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The Chronicle visits Porter Ale House this week, the new way South First gastropub from a trio of hospitality veterans. Reviewer Rachel Feit calls the restaurant a perfect incarnation of the gastropub concept. On one of her favorite dishes:
Potato and cheese pierogi ($10), for instance, are made from scratch daily from Joe Bixel's Polish grandmother's recipe, and served with pickled red horseradish and dill sour cream. Porter serves three pierogi to a plate, lightly pan-fried, and tops them with caramelized onion relish. I could eat these every day. I think I'm not alone; these have easily become one of the restaurant's top sellers.Feit concludes that the "comfortable" neighborhood restaurant already boasts a number of regulars.
The Chronicle's write-up of trailer The Vegan Yacht is also filed as a review, though it reads more like one of the paper's profiles. After starting the trailer on a whim, owners Mike and Danielle Wood have finally found a home for the trailer outside of Spider House. On Spider House's decision to allow trailers:
It may seem like a strange business model to undercut your own kitchen sales with other food operations, but for Spider House owner Conrad Bejarano, it's about building community through helping out the little guy. "I love the trailer culture, it gives the small business owner with a small budget an opportunity in a very challenging business worldThe Vegan Yacht has moved away from fake meat and toward food they call "really awesome dishes that are part of eating a good diet."
THE BLOGS: Mike Sutter continues his hyper-detailed Austin barbecue rankings with top sides, sauces, and sausages; Forks Up visits Arro.
· To Be or Not to Be (a Gastropub) [Chronicle]
· Land Ho [Chronicle]
· All Week in Reviews [EATX]