Dear Friends,
There's a crispness and shift in the air as our late summer has begun to give way to something more closely resembling autumn. To mark that change, on Sunday, November 1 at 6:30 pm, we will host a dinner celebrating the contributions of the urban agrarians that really help create the spiritual heart of our restaurant, Boggy Creek Farm. Larry Butler and Carol Ann Sayle, owners/farmers, will be in attendance and will tell us how they became so passionate about farming. The menu will be based on their current crops (with wine pairings available).
- Boggy Creek Harvest Dinner
- Sunday, November 1 at 6:30 pm
- $60 per person, tax and gratuity not included
- $40 wine pairing // Full bottle list available
- Reserve seats here in advance (our last Sunday night dinner sold out rather quickly) and we'll look forward to seeing you.
Now - as some of you have begun to notice, there has also been a rather consequential shift in Texas French Bread's menu. Fall produce - greens, turnips, sweet potatoes and the like - account for some of that. But a great deal of the credit for the fresh energy you're seeing the past few weeks goes to our new chef, Ben Schwartz. A Boston native, Ben has worked at a number of highly regarded restaurants both here in Austin (Uchi and Uchiko), back in Boston (Oleana), and even abroad in Spain (Arzak). We're very excited to have him. You can read an interview with him by writer Veronica Meewes for CultureMap Austinin 2014 about winning local cooking competition Citywide 86'd and coming up in the local food world.
Highlights so far include Ben's increased emphasis on our wood grill (grilled quail with bok choy), and a new onglet (hanger) steak frites with a terrific "au poivre" option. And as I mentioned last week, he's developed an afternoon happy hour menu including a reformatted burger (caramelized onions, house tomato jam, Délice de Bourgogne on a brioche bun - yes please), and a new charcuterie spread (which should feature a not-to-be-missed Dewberry Hills chicken liver mousse later this week). Recently, he also introduced an agnolotti stuffed with house ricotta that goes out with a chicken brodo.
What seems truly worthy of note though, is the new spirit of intensity that Chef Ben has brought to our kitchen. He's brought fresh vision, not only with regard to the menu itself, but an exactitude and insistence on execution that can only be acquired working at restaurants where the standards are extremely high. I hope you'll come experience some of his new offerings soon.
bon appetit,
murph
PS - also worthy of note: Chef Ben's arrival has freed me up enough that I have lately returned to my first real love at this business, bread baking. We're beginning to bring in freshly milled, certified organic flower from Central Milling, the Utah cooperative, and I've really been enjoying getting my hands back on the bread. Stay tuned.