they go above and beyond for the Austin community.

Taco Shack is the sponsor of the annual Taco Shack Bowl, a football game between the two high school rivals: Anderson and McCallum.

According to Arriaga, “the kids have loved doing the Taco Shack Bowl; it brings them together.”

“We genuinely work hard to create and constantly evaluate an environment and culture that is emblematic of all the great things we appreciate here in Austin,” said Leonard.

P. Terry’s was once voted the #1 top-quality fast-food in Austin, and has become somewhere many tourists pop into for a quick bite. Due to P. Terry’s popularity, it is also expected to see the restaurant at Austin City Limits Music Festival or SXSW. P. Terry’s has evolved throughout the past 13 years to become more prominent and diversified in its food.

“seeking improvement is a part of our culture, at every level of our business”

On top of that, Taco Shack donates $3,000 to each school in order to help fund education.

The Taco Shack Bowl has attracted a lot of attention. In fact, “there’s been a documentary being done on the Taco Shack Bowl. The crew followed us for the past two years, and it got picked up by KXAN… It’s about the life of Taco Shack and the Anderson kids and the McCallum kids, and what they go through for the preparations of the bowl,” said Arriaga.

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“We take great pride in our ability to appreciate that our guests come to Mozart’s to enjoy the environment and little touches like free wifi, all day coffee, music,” said Leonard.

-Reagan Tankersley highlight of Austin culture.

“It has been a joy to see the many smiles that have made the Mozart’s Light show a Christmas Tradition in Austin,” Leonard said.

Of course, like other cafes, Mozart’s is a great place to quietly work on whatever is needed in a calm environment while enjoying a cafe style food or drink.

“When we first opened back in 2005, we didn’t have a breakfast menu, bacon for our burgers, or even our own veggie burger recipe,” said Tankersley.

Even with all the upgrades to the menu, Tankersley said that the real reason P. Terry’s is unique is that, “no one else serves the quality that we do at our menu price.”

Taco Shack, Mozart’s Coffee Roasters & Bakery, and P. Terry’s have become recognized restaurants for Austin culture by not only providing delicious food, but also give back to Austin through their own helpful yet different ways.

Due to these three restaurants going above and beyond for their community, they have truly become iconic Austin restaurants.

P. Terry’s Burgers

Mozart’s Coffee and Roasters

Taco Shack View of Downtown Austin Photo Credits to Pexels

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8 Ways to

Cook An Egg

By Ella Glasscock

There’s over fifty ways to cook an egg, fifty-two exactly. The most experienced chefs have fifty-two folds in their chef’s hat, representing their experience in the industry. Here’s eight folds for yours!

Sunny-Side Up

Butter the pan and turn on low heat. Once the butter melts, pour the egg into the pan.. Tilt pan to spead excess butter onto the edges so the egg whites cook evenly.

Serve with salt and pepper.

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Over-Easy

Over-easy follows the same instruction as sunny-side up except the egg is flipped with a spatchula once the edges are cooked even. You decide how long your yolk is cooked! (Runny versus firm)

Poached

The recipe for poached eggs is complicated, but the finished result resembles a 3-D over-easy egg that oozes with warm yolk when punctured.

Deviled

Follow the hard-boiled recipe. Slice eggs in half and remove yolks. Mash up the yolks and add mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper. Evenly spread the yolk mixture among the egg whites.

Omelette

Follow soft-scrambled recipe except do not scramble eggs. Let cook in pan until solid, ensuring that all the eggs get cooked using the spatchula. Sprinkle in cheese, salt, and pepper. Fold egg in half over the cheese.

Hard-Boiled

Boil water in a pot. Set egg in the pot gently with the shell on. Let it harden in the pot for 3-10 minutes, depending on your preferance.

Soft-Scrambled

Let butter melt in a pan while whisking eggs in a bowl until the yolks and whites are completely mixed. Mix in salt, pepper, and a tablespoon of milk. Cook eggs for 1015 minutes, then stir slowly until the egs become mostly solid.

Baked Egg

Heat oven to 350 degree. Crack eggs in greased muffin tin pan. Add salt and pepper. Bake for 17 minutes.

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Food on Wheels By: Jarai jabbi The idea of food trucks was first launched in 1691 when street vendors began selling foods on the streets of New York according to the mobile cuisine website. This led to food wagons feeding train passengers and it evolved from there.

Austin has a culture of eccentric and diverse experiences ranging from ACL to the country’s most iconic food trucks. In fact, Austin has the second most food trucks per capita in the nation.

Authentic food trucks with high demand can be on every corner throughout Austin.

Melted Food truck and ChurroCo are two local Austin food trucks who started for a cause but turned into something more.

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The food truck, Melted was created and launched

by Anna Hutton who was inspired by her trip to Haiti. Hutton and her family went to Haiti to teach English at a school in Monte Cristi. Her family also spent a day in Dajabon on the border of Haiti.

During their time there, Haiti was still recovering from their 2010 earthquake, and there were many organizations that were donating to help the process of their recovery. Haitians receive these donated items and bartered them. They ranged anywhere from canned food, water, and items of clothing.

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Metted Truck and some of the menu items.

Credit: Jarai Jabbi

“Every Saturday the people from both the countries come to this town and they buy and sell things,” said Hutton.

Hutton noticed that many of the donations consisted of clothing such as t-shirts, but what the citizens needed most was food and protection, as most of them were living under extreme conditions.

This grilled cheese is called the Grilled Mac. Made with mac an cheese and applewood smoked bacon.

“I realized later that these t-shirts were donations to Haiti after the Earthquake, and I couldn’t really put two and two together,” said Hutton.

Hutton became interested in global poverty and began researching organizations and possible solutions. Her concern with the Haitian donations

“Of course they wanted to help people but they probably weren’t thinking in the right way to actually give them what they needed.”

-Anna Hutton inspired her interest in global poverty.

“I was really confused because it was sort of this like trading center of all of these sort of impoverished things that they need to survive, but I was wondering how people had so many t-shirts,” said Hutton.

“I sort of started looking up modern day charity and organizations to sort of figure out how they were working and I realized that a lot of them don’t actually solve problems in a sustainable way,” said Hutton.

This item is called the Classic. It’s madewith Melted’s signiture’s cheese blend.

Credit: Jarai Jabbi

When she realized that many charities weren’t donating the necessary items, she became more passionate towards the subject.

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“We put a lot of love into our product.”

- DAVID MARtinez “Of course they wanted to help people but they probably were not thinking in the right way to actually give them what they needed,” said Hutton.

She then came across an organization called the International Justice Commission. They work to provide protection for third world countries with the hope that they can be lifted out of poverty.

Hutton decided that she did not only want to donate to IJM, but support them long term.

Thus, she created Melted Food Truck in Austin, donating 100% of their profits to IJM. The truck serves different types of grilled cheese sandwiches as well as tatertots and mac and cheese.

“I always had grilled cheese as a child and I feel like a lot of people grew up with grilled cheese, and it’s something that’s familiar and that can sort of take you back to your childhood. We wanted to stick with stuff that people were familiar with, but then sort of throw a little bit of a twist,” said Hutton.

Melted hope to continue selling from their truck and later possibly opening a bigger place.

“We could either open a brick and mortar, a restaurant, or get more trucks and expand to different parts of Austin just so that we can just sort of get that volume,” said Hutton.

Hutton hopes to continue supporting IJM and go even further than that.

“I’m hoping that in the future I could potentially work for them and I’m really interested,” said Hutton.

Hutton’s ambition to reduce global poverty has pushed her to go above and beyond.

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“I really want to do research on this topic, particularly in Africa,” said Hutton. Her ambitions led her to open one of the most charitable food trucks in Austin.

ChurroCo, another food truck, is also a favorite among Austinites. Most days they will sell out of churros before the normal closing time. They often sell out of churros very quickly.

“We are from Mexico and missed this type of pastry,” said co-owner David Martinez.

New things are often inspired by new ideas or change and the owners of ChurroCo went through this same thing.

“We were craving churros and realized that there wasn’t a good place for churros in Austin,” said Martinez.

It takes dedication and a lot of effort to start a business and keep its standards high like ChurroCo. “Many, many hours invested in planning everything out and executing into fruition,” said Martinez.

Food trucks give a sense of community and togetherness. Because the culture of Austin is strongly influenced by community, food trucks are in high demand. ChurroCo knows this about Austin, and strives to make the best of their product according to Martinez.

“We put a lot of love into our product.”

Like any food truck, ChurroCo is hoping to expand their horizons soon to popularize themselves.

“We hope to open a second food truck by the end of the year, and then we’ll start considering expansion to a place of our own,” said Martinez With regards to their rising popularity, ChurroCo was featured in a Rachel Ray magazine.

“That was a huge deal for us. We were starstruck and humbled to even be considered to appear in this magazine,” said Martinez.

Both Melted Food Truck and ChurroCo are perfect examples of how goals can become a reality. Hutton and Martinez have accomplished personal goals through making food they love.

ChurroCo’s truck and top menu items Credit: Jarai Jabbi

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Avocado Toast Recipes

Here are the three most popular avocado toast recipes. Find out how to make a variety of mouth-watering toasts to go with your avocado.

by Jarai Jabbi

The Classic

The Californian

1. One avocado 2. Salt 3. Pepper 4. Bread of your choice

1. One avocado 2. One tomato 3. Cheddar cheese 4. Salt 5. Pepper 6. Bread of your choice

Ingredients:

Preparation:

1. Toast two slices of your bread 2. Peel the avocado 3. Soften the avocado with a fork 4. Add salt and pepper to the mixture 5. Apply mixture to toast 6. Sprinkle more pepper

Ingredients:

Preparation:

1. Repeat steps 1-4 of The Classic 2. Cut up preferred slices of tomato and place on toast 3. Sprinke on preferred amount of cheddar 4. Put in the oven until cheese melts

The Egg-stroardinaire Ingredients:

1. One avocado 2. Two eggs 3. Red pepper flakes 4. Salt 5. Pepper 6. Bread of your choice

Preparation:

1. Repeat steps 1-4 of The Classic 2. Bake two eggs seperately 3. Place one egg on each piece of toast 4. Sprinke on some red pepper flakes

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Photo By: simplegreenmoms.com/skinny-fried-egg-avocado-toast/ - Cherries were edited out

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Odd, But Honest Keeping the Austin food scene weird since 2011.

By Ella Glasscock

Austin has the second largest restaurant industry in Texas, raking in over $2 billion in restaurant sales as of 2013.

Local restaurant owners and ice cream shop owners have grown their establishments in the perfect conditions. They have quirky, fun, and innovative menus, coupled with their similar brainstorming techniques and collaboration with local farmers.

The Austin food scene is recognized internationally for over 3,000 restaurants. Partner at local restaurant Odd Duck, Jason James, and co-founder of LICK Honest Ice Creams, Anthony Sobotik, describe their farm to table approach with their respective establishments.

Within mere minutes from each other, Odd Duck and LICK are two prominent examples of foodlovers alike coming together with local farmers to create innovative dishes and ice creams for all to enjoy.

“We opened with the idea of serving small shareable plates sourced 100% from local farmers,” said James. “We focused on all aspects of our restaurant following

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“We opened with the idea of serving small shareable plates sourced 100% from local farmers”

-Jason James

this ethic and in turn have found ourselves supporting over 60 local farmers and ranchers along with many local breweries, wineries, and distilleries.”

James, along with co-founder Bryce Gilmore and team, opened the Odd Duck restaurant on South Lamar after its initial success as a food truck in 2011. Their menu has many creative pairings, unique to any other restaurant, all despite their philosophy of sticking to only local ingredients and local farmers.

James said that the goal of Odd Duck is to create a space for everyone to come, gather around the table, forget about the day, and enjoy great food, drink, and hospitality.

Odd Duck is located in the heart of Austin food culture; South Lamar. It has wall-length windows wrapping around the entirety of the rectangular building, with vines flowering down the white rails lining the perimeter. Inside, one can see anywhere from two to 10 people in one sitting, enjoying meals such as the redfish ceviche with tiger’s milk, beet, grilled olive, and sweet potato curry, all while relaxing in a farmhouse style dining. Although a different setting, LICK had similar ideas for their ice cream shop.

“The vision behind LICK came from me wanting to really celebrate the different flavors, the culture, the seasons, and just the ingredients of Texas that I grew up eating,” Sobotik, co-founder of LICK Honest Ice Creams said.

Located right across the street from Odd Duck, LICK Honest Ice Creams was opened in 2011 by Sobotik and his partner Chad Palmatier. Sobotik said that the best part of his experience at LICK is all the collaboration that keeps it up and running.

Credits to Richard Casteel. A woman serves drinks to local diners inside Odd Duck.

Credits to Richard Casteel. Odd Duck, located on South Lamar in Austin, Texas.

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Credits to Anthony Sobotik. LICK Honest Ice Cream Lamar Union Location.

Credits to Anthony Sobotik. Pink Peppercorn Lemon Twist Ice Cream.

Credits to Anthony Sobotik. Anthony Sobotik (left) and Chad Palmatier (Right).

“You get to create your own flavor profile within the flavors we’ve created”

-Anthony Sobotik 26

“We get to work with all these amazing farmers, we get to work internally with each other, and we get to really play around with a lot of different ingredients and profiles that we always wanted to see in ice cream,” Sobotik said.

Like Odd Duck, LICK uses all local ingredients, hence why they decided to call it LICK “honest” ice creams, due to the freshness and authenticity of the ingredients.

This is similar to Odd Duck’s philosophy and creation of their own menu.

“The menu is really dictated by our farmers and ranchers and the accessibility of product they have for us,” said James. “Everyone weighs in during this process and we end up with fun, innovative dishes that the whole team can get behind.”

There is a parallel between Odd Duck’s brainstorming process as well as LICK’s, allowing for complete creative freedom when coming up with new dishes and ice-creams.

“The first flavor that I came up

with was the cilantro lime, just ‘cause I love cilantro, I love lime; it’s the flavors that I grew up with,” Sobotik said.

The Cilantro Lime is only one of the over-twenty unique flavors at LICK. Among them include Roasted Beets and Fresh Mint, Ruby Red Coconut, and Vegan Chocolate Chocolate.

“You get to kind of create your own flavor profile within the flavors we’ve created,” said Sobotik.

One of the ice cream flavors is even called Texas Sheet Cake, representing one of the traditional flavors that Sobotik grew up with.

“We come up with the flavors specifically by looking, ok, what’s in season, and what do we associate flavor wise for this season?” Sobotik said, “So if its the spring: What memories do we all have from the spring? What deserts do we remember eating during that time of year?”

This process helps them to “really come up with I think some really unique flavors that we’re really proud of,” Sobotik said.

Credits to Anthony Sobotik.

Cilantro Lime, the first flavor LICK came up with.

Credits to Anthony Sobotik. Tres Leches Ice Cream, a flavor from the Spring 2018 Seasonal Menu.

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Credits to Richard Casteel. A display of a shared meal at Odd Duck.

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Though there are moments of pride, both restaurants have challenges to overcome.

when they began to take off.

“Finding a way to cater to the individual and showing each guest and table a great time is tough, but with our amazing team, we are able to pull it off,” James said.

“We opened in October in 2011, so that first January-February. It was a really cold winter and we had only been open two and a half months before that January. We didn’t know how cold it would be and how slow it would be,” Sobotik said.

LICK wasn’t always as successful either; in fact, it wasn’t until about six months after their opening

Though there were challenges, the main goal of each restaurant will never be forgotten.

“We are a place to share food, drink, and hospitality shaped by our craftsman’s approach to cooking, the culture of our city, the creativity of our staff, and the products of our amazing farmers!” according to James.

Austin’s ever-growing food community is a perfect incubator for both of these restaurants. In the years to come, more of these quirky and fun restaurants should be expected to follow.

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Baked, Not Faked Out of all of the baked goods in the world, how are you supposed to chose what to eat? But don’t worry, we have collected six perfect options for you to choose from.

By Hootie Judd Kolache

A is something you can get at Quack’s, but it usually sells out in the morning. A kolache can have many things inside it, but the standard kolache has a sausage, and it is always wrapped in delicious bread.

A

Bagel

is like a savory doughnut, and is another thing Quack’s sells. It tastes similar to bread and is quite dense.

Occasionally, people cut a bagel in half and spread something like cream cheese or jam in between the two halves like a sandwhich.

Quiche

A is a baked savory food somewhat similar to a pie, in a way, and every now and then you’ll be able to catch Quack’s selling some slices.

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Cookie

A is a normally roundshaped sweet treat and titular dessert of Cookie Peace, where you can order delicious cookies online.

A

Macaron is a French pastry you can

order from Cookie Peace. Macaroons are made of two fluffy meringuelike cookies sandwiching a delicious cream, salted cramel, or the likes.

Cake is a fluffy dessert Bake Austin is known

for. While Bake Austin is known for their Sweedish Princess Cake, Quack’s has all shapes, sizes, and flavours of delicious moist cakes. Cakes are normally sweet, and are coated with icing or fondant, sometimes a ganache or whipped cream can be used on a cake as well.

Photo from Pexels.

Editor’s Corner

Photo taken by: Hootie Judd

Our advice is to get cake from Quack’s.

Quack’s has many different flavours of Quack’s, ranging from normal chocolate to a rasberry flavour or even peppermint during the winter seasons.

Peanut Butter Fudge Cake bought at Quack’s Bakery.

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HardTo Beat

Treats

Bakeries are filled with delicious treats, but they aren’t a piece of cake to keep afloat. From managing economics and hidden costs, keeping the treats interesting and the customers happy, owning a bakery is harder than it looks.

By: Hootie Judd April 2nd, 2018 Baked goods have been around for thousands of years, the first version of bread being thought to have been created as long as 30,000 years ago. The practice of baking has persisted and become more refined through all of those years, only gaining popularity as people began to open bakery stores for people to come in and purchase the treats. However, even if the main attraction of a bakery is the baked goods, the owners of these bakeries will all tell you that owning an establishment is a lot more than putting a mixture of flour, sugar, and eggs into an oven and onto the shelves to be sold.

All that is shown in a bakery is the hot pastries coming right out of the oven as they place their order, but a bakery is much more than that, and not all bakeries even have a classic walk-in store. Bakery

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owners have to fight to stay current within the everchanging community of Austin, as well as managing the economics of owning a business while keeping their employees happy and paid.

Like owning any other business, bakeries have hidden costs around every turn, and the toll this can take on the owners is monumental. Reinhard Halterman, master baker and owner of New World Bakery, Tracey Cole, baker and owner of Cookie Peace, Aaron Frausto, the right hand to the chief operating officer at Quack’s Bakery, and Chef Pascal Simon, owner of Bake Austin are only a few bakery owners who have managed to survive the owning of a bakery. Halterman said that some of the main problems he is commonly having to worry about include the changing raw material prices, bills for

for deliveries, and replacing broken tools. With all the work that goes into keeping a bakery afloat, it takes nearly all of the owner’s time, especially in the start when the business is still small and helpers are few.

“I worried about the transportation on gas specifically,” said Tracey Cole, baker and owner of Cookie Peace. “I just wanted to keep my orbit small and, by keeping my orbit small, keep prices down and continue to maintain my business kind of being in Hyde Park, in that kind of community.”

Location can have a strong effect on the business and the owner behind it.

Different locations can have different rent prices or clientele, factors which can make-or-break a bakery.

“I call the bakery a big black hole where all the money always goes there because there’s always something to break.”

“As we started expanding, doing baking, rent on the Drag just skyrocketed, and kind of forced us out of that spot, and that was where we had been from ‘83 to ‘97 and it just got too pricey,” said Aaron Frausto, the right hand to the chief operating officer at Quack’s Bakery.”

Reinhard Haltermann

The Drag is a part of Guadalupe in the University of Texas at Austin, which quickly gained popularity during the late 1990s and early 2000s, causing rent to go up and Quack’s to be pushed out. Quack’s has a bricks-and-mortar bakery for anyone to walk in and get food, but Tracey Cole from Cookie Peace does not do that: Cole has orders come in from her website and while she does rent an industrial kitchen, orders occasionally come out from the baking she does in her own kitchen.

“I am a far better human being because I live in Hyde Park, Austin, Texas,” said Cole. “I feel like in this neighborhood, the citizens are really committed to taking care of each other in the environment. It sounds kind of corny, but I really like the human race, I mean they’re really caring, compassionate people.”

Many bakery owners have non-American heritages, and that heritage can affect their baking career. Tracey Cole is from Italy, and both Chef Pascal Simon, owner of Bake Austin, and Reinhard Haltermann come from Germany. For some, like Haltermann, heritage is no more than where they grew up, but in the cases of Cole and Simon, their heritage is one of the driving factors in their opening of a bakery.

According to Simon, her upbringing in Germany influenced her baking style considerably.

Quack’s is known for their seasonal decorated cookies Photo by Hootie Judd.

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A worker in Quacks making Pumpkin Bread to be sold in the bakery later on in the day.

Photo taken by Hootie Judd.

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“I’m a total snob when it comes to baking because of my heritage,” said Simon. “The Germans have a pride in baking. We love our bread and our pretzels and our cakes. We love things like marzipan. My grandmother was an avid baker and my cousin also, she was a cake decorator. So I was influenced by that as a child.”

Blonde Brownies made by Tracey Cole. Photo taken by Hootie Judd.

According to Cole, instead, she was influenced by the community behind the food.

“My grandmother, who primarily raised me, is Italian,” said Cole. “I’m first generation, my grandma, grandpa, and my mom and I lived with my grandparents, and no matter how hard my grandmother worked as a seamstress and my grandfather worked in the city, she would still come home and make a wonderful dinner and there would normally be dessert cookies.”

There are countless reasons for someone to start a bakery, and not all of them are based on heritage.

Both Haltermann and Simon opened their bakery to teach.

“I wanted to teach young kids, how to bake, the trait,” Haltermann said. “That was the reason I made my master’s degree in Germany, without a master degree in Germany, you’re not allowed to teach. A lot of kids were abused on the job site for being pretty much a dishwasher for three years throughout their apprenticeship. And my goal was for my master degree and I’d be able to teach on the job, but I wouldn’t let these kids just go and do the dishwasher with a handy work, the cheap labor, and really teach them something.”

Circumstances change from person to person, so

while teaching didn’t work out for Haltermann, Simon was able to build her business around it.

“I was a stay at home mom for 11 years, and then when I went through a divorce, I had to come up with a job that I could do,” Simon said. “So I thought about what I love to do, which was baking, and working with young people. And teaching, and being creative. And when I put all that together, that’s how Bake Austin was created because it was all that, working with people, community, teaching, being creative, baking, and being able to be at home for my children when they come home from school.”

Even though owning a bakery has brought joy to these bakers now, in the beginning it was not so easy. Haltermann spoke about the 16 to 20 hour workdays that would plague his week. Even after the beginning struggle was over, issues remained and caused the bakers to question why they chose to open their bakery.

“There’s been moments like that, especially when a class doesn’t fill or, or I have to do my taxes.” Simon said. “When you’re running a business, there’s a lot of things that people who hold jobs where they’re employed don’t have to think about. I have to do my own website, I have to get people to come into Bake Austin, to take classes. I have to do all my bookkeeping. I have to do all my cleaning. I have to do everything. I have a million hats that I’m wearing and sometimes it does get really overwhelming and scary.”

Although the hardships may cause the bakers to think about moving back into the normal work force, the rewards of owning their own business

Caramel-filled macarons made by Tracey Cole in her home kitchen.

Photo taken by Hootie Judd.

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Pascal Simon’s bakery room used for baking camps throughout the year. Photo taken by Hootie Judd.

make up for the costs. “[I love] the freedom, the freedom of going to work whenever I please to, or not,” said Haltermann.

While the freedom is a beloved part of owning a business, for Simon, it’s about the people who she works with.

“I get to be around a whole lot of amazing young people that I get to see how they grow up,” Simon said. “Having the courage to do it, and doing it even sometimes despite my fear.”

While it’s a bumpy road to opening a bakery, whatever type it is, from a physical store like Quack’s, a distribution business like New World Bakery, or baking camps like Bake Austin, it’s all worth it in the end.

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“I’ve never run a business before, and so this is my first real business that I’ve run. It gets tough at times and then I look at why I’m doing it and that is to bring people together, and to empower children and, and it’s all worth it in the end.”

Pascal Simon

A black and white image of Reinhard Haltermann working in the earlier days of New World Bakery.

Photo taken by Pro Industry’s Seth Leo.

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Quack’s

Cookie Peace

Bake Austin

New World Bakery

Tac o S hac k

Mozart’s

411 E 43rd St, Austin, TX 78751 (512) 453-3399

310 Edwards Dr, Kyle, TX 78640 (512) 268-3885

http://cookiepeace.com/

4002 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, TX (512) 467-8533

https://www.bakeaustin.com/ bakeaustin@gmail.com

3825 Lake Austin Blvd (512) 477-2900

Thank you to all t participating 38

P.Terry’s

M e lt e d

ChurroCo.

Odd Duck

LICK

Kerbey Lane

3303 N Lamar Blvd 512-371-9975

1201 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704 (512) 433-6521

http://www.meltedtruck.com/ (512) 720-9327

1100 S Lamar Blvd #1135, Austin, TX 78704 (512) 363-5622

1906 South 1st Street., Austin, TX 78704 (512) 905-5267

https://kerbeylanecafe.com/

the establishments in CHOW DOWN 39

Ciao