Courtesy of Cuisine by LASA Ezine

Courtesy of Cuisine

Fall E-Zine 2021

Jupiter, Emily, Bilal and Nico

Table of Contents

Meet the Editors

Page 4

Page 6

Letter from the Editors

Page 7

How are Local Businesses Alike and Unique?

How Sala and Betty Make the Best Meals Courtesy of Cuisine | 4

Page 8

Page 10

Fodd truck Fiesta Page 14

Torchy Times

Page 18

A Look Into Restaurant Life

Page 20

Served by the Slice

Page 24

Barbecue In Buisness Page 26

Babbecue Around Town

Page 30

Crossword Puzzle And Word Search Page 32

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Meet The Editors

Jupiter Mefford

My name is Jupiter and I’m a freshman at LASA. I like listening to music, playing soccer and playing video games. I have a sister and a brother who are both older than me. I also have the sweetest cat ever named Rocky. I’ve lived in Austin since I was born, and my favorite thing about Austin is going to Baskin Robbins on a hot day.

Bilal Faisal

My name is Bilal Faisal. I am a freshman at LASA high school. I am on the Debate and Basketball teams at LASA, and I love to talk about and play sports. My favorite artists are Kendrick Lamar and Denzel Curry. I have lived in Austin all my life, and my favorite restaurant in Austin is Chuy’s.

Emily Laux

I am 14 years old and a freshman at LASA. I am fluent in English and German, and am currently taking German 3 at LASA. Born in Austin, Texas, I haved lived here my whole life. I love music, and I play the piano and clarinet. My favorite sports are volleyball and dance. A few of my hobbies include cooking, baking, drawing and reading.

Nico Campanell

I am a Freshman at LASA high school. I enjoy listening to music and playing video games in my free time. My favorite artist is A$AP Rocky, and my favorite game is Valorant. I also do rowing at ARC. My favorite restaurant is Veracruz All Natural.

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Letter From The Editors Dear readers, As we created this magazine, we hoped that it would be able to serve you, and anyone looking for new local restaurants to try out, as a guide on Austin’s best cuisine. Ranging from barbeque to tacos, and pizza to hamburgers, we have written about many local restaurants and what they have to offer. During the process of making the magazine, we have interviewed many chefs, employees and owners of numerous restaurants to understand what type of food they serve and why. We learned how the owners began their businesses, and a few of the obstacles they had to face. We hope that our magazine will give you insight on just a few of Austin’s hidden gems that may be unfamiliar to you now, but your favorite place to eat in the future. Hopefully you enjoy reading our magazine just as much as we have enjoyed creating it! From, Jupiter, Bilal, Emily, and Nico

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How are local businesses

ALIKE and UNIQUE? A deep dive into two creative food chains By: Jupiter Mefford Photo Credit to Jonathan Ross of Austin Skyline

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eep in the heart of Texas, there lies one of the top most modernized cities in the state, Austin. While this city booms with raging new companies that have branches country-wide, Austin also favors its culturally local businesses. Located near Airport Boulevard rests one of these great restaurants, Sala and Betty. After interviewing the general manager of the restaurant and the daughter of the founder and owner, Diana Wilson, it was revealed just how small companies are able to succeed in Austin. “What’s different is that it’s a family-run restaurant. Chef Terry is always in the kitchen, myself, or her brother, mother, other children, you’ll catch them in routine as well,” Wilson said. “They can really feel the love and sense of community that we have with each other. And then just tasting the love in the food as well, we make sure we get all the freshest local ingredients from our local. You can make the specialists feel the love and care that goes from the farmer picking the plants. From

the preparation to the server or the manager interacting with guests, you can tell that we really care.” Wilson specifies that the restaurant is always a great place to relax and eat, with the comfortable environment the team provides from being run by her family. “It’s a familyrun business,” Wilson said. “Teresa Wilson has been in Austin since she was a teenager. Before that, really, she went to middle school here. She was at Lively, then graduated from Travis, then went on to graduate from UT. Austin’s been her home so she fell in love with the food and hospitality business. Of course, she wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, why not support her city? That’s where she’s grown up.” Because of this great appreciation and experience of knowing how the Austin community and food business is, Teresa Wilson couldn’t resist the temptation to start her own local company. With all the appreciation and love received, getting a local restaurant to become successful surely isn’t the hardest thing ever, right?

Even in a great business, there are plenty of hardships to get through. Let’s begin to look into another local restaurant that’s gotten much bigger since it started and reveal the harder side of it all. Let’s start at the beginning of P. Terry’s, a burger chain that’s quickly reaching high popularity throughout the state. It started off with Patrick Terry’s dream of getting to own a burger place as a kid. With the help of his wife, he was able to initiate the first venue. However, he’d need much more professional help starting off, looking for someone experienced in aiding restaurants. Enter Todd Coerver, an excellent CEO with multiple businesses succeeding with his aid. When they were starting out, he could tell Mr. and Mrs. Terry weren’t doing it for the money. Mr. Terry wanted to do it to fulfill his childhood dream for the experience. His main goal was that his whole career is focused on preserving culture. When a business only cares about its money, they end up failing because not preserving culture makes both employees and

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customers unsatisfied Coerver said. With his insight, P. Terry’s became a great workplace with excellent food. He wanted everyone to feel welcome and that they kept their culture within the restaurant. While Coerver has made sure they’ve not suffered great economic losses, with COVID on their doorstep, it had changed their year significantly. Coerver explained that he had made the agreement with Mr. and Mrs. Terry to raise the salary after the eventful year to congratulate employees on their hard work. It inspired them to make the change because everyone was struggling through it, and they wanted to give back to their workers. It cost them $1.5 million, but they never second-guessed it. We are proud that we never had to lay anyone off. They only made one restaurant close in downtown because no one wanted to go there, it was practically a ghost town. There were only about ten employees working there and they were able to move them all to different locations to keep working. The team managed to open up 5

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Photo Credit to Brittany Flowers of the Sala and Betty Sign

new restaurants during the pandemic which is amazing. Mr. and Mrs. Terry also went around and personally donated money to the employees to thank them for their efforts. Coerver said. The year had been full of messes and chaos, but even with the struggle, the local business made sure to help its own employees, as where would they be without them? Coerver also has a policy about being ethical to its workers in order for everyone to be content, from employee to customer. The most important thing is to never hide things from your coworkers. You have to be very open and honest about everything, whether it’s something

good or if it’s bad. A lot of businesses have lots of secrets from their employees and it makes them seem sketchy and that they’re keeping important information from them. When they know the reason behind why they’re doing something, employees are very happy. Said Coerver. Letting your employees and coworkers in on whatever you’re planning is a great way to gain trust. Just because something might not make them happy, it’s better than making them feel that you’re untrustworthy. After these two perspectives, it helps become clearer from both sides what it’s like to be in a local business that has smaller

Photo Credit to P.Terry’s Linkedin Photography of P.Terry’s Capital Plaza location

advertising and franchise compared to a local business with several big locations and a bigger professional work base. P. Terry’s and Sala and Betty started in a pretty similar manner, with the founders and owners wanting to have their own unique food chain that provides joy for their customers. However, they’re both in very different places right now. What does each seek to accomplish within their own goals? “We’re just looking for the pandemic to be over because we are not sitting inside right now. We’re only seating on our patio and doing the drive-thru. So we would like to see that change in the restaurant again, like inside the restaurant,” Wilson said. My focus for the next 10 years is to just stay put in Texas. Mr. Terry and I have no desire to go outside of Texas any

time soon. We just started growing in San Antonio and plan to go to Dallas and Houston. When you’re in this smaller local community, everyone wants you because they know you’re unique and they know what you’re like. If we were to go outside of Texas, it would be much more complicated because people would be like, ‘Why would I go to this restaurant I know nothing about when I can just go to the trusted and bigger restaurants? Coerver said. In conclusion, Sala and Betty continue to take things slow and steady while they recover from the pandemic, while P. Terry’s aims for even more growth, just not country-wide for years to come. While they have different strategies to succeed, both want to take a slower approach in the growing world of popular restaurants in order to maintain a caring work environment.

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How Sala and Betty make the best meals A quick guide to healthy and great food By Jupiter Mefford

Meat and Poultry Protein products are provided by Strube Ranch for meats. As for poultry, it’s sourced from Cobb and Dewberry.

Dairy Products Boggy Creek doesn’t just supply Sala and Betty with vegetables! They’ve also got the finest dairy and cheese for the business.

FUN FACT Sala and Betty pay attention to close details in their food, making sure the vegetables are precisely cut and giving special cutlery to every meal.

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Vegetables and Produce The freshest greens are provided from excellent sources such as Boggy Creek and Tecolote Farms.

Breads and Buns For great and nutritious breads, Sala and Betty turns to Slow Dough Bakery.

Sources Sala and Betty Website, Friends and Farms The Austin Chronicle Sala and Betty Restaurant Review Sala and Betty ATX for Logo

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Food Truck Fiesta The Story Behind Successful Food Trucks in Austin, Texas. By Bilal Faisal

he stove lights on fire. Your partner is nowhere to be found. Just you versus the flames. Beads of sweat are now pouring down your face. It’s looking like game over, but then your partner comes in, fire extinguisher in hand, and saves the day. Welcome to the food truck industry in Austin, Texas. Since the food truck craze took off in 2008, Austin, Texas has been infamous for its trucks and trailers. The food truck industry in Austin is the fastest growing in the United States, and trailers and trucks are key contributors to Austin’s culture. It is extremely difficult to thrive, let alone succeed as a food truck in Austin which is why only the best make it out alive. Michael Rypka is the owner of one of the most popular food truck-based businesses in Austin. In 2006, Rypka opened Torchy’s Tacos which skyrocketed not only all over the city of Austin, but across the country. When asked about how this all started, Rypka’s answer was simple. “Literally one day, I woke up in the middle of the night and just had this thought,” Rypka Courtesy of Cuisine | 14

said. “What are you doing? Dude, you need to be a chef. That’s what you love doing. I couldn’t sleep, and when I came downstairs the next day, I told my mom, ‘Hey, mom, I’m dropping out of school, I’m gonna go be a chef,’ and she looked at me like I was crazy.” The unique slogan, “damn good” and the baby devil logo went crazy as it Torchys is brought a new often praised for their chips and Queso. Photo via Mike Rypka.

way of serving great food to the state of Texas. Rypka’s tiny food trailer gradually expanded to a restaurant which would then turn into over 70 different locations across the country. However, it was not all that easy for Mo Pittle, the owner of JewBoy burgers. Pittle agreed that it all starts with

an idea, but the process of starting a business is a lot more complicated than just waking up one day with an idea. “I had to get propane, to get food, to get any type of supplies into the bank,” Pittle said. “All those things I had to go and do, and then there was the truck. I walked the truck from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and we’d close from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. I’d work from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for dinner,” Pittle said. Brandon Hunt, the co-owner of VIA 313 alongside his brother Zane Hunt, agreed with Pittle that the journey to success was, as he puts it, “a grind.” “I would wake up at noon, and go to central market or HEB and get groceries because we weren’t busy enough to get a restaurant,” Hunt said. “So I would load up groceries for the night. We would make dough from like three to four in the trailer and open at five. I would work from five at night until two or three in the morning. Got home at three or four in the morning, made sure the money was squared away and then

Via 313 first opened in 2011 as a Detroit Pizza styled food trailer. Via now has 3 locations across Austin. Image via Brandon Hunt.

ate dinner and went to bed and repeated doing that for two years. So definitely a grind for sure.” Rypka’s great idea came with several pitfalls and a lot of hard work, but Rypka said he never backed down. He looked for unique ways to make himself stand out. “I kind of took my food to people and I just gave out lots of samples, and I hoped that, ‘Hey, if they like it, maybe they’ll come by and check us out,’ and that seemed to work,” Rypka said. “It was tough in the beginning, real tough. I mean, lots of hours. A lot of hard work and so, it took a long time before I even got a paycheck.” Like Rypka, Hunt was aware that success would not come overnight. “You have to crawl before you can walk,” Hunt said. Eventually Pittle, Rypka and Hunt were all able to successfully get their businesses off the ground, but that doesn’t mean it was light work after the first few months. The recent COVID-19 pandemic had massive impacts across the country, especially when it came to food.

“We had to furlough 50% of our staff in the beginning, and we closed 10 restaurants temporarily,” Rypka said. “It’s definitely been probably one of the most challenging two years in the restaurant industry.”

Owner of JewBoy burgers, Mo Pittle, takes an order from a customer. JewBoy burgers, established in Austin, began operating as a trailer in 2018. Image Via Mo Pittle.

For Hunt, COVID was devastating for VIA 313, especially in the mental aspects. “You’ve been preaching family, and we care about our crew, and we care about everybody, and we’re all family and then you gotta lay off 3040% of your crew to save the business,” Hunt explained.

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Mo Pittle sits in his food trailer awaiting more customers on a typical busy day for Jeybow Burgers. Image Via Mo Pittle.

“Know your industry” Courtesy of Cuisine | 16

Although Pittle was able to combat COVID with success, he too realized that it put several members of the food industry in despair. “People forget that all restaurants are closed for two weeks,” Pittle said. “If we close for two weeks right now that puts a serious dent in my situation. It’s not easy to close because rent was still there, bills were still there. All the restaurants closed while they figured it out, except for food trucks because we were outside.” COVID was just one of the millions of challenges these businesses had to face, but they all overcame the challenges because they love what they do. Pittle offered some advice to people seeking to join any industry. “Know your industry and study what you’re getting into,” Pittle said. “Understand the ups and the downs, understand who’s doing it well. Know what makes it work, know what makes it fail. If you know these things, you are so much better at it and all the cliches are true, in both the good ones and

the bad ones. If you’re not committed to being an entrepreneur, being your own boss, you’ll fail.” Hunt and Rypka both Torchy’s Tacos heavily agreed with location at this. “If you do not Arbor Trails. Torchy’s is now love what you are only restraunts. doing, don’t do it,” Image viua Mike Rypka said. Rypka “Staying true to who you are and what you’re about is important too,” Hunt added. because they have some frame of reference, even better,” Pittle said. The future is bright for all three of these companies. VIA 313 is planning to expand to several states in the future. Torchy’s has Founders, Brandon Hunt, left, and Zane Hunt, right, stand in front of their iconic VIA 313 trailer. Image Via Brandon Hunt

Food trucks all over Austin have created this culture of being unique and staying true to who you are. For Pittle, it’s all about creating a culture that is cherished by everyone. “This whole premise that the Austin weird is a culture is a very real thing, and if you can create a concept that people can relate to

their sights set on even more locations nationally and possibly adding Churros to their menu and JewBoy Burgers just opened their second location in Central Austin. All three of these businesses have played a significant role in the culture of Austin making the city more and more special by the day. Courtesy of Cuisine | 17

Torchy Times By: Bilal Faisal This ASF is a timeline meant to show the growth and expanision of Torchy’s as a company and how far they have come. Torchy’s is one of the most famous food truck originated buisnesses from Austin and has been around since 2006! From having to give out free food to attract customers, to hosting the former president of the United States, Barrack Obama, Torchy’s has been through it all!

2010

In 2010, Michael Rypka and his co-workers made a bold decision to move outside of Austin and establish a Torchy’s restraunt in Dallas. Move to present day where we are seeing torchys all over Texas. As of now, Torchy’s has over 65 locations just in the state of Texas! There are multiple locations in cities such as San Antonio, Dallas , Houston and of cous, Austin MEN

MEN

2006

Torchy’s opened it’s first Trailer located on 2809 South First Street in Austin Texas. Michael Rypka started his misson to help people around the world by establishing a food truck in his hometown! Originally, Rypka had to give out several free samples of his food to attract customers. Unfourtunately for us, those days are well over!

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2017

In 2017 Torchy’s accomplished one of their greastest milestones yet. 50 STORES. The small food trailer that Rypka was barely able to fund now had it’s sights on becoming a national Austin originated sensation! Currently, Torchy’s has 83 locations nationwide and that includes 14 in just Austin Texas. Torchy’s is also aiming to expand to 15 states by 2023

2021

2016

10 years after the first food trailer opened in Austin, Michael Rypka opened the first out of state restraunt in Colorado. Rypka’s journey to help people all over the world was just starting to come true. Currently, Torchy’s serves 8 states including Texas, Colorado, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Indiana

Here we are! Torchy’s has just turned 15 years old and we have begun another chapter in the story of this incredible success story as Torchy’s now aims to go public on the stock market for 1 billion dollars worth of shares! Rypka still lives in Austin and he currently remains the owner of Torchy’s Tacos Courtesy of Cuisine | 19

A Close Up Look Into Two Restaurants How two local restaurants have become the popular places they are today By Emily Laux

our stomach growls so you check the time only to realize it’s time for dinner and you forgot to go grocery shopping. The fridge is empty and you have nothing to eat. The only solution is to go to a restaurant, but where will you go? Two local restaurants, both of which have created a community of delicious cuisine and friendly faces are located just down the road. District Kitchen and Chi’lantro are both located in Austin, Texas. District Kitchen, opening in 2013 and Chi’lantro, opening in 2010 have both grown substantially in the last few years. Amidst the financial struggles and the problems that have arised due to the pandemic, these popular places have continued to thrive through their appetizing food and

A view of the outside patio at District Kitchen, a local restaurant in Austin, Texas. Courtesy of Total Happy Hour.

loyal customers. Amir Hajimaleki and his brother, Ali Hajimaleki, are the co-owners of District Kitchen. As well as

being one of the co-owners of the restaurant, Hajimaleki is the executive chef. He knew he wanted to be a restaurateur since high school, as it combined his two favorite things: cooking and running a business. Hajimaleki said that opening a restaurant “can be overwhelming, but also humbling as well.” Opening a restaurant for the first time can be scary, but once you do it, it feels very rewarding as you have accomplished your goal.

The co-owner and head chef of District Kitchen, Amir Hajimaleki, cooks a delicious meal. Courtesy of Forbes.

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Hajimaleki had to face a lot of challenges when he first opened his restaurant, which only led him to learn new things on the way.

“I guess the biggest challenge for me was a lot of the things I wasn’t great at, such as marketing,” Hajimaleki said. “[I learned that] communicating with our team [is important] and making sure that if there are any challenges, we’re working on that to help the team.” On top of running the restaurant, Hajimaleki and his executive pastry chef, Dennis Van, competed in the Netflix baking competition television show Sugar Rush. “The experience was a lot of fun,” Hajimaleki said “And it was just a unique thing to do. Obviously, I was really excited and relieved at the same time, because it’s a lot of pressure. But it was really fun to do something at that [challenging] level.” Hajimaleki and Van were dubbed the “flavor brothers” by Colin Hanks, the guest judge on Sugar Rush, after winning the competition and the $10,000 prize.

“I think that’s why we did so well, because we feel comfortable working together,” Hajimaleki said. “You know, we’ve done local TV stuff, like the news, and we’ve done events and all that stuff.” Amir Hajimaleki works closely with many of his employees, including Sarah Jones. She is the general manager of District Kitchen and oversees all of the necessities involving the front and back of the house.

Chi’lantro is a Korean/Mexican/BBQ fusion restaurant with six locations in Austin, Texas. Photo by Emily Laux.

“Back of house is going to be your kitchen team,” which includes the chefs, and “front of house is going to be your service team,” which includes the waiters, Jones said.

The District Kitchen logo. Photo By Emily Laux.

“I’m in charge of ensuring that everyone has what they need to do their jobs,” Jones said “I help out with paper goods order, things like boxes, to-go cups, because that’s [what the]

front of house uses. I’m also in charge of making any beverages, which are non-alcoholic beverages for soda machines and coffee, tea and that sort of thing, as well as alcoholic beverages.” Similar to District Kitchen, Chi’lantro is also a well known restaurant in the Austin community. Chi’lantro is a clever word game that can be recognized by many, as it is a combination of the words “kimchi” and “cilantro.” This Korean/ Mexican/BBQ fusion restaurant is a popular pick in Austin, founded by owner and head chef Jae Kim. While it started as a small food truck on the streets of Austin, it quickly became the beloved restaurant it is today.

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and our guests are incredibly loyal and amazing, we were able to stay afloat throughout the pandemic. We did see an increase in orders, and then we were operating 25 to 50% for about almost a year,” Jones said. At District Kitchen, some problems did arise regarding the pandemic as COVID-19 took everyone by surprise. Marisol Beltran is the newest General Manager of Chi’lantro at South Lamar, Austin, Texas. Photo By Emily Laux.

As the general manager of one of the six Austin Chi’Lantro locations, Marisol Beltran believes that it is important to be there for your coworkers. “For me, being a manager is when you need to take care of the people working for you in this company. The store runs because you have great co-workers here. The manager should support the [co-workers],” Beltran said. COVID-19 has affected countless businesses around the world. Luckily for District Kitchen and Chi’lantro, they were both able to keep most of their customers during lockdown, meaning business was almost as high as usual. “Thankfully, because we have been in Circle C for eight years

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“Naturally, we didn’t have nearly as many guests. There were sometimes struggles with masks and wearing them. And then, guests thinking that even though we did every other table, it is still too close to certain things,” Jones said. Two Chi’lantro locations were temporarily closed due to the

changes being made due to COVID-19. “It’s affecting us because now everything has to be to-go [orders]. It also really affects us with the masks. The kitchen is hot, so you have to be in the back [of the restaurant] cooking, having your mask on, because you need to protect yourself and the people around you,” Beltran said. “We also have to be apart, for example, you can’t be too close with friends.” While District Kitchen has around the same number of employees now compared to pre-pandemic times, Chi’lantro has seen a decreasing number of co-workers as COVID-19 cases worsened. “Nobody is applying for a job. I mean, I can’t say that they don’t want to work, I don’t know what happened, but no one is applying for a job, so that’s really affected us,” said Bletran. Precautions also had to be taken

“I absolutely love my team pieces. They can also drive me crazy. But they’re all incredible and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.” pandemic, reducing the number of locations from eight to six. Even with six restaurants remaining open, Beltran has noticed many

to keep all of the customers and employees safe during the ongoing pandemic at District Kitchen.

“The majority of my team is vaccinated,” Jones said “I would say 95% of them are vaccinated. We have hand sanitizer stations set up around the restaurant for easy access for guests. We’re just regularly making sure that we’re up to date on our cleaning. Hands are washed constantly, checking on team members, thankfully we’d never had an outbreak here. And sometimes even when someone’s like ‘Hey, it might be allergies’, I’m like, ‘Stay home, take a [COVID-19] test and let us know’, just to make sure that no one’s been in contact with someone that might have [COVID-19] that could affect us.” At Chi’lantro, similar provisions that were not necessary prepandemic, are now regular practices today. “Washing hands, being on top [of everything], and sanitizing everything [are precautions that

have recently been implemented]. We did it every hour - we had to sanitize the restroom. We don’t have customers seated now, but [if we did, the tables] would be touching. So that’s why you have to be on top of that,” Beltran said. The employees are grateful to the customers for continuing to order meals online. “The to-go orders and just our fantastic regulars and the loyalty of them, always coming by and seeing people multiple times a week. That’s what really helps us out,” Jones said. The future is looking bright for both of these restaurants. Hajimaleki, Jones and Beltran all agreed that their only hope for the future of their restaurants is for business to expand. Who knows, maybe you will visit District Kitchen or Chi’lantro sometime soon.

Two of the many appetizing meals you can get at District Kitchen. Photos by Emily Laux.

First invented by Jae Kim, kimchi fries are a clever fusion of kimchi and french fries. Courtesy of H Mart. At District Kitchen, the tables are placed into rows that maximize social distancing during the pandemic. Courtesy of District Austin Kitchen and Cocktails.

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Served By the Slice

A Poll of LASA Students’ Favorite Pizza Restaraunts in Austin By Emily Laux

East Side Pies East Sides Pies is a local pizza restaurant in Austin, Texas. There are three locations, including one near the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Out of the 70 LASA students who contributed to the poll, 32 said that East Side Pies was their favorite pizza restaurant. East Sides Pies has a good gluten free crust and many toppings to choose from. “I like all the different topping options and the general flavor of the crust and sauce,” Maxine Teleki-Avery, a LASA freshman, said.

East Side Pies 47.1 %

Pieous Located on Hargraves Drive in Austin, Texas, Pieous is a local pizza restaurant. 5 out of the 70 LASA students who participated in the poll agreed that Pieous was their favorite pizza restaurant. “I love how droopy and thin the pizzas are. The cheese is really buttery and the ambiance is really good,” a LASA student said after answering the poll.

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Pie 5.9

eous 9%

The LASA freshman took a poll asking what their favorite local pizza restaurant in Austin was. The four choices avaliable were East Sides Pies, Via 313, Mangieri’s, and Pieous. As seen below, East Side Pies was voted favortie pizza restauraunt among the LASA students. What is your favorite pizza restaurant?

Via 313 With five locations, Via 313 is a popular pizza restaurant in Austin. It was voted favorite pizza restaurant by 25 out of the 70 LASA students who took the poll. Via 313 has unique pizza as Jette Campbell mentioned. “It(‘)s the style of pizza is much different from you(r) average pizza around Austin,” Campbell said. Via 313 is also known for its incredible Detriot Deep Dish Pizza.

Via 313 36.8%

Mangieri’s 10.3%

Mangieri’s 7 of the 70 LASA students who took the poll chose Mangieri’s as their favorite pizza restaurant. Located on Slaughter Lane, Austin, Texas, Mangieri’s is known for its square cut pizza. “The ambiance is inviting, and it’s a great place to go with friends, or family, ‘’ LASA freshman Summer McCurdy said. “I really like the crust on the pizza more than others, because it is sturdy enough to hold all the toppings.”

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Barbecue in Business What barbecue means to Texas and what being an owner of a barbecue joint entails. By: Nico Campanell

Sausages fresh from the smoker are put in a tray. Photo by: Nico Campanell

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t’s five in the morning and the sun is coming up. You put the meat on the smokers and proceed to fire them up. The strong aroma of barbecue creeps into your nose, as the day has started for you. Barbecue has always been a staple of Texan culture ever since it’s been around. However barbecue is no longer just a “Texan thing” anymore. Texas barbecue has been popularized around the world with Austin at its center. Owning a barbecue joint in Austin is a very tough job. The restaurant Stiles Switch was opened in 2011 by Shane Stiles and has since been one of the best places to get barbecue around town. When asked about why he started the restaurant, the answer was simple. “I grew up in a small town called Taylor, and we were fortunate to have a really great barbecue restaurant growing up called Louie Miller. [I] didn’t realize how good of barbecue we had until I got a little older and traveled. Lance Kirkpatrick, who worked at that location, retired from that location in 2008. And then in early 2011, I called him and asked him if he would join me to open Style Switch in Austin,” Stiles said. However, for Bryan Bracewell, the current owner of Southside Market, Texas’ oldest barbecue joint, it was a different story. Southside Market was founded in 1886, and Bracewell was given the responsibility of keeping the restaurant alive as it is a family business and tradition. He is the third generation of his family to run the restaurant. Barbecue is a major part of Texan culture, and it has a long, rich history that goes back hundreds of years. Wyatt McSpadden is a photographer that has worked in the barbecue industry taking pictures of barbecue and everything barbecue related, who experienced years of barbecue history, even working with Texas Monthly many times. “I loved barbecue when I was a kid. However, in Amarillo there wasn’t really any remarkable barbecue,” McSpadden said “When I moved here, I was befriended by a

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man named John Morton, who is a writer, food writer, music writer, and he took me to cool barbecue places, in small towns in Lockhart and Taylor- beautiful spaces that had been feeding the local people for years.”

thing, leadership. The ability to find and support a hardworking team is a big part of a business.

“[It] reminds me of my childhood, and what me and my father did together,” Stiles said That was one of the things we really enjoyed doing together. He liked to cook, and I liked to eat it. Just a lot of great memories from being with my dad.”

“Our number one priority in our business is our own team,” Bracewell said. “That’s easy to say, it’s hard to do, but we believe that if we take care of our team members, and give them what they need, and support them properly, then that puts them in a position to give our number two priority our guests, our customers, what they need, with our customers at the top of the list, and if we fail to take care of our home team, then in my mind, turns things upside down.” Bracewell had a very simple and easy way of taking care of his employees.

Being an owner of a restaurant and business demands one major

“We try to treat them as partners, and like equals, and like family.

Ever since then, he has fallen in love with barbecue. Stiles has felt the same way with barbecue being a big part of his life since a young age.

Brisket being smoked on smokers at Stiles Switch BBQ. Stiles Switch BBQ is a local barbeque business in Austin, Texas. Photo by: Nico Campanell

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It’s easy to say and people treat you like family but, it’s harder to live that out on a daily basis, so that starts with serving leadership or tentative serving leadership is respect, and so we respect walk into every day, attempting to respect every individual, for who they are and what they can provide,” Bracewell said. Stiles, too, believed that a company’s employees are what make up your business and that you must treat them well. “The most important part of running a business is the integrity of how you treat your employees,” Stiles said. “If you are a person that your employees and team want to work under and be led by, you’re gonna have a lot more success in the business and you’re gonna have a culture

Southside Market’s sign in Elgin, Texas. wwPhoto by Winston Wanders

that people want to stay and be a part of.” Businesses also need to be able to adapt to overcome obstacles. This was a major road bump for many businesses. Bracewell and Stiles had very similar reactions and adapted in similar ways. “We went from doing counter service, always, to where we had to create an online ordering system overnight,” Stiles said. However, Bracewell took it a step further. “We added drive-throughs at three of our restaurants,” Bracewell said “We started offering curbside service; we started offering pickup service through online ordering; we offered not only our restaurant items, but our meat market items through those services as well.

We also worked with third-party delivery services like doordash. Things like that helped us sell our products and distribute sauce and barbecue to grocery stores,” Bracewell said. COVID-19 is just one of the many obstacles businesses face. Competition with other businesses is another big challenge restaurant owners have to tackle. There are many ways you could deal with competition, but Bracewell had one that has stuck with him. “Those who do a good job with quality and customer service, and take care of their teams and build a good team, those who do that will be successful, and so I don’t try to inhibit my competitors from doing that. I don’t try to undermine them, talk bad about them or anything. They do a good job, they’ll be successful; If we do a good job,

we’ll be successful,” Bracewell said. However he has not always thought like this. “When I was younger, I used to really worry about the competition of who’s gonna win and who’s gonna do this as I’ve matured, I’ve learned that I’ve come to believe that there’s enough business out there for everybody, ” Bracewell concluded. Stiles Switch will continue going strong in Austin. Bracewell’s Southside Market is continuing to open new locations and expanding, and McSpadden will continue to be a successful photographer. They will proceed to shape modern Texas barbecue and barbecue culture as we know it, and especially in Austin.

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Barbecue Around Town A guide to the top five barbecue joints in Austin, Texas By: Nico Campanell

Terry Black’s BBQ Located at 1003 Barton Springs Road Terry Black’s BBQ has authentic Texas barbecue recipes that have lived over four generations.

Terry Black’s BBQ

Brown’s BBQ At this barbecue trailer located at 1901S Lamar Blvd you can get tradtional and delicious barbecue.

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Brown’s BBQ

Franklin’s Barbecue At Franklin’s Barbecue you can get some of, if not, the best barbecue in the city if you can get through the lines that couild last hours. Located at 900 E 11th St.

Franklin’s Barbecue

Micklethwait Craft Meats Located at 1309 Rosewood Ave you can get some of the best barbecue straight from the smoker at the benches or to-go.

Micklethwait Craft Meats

La Barbecue La Barbecue

La Barbecue is located at 2401 E Cesar Chavez St. and here you can get some of the best susages in Texas.

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Austin

Taco

Chilantro

Barbecue

Frenchfries

Pterrys

Foodtruck

Kitchen

Texas

Local

Stilesswitch

Business

Hamburger

Torchys

Knife

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