New Italian Wine Lounge Brings Aperitifs and Fried Ravioli to North Burnet

New Wine Lounge
North Austin Italian restaurant Andiamo Ristorante debuted a new wine lounge, Restare, as part of its 2521 Rutland Drive space starting today, Friday, October 2. The lounge, whose name is the Italian word for “stay,” will serve wine, aperitifs (lots of vermouths), and snacks such as polenta pizza, fried lamb chops, and fried ravioli. Its dine-in service hours will be from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and online reservations are recommended.

Restaurant-to-Event-Space Switcheroo
Austin restaurant company El Chile Group is turning the shuttered location of Peruvian restaurant Yuyo into an event space called La Cantina. The group decided to open the event space because it had been getting requests for small weddings, holiday dinners, and the like. As such, the 1900 Manor Road space will host small private events, and it is accepting bookings for the fall right now. The available menu will be a conglomeration of its restaurants — El Alma, El Chile, and El Chilito, which means plenty of Mexican dishes. Renovations to the physical space will adhere to social distancing.

Burger Pop-Up
The Peached Tortilla’s burger pop-up Fat City is happening again this weekend. The menu remains the same: beef sliders, chicken fingers, a bunch of sauces, and Twinkie-like Fatties. It takes place on Saturday, October 3 at dog park and restaurant Yard Bar at 6700 Burnet Road in Allandale at noon through 10 p.m. or until everything is sold out. Orders will have to be placed in person for takeout and dine-in services.

Austin’s Machetes
Texas Monthly explores the magic that is the machete, a Mexico City dish consisting of a very lengthy quesadilla, shaped like the giant blade, and made with a corn tortilla, and where to find it in Austin. There’s even one made with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, from North Austin food truck Aparicio’s.

Les Dames’s New Class
The Austin chapter of the Les Dames d’Escoffier, the organization geared towards women in the hospitality industries, announced its new members this week. This includes LeRoy & Lewis’s Sawyer Lewis, Kome’s Elizabeth Hyman, Epicerie owner and chef Sarah Mcintosh, and others.

Charitable Wine
Fredericksburg winery and wine incubator Slate Mill Wine Collective created two charitable wines with food entrepreneurs and bloggers Couple in the Kitchen. The Texas 2018 white (a viognier) and the rosé (a blend of cabernet sauvignon, malbec, merlot, tempranillo, and petite verdot) wines are available through the winery’s website and its tasting room, as well as several restaurants throughout the city, including Jacoby’s, Lucky Robot, and Toss Pizzeria. All proceeds from the wine sales will go towards the nonprofit Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation’s COVID-19 emergency relief fund.

Retail Bagels
Bagels from popular local shop Rosen’s are now being sold at most Austin-area Whole Foods markets. The fresh bagels, found in the bakery aisle, come in three six-packs, plain, everything, or jalapeno.

Juice Chain Expansion.
Another juice chain is coming to Austin. This time, it’s California brand Pressed Juicery, which is opening at the Domain at 11401 Century Oak Terrace, Suite 103 starting on Saturday, October 3. This is its first Austin location. For its opening weekend, the store will donate all of its Saturday and Sunday sales to food recovery nonprofit Keep Austin Fed. It will open with dine-in, takeout, and delivery services. Its hours are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday, and then from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. (This chain isn’t to be confused with the South Carolina chain Southern Pressed Juicery, which was open for a short while in the Domain in 2018.)

Dance Hall Barbecue Sauces
The Old Coupland Inn is now selling a bunch of retail food goods: barbecue sauce (in original, spicy, and blueberry flavors), jerky (ribeye and pork loin), and bags of coffee beans. Orders can be placed online.