Feature

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To Eat or Not to Eat

eature

Trailblazer of the Tribe

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The Chocolate Man Can Whitmire Wants No food for you!

December 2011

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To Our Beloved Readers...

Feature is for people who are interested in local food and fashion in Austin, Texas.

You will see great pictures that show fashionable clothing and the best restaurant in Austin.

Our goal is to keep readers informed about different types of clothing and food places that are highly recommended.

“There is no love sincerer than the love of food� ~George Bernard Shaw

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“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.� ~Coco Chanel

We hope you enjoy reading our magazine and be informed about new trends in fashion and food.

Love,

The Feature Team

Art by Alexis Andraca

December 2011

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e Foodies h t et

Me

Sydney

Emma

Art by Lisa Allen Art by Riley Anne Syzdek

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i, my name is Emma and I am definitely a foodie in this group of fashionistas.

Being the only girl not from Texas, doing a magazine all about Austin, you think it would be hard for me, but it really wasn’t.

My absolute favorite thing to do is dance! I am a First Lady and love my ballet/ Pointe classes. My favorite restaurants (that you should try) are Mighty Fine, Lupe Tortilla and Papasito’s. On the outside, I may look like a true girl who hates football, which is such a lie. I absolutely love FOOTBALL. My favorite teams are the Texas Longhorns and the Arizona Wildcats. In addition, I LOVE Jordan Shipley and Nick Foles. So hook’em and enjoy our magazine!

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ey, there. The name’s Sydney. I love food, fashion, Austin, and music. I went to Kealing Middle school, as did more than half of LASA. I enjoy long walks on the beach, marching band, and dying my hair.

I have a weird obsession with The Office and I make references to it in conversation and laugh even if other people don’t get it.

I have a deep hate/love relationship. With shopping. My favorite stores are Forever 21 and Strut. I am definitely a stress eater.

Therefore, I make many trips to my preferred restaurants like Mighty Cone and Austin’s Pizza. I travel, and say “cool beans,” but the best food in the entire world is right here in Austin. And in Greece.

& Fashionistas Lisa

Anna

Art by Sydney Robinson

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i there, I am Lisa Allen. I am from Austin, Texas and I have never left the state. I love music, food, and fashion!

My favorite artists to listen to are Chris Brown and Tyga. They inspire me to be successful in life. I enjoy singing and dancing as well. I also love food so much because I like to eat all the time. If you ever see me, you may see me eating some kind of fatty food. The one thing I absolutely love is fashion! I love it because it is a way for me to express myself through my style. It is something that no one can take away from me. This magazine has helped me go deeper into my love for fashion and food and it has been fun!

Art by Sydney Robinson

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i my name is Anna. I am a ginger. Well I’m not a straight up ginger, but I have semi-red hair and lots of freckles, so I guess that counts. I enjoy sleeping, eating and shopping. I am a Texan, born and raised in Austin, Texas. But the Pittsburgh Steelers are my favorite football team. Keep your Cowboys, the Steelers is where it’s at! Like I said, I love to shop. Anytime I feel stressed or overwhelmed, shopping helps me relax! My favorite shops around Austin are Savers, Goodwill, Second Time Around Boutique and A-Town. My favorite restaurants around town are Banzai, Brick oven, Manuel’s, Zocalo, Chuy’s, and Thundercloud Subs. My perfect day would be a saturday in October when it is cold but not too cold with the sun shining, where I would have breakfast tacos at Mi Victoria Mexican Bakery, then go shopping all over town, do a little homework, go have dinner at Banzai,

then finally come home, watch a movie on netflix and hit the hay. That would be my perfect day!

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Cover Art by Alisa Hernandez

December 2011

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Whitmire Wants No Food for You!

The Last Death Row Meal Served and the Controversy that Comes with it.

By Emma Varela

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n September 22, 2011, in Houston, Lawrence Brewer was put to death for crimes of murder. For his last meal the Stand Down Texas Project says Brewer ordered, “Two chicken-fried steaks with gravy and sliced onions; a triple-patty bacon cheeseburger; a cheese omelet with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and jalapenos; a bowl of fried okra with ketchup; one pound of barbecued meat with half a loaf of white bread, three fajitas; a meat-lover’s pizza; one pint of Blue Bell Ice Cream; a slab of peanut-butter fudge with crushed peanuts; and three root beers.” Brewer did not eat a single bite of his $75 dollar meal from Hill’s Café.

Brewer enraged Senator John Whitmire by not touching his expensive last meal. Whitmire sent a letter to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice stating that they should use some good judgment and take away the last meal law.

The last meal should not be taken away from death row

8 December 2011

inmates; it is the only thing they are looking forward to in the end of their life.

In his statement to the TDCJ, Whitmire said, “It is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege one which the perpetrator did not provide to their victim.” Even though Whitmire has a point this law needs to brought back to death row inmates.

What Whitmire did was not “They will receive the same meal served to other offenders in the prison,” said Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. This change in the tradition was put into effect immediately.

The last meal is a right to convicted inmates. Some death row inmates choose to give their meal to other prison inmates not on death row or one man even wanted to give his meal to the homeless. One man named Phillip Workman from Tennessee requested instead of a last meal, that they pass out pizza to the homeless. The prison officials

Opinion

denied his request but a local charity group heard of the news and handed out the pizza in his honor. The right of the last meal law, the TDCJ should not take this away because it is an important part of the last moments or days in a person’s life.

Instead of taking away the last meal law for good, we can modify the law so prisoners can order from a specific menu or have a specific price limit. In Florida, the prison system caps the last meal price at forty dollars and Oklahoma caps the meal price off at seventeen dollars. All death row meals are purchased locally, in the state of Florida.

Texas should modify the law so we do not have another seventy-five dollar last meal. In addition, if we change the law to buy locally made food we would be putting money back into the economy, therefore helping local businesses. By changing the last meal law, we can keep the last meal privilege for other death row inmates. If money is an issue for the TDCJ, we can have volunteer chefs who can cook the last meal for the death row inmates. The LA time says, “Former Texas inmate who cooked the socalled last meals for hundreds of death row inmates has offered to donate his services rather than allow condemned prisoners to do without their last meal of choice.” The long time prison cook said the actions taken by the TDCJ was “coldhearted.” Think Christian’s Paul Vander Clay wrote that the prison officials denied his request to cook the last meals and pay for them out of his pocket. The LA Times said, “Texas Depart-

ment of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons called Price’s proposal “a kind offer” that the state did not intend to accept.”In Price’s interview with NPR, he explained how it is in his Christian faith to help the death row inmates and what motivated him to volunteer.

Therefore, the last meal law needs to return for death row inmates with some changes to make it more feasible for the prison department. Texas needs to modify it to a certain menu or put a price cap on the law and say that all death row meals be purchased locally to help the local economy.

In addition, if an inmate’s request is not feasible the prison chef could prepare something close to the inmates’ request.

To get involved you can write to Senator John Whitmire and explain to him why we need to bring back the last meal for death row inmates. You can also stepup, and volunteer to cook last meals for death row inmates just like Brian Price who volunteered to cook the last meals.

Even though the TDCJ denied his request to volunteer, if more of us stepped up and volunteered maybe they would change their mind.

Just because these men and women are convicted criminals, they deserve the right to one final good meal before they take their last breath on death row. If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, wouldn’t you want the same right to a last meal?

“They will receive the same meal served to other offenders in the prison”

Crazy Last Meal Requests • Steven Woods’ request included two pounds of bacon, a large four-meat pizza, four fried chicken breasts, two drinks each of Mountain Dew, Pepsi, root beer and sweet tea, two pints of ice cream, five chicken fried steaks, two hamburgers with bacon, fries and a dozen garlic bread sticks with marinara on the side • James Edward Smith, requested “a lump of dirt.”

• Odell Barnes, requested “justice, equality and world peace.”

• The most popular meal requested by death row inmates is the american classic, the burger • Some of the most common requests include steaks, cheeseburgers and breakfast foods • Some inmates have even declined a final meal • John Wayne Gacy requested fried shrimp, Kentucky Fried Chicken, French fries and a pound of strawberries December 2011

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Grow Nice or Gr�� Home

The benfits of producing and consuming local food

BY Sydney Robinson

i

magine buying all of your fruits and vegetables at WalMart. You have no idea where it came from or how the farmers grew or raised your food.

The stickers may say a little, but we know companies aren’t always truthful. The produce pleases the eye but lacks in flavor and may have stayed in cold storage for weeks before making it to the grocery store shelves. Disease from these foods is not unheard of; in fact, an E coli breakout just hit the news. In 2010, the CDC found infections in five states from one romaine lettuce processor. On the other hand, maybe you don’t bother with perishable foods. Maybe you get all the nutrients you need from canned peaches and microwave macaroni. My guess is you drive by a farmer’s market every Wednesday and think, “Those hippies. They just need attention for some cause.” However, I think your body disagrees. Consuming local and sustainable food create benefits for your health, the environment, and the economy.

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Shopping locally helps households provide better nutrition and health from your veggies. You can also help prevent the spread of diseases.

When a diseased animal is shipped, and grown unlocally, the animal will need antibiotics, which can get into your food. Food from large corporations can be infested with unwanted organisms and diseases.

According to the New York Times, in 2008 The Peanut Corporation of America recalled peanut products from as far as January 1st of 2007 because 500 people became ill and 8 died of salmonella poisoning. This occurred in 43 states.

It would not have spread as wide, or probably occurred, if they operated locally.

Pesticides and E. coli breakouts become reduced by local growing because the farmers are not anonymous and tend to be more accountable. Local farmers have built their careers around bringing you the best quality

produce.

By consuming from big chain stores, you encourage environmentally unfriendly and unhealthy practices in growing and distribution. Yes, food grown locally is more expensive. Nevertheless, in the long haul, you have the potential to be much healthier.

You have a reduced risk of disease in your food, and you get many more nutrients to keep up your general health.

Produce at grocery stores has travelled for over 1,000 miles and must endure picking while unripe.

For example, your beautiful tomatoes were harvested from the plant when they were green and hard. According to Greenling,the first local grocery delivery service in Central Texas, fruits and vegetables get most of their nutrition while they ripen on the vine. Local produce is left to mature because the products never need to travel more than 100 miles.

Food writer Michael Pollan said, “You are what you eat eats.”

Growing locally does its part to save the environment.

Carrying Capacity Network says by shipping food to you, we consume 400 gallons of oil per year per person.

Organic, but nonlocal

“Shake the hand that feeds you” - Michael Pollan

food, still has to travel thousands of miles to grocery stores. The farthest local food will ever travel is 100 miles.

By growing locally, you improve the air quality around you and enrich the soil. From local foods, you get variety in your food. Major mass production companies use genetic modification, which can lead to virus genes among your genes and poisoning. Scientists are not always truthful about GMO (genetically modified) foods.

Food grown and consumed locally helps to diversify and strengthen the local economy. Local and sustainable foods do tend to be more expensive. Maybe

you do not care about saving the environment. However, you get an overall better quality of food and a chance to be involved in your community. Shopping local helps to keep money with local farms and away from big chain stores. With more money in the local economy, you can create a better city to live in.

A good rule to follow is “Shake the hand that feeds you.” -Michael Pollan. You can do your part to help. Expand your shopping trip to a farmer’s market or reduce your shopping by starting your own garden. You can do your part in helping the environment by simply making the local move. Be involved in your community and make a choice to a better standard of eating.

Art by John Robinson

Opposite page: Left: Local farmers selling their greens Right: Austin downtown Farmer’s market This page: Top: Eggplants and peppers Left: Squash Right: Booths that sell tamales, fruit pops, and silk screen shirts

December 2011

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Art by Lisa Allen and Sydney Robinson

This picture has a model on the left side and a buger and shake on the right.

To Eat Or Not To Eat Role Model Or Don’t Model At All

BY Lisa Allen

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he crowd cheered for the beautiful women that walked the catwalk. Her skin was as smooth as silk, her green eyes and gold blond hair lite up the runway when she was seen in the dark. She looked absolutely magnificent and happy. When the lights were switched on however, everyone could see how badly this model suffered from un-

12 December 2011

healthy habits. Many people think thin fashion models have a negative impact on the body image of all women, and especially young girls. Fashion industry is the cause for many of society’s weight problems and eating disorders. Many individuals in the world do not have the ideal body type. This makes people think that this is the perfect figure and everyone should try

to look exactly like it. Some types of advertisements have a huge impact on the youth because many of them appear in youth magazines.

The fashion industry does not appreciate individuality and difference in size. The body of each individual is a very valuable thing and it is not fair for a person to flip through a magazine or watch a commercial that promotes

this type or that type as beautiful.

There should be variations of bodies seen because if we look around, that is the real world. We should examine what extremes, such as the use of drugs and diet pills models, as well as women and girls are willing to go to achieve this image at the cost of putting their lives in danger. If our world learns to view thin people as unhealthy, standards of beauty may change and attitudes about body image sorts and acceptance of all body types may occur.

I n the Signal, it talks about how Whitney Thompson, a plus sized model who won America’s Next Top Model. She shared modeling experiences on how it felt when she won the show. She also told the positive and negative things about modeling.

The negative outweighed the good because she even quit modeling for some time. She was involved in the boycotting of companies who used unhealthy models to promote their products. Whitney had a message to give when she won America’s Next

Top Model and it gave her motivation.

This is a great insider’s perspective on negative female body image in the modeling industry that actually experienced this and the truth about modeling. Unhealthy body types in the fashion industry may cause insecurity and unhealthy habits in models. Modeling agencies may say that having skinny models as women that represent their clothes improves their wealth and fashion line.

The BMI for most models is 17.5, when a healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 23. We should all recognize what this is doing to models and young women as well.

According to expert quotes on skinny models, fashion guidelines, anorexia, and body image, all say measures need to be taken to help prevent models from putting their lives in danger. The modeling industry needs to understand that and stop setting such high standards for models. Young girls that see these outrageously skinny models may become

“Modeling’s difficult because you’re never the right size. Our insecurity puts money in their pockets.” Whitney Thompson said.

obsessed with wanting to look like them to the extent to which they develop eating disorders. Models need to represent a healthy image to influence a positive impact on young girls.

It is important to judge not just on weight, but to determine which girls are sick and which are healthy.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America released a list of health guidelines and put awareness about eating disorders. Susan Albers, Psy.D., is a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic. She has done research and worked with people struggling with eating disorders. “Although thin models are not the cause of eating disorders, they can be a trigger or a factor in maintaining an eating disorder,” Susan said. This shows eating disorders occur in the model industry extremely and we need to find a way to come together to improve this situation.

We need to protect the young girls and women. Offering nutritional education regarding healthy eating habits can go a long way. To better our society we should start to accept all body types of woman and men.

We should all encourage others to stay healthy and have a positive selfesteem about their self. Until we all come to the same point of view about being healthy, we may continue to have these problems.

December 2011

13

Fashion Has a New Muse, and

She’s Ten

BY Anna Blankenship

Thylane Loubry Blondeau, a 10-year-old model with a sultry stare beyond her years, had the fashion industry drooling after posing for French Vogue. But photos of the Parisian preteen, whose lanky body and gaptoothed pout bring to mind fullgrown size-zero magazine cover girls, have reignited the debate over the sexualization of young girls.

Thylane Loubry- Blondeau art by unknown 14 December 2011

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lip through any fashion magazine, and you’ll find models silently staring back at you with smoldering eyes, pouty lips and ‘come hither’ looks.

You may be vaguely aware that they are young, mid teens perhaps.

But ten? Yes. Meet Thylane Loubry Blondeau, who has graced the cover of Vogue Enfants and starred in ad campaigns for the children’s lines major brands, regularly works with top fashion photographers including Dani Brubaker.

She started early: in October 2005, at the young age of four, she walked in JeanPaul Gaultier’s spring show.

To me it seems this is a life of a twenty year old model, not a ten year old.

However, this schedule does not just belong to Thylane, but many other young models. I believe that the adequate age to begin modeling is sixteen years old. Thylane’s pictures represent an extreme version of the controversy of young models that is also raging right here in America.

This year, high-end fashion labels have embraced pretty young things like never before. It has been the year of the tweens, with designers competing to dress little stars.

Though runway models have an age minimum of 16, there are no regulations that dictate age in editorial spreads and ads.

As the Daily Beast first reported on August 4th, 2011, Miu Miu chose Haliee Steinfeld, the fourteen year old star of True Grit, as the face of its fall 2011 campaign. The thirteen year old Elle Fanning, star of Super 8, has been chosen to model in Marc Jacob’s Fall 2011 campaign. Elle

dons some grown-up pieces, including wide-legged wool pants, a glamorous full-length fur coat and several instances of granny-socks.

On September 17, 2011, ABC News aireda video responding to Thylane’s picture and other young American models. Observers say Elle has her “sultry stare down” in the ads. Also, according to one observer, the pictures of Hailee Steinfeld in the Miu Miu ads “looks like a child bride.”

Sexualized images can have lasting effects on the young girls who see them. An American Pyschological Association taskforce found that sexualization by the media affects how girls think about femininity and sexuality, promoting “appearance and physical attractiveness” as key values. These images are also linked to low self-esteem, eating disorders and depression. Beginning to model at a young age impacs these girls lives in many ways. As well, girls who see these images are affected too. If a thirteen year old model looks like a thirty year old in an ad, girls will feel the pressure to look like that model.

As well, girls who see these images are affected too. If a thirteen year old model looks like a thirty year old in an ad, girls will feel the pressure to look like that model.

“The research clearly shows that the fashion industry affects girls and women’s images of themselves and their self-esteem if they do not meet the industry ‘image’ that is currently in vogue,” Paul Miller, associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University in Phoenix, told ABC News in August of this year.

“Even the very young are quite

“The research clearly shows that the fashion industry affects girls and women’s images of themselves and their selfesteem”

conscious of media images of what is ‘pretty’ and desirable.”

Thylane, who has a sultry stare beyond her years, had the fashion industry drooling after posing for French Vogue. But photos of the Parisian preteen, whose lanky body and gaptoothed pout bring to mind full-grown size-zero magazine cover girls, have reignited the debate over the sexualization of young girls. Quoting Thylane’s mother Veronika Loubry, “she make’s eight months ago for vogue.” Veronika is talking about the timeframe that these pictures were taken. Although the pictures of Thylane were taken sometime around December of 2011 for French Vogue, American viewers have just now started to respond to them.

Wearing makeup, high heels and haute couture, Blondeau looks a far cry from a typical 10-yearold. Even in childish smocks and cotton tees, her expressions are oddly adult -- a product, perhaps, of living half her young life in the fashion world. I say Blondeau’s grown-up beauty gives other young girls unhealthy ideas about how they should look.

“The [photos] clearly create an image of the girl as an adult woman, both in the clothing, the postures and emotional content of the images,” Miller said. These photos send out message that very young girls can be dressed and viewed as young adult women.

“We don’t want kids to grow up too fast,” said Shari Miles-Cohen, senior director of women’s programs for the American Psychological Association. “We want them to be able to develop physically, emotionally, psychologically and socially at appropriate rates for their age.”

However, in France there seems to be a different definition of adolescence, or lack of. Fashion writer, Alice Pfeiffer recalls recalls walking down the streets of Paris December 2011

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and seeing kids dressed up like mini-adults, in outfits identical to their parents. Popular French labels APC, Zadig & Voltaire, and Maje all have miniaturized collections for mother and daughter to play dress up together: faux python leggings, leopard print–you name it, they’ve got it. There is, in fact, an entire children’s market around mimicking women’s rituals. In other words, from a young age, girls practice being women….or rather, French women.

“I remember being allowed to smoke indoors at school from age twelve to thirteen–there was even a smoking room allocated to students.” said Alice. There seems to be no real teenage culture in France. Somehow, one goes straight from childhood to adulthood.

Teenage model Maddison Garbriel, thirteen years old, voices a different opinion of modeling young. Maddison believes that modeling should have no age limitation. says hermother, Michelle Gabriel, who has been wildly criticized in Australia for allowing her daughter to start modeling at such a young age. “You tell me. What is too young?”

Although there logic can be found in the Garbriel’s argument, I see thirteen as an inappropriate age to model. Many dangers lie in the modeling world from drug and alcohol abuse to body image issues, such as anorexia and bulimia.Janice Dickinson, who considers herself to be the world’s first supermodel, does not care how adult and graceful Australian model Maddison Gabriel looks on a fashion runway.

“There’s lots of drugs, there’s lots of alcohol, there’s lots of photographers preying on these girls,” Dickinson said back in September of 2007 on the TODAY show. Many young women, including Janice, start too young, and end up with personal problems as big as their fame. Kate Moss, who had problems with the law and drug abuse and Naomi Campbell, who had problems with the law. These lives have gone wrong in the glamorous and often sordid world of modeling.

In 2006, during the Roman fashion event AltaModa, AltaRoma featured two girls in very different ways. Marianna, 15, wore sophisticated, sexy evening dresses by designer Marella Ferrera and strode the catwalk with adult models. The other model, show in the resort of Sabaudia, north of Rome, by taking to the catwalk in her own clothes.

Smiling for the photographers she bared a set of braces, gave a confident twirl and walked off to watch the rest of the show from the front row.

They represented opposite sides of an d the

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argument dividing the Italian fashion world, the ‘baby models’ issue.

The second model, Yasmeen, represents a much more realistic image on what models under the age of sixteen should look like. In the fashion industry, too much pressure surrounds the good looks these girls must obtain and wearing body-exposing clothes make it no place for very young girls.

These girls, even if they seem grown-up, remain children. Too many minors whose perfect peachy skin, gangly legs and flat chests make them ideal clothes-horses get exploited as models before they are mature enough to cope with the pressure and the fame. When beginning the career of modeling, girls should be at least the bare minimum age of sixteen.

Although the maturity difference between sixteen and fifteen is mere, the CFDA, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, recommends that models under the age of sixteen should not be booked. Of course there seems to be no fine line in the psychological state of a sixteen year old and a fifteen year old or a fourteen year old, but there has to be a starting point for young models.

The industry of young models cannot get completely wiped out because then we wouldn’t have child ad campaigns or magazines, like JcPenny ads for girls clothing or Boden kids catalogues. Any age below sixteen cannot deal with the consequences and factors of being a model.

The fashion industry treats these young models like adults and they do not know how to work with that. All these young girls think about pleasing you (the designer, etc.) and what will make that possible. It doesn’t matter what I have to do, just that I can please you. Would you let a thirteen or fourteen year old drive a car? No because they don’t know how and rest unready, and thats exactly the relationship between the fashion industry and these girls If you were a fashion If you were designer and a fourteen year old girl was going to walk in your runway show or star in your ad campaign, would you let them? Or send them home with an invitation to come back when they are ready to deal with the realistic side of modeling at a young age?

Some of Austin’s best!!

1.

1. Guero’s Taco Bar 2. Home Slice Pizza 3. And finally Big Top Candy Shop

f o d ess o o gr F e on h T hC t u So

3.

All Located on South Congress

2.

December 2011

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s k c i P y t au

e B p To

Robinson

BY Sydney

Ecotools 6 piece Eye Brush Set $7.99 at Target

Almay Intense i-color $5.99 at Target

Relvon ColorStay Liquid Eyeliner $6 at Walmart 18 December 2011

Love & Beauty Nail Polish $2.80 at Forever 21

Burt’s Bees Super Glossy

$7 at Burt’s Bees online

Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer

$5 at Burt’s Bees online

Covergirl Trublend

$8 at CVS Pharmacy

Art By Anna Robinson

December 2011

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The Headliner at the Club

BY Emma Varela

Art By The Headliners Club

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Rob Pederson is definitely the Headliner of the club. He has been the manager at the Headliners Club, a private club, in Austin, Texas for twentyfive years. Behind this mind who run the club there is an insight into food, life and the buisness behind the club.

December 2011

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Once Rob begins talking, he goes a mile a minute all about food. He is soft spoken, but the way he tells his stories instantly makes anyone who is listening, a part of his life and his journey to the kitchen.

“I could talk all day about this stuff (food) because I like it,” said Rob.

Rob works as the manager of Austin’s Headliners Club, one of the only private clubs in Austin. Between managing his staff, trying new dishes to add to the menu, and being a husband and father, his life is quite full right now. However, he knows how to manage; he has been the assisting managing director at the Headliners club for 25 years and has no plans to quit while he is hot.

Rob attended the University of Texas to earn a degree in finance, he then became a banker because of his love of math. After being involved in banking, he decided he needed a career within his passion of food and cooking.

Therefore, Rob attended Le Chef (now known as Le Cordon Bleu) for three years. Once he graduated, he became the manager of the Headliners club and has been there ever since.

This is his 25th year as the manager of the Headliners Club and he spent five years holding other jobs in the food business. Rob was a Sous Chef, the assistant to the executive chef, and a line chef as the saucier and the sauté chef.

The saucier makes all the sauces for the dishes and the sauté chef sautés the meat, fish and vegetables. As the manager, Rob has to make sure the business operates every day, including his staff, all the machinery and the other necessities (air conditioning, hot and cold water etc.)

“I am more of the food and beverage kind of manager, because that is my background, so I understand the food side of the business better. Nevertheless, everything you can imagine, that someone has to do to control 60 employees. That’s what I do.”

Rob was greatly inspired by his grandfather who was an executive pastry chef in Denmark. Rob’s grandfather then brought his family to Austin in the 1920’s, moved to Houston, and opened a bakery. His love of cooking

rubbed off on Rob’s father and then spread to Rob. Rob and his family grew up learning how to cook. When Rob was a child every year his grandpa would send packages, right before Christmas, filled with desserts and breads, this is what really caught his attention in the food world, growing up.

If Rob did not work in the food business, he would love to be involved with architecture. He says after he retires he would like to build spec homes, which are homes that are pre-built waiting for buyers.

“I love architecture. I look at house designs and building designs all the time.”

Rob also loves to go out to eat at Austin originals.

Some of his favorites are Matt’s El Rancho and Olivia’s. He generally takes out of town guests to Matt’s El Rancho to get Rob’s favorite homemade tortillas and small dip. Rob also comes home from work and cooks dinner and breakfast for his family. “ I got up this morning and made a strawberry yogurt, honey smoothie. Then I made a fried egg and bacon.”

The Headliners Club has been in Austin since 1955. If you want to be a member, you pay an introduction fee to go towards elaborate décor for the restaurant.

“We have a dress code, so it is quite a bit different.

It is one of the few restaurants where you have to wear a coat and tie,” said Rob. The Headliners Club serves anything you can imagine. Including, any type of ethnic food from American to Mexican and Italian to French and German, the Headliners Club has it all.

Rob said, “We are pretty much ca pable of doing anything.”

A large portion of the Headliners Club business is banquets and large parties. However, if you are not having a party you can also just go in, sit down and have dinner off the dinner a la carte menu. Rob over sees the Executive chef and Sous chef who order all the food from vendors like Cisco. They also use specialty stores like Quality Sea Food for fish and Texas Coffee Traders where they purchase their coffee beans and tea. They even go to Whole Foods to get specialty items you cannot buy from big vendors. The Headliners Club always keeps a $40,000 dollars worth of food on premises from month to month Continued On Page 31

“I really encourage young people to learn (to cook) early because you are always going to have to eat and why eat bad food.”

December 2011

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The Chocolate Man Can His World of Pure Imagination...

BY Sydney Robinson

Art by Ken Nordhauser

Art by John Robinson

22 December 2011

a

pattern of purple diamonds covers the wall. Behind a glass window, there is a clean kitchen where trays of chocolates rest neatly arranged in racks and liquid chocolate churns in a tempering machine. Customers gaze at shelves lined with ¬chocolate, fruits and cookies covered in chocolate; chocolates shaped like letters and toothbrushes, ice creams, and baked desserts. People come and go, and eventually, the chocolate disappears.

One man, working seven days a week, is the mastermind behind it all.

“My store is an extension of me. So it has my soul in it,” Gilbert said. He looks at his chocolate business, The Chocolate Bar, for his personal happiness.

Gilbert Johnson, co-owner of The Chocolate Bar, describes himself as a very different type of businessman.

Gilbert regards his store as a way to, “pay my bills but not as this huge, capable business growth that will make me a ton of money,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert owned a chocolate store in Austin called Dr. Chocolate but moved to Houston and created The Chocolate bar in 2000, which now has two Houston locations.

“There wasn’t any reason I left [Austin], it was the future, what it held. And you should always follow your dreams.”

His dream was not chocolate.

“My job, and the store, is the stepping stone to my dreams.” He said his dream was to aspire as an artist, “So I had to create a job to be occupied while I pursue my dreams.” He described his artwork as mixed media, expressing through sculpture and painting.

However, chocolate stayed a passion. Gilbert began his chocolate career in a small chocolate shop in Kansas City, Missouri in 1980. According to him, he did most of the production and selling. Here, he fell

in love with chocolate

“I fell in love with the entire idea that I make something that everyone loves! And makes them happy.

What a great way to make a living!”

Gilbert is primarily responsible for product development. He said ideas also come verbally from customers, which “sparks an idea in my brain… and then I run with it.”

He said the easiest ideas to come up with are for ice creams. The Chocolate Bar has more than 24 flavors, including Creamy Dreamy Truffle and Orange Sunrise.

“Ideas come from visiting other retail stores and seeing what they’ve created that I feel is not the correct version of a product.”

Te x a s Frito Brittle - a mixture of corn chip Fritos, pretzel sticks, and chopped pecans all covered in milk chocolate - was originally a recipe by Ginger Berryhill, who had a chocolate business in Austin called Tempt Chocolate. Ginger created a product of Fritos drizzled in chocolate that Gilbert thought he could make even more delicious. The time it took from the idea to the finished product was three months.

“I had my friend Sally pick me up a bag of those Fritos and send them to me so I could look at them, try them, taste them, look at the packaging.”

The Texas Frito Brittle was featured on “Good Morning, Houston” and Texas Monthly magazine.

Besides the responsibility of product development, he handles the staff, which is also his biggest challenge. The Chocolate Bar has 45 to 50 employees at both locations.

“Because you put into your world… many different personalities and it’s trying to get them all to

work cohesively and the way you want them to.”

He never planned to open up his second store on University Blvd.

So Gilbert made his own metaphor, comparing the store to an engine and him being the driver.

“I never dreamed it would be where it’s at now in ten years…The destination is not up to me, but up to the store.”

His secret to his success is the non-businessman view he takes.

He said chocolate shops opened by people only concerned with franchising never last.

“I hear people opening chocolate shops all the time, and their very first comment is ‘I’m going to franchise.

I’m going to open one hundred stores in five years.’ And at hand is their store which they’re not focusing on.

They’re focusing on further down the road.”

Gilbert enjoys gardening and playing with his five dogs: Tucker, Tid-Bit, Romeo, Otis, and the newest addition to the family, Andrew. They participate in Petcasso, an event put on by the Animal Trustees of Austin, where various people and their pets create art to auction live benefiting pets belonging to low income and homeless people.

He spends holidays relaxing with family and friends. The store does not close often but does shut down on Thanksgiving and Christmas day.

Working year round is not a problem for Gilbert. He loves his job.

Continued on page 31

“My store is an extension of me, so it has my soul in it,” Gilbert said

December 2011

23

The Trailblazer of the Tribe

BY Anna Blankenship

Art by Tribeza. Courtesy of Lauren Smith-Ford.

Editor, Writer, Creative Director, Freelance Wardrobe Stylist, Board Member and Wife. Is there anything this gal can’t do? Working at Tribeza magazine, Lauren loves a challenge, and thats just she got in the tiny fashion community of Austin, Texas.

24 December 2011

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rom the outside, it looks like any ordinary, college student apartment building with brown colored bricks and limited parking. On the inside is where the magic happens. Tribeza’s office houses the creative team of Lauren Smith-Ford and the staff who construct Austin’s locally owned arts and culture magazine.Lauren is the editor and creative designer of Tribeza.

Lauren joined Tribeza in 2006 and was promoted to editor in February of 2010. Other then writing for prestigious publications, such as ELLEgirl, Glamour, Teen Vogue and texasmonthly.com, Lauren also works as a freelance wardrobe stylist. Recent projects include the advertisements for DirectTV’s Season three and five of Friday Night Lights and recreating 1950s-inspired ads with photographer Dan Winters for WIRED Italia.

Growing up in the south of Texas, where Lauren was never seen “without an oversized bow in her hair”, she possessed a passion for fashion at a young age. “ I have 2 younger brothers so I loved dressing them and I was always really in to putting weird outfits together,” Lauren said.

Lauren always loved challenges like so. Before interviewing acclaimed persons and styling, Lauren started out small. And her first job in the fashion forward world happened to be just that. Writing a weekly column for her school paper in the not so fashion town of College Station, Texas, called “campus couture”.

“I would style photo shoots with my friends and write a trend article.”

Lauren said.

Flash forward today and her agenda is completely different from what it was in college. Now working at one of Austin’s premiere social magazines, she’s allowed access to interview anyone in Austin, one thing that keeps her motivated to get up in

the morning and go to work.

“Getting to meet a lot of musicians, artists, chefs, people who are really passionate about what they do and are really smart and hear their stories, too.”

This year her interviews included the one and only, Willie Nelson, making it one of the highlights of her career.

“Interviewing Willie Nelson and seeing him was so surreal because he’s such an icon and I think he appeals to all kinds of people.” Lauren said.

Besides hustling at Tribeza all day, Lauren also undertakes matters like styling for other productions.

Friday Night Lights, which shoots all over Austin and in Pflugerville, has continually been hailed as one of the Top ten best shows of the year by critics and publications such as Time magazine, Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times. And Lauren got the chance to style the commercials for Season three and five of the hit TV show, which won the Gold Winner for Best Collaborative Effort in the BDA North American Design Awards. When doing print work, which is Lauren’s daily routine, there is photographer, a photo assistant, a stylist, a hair and makeup person and then the model. However, commercials are in an entirely contrasting arena.

With more than a hundred people on set, doing all different jobs, from directing, to producing, to fittings, the preparation for the thirty second commercial for Friday Night Lights was much more unfamiliar than Lauren is used to doing. “...it was very different and it was more like a 16 hour day so it was really long because there were so many actors. But they gave me a color palette to work with... in the print ads and commercials its all kind

of the same like pastels type things.

They gave me that constraint and so I had to find all clothes that kind of fell into that palette... it was really neat, it was just very intense I would say. So doing print work is a lot less intense.”

Beyond styling for commercials and photo shoots and interviewing world renowned people, Lauren helps out the community as well. She serves on the board at Austin Bat Cave, a tutoring and writing center for kids, which is a nonprofit organization providing children and teenagers (ages 6-18) with opportunities to build creative and expository writing skills.

“We help them with fundraising and creative ways and events we can have. So its pretty much the focus of our board is just trying to raise funds to make all the things that the executive director wants to happen. Kind of just helping with the community that way.”

Along with helping out in the neighborhood c o m m u n i t y, Lauren manages the fashion community as well. Holding the job of a stylist in the small fashion town of Austin, Lauren knows the ups and downs of making it in the Music Capital of the World’s fashion scene.

“I feel like fashion and Austin, I mean people like sometimes love it or hate it, I mean cause...its all indie designers that are coming up which is great cause they’re all pursuing their passion. But then a lot of them drop off because its really hard to, as a designer, make money and really make a living at it.”

Now, Austin is no New York City or Paris with couture and high-end designers, but is the

“I feel like fashion and Austin, I mean people like sometimes love it or hate it”

December 2011

25

causal town with very laid-back (and often weird) wardrobes.

“It kind of strikes a balance because Austin has kind of an indie spirit and its like you can wear anything, anytime which is great.”

However, casual dressing has an art. It takes a little fashion knowledge to pull together an easy, cool, thrown on look. “ ...I do think sometimes people sell it [Austin] short, its not easy to just like throw things together and some people can really put things together in a unique way.”

Even though Austin may not be the fashion capital of the world, its still possess a handful of shops and boutiques that keep the fashionistas and fashionistos up to date on the season’s hottest trends. Of course her job allows her to do every fashion’s girl dream, shop till you drop. Going all over town and scouring the clothes racks for that perfect outfit or piece, Lauren must have a list of goto stores.

“I love Kick Plate, I think they have a lot of neat stuff.

I like Feathers, for vintage and accessories and shoes. I mean you can always find a good deal at Neiman Marcus Last Call which is good you just have to dig a little, but I like that. Adelante has a lot of great stuff too just kind of summer dresses. So it kind of depends on the season, where I usually have the best luck and Anthropologie is always a favorite too.”

With a combination of high end retailers and quaint vintage stops, what’s the perfect outfit these stores put together for her?

“I love mixing high and low. I think mixing vintage with Chanel, you know, is kinda fun. ... But I think vintage stuff is great too and finding like those pieces that from the fifties or sixties to kinda incorporate with that, the new things in modern. So I think mixing new and old is kinda a fun thing to do.”

Along with top store choices, her favorite designer is Marc Jacobs. With fresh, different designs and unique colors and patterns, no one knows which direction Jacobs might turn next.

“He has fun with fashion and doesn’t take it overly seriously, which is nice.”

With Madmen inspired clothes, the fifties makes a comeback into the fashion world this year, making it a perfect year for Lauren.

“Well I guess there is something I love about the 50’s. I mean, I love the silhouettes, the streamlines, and just like the femininity, then the suiting for men then.”

Before finding her niche at Tribeza, Lauren worked her way up to be in the position she’s now in. Her advice to someone pursuing a career in the fashion world? “ I think its tough because its definitely a career that a lot of people want to go into. So at first it can seem kind of daunting, like this is so completive, everyone wants to do

26 December 2011

it. But I think you rise to the top if you work really hard and if you have really a creative vision that’s unique and different from other people and you can bring new ideas to the table because a lot of fashion just imitates itself.”

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December 2011

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Jacqueline Valdez: The Manager of Amaya’s Taco Village Salsa Speaks Louder Than Words

BY Lisa Allen

This photo is a picture of Amaya’s Taco Village.

28 December 2011

Art by Lisa Allen.

“i

f the salsa is good, then the restaurant is good,” says Jacqueline Valdez, the restaurant manager of Amaya’s Taco Village. She thinks salsa is the key to a good serving restaurant. Many of her regular customers think this as well. They keep coming back for what they think is “the best salsa around”.

Amaya’s Taco Village started as a little restaurant on 6th street east Austin and has been open for 35 years. Jacqueline Valdez, also known as Jackie, has been the manager of this restaurant for four years. Family, customers, and her employees is what matters most to her. Although the economy is affecting businesses, she still hopes that one day she can open her own restaurant and managing Amaya’s Taco Village is helping her achieve this goal.

Until this happens, she continues to loves her job and her employees. Jackie loves to joke and kid around but she does not always have time because she has customers coming in and it is busy. She still does have fun and enjoys having laughs with her employees and customers. She tries to make work a positive and happy place to come to. She absolutely loves her job and feels right at home.

“I love coming to work. I love my home but this is my second home and I love coming to work because everyone is just so happy,” says Jackie.

Her main priority is making sure her customers are satisfied and happy. She believes that her employees and customers are like family. She also believes that family comes first.

“A job you can always find, it is hard with the economy now but you can always find another job but you cannot find another family,” she says.

Since the economy is changing to where people are becoming jobless, the biggest problem she faces is losing her employees. Other than that, she does not believe that she faces many challenges.

“There are obstacles, I just

don’t like using challenges [the word] because I don’t think anything is challenging. There are a lot of obstacles and we overcome these obstacles because we all work together like I said we are all a big family,” Jackie says.

She understands if one has to take a day off because their baby becomes sick or they get sick. She works with 75 people and knows that everyone has their families to attend and meetings to attend like a normal person would have.

“My employees are an amazing, amazing bunch. It’s sad to say that we do lay off people, we have to cut hours and money and it’s hard because that’s what people live on,” she says.

The recession has affected her business because people are now choosing where they want to go eat.

“They’re being real picky about their money. I am not going to go pay 50 dollars for lousy service. I’m very picky about my service as well because I’m in the industry but people are being picky about where they’re going to go eat and how they’re going to spend their money,” she says.

Some people have been working at Amaya’s for 35 years like her mother. “There are a lot of different ranges of people being here but we all come together at one point and say hey this is for the job, we’re all in the same boat, we all need to stick together and work things out,” she says.

Since the restaurant has been open for so long, there are customers that go to Amaya’s so often that she knows them by their name. Those regular customers tell others to come to Amaya’s and she gets more business that way. Although, not everyone is going to like the food, she still tries to

get as many customers as possible.

“I’ve been coming to Amaya’s for the past 5 years. I love their salsa, enchiladas and tacos. The only problem that I don’t like about this restaurant is that sometimes I come when it’s so busy that you cannot enjoy your food because it’s so loud,” says a customer named Robert.

Sometimes it is frustrating for Jackie but she makes sure she gives great service with a big smile on her face.

“It’s stressful but you learn to deal with it in a positive attitude because now I’m open to everything,” she says.

She believes she is blessed for having a successful high rating restaurant.

She’s thankful for everything she has accomplished so far as the manager of Amaya’s Taco Village.

“That’s why we’ve been so blessed, it’s not luck. People say oh you’re lucky but it’s a blessing from God,” Jackie says.

Jackie’s goal in the future is to open up her own restaurant, not Amaya’s, just her own and working at Amaya’s is helping her do that. She does not want to do it in Texas because Texas is known for their Tex Mex. She wants to open it in places that do not know what Mexican food is. She has been to New Mexico and Albuquerque and they eat their enchiladas with an egg on top and thought it was odd.

She then tried it and thought it was delicious. Her goal in life is to spread Mexican food everywhere.

Jackie plans to accomplish her goal to open her own restaurant.

“That’s why we’ve been so blessed, it’s not luck. People say oh you’re lucky but it’s a blessing from God,” Jackie says.

December 2011

29

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Continued Story from The Headliner at the Club....

and as parties and banquets are organized the executive chef orders the food specific to the party.

Rob does not have a favorite food to eat at the Headliners Club but he does enjoy trying the new creations of his Sous chef Brant. Almost every day Brant is bringing Rob a new dish that he has created. They brainstorm in Robs office adding or taking away to make the dish perfect. Sometimes Brant will come back within the hour with their revised dish.

“That is the most fun I have, just creating stuff (food),” said Rob.

Some of the dishes Rob and Brant create are even added to the banquet and a la carte menus.

“In fact he and I have been working the past 3 months on reinventing the whole a la carte business, and so we have come up with 6 new recipes to put on that. And then every month we try to change 2 or 3 things on the menu, a new salad or maybe a new entrée, a new appetizer.”

Robs largest obstacle in his career was trying to become an executive chef after being hired as the Sous chef beneath an executive chef who was clearly beneath him in skill level.

He says it is not easy to become an executive chef because there are so few of those positions available.

Rob said, “Before I decided to leave they hired me above the executive chef, I became his boss. This was kind of uncomfortable, if you can imagine because he hired me.”

Rob’s advice is if you do not know how to cook then learn to cook because if you can cook then you will always have good food to eat.

“I really encourage young people to learn (to cook) early because you are always going to have to eat and why eat bad food?” Rob said.

From the time, he was younger and learned about food from his father and grandfather, to going to culinary school to become a professional chef and his current position as manager of the Headliners Club for the past 25 years. Rob’s life is all about food.

“Food brings people together, families, and friends. To me it is one of those gratifying things you can do. If you know how to cook then you can make people happy.”

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Continued Story from The Chocolate Man Can...

“The money is not the direction, the store is the direction. If you’re driven by money, sometimes you lose your direction. And the whole goal in life is to be personally happy… Your happiness is what you create.

In my world, I’m very happy.” “The money is not the direction, the store is the direction. If you’re driven by money, sometimes you lose your direction. And the whole goal in life is to be personally happy… Your happiness is what you create. In my world, I’m very happy.”

December 2011

31

Style Your Eyes Great Lash MA S CA R A 32 December 2011