Austin Eats by LASA Ezine

A u s t i n E at s

Where to go for your next meal

Looking at many local restaurants 1

Food for

the body

is not enough. There must be food for

the soul.

-Dorothy Day 4

Table of Contents

new austin restaurants that adapted to the pandemic

THE BEST NEW RESTURANTS IN TOWN

AUSTIN F. eats

LETTER FROM THE Editors

UNIQUE STADIUM EATS

Trying something local

HEALTHY EATING

THE BEST OF the best

WHICH SMOOTHIE?

Meet the Authors Max Bentley Max Bentley is a fourteen-year-old freshman at LASA who enjoys playing video games, hanging out with friends and various other activities. His favorite school subject is math, intending to explore more into statistics in the future. We chose to write about food because it has been a driving force in the culture of Austin for decades due to the city’s local food scene. He chose to write about the food at Austin FC’s new stadium because he enjoys watching sports, and since Austin FC is the first major league team in Austin, it was only natural for him to write about the spectator experience with food in their stadium.

Joshua Korah Joshua Korah is a fourteen-year-old freshman student at LASA high school who enjoys sports, hanging out with friends, and watching movies. His favorite sport is basketball and plays on the LASA Basketball team. His favorite subject in school is science. We chose to write about food because Austin has a great food scene and he wanted to learn more about it. He chose to write about local restaurants because he has been interested in finding new restaurants that he has not been to and trying them out himself. He enjoys going to these small restaurants and trying their foods.

Leo De Los Santos Leo De Los Santos is a fourteen-year-old freshman who enjoys being with his friends and playing basketball. He loves to watch and play sports with his friends. His favorite subject in school is math. He chose to write about the new restaurants in Austin because of his love for food and his interest in learning about new restaurants. Austin has many places to learn about in the food industry, so writing about many new restaurants is a great topic in his opinion. He enjoys trying these restaurants out.

Lexie Manuel Lexie Manuel is a freshman at LASA who enjoys playing school and club volleyball in her free time. Her favorite subjects in school are math and english. She also loves watching TV shows and Marvel Movies when she can. She chose to write about healthy food options in Austin because she is very interested in the healthy lifestyle. The restaurants in Austin are very interesting to her so she decided to research them more for her article.

Cypress Grill Owner’s favorite dish from his restaraunt, Shrimp Po-boy

Trying Something Local Austin’s Booming Local Food Scene! By: Joshua Korah _____________

not I’m not saying they’re bad, but, you can just tell[when] somebody really cares about the food that they’re making in a certain place and I definitely feel like here in Austin [the food is]definitely a lot, lot higher quality.” Most people, when they want to go to a restaurant, automatically default to a chain restaurant that many people go to. Most people don’t know that there are some great places that are

Food from Hyde Park Bar & Grill, a great place to try in Austin!

s you scroll through google looking for a restaurant, you only seem to find franchises like Cheddars’ and Chuy’s. There is nothing wrong with them, but you want something different. Something new that you haven’t tried. You just want to find a small restaurant to go and eat and have a good time.

Your answer? A local restaurant. There are many local restaurants in Austin that have been very successful despite the pandemic. They have had many financial issues and staff shortages because of this. Many people are not eating out because of the concern of their own safety. They have had many loyal customers come in and gradually gain popularity as Austin becomes bigger and bigger. Even if local restaurants have their success, they also have failures and challenges, especially at a time like this. Local restaurants are a great place to go and try a new atmosphere.

John Haug , the owner of Cypress Grill, owns a local restaurant in South Austin. He has had his own experience with dining out at Austin restaurants, saying “We don’t dine out that much anymore, especially since the pandemic started, but yeah, there are a lot of them and Austin’s always had a lot of good local restaurants.” Over the last 10 years, Austin has become a city of music and foods, and many local restaurants have benefited from that. Korey Turney, an executive chef at Jack Allen’s, also agrees with John Haug saying. “I mean, for the most part, I’m not from Austin. I came here like 10 years ago for school. The Austin scene has definitely got quite a few really, really good restaurants.” “Especially compared from city to city because I came from College Station. And over there, it’s nothing but chain restaurants, Cheddar’s and things like that. I’m

“You can just tell[when] somebody really cares about the food that they’re making in a certain place and I definitely feel like here in Austin [the food is]definitely a lot, lot higher quality.” more local and have better quality of food. There are many examples of local restaurants and you don’t have to feel left out on not having a place to go. These restaurants all had some challenges they had to face, but some good things have resulted in them being determined. Haug had to face some challenges when first trying to open his own restaurant. “Yeah, we had lots of financial issues.” John explained. He had many challenges when he first started his business, and he struggled to figure out

Take a look at the inside of a local South Austin restaraunt, Cypress Grill.

how to make sure his business was profitable, while at the same time ensuring his food was still top quality. This is a common theme among many small businesses and restaurants. There are also many challenges behind the scenes that most people don’t realize. John says, “Things are so overwhelming. There’s a financial strain. You’ve had to manage people up to that point, but you never had to worry about hiring and firing, you really never had to really worry about the meat and potatoes of

Human Resources. You know, counseling employees and writing disciplinary action and worrying about unemployment filings that negatively could impact your state unemployment tax rate. You know, paying the bills, managing cash flow, trying to figure out how to make sure you have enough money for payroll and how to measure the success of your business.” Most restaurants have some challenges here and there but they haven’t been as bad as when they first opened. That has not been the case with COVID 19. COVID has

had a big impact on all businesses. Most people thought that if anything, restaurants would stay open because all humans need food. That was not the case. Bick Brown, the owner of Hyde Park Bar & Grill had something to say about his effects. “Well it’s certainly COVID, it has affected our volume and our revenue but we have scaled our labor back to accommodate for it but we’re still trying to catch back up to the numbers that we were doing before COVID,” he explained. “Well, when the COVID

kitchens, upgrade equipment, and do all the stuff that we should have done before the pandemic hit. I’ve been trying to get this thing now for a year and a half. And it’s been difficult. So I think we have done a bunch of things to improve our position so that when the pandemic is over, we’ll still be standing and in a strong position.” Most local restaurants have these challenges that they have to overcome to even begin their restaurants and stay in business. But by staying dedicated and determined, these local places give some of the best food they have to offer. Korey Turney talked about the food that they serve and the difference between them and other restaurants.

first hit, we closed our dining rooms completely and so we were 100% takeout delivery and pickup but in the last year our dining rooms have opened and we are doing both now. I’m spending most of my time these days dealing with the immediate response to how we’re going to deal with COVID.” Even after COVID hit, the expectations might have been too little. “When this COVID thing hit over a year and a half ago, I thought, Okay, this is going to be four months, we’ll take advantage of this downtime, remodel the

“I mean, we’re getting fresh ingredients pretty much daily. We get out, we produce orders every day we work with from farm to table, which is a delivery service that goes pretty much straight from the farms to us.” Like Korey said earlier, you can really tell the difference between when people actually care about the food and when they do it fully for the money and don’t care as much about the food. Going out to a small restaurant in your area and taking a break from all the chains could seriously be beneficial to you and the business. Most local restaurants are far better in both price and quality than big franchises. Cypress Grill, Jack Allen’s Kitchen, and Hyde Park Bar & Grill are all great examples of places you should try on your next dining out! Next time you dine out, maybe try something new!

Best of the Best Let’s look at some of the best local restaraunts in Austin. From Italian to Asian, Austin has some of the best in Texas. No matter what food you are craving, Austin has a place for you! Here are the best restaraunts and ratings from Yelp and where they are located:

I-35

AUSTIN

Patrizi’s

Lick Honest Ice Cream

El Alma

Sunset Valley

1618 Asian Fusion

Terry Black’s Barbecue

Austin Airport

“Chocolate Ice Cream Sundae” by TheCulinaryGeek is licensed with CC BY 2.0, “bbq” by gibsonsgolfer is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, “Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa” by jpellgen (@1179_jp) is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, “Spaghetti with Meatballs 02” by TheCulinaryGeek is licensed with CC BY 2.0, “Sushi 003” by cofluoxetine is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Ratings Based on Yelp and their locations By: Joshua Korah 776 Reviews Patrizi’s: 2307 Manor Rd

1000 Reviews El Alma: 1025 Barton Springs Rd

4147 Reviews Terry Black: 1003 Barton Springs Rd

1350 Reviews

4.5 4

4.5

Lick: 1100 S Lamar Blvd Ste 1135

4.5

1300 Reviews 1618 Asian: 1618 East Riverside Dr

4.5 13

Photo of "research and development" items from Loro

New Austin Restaurants that adapted to the Pandemic

Newest restaurants that beat COVID to success By: Leo De Los Santos 14

s you walk into the restaurant, you can smell the delicious scent of tasteful ingredients. You are waiting in line for a table, and your mouth is watering just thinking about all the food you’ll be having. You are finally seated and the waiter walks up to you. They ask what you would like to eat, and you can practically imagine yourself ordering everthing that the restaurant cooks, because you genuinely want to eat everything on the menu. But the question is, how did you get to know about this restaurant you’re in? Well, I am here to tell you about many of the restaurants that you haven’t heard of. I’m sure you have tried many foods, American, Mexican, Chinese, etc. But what about specifically in Austin? Have you been going out

often? I assume not because of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, many new restaurants have opened that many people have not heard of. Not many people ate out during COVID because it was unsafe, so I am here to tell you some of the restaurants to try out if you are looking for a tasty meal. Many of the restaurants that have been newly industrialized have been very successful, such as Loro, which is a part of the Uchi company, and many others. The head of Hai Hospitality, Leo Barrera, works with many restaurants including Loro, Uchi, and Uchiko. Loro has gained attraction during the pandemic with its asian barbeque type of style, as well as how they have always had an outdoor deck to make eating during COVID a little

Photo of a dish at a fancy restaurant located in Austin

safer. Uchi and Uchico are both Japanese restaurants, primarily focused on sushi. Loro opened just about two years ago, and has been really successful despite the COVID pandemic because most of the area of the restaurant is outside. Loro has gained a lot of attention during the spread of CoronaVirus, and is still gaining much attraction to this day. I go there myself a decent amount because I really enjoy the outdoor area and the tasty food. Barrera said, “It’s really interesting, because we were very lucky with Loro. There’s a lot of outdoor space, right? And when we got the space, when we got that lot of land, we really liked the idea of all the trees, all the outdoors... But when COVID happened, the first thing that was recommended is that you can have restaurants that have

"You know, we in general, we have a point of view, that we feel that it's an all boats rise with the tide situation. What I mean by that is that we feel like, if we're in a community, and a neighborhood where restaurants are doing well, we're going to do well," - Leo Barrera

outdoor space that take advantage of it because it’s safer outside, that’s a good idea. And for us, it was like oh my god, we’d have all this outdoor space. All right. So it was very easy for us to just start pulling tables to be simple to put outside the restaurant and operate.” Loro gained a very recurring audience, as people go back regularly because the food is so spectacular. Someone who tries a new food that they enjoy will regularly go back to have it again, as any normal person would. Loro is not the only restaurant gaining attraction, many others are too. One of these restaurants is 1417, which was recently built, more specifically last year. 1417 was opened on the 30th of June, 2021, and is located at 1417 S 1st St, Austin, TX 78704. 1417 has gained much attraction over the past year.

Photo of the "Brisket Plate" dish from Loro.

It is still gaining recurring audiences every day, meaning people that go back to the restaurant very often. This is because of their tasty meals and fancy Raw Bar items. Gaining attraction so quickly was a lot for 1417 to handle, because they had a small platform to make reservations on that was much too out of date. As Allison Welch, the Co-Owner of 1417, says, “I mean once a week off the press release and everything, we were getting a lot of buzz and we were getting a lot of word of mouth in the neighborhood, we started booking like 75 covers a day, which was just unmanageable on this platform because it was a little old.” It has been tough for many restaurants because being a newly industrialized business during COVID has been very hard

The Oasis at Lake Travis to manage, as not many people show up to your restaurant. Restaurants like 1417 have adapted to the lifestyle of current times, and are very successful at the moment. These are all restaurants that have taken being successful into their own hands these past couple of years and are on the rise to become a very popular restaurant. Over the next few years, if they continue to live up to the standard of safety precautions during these tough times and have lots of word of mouth, they will rise before they know it. Currently, Loro is very successful as well as Uchiko and Uchi, which are all owned by the organization "Hai Hospitality."

"And we would do those things and ended up doing them about three times a week for a while until we were able to fully open up a patio and then move to a reservation system. And that's when things really got going in June. You know, we started getting on waitlists and looking out, you know, and it just happened very quickly," - Allison Welch 17

The Best New Restaurants In Town!

Google Reviewer’s 2020-21 Ratings of Recently Created Restaurants: Rating out of 5

Restaurant Name

Abby Jane Bakeshop

Amount of Ratings 83

4.8

Distant Relatives

4.9

Dough Boys

4.9

4.5

Jewboy Sub Shop Love Supreme Supreme

4.7

Fil n’ Viet

106 121

4.4

Jjim BBQ

119

4.8

5.0

Rouge Radish Foreign & Domestic

4.5

649

Sala and Betty

4.5

808

1417 Loro

4.7 4.6

Here is a dish from Loro, a newly createed restaurant in Austin that took off last year.

84 1493 “Fancy food, Gemoss” by Janitors is licensed with CC BY 2.0

A Tour Of Austin:

Here is a map of some newly created Austin restaurants, in Austin of course. These are many

of the big hitters that might interest you when looking for a new restaurant to try out.

Photo courtesy of Ralph Arvesen on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons

Austin F.Eats by Max Bentley

An inside look into the unique food that comes with Austin Football Club’s new stadium.

tadium food is pretty much always seen as bland, dull and overall unappealing. If you’ve ever been to a generic stadium before, you know what to expect. Just hot dogs, pretzels and maybe some nachos at a couple of concession stands. It’s a tried-andtrue lineup that still works, but that leaves much to be desired. When Austin’s new soccer team, Austin FC, came to town with their shiny new stadium in 2021, they decided to shake up the scene. Austin is known for its local businesses, with food being at the forefront. It was only natural for all of the food to come from Ausin-local establishments. From up-and-comers, to now-national chains that haven’t forgotten their roots, to established spots, Q2 Stadium (Austin FC’s stadium) has something for everyone. While Austin FC may not be winning many games in their inaugural season, the people they’ve contracted are. Alex Wu is a co-founder of Bao’d Up, a local Austin fast-casual bao (a type of steamed dumpling with a bun for bread) chain founded in 2017. He says that before Austin FC contracted them, they’d never had any large-scale event experience.

in other successful fast-casual restaurants, like Chipotle, to better accommodate people coming in for in-person dining. Afterwards, they realized that they could change their stadium location to reflect the new changes. “What we did first was just serve bao in a very traditional way, just steam them and then serve them in the bamboo steamers,” said Wu. “So that was okay for the first few games, just serving it in a very traditional way. And then in the last few weeks, we realized that, hey, we should probably do more to our baos to make it more appetizing and appealing. And we have a system to execute on that. So what we started the last two games where, not only do you get to pick different varieties of baos, but we can add sauce and toppings, crunchy stuff, or coleslaw, things on top, and with our signature sauce.” Wu says that this style made the operation more like street food, like something you would see at a hot dog stand, where you load the hot dog with toppings. The result is a really unique Asian fusion concept that is standardized across their main restaurants, their food trailer, and their stadium location.

“I think of our operation as a small startup,” Wu said. “So there’s a lot of trial and error. Before [Q2] stadium, we had no big event experience like that.”

Bao’d Up’s mission is to eventually make bao readily available, and to be put into the same overall food category of pizza, tacos and other now standard dishes that were once written off as niche ethnic foods.

During the season, Bao’d Up renovated all of their locations from a hands-off pickup approach to something you might see

“With the new system, the new flow, we kind of transformed bao, or this very specific category. Right now, it might seem like a very

niche Asian food category, but I think, with the new system, and the new design, they can be really flexible, and it can truly become a platform.” Wu said. “And also, as a proof of concept, stayed in operation, and all of our restaurant operations after the renovation have been going really, really smoothly. We’re more confident that we can take it to the next level.”

“Right now, it may seem like a very niche Asian food category, but with the new system, and the new design, they can be really flexible, and it can truly become a platform.” For now, though, Wu is focused on improving their brand and working out the details of an efficient and streamlined bao service. “But we are a really small team. So right now, we don’t really have the resources to really accelerate the growth. And I also think our system, while it’s showing some promise, there are a lot of details that we need to work on first. So right now we’re not really in a rush to grow aggressively.” Wu said. “I think the vision is what’s guiding us and what’s motivating us to stay alive, to just work hard because that’s where we want to be, but it might take a long time because one brand can’t actually create that momentum. The vision is always going to be there, but we focus on the payments tomorrow, what happens tomorrow, and what

Photo via David Berkowitz on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons

happens next week to try to get better every day.”

ome places at the stadium didn’t even first intend to have the part of the business that took off first. Kristen Fields is a co-founder of mmmpanadas, an Austin-based empanada food truck and trailer. They’ve been running the truck since 2008. Their original intention with the business was to be in the frozen food aisle in grocery stores.

that’s where the scale is. We can be in 20,000 stores, and you’ll make a whole lot more money, as opposed to having two food trucks.”

“Our vision for mmmpanadas was always to be in the frozen food aisle of grocery stores,” said Fields. “So that’s actually a completely different industry [than the food truck], it’s called consumer packaged goods. That business model is very different from selling it off of the food truck, off of the food trailer. We like it, because

“We purchased a food truck on eBay with a credit card,” said Fields. “And it had been a pizza truck. So, it kind of had an oven in it, but not really for steaming empanadas. It took us a couple years really to get the truck outfitted well enough that it was appropriate for the items that we were selling. And in the beginning,

It took them around 10 years to “have all those T’s crossed and I’s dotted” to get approved for resale. In the meantime, they opened a food truck, which took a while to get ready for what they were selling.

we were learning everything on our own on the fly.” Eventually, the investment paid off. When food trucks took off in Austin, there was little-to-no regulation of them, allowing Fields and her husband to park the truck pretty much anywhere. “We were the first non-traditional food truck in Austin. And so we were just pulling up onto the side of the road and opening the window, because we could do that,” said Fields. “There was no risk, there was very little regulation around food truck vending, in 2008-2009.”

“We were just pulling up onto the side of the road and opening the window, because we could do that.”

Fields says that the biggest challenge her business faces now is having the capital to do new things like expanding into wholesale. “The cash that it takes to have your product placed in the stores, it’s expensive. And so it’s very cash heavy, before you even are able to sell an empanada in a grocery store. So having the capital to use and trade spend right now is the most challenging thing we face.” From a business standpoint, Fields says that Q2 Stadium is very similar to grocery stores in that they’re sold in bulk at similar places.

“That’s a food service account, is what I classify Q2 Stadium as,” said Fields. “That’s where they buy our empanadas in bulk, and they keep them there, and they serve them to customers and fans at the stadium. We’ve been doing that with Whole Foods since 2012.” At the moment, Fields’s main priority is to expand their wholesale operation, noting that their truck and trailer were “sort of this tangent we went on”. But what about more traditional stadium food, like hot dogs? Q2 Stadium does offer them, but with a twist. Miguel Kaiser is the owner of T-Loc’s (short for Tuscon Locals), a Sonoran-style hot dog trailer. A usual Sonoran-style dog comes with a bacon-wrapped hot dog, beans, tomatoes, onion, jalapeno sauce, mustard and mayonnaise. They’re popular in the Mexican state of Sonora, as well as Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona, but not really known anywhere else. Kaiser chose Austin as a place to introduce the food. “We researched like ‘hey, where should we go, move somewhere else, introduce this type of food as a new item somewhere’, and we started in Austin,” said Kaiser. “Out here, people are open and flexible to try food trucks, food trailers, and I thought we’d create a business to start small that way, try to grow a foundation and then see where we could go from there.” Kaiser says that one hard part of trying to sell Sonora-style dogs is that most people haven’t tried them

before. “The hardest part [about] going somewhere outside of the culture is that people don’t know what is a Sonoran hot dog. They heard about it, or they saw a video about it, but never had it. It takes time to develop that,” said Kaiser. “You have a lot of people like ‘oh I want a chili dog’ or ‘I want something else’ and we don’t do that. We do this type of hot dogging, basically take it or leave it, but we’ll make it their way.” Along with consistency, Kaiser says that Austin’s acceptance of different food types and local businesses made them into who they are today. “Our success was not just opening the door, it’s being consistent and keeping on going and trying and building customers to your palate, or to their palate,” Kaiser said. “Our cuisine builds up, and they enjoy it and they keep on coming in or they talk about it and that’s how it goes. We’re proud of what we do, how far we’ve gone, and we thank the community for it.”

“We’re proud of what we do, how far we’ve gone, and we thank the community for it.” Kaiser says that the biggest challenge he faces when running the food truck is enduring the long work hours that comes with operating one.

Photo adapted from the T-Loc’s Instagram page. Used with permission.

“It’s physical endurance more than anything else, long hours 8am10pm, non stop, the truck only opens up certain hours, but behind the scenes about preparation, purchasing, just being consistent,” Kaiser said. “The thing is all about being consistent and listening to your customer and meeting their needs.”

Kaiser orders and ships hot dog buns from a Tucson bakery to Austin, giving the hot dog buns local ties. For Austin FC, Kaiser orders green hot dog buns. “The buns come in from Arizona, from Tucson, Arizona, and our baker specially bakes the bread for us, like for the stadium we say, ‘hey, we need green buns’ so in the

stadium people are like, ‘oh my god, I need a green hot dog bun’,” Kaiser says. “But that is not only a hot dog, it’s Sonora-style, that represents a region, or where we’re from, and things like that.”

ow that the hard questions about operation and whatnot are over, what’s your go-to order for your own restaurant? Fields says that her favorite items are the hatch chili chicken empanada and their vegan black bean empanada. “The hatch chili chicken, it’s so good. I love how there’s so much protein in it. And it has a little spice to it,” says Fields. “I’m not hungry for hours just after one empanada. I also am a big fan of our vegetarian and our vegan empanadas. We do a vegan spicy black bean that has a ton of veggies in it, you know, and you dip it in a little salsa. And it’s really, really good.” Wu says that his favorite item on the menu is hard to say, but the juicy pork bao and the spicy brisket are really good. While the juicy pork is a more traditional Chinese recipe, he says, the spicy brisket has a Texas twist. “I do want to say, for the steamed bun, I want to say the juicy pork and brisket. They are pretty solid products because the juicy pork is very traditional. The brisket has a Texas twist on it, but the juicy pork is actually a rather traditional Chinese recipe.” Wu said. “Kids love those as well, not just adults, my kids could eat juicy pork all day long, eat that every day for breakfast.”

“My kids could eat juicy pork all day long, eat that every day for breakfast.”

Recently, Wu says that Bao’d Up has expanded to have some more variety of cuisine, with them adding kimchi to their menu. Wu says that adding the kimchi to the spicy brisket not only gives it more of a kick, it allows it to have more of a Korean vibe. He hopes to expand to other Asian cuisines like Japanese or Indian soon. Kaiser says that despite being known for their hot dogs, their burritos were the first thing on the menu to get noticed. “Kind of funny, we’re known for our Sonora hot dogs, and they’re [now] ranked best in Texas. But nothing got ranked best in Texas [for a while]. The burrito, our carne asada burrito, the third thing on the menu, our tortillas come in from the state of Sonora, Mexico, half pound of grilled steak, mashed avocado, pico de gallo, simple, but to the point,” said Kaiser. “We’re a West Coast trailer, everyone from the West Coast shows up to us for a burrito, so we’re pretty proud about it. We’re registered as a hotdog cart. But you sell fries, ranch fries, tacos, burritos, quesadillas, other things like that.”

everybody competed in town, we got best in beef. Then we got best burrito in Texas, then we got best hot dog in Texas,” Kaiser added. “For being a small business, we got a trifecta going on. So it’s kind of cool.” Austin is a city of many local restaurants. While some haven’t been as fortunate as others when it comes to staying open, the ones that remain are some of the best of the best. From twists on old staples, to establishments in the food scene, to new types of food entirely, Austin, and by extension its soccer team, pay homage to those that came before them by supporting and aiding local businesses in their quest to stay relevant in the age of rapid expansion.

Eventually, their whole menu started to get noticed, and people liked it. Not only did their hot dogs and burritos take off, their tacos were lauded with praise too. Right now, their food is considered some of the best stuff in Texas, despite being a small food trailer. “We have a little trifecta, we did taco championship for nationals, regional going to Nationals. And

UNIQUE STADIUM EATS

by Max Bentley

NOTE: not Gridiron Burger Challenge burger

Did you know that Super Bowl Sunday is the second-largest day for American food consumption, only after Thanksgiving? With numbers like that, the stadiums that house tens of thousands of people every week for a couple of months need to have some food for everyone. The Arizona Cardinals may have taken it a step further with their Gridiron Burger Challenge, a $75 seven-pound burger featuring five 1/3 pound beef patties, five beef hot dogs, five bratwursts, twenty slices of American cheese, eight slices of bacon, eight chicken tenders, twelve ounces of french fries, onions, pickles and tanker sauce, all on a 10-inch bun. If you finish it within an hour, you get a Cardinals jersey and your photo on the scoreboard.

NOTE: contains brisket and not bacon

Barbecue largely differs around the United States. In central Texas, barbecue is beef-heavy, with lots of brisket. In Kansas City, the sauce is the focus. In Memphis, barbecue is known for consisting largely of pulled pork and pork ribs. FedExForum in Memphis serves a “Brisket Mac n’ Cheese Conewich”. It’s got brisket slow-cooked for 22 hours on the bottom, a threecheese blend mac and cheese on top, all wrapped up in a breaded cone.

Sources: USDA.gov; azcentral.com; bleacherreport.com; food-management.com; enroute.aircanada.com, “A woman holding a large hamburger on the background of fast food” by wuestenigel is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/, “Rocky mountain oysters” by Matt Johnson is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/, “Poutine” by mttsndrs is licensed with CC BY-NC 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/, “Bacon Mac and cheese cone! #carsland #dca” by kerotab is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/. All images were modified by making them transparent.

Here are four different foods from each of the big four pro sports leagues.

America’s national pastime was the first sport to really become a household name when it comes to stadium food, but there’s more to their concessions than just hot dogs, cracker jacks and popcorn. The Colorado Rockies serve fried oysters at Coors Field in Denver. “But wait,” I hear you saying. “How do they have oysters if Colorado is landlocked and Denver is a mile higher than sea level?” These aren’t oysters. These are Rocky Mountain oysters. While regular oysters may come from the sea, Rocky Mountain oysters come from the testicles of a cow.

Hockey differs from pretty much every sports league in the US in that it has expanded into a lot of Canada. Every other US sports league has just two Canadian teams combined. The NHL currently has seven. Naturally, Canadians brought their food with them. A staple Quebec food is poutine, and Quebec’s NHL team, the Canadiens, may have given a little too much. Their “Championne Poutine” is $50 for five pounds of poutine, consisting of fries, sweet potato fries, two types of cheeses, gravy, onion rings, pogos (corn dogs), pulled pork, green onions, and three different sauces. Like the aforementioned Gridiron Burger Challenge, if you finish it within an hour, you get your name on a Wall of Fame. 27

HEALTHY EATING The many ways to have nutritious food in Austin By: Lexie Manuel

ou can hear the crackling of the oil in the pan, and the smell of the spices in the air as you prepare yourself a meal. The sound of the knife cutting through all the green, leafy veggies, and the tears in your eyes from cutting onions for your food. Recently, more and more people are realizing that eating nutritious food is something that will greatly improve your health and life. Luckily, in Austin, there are a lot

of restaurants that serve many nutritious meals. These restaurants are dedicated to providing healthy eating for as many people as possible. Having a nutritious diet helps to take care of yourself throughout your day and leaves you feeling better. One of the things that makes the food nutritious is the ingredients being used when making it. Barney Hannagan, the head chef of the restaurant Two Hands, says, “If food is coming from an area of sustainability and

People enjoy a healthy snack of fresh fruit.

good quality, it’s going to have a better result, and you’re gonna have a better result in feeling healthier.” Quality ingredients and produce are important when it comes to preparing good quality food, and many restaurants in Austin are conscious about the quality of the ingredients they use. Nicole Patouhas is a cofounder of The Well, a restaurant in Austin that focuses on providing nutritious meals that fit all diets so that customers have easily available food for them. She says that The Well believes that ingredients are extremely important and makes sure to sustainably source produce that is part of the “Dirty Dozen” so that the customers are getting the best ingredients possible with the best final product.

for to-go meals have gone up five dollars per case. Especially during the pandemic, restaurants are not the only way to get healthy food, as you can always prepare nutritious food for yourself at home. It may seem daunting, but so many people have now found convenient ways to make their food, and also have it full of nutrients for their health. To remain socially distant and safe, you can order CSA boxes that are delivered to your it difficult for restaurants to get house. CSA stands for Community enough supplies to work with in Supported Agriculture, so their kitchens. “Production has everything in these boxes is from slowed down or had stopped local farmers markets. By buying during COVID,” says Hannagan in these boxes, you are supporting reference to the farms that grow the the farmer and getting great, fresh produce, who are also struggling ingredients. during the pandemic. The prices Shefaly Ravula is a home chef for a lot of fruits and vegetables living in Austin, and her philosophy have gone up because the farms are is, “In the home, I prefer to just try charging more to stay afloat during to eat as nutrient-dense as possible, the pandemic. It’s not just produce because I know that we’re going though, basic supplies needed by to have a holiday coming up, or restaurants have increased prices there’s going to be a party coming as well. For example, the price of up or whatever.” This helps Ravula the containers that Two Hands use and her family have more balanced A healthy quiche made with vegetables.

The Dirty Dozen is a list made by the EWG (Environmental Working Group) to tell consumers which foods to be careful with because of the amount of pesticide residue on them. “If you get good quality, fresh ingredients. Once you start

cooking and eating that way, you really won’t miss processed food much because you’ll you’ll realize there’s a big taste difference.” -Shefaly Ravula

Fresh fruits served in a leaf.

The Clean 15 is a list made to share the foods with the least amount of residue, which usually includes produce with thicker skin like avocados, which are at the top of the 2021 list. Unfortunately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of food was wasted. This made

diets because if you are always having less healthy food when you’re out, and then you come home to have even more of the same food, chances are you won’t

“With social media, people are easily more easily able to promote healthy eating through their lifestyle and lifestyle fulfillment.” -Barney Hannagan get enough nutrients. Cooking nutritious food at home may seem daunting, but in reality, it can be made simple by prepping properly. “Planning is key,” Ravula said when she was asked about something helpful to do when making food at home. Planning in advance and pre-cooking things on Saturday or Sunday to have for the week is a good way to stay organized, as it will also help you avoid coming home from work or school and reaching for something

unhealthy in the pantry that you wouldn’t usually reach for if you had any other options for food. Austin has always had somewhat of a natural health focus, so when it started becoming easier for people to find these foods, it was no surprise. There was also a certain interest in fitness in the city, so that segued into nutrition and finding more ways to take care of your body. “A lot of people are also now educated, not only about what food does for you but also what it does for communities,” said Hannagan. He was talking about the impact that eating healthy does on the areas that the food is coming from, and how you’re supporting these businesses and farmers when you buy from places that sell their products instead of grabbing a can of veggies from the grocery store. Social media is also another way that healthy eating has spread quickly, more people are able to share their healthy lifestyles, and inspire other people to try these new things. Cooking from home is

also easier with more technology because you can now check apps like The New York Times cooking app. You can also check sites like YouTube and TikTok that have a lot of channels with recipes and tips when it comes to preparing food. Austin has many options when it comes to finding nutritious and sustainable food, so taking care of yourself in that way has never been easier. Healthy food has become much more accessible through grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and restaurants, so now far more people can find these foods. Farmers’ markets are great because they let you support the community and a local farmer while also getting good, trustworthy food. If those aren’t good options, you can also cook the food for yourself at home because getting enough nutrients through food is very important for your health. Eating healthy is a great way to take care of your body, and Austin is a great place to find out how you want to get those foods.

Bread with green vegetable on white ceramic plate. Image sourced from Pexels.

Assorted sliced fruits in white ceramic bowl. Image sourced from Pexels.

Assorted vegetable lot. Image sourced from Pexels.

VANILLA BLAST

PINK BERRY

VANILLA PROTEIN POWDER 1 SCOOP FROZEN MANGO - 1/2 CUP FROZEN PINEAPPLE 1/2 CUP UNSWEEETENED ALMOND MILK - 1 CUP

How To To make each of these smoothies, all you need are the ingredients listed and a blender. The first step is to measure and pour all the ingredients into a blender. Next, blend everything together until it is fully combined. Finally, pour your smoothie into a glass and enjoy your healthy snack! If you think the smoothie tastes too bitter, don’t hesitate to add some honey or pure maple syrup to the mix to sweeten it. To give the smoothie a thinner consitency, add more liquid to the blender. To make the drink thicker, add frozen fruit.

FRESH BLACKBERRIES - 2 CUPS KALE - 1/2 CUP COCONUT WATER 1/2 CUP BLUEBERRIES - 1/4 CUP PINEAPPLE CHUNKS 1/4 CUP

UNSALTED CASHEW BUTTER - 1/2 TABLESPOON FROZEN STRAWBERRIES 1 1/2 CUP RASPBERRIES - 1/2 CUP MILK OF CHOICE 1 CUP COCONUT CREAM 1/2 CUP

BLACK BERRY AND KALE

Which Smoothie? By: Lexie Manuel

A smoothie is a great snack to have during the day for some extra nutrients. Healthy smoothies are very simple to make as long as you use the right ingredients. These smoothies all use fruits and vegetables and have minimal sugar in them. My information for this story is from the websites A Sweet Pea Chef, Life Made Sweeter, and Vitamix.

AVOCADO - 1/2 OF A SMALL AVOCADO

green avocado

SPINACH - 2 CUPS COCONUT WATER 2 CUPS FROZEN MANGO - 1 CUP FRESH LEMON JUICE 1/2 TABLESPOON GINGER 1/8 INCH KNOB

“food” by shindz is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0