If you want to sample the real food of Austin, Texas, you can go in two directions:

1) Breakfast tacos from a roadside trailer;
2) A farm dinner where everything is locally produced, right…over…there.

We went with the latter for a singular — and delicious — experience of the city.

In the last year, the Slow Food movement has increasingly become a part of our lives.  At home, we seek out food that’s been sustainably produced, but when we travel, we’re also looking for food that’s local — specific to its place in the world.

I read about Dai Due Supper Club in the July 2008 Food + Wine; having a community meal set right in the midst of the farm where the food is harvested seemed both gastronomically altruistic and pretty darn romantic.  When a trip to Austin turned into a chance to meet up with my parents and collectively skip Passover, a farm dinner seemed the perfect seder replacement.  

Dai Due is the husband-and-wife team of Tamara Mayfield and chef Jesse Griffiths.  To set up our dinner, I contacted Tamara by email shortly after booking our trip to Austin.  She soon sent their schedule for our chosen weekend, and I pre-booked by sending a $50 per-person deposit by check.  Dinners average $75 per person and are BYOB.

We attended the Farmhouse Challenge Dinner at Rain Lily Farm, which, I was surprised to discover, was in Austin proper…albeit on the economically depressed east side of town.   My parents can attest to the crestfallen look on my face when we pulled up to what looked like a funky old shack and a scruffy lawn — but I’d been too quick to judge.

Nestled beside garden rows bursting with spring produce and flowers, not far from an oil drum barbecue, fenced-in goats, and an eclectic scattering of chickens, were long tables set with oil lamps and glassware.  A folk/jazz duo, featuring guitar, clarinet and a moonshine jug, serenaded the evening.  We were greeted with a grapefruit cocktail and encouraged to ice our wine and wander the fields.  

About 500 feet from the street, we’d entered a whole other world.

As our 32 fellow diners began to arrive, we visited fluffy chicks in the tiny greenhouse, strolled along the edge of Austin’s concrete “river,” and said hello to Twig, the farm’s resident tabby cat.  We marveled at beet greens, plump onions, spiky artichokes, mint, and a hodgepodge of lettuces, all thriving together.

The produce here made up only part of the challenge, designed to promote Farmhouse Delivery, a new service that sources Austin-local foods.  Every element of our 11-dish dinner featured products from nearby farms and businesses, down to butter, honey, and even bison (the latter of which were turned into truly gorgeous meatballs).  

Our early April dinner proved especially exciting for Jesse, as this was his once-a-year chance to harvest enough fava beans (served pureed with green garlic) and artichokes (paired with lamb in a flaky pot pie) to feed a whole crowd.

Meeting a bunch of strangers while gorging ourselves on the fat of the land proved a fascinating study of Austin.  We were seated with a pair of middle-aged, conservative Republicans on one side, a bi-racial lesbian couple on the other, and a stylish young family across from a group of gay male friends.  The early 30-something lesbians proved the most intriguing, as they’re just about to leave the city for a new life on a South Dakota farm; to them, Dai Due’s mission isn’t just a dining concept.

After four fun hours, the evening wound down with poppyseed pound cake, Third Coast Coffee, and a bluesy song of love.  We’d eaten ourselves silly and discovered that:  

Farm dinner = truly wonderful idea.

For farm dinners in other parts of the country:

Portland, OR: Plate & Pitchfork
Old Lyme, CT: Dinners at the Farm
Champaign, IL:  Prairie Fruits Farm
Asheville, NC: Maverick Farms
Boulder, CO: Meadow Lark Farm Dinners
The entire US and beyond:  Outstanding in the Field

Travels With Two

We just got back from a wonderful weekend in Austin with my parents, who flew there from Maryland to meet us…and collectively blow off Passover.

Brilliant idea, as Austin is nothing if not a city in which to defy convention.

Austin makes no pretensions to being a tourist destination, but that’s exactly why it’s such a fun place to spend a long vacation weekend.  Unlike the life you’ll have left back at home, here there’s no pressure to do anything at all.

My mom managed to unearth a manila folder’s worth of things to do in Austin, while I brought little more than Budget Travel’s 25 Reasons We Love Austin and the suggestions of some friends who’ve lived there.  In the vein of Buckaroo Banzai, we all pretty much agreed that wherever the days took us…there we’d be.  

Looking back at the weekend, we saw a staggering amount of Austin…but with a few more days could have seen a lot more.

Here’s what we did see:

The Harry Ransom Center and the University of Texas at Austin campus.  The quiet, pristine and entirely free Ransom Center houses a Gutenberg Bible, the archive of legendary Hollywood producer David O. Selznick, a huge collection of South African Judaica, priceless works of art…and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s underwear.  While on campus, don’t miss the Texas Tower, where sniper Charles Whitman went berserk in 1966, and the stately brick-and-iron Littlefield Home (pictured here).

Drove an hour or so outside town to the soft, green Texas Hill Country.  My mom hadn’t been back to Austin in over 40 years, but could hardly wait to lay eyes on the Hill Country again.  Reaching off for miles, hills here are more like mesas covered with fluffy low trees and grasses, spiky tufts of cactus, Texas bluebonnets and prickly poppies nestled here and there.  The early April day was hazy, warm, and dreamy in olive, seafoam, forest and chartreuse.  We passed up caverns and the Texas Wine Trail in favor of a drive.

We later learned from a local oenephile that the wineries here are good for architecture and views, but need more time to produce decent wine.  Don’t imagine that’ll stop the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival (April 16-19) from being a success.

Looped around to Georgetown, TX, a truly vintage town, with a central square built between the late 1800s and early 1900s.  We took a break here for coffee sniffin’ and Austin’s local Amy’s Ice Cream at the Cianfrani Coffee Company.  It was a couple of weeks shy of the town’s Red Poppy Festival, and store windows are painted with the bright flowers; off the town square and back amongst houses that range from stately Victorian to rustic funk, real poppies dot parks and lawns.

Wandered through the romantic garden paths of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  The center’s mission is to preserve the native plants of America, but the gardens here display only the native plants of Texas.  Wind your way up the stone observation tower, take a seat by a trickling stream and watch butterflies flit past, or just breathe in a blossom or two. The Texas bluebonnets bloomed early this year due to early rain followed by near-drought conditions, so in a few weeks they’ll be gone; usually they peak in May.  

Awaited the evening surge at the Bat Bridge. The South Congress Bridge sits adjacent to our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Austin, so we were able to get a great seat on the lawn just below the action.  When this bridge was widened in 1980, the resulting crevices between the added slabs of concrete became the daily nesting grounds for 3.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats.  At dusk, pregnant females stream out from beneath the Bat Bridge, section by section, and take to the skies for a staggering bug buffet.  The bridge itself was lined with spectators, and tour boats, canoers, and kayaks floated up bridge-side on Lady Bird Lake to take in the scene, but we loved standing amongst the trees by the water.

 Enjoy my video of the bat surge.

Had a doggone good time at the 11th Annual Mighty Texas Dog Walk.  Back at the South Congress Bridge in the morning, this time atop it, we gaped at a parade of thousands of dogs and their owners gathered to raise money for Texas Hearing and Service Dogs.  From chihuahuas to corgis to Great Danes, we’d never seen such a variety of canines in one friendly place. 

Took in some local art.  Along Shady Lane on the low-rent east side of town, we stumbled across the Pump Project Art Complex, a paint-splattered artists’ studio collective.  We were impressed with the solo show of sketch artist/painter Lee Baxter Davis, and the work of painter Debra Broz and jewelry artist Rachael Adamiak.  It was coincidentally the last night of the third Texas Biennial, a statewide celebration of art for art’s sake. 

Took in some local history.  First we scoped out some of Austin’s oldest downtown mansions between Guadalupe and San Antonio Streets at 7th, then headed a few blocks over to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.  The latter offers The Story of Texas, from the days of Spanish conquistadors to the Mexican-American War, through Galveston’s immigration heyday to the oil boom and the tech explosion.  There are several documentaries that allow chances to sit down, rest, and cuddle; our collective favorite explored the myth of the Hollywood cowboy.

Prowled South Congress Avenue.  With stores chock full of funky treasures (Tesoros Trading Company) , outsider art (Yard Dog), and cruelty-free fashions (Creatures Boutique), cheek-by-jowl with the shady courtyards of the southwest-modern Hotel San Jose and outdoor jam sessions at Jo’s Coffee, this locally-focused commercial street is Ground Zero for the Keep Austin Weird movement.  The crowd here’s eclectic:  Don’t be surprised to see a septugenarian in white fishnets and pearls beside a pair of twenty-something rockers beside a well-heeled gay couple in their forties.    

Tooled around the back streets of Bouldin Creek.   On either side of South Congress, this oak-shaded neighborhood is full of LEED renovated Craftsman gems painted combinations like red-orange-yellow, turquoise with bright green, and purple edged with olive.  It’s also dotted with the occasional weird house (always a joy to behold) like this gem replete with mosaic lawn car.  On either side of South First, look in on Roadside Relics and Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse for some of the coolest signage in town.

Strolled the Zilker Park paths along Barton Creek.  Austin’s biggest park, Zilker, offers the foresty opportunity to bike, walk with or without your dog, run, canoe, kayak, or watch wildlife.    We saw turtles paddling and sunning themselves, and geese taking a bath.  Even stole a kiss by the water’s edge in the shadow of a dragonfly. Park for free on Robert E. Lee Road (it’s $3 around the corner off Barton Springs).

Drank in the Umlauf Sculpture Garden.  No, we’d never heard of American sculptor Charles Umlauf, either.  Don’t let that stop you from wandering in to perch on little bridges over a bubbling creek, or take a seat on a bench before a bronze warthog or underneath a tree with heart-shaped leaves.  A lovely last glimpse of Austin.

*For more of our photos from Austin, click here.

Travels With Two

Austin, Texas is a foodie town, hands down.  From the time we landed to the time to we left, we consistently destroyed our diets…even if we only ogled the food.  

And you know what?  We would gladly do it all over again.

Highlights:

The Salt Lick in Driftwood, Texas.  We (thankfully) hit this barbecue legend at 4:30pm, after a visit to the nearby Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  We waited only 20 minutes for a table by a garden window, and soon our friendly waitress brought us heaping plates of ribs, brisket and house-made sausage with German potato salad and mayo-free cole slaw.  

The signature BBQ sauce is so full of vinegar it could bring tears to your eyes…but in a good way.  Amazingly, even after gorging ourselves we each ordered dessert – pecan pie and blackberry cobbler.  On our way out at 6pm, the town sheriff was already directing Friday night’s dinner traffic into the parking lot, and the wait for a table was as much as an hour.  

This place is so popular, by the way, that there’s a Salt Lick kiosk in the Austin airport.  We met a guy at our hotel who’d missed the food so much, he went for brisket before he’d even picked up his bags.

Brunch at Mother’s Cafe & Garden in Hyde Park (4215 Duval Street).  Gentle, quiet and organic, with a trickling koi pond, a harpist and a veritable grove of ficus, this is a lovely place to attempt detox from heavier foods…like, say, the Salt Lick.   The corn chips are light, baked, and delicious, the veggie-driven Tex-Mex menu is a mile long, and their beautiful quiche is at least twice the size of more mortal slices.

Drinks and appetizers at dusk on the Town Lake patio of Marker 10 at our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Austin.  Amongst tall trees, shimmering water, and hungry magpies, we had cava, beer, gorgeous little crab cakes and skewers of beef with spicy red pepper and chimichurri sauces.

Wine tasting and a small plates dinner at Taste (202 W. Cesar Chavez).  Thursday nights are free wine tasting nights, with a different winery coming each week.  While you eat your dinner, you can hop and grab what’s on offer, then bring it back to the table, or order from an entire menu of flights.  If you choose not to order the chef’s tasting menu, don’t miss the roasted beet salad, the perfect cheese plate, the sugar snap peas salad with Pecorino, and the Tasmanian salmon with black plum vinaigrette.  Divine.

The coffee at Dominican Joe (515 S. Congress Ave).  The rich, dark, and gorgeous coffee is fair trade, there’s lot’s of seating inside and out, and their cappuccino is perfect.  Just be prepared to have a gluten-free snack or a parmesan-basil bagel while you wait…and wait…for glory.  

Low(ish) points:

The Shady Grove on Barton Springs.  The only real low point here is the food, but even that is pretty entertaining; where else are you going to try Frito Pie, or tortilla-fried queso catfish?  This is clearly a UT crowd (and their parents), and out on the lively patio the frozen margaritas were flowing freely, even on Easter Sunday.  If you come, be sure to check out the bathrooms in a converted Airstream trailer.

An underwhelming breakfast at the Magnolia Cafe (1920 S. Congress Ave). The neon window sign reads “Sorry, We’re Open.” It’s a trippy place full of neon paint and dangling dinosaurs, and the long wait for a table would say otherwise, but they need to put a little more effort into their slapdash omelettes.

Whole Foods flagship store on Lamar Street downtown.  I say this with some hesitation, as it’s truly stunning.  The de facto ground floor of Whole Foods Headquarters, this 80,000 square foot behemoth is the company’s largest store.  It houses seafood and barbecue restaurants, a wine tasting bar, the biggest salad bar in creation, and so much more I get tired just thinking about it.  And there’s the problem:  By the time you’ve worked your way through the whole astonishing place…you’re no longer hungry.

If only we’d had more meals:

• Blue Dahlia Bistro for a Slow Foods breakfast
• Chuy’s for what our friend Sally (a UT grad) calls “the best Tex Mex ever, in my humble opinion”
• Cisco’s for Austin’s unofficial Tex-Mex breakfast, migas
• Driskill Grill for a high-toned Sunday brunch in an Austin landmark
• Fonda San Miguel for dinner and from-scratch margaritas
• Hyde Park Bar & Grill on Duval Street for a hearty dinner in a revamped Craftsman house
• Kreutz Market (pronounced “Krites”) for German barbecue in Lockhart, 30 minutes south of town
• Wink for the promise of exquisite food and wine 

If only we’d had another weekend:

• April 16-19 is the 24th Annual Texas Hill Country Food & Wine Festival 
• Taste of Austin, usually in March, has been rescheduled for October 2009

Travels With Two