Chef Grae Nonas Returns to Austin for Italian Pop-Up, and More A.M. Intel

— Grae Nonas, one of the co-founding chefs of Southern restaurant Olamaie who left for a Minneapolis job (he is no longer there), is coming back to Austin for a coastal Italian pop-up with L'Oca d'Oro. Dubbed La Mare, the six course meal will include squid, crab, fruitti di mare, eggplant zeppole, and more. The $75 dinner takes place on Thursday, August 3.

— Austin 360’s new podcast featured Aaron and Stacy Franklin of Franklin Barbecue. The couple talked about how they met, why they don’t work with a publicist (“It needs to come from us,” said Aaron Franklin), the pricing and quality of beef, how they will not expanding (“Having more restaurants sounds terrible,” he explained), and raising a family in Austin (their daughter is a big Contigo fan).

— Could Red River barbecue joint and music venue Stubb’s become Liberty Lunch, the name of the long-gone music venue?

— Rainey Street bar Icenhauer’s is accepting backpack and school supply donations through Saturday, July 29, in conjunction with Texas Advocacy Project.

— GQ dug into this idea of "food chauvinism," where locals think their food is the absolute best no matter what, like Texans with their barbecue

— Oprah Winfrey's website, Oprah.com, ran through the best restaurants of every state. For Texas, this includes Easy Tiger's meat and cheese boards.

— Downtown cocktail bar The Townsend is celebrating its second birthday with daily $8 drink specials from each member of the team throughout the month of July, along with guest barbacks like Nickel City’s Travis Tober.

— Los Angeles-based Hoxie Spritzer, which creates canned versions of the drink, is collaborating with upscale sports apparel shop Outdoor Voices for a Texas drink. After the Clarksville store’s weekly jogging club sessions, runners will be able to drink the Texas Grapefruit Wine Spritzers, starting on Wednesday, July 12.