Mega-Popular Bakery Milk Bar Is Running a Pop-Up in Austin Right Now

Bakery Pop-Up
New York City bakery Milk Bar, from pastry chef Christina Tosi, is now available in Austin through a third-party delivery-only pop-up. The menu includes the bakery’s iconic treats: cookies, the bar pie, whole layered birthday cakes, and packages of truffle crumb cakes. Deliveries are available through Postmates, Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. These “virtual” pop-ups have been taking place in various cities across the country, including Houston and Dallas. This isn’t Milk Bar nor Tosi’s first time in Austin: Tosi often comes into the city during SXSW with desserts in tow; she collaborated on a pop-up with Launderette in April 2017; and the soft serve truck popped up for a week in May 2019.

Hotel Management Switcheroo
Austin-based hospitality company Bunkhouse Group is taking over Zilker spot Carpenter Hotel, as reported by Statesman. The hotel and its restaurant Carpenters Hall opened under Oregon-based company the Mighty Union in November 2018. As the new management company, Bunkhouse plans on renovating the space. Bunkhouse’s portfolio, which was founded by Liz Lambert in 2006 but who is no longer part of the company, includes Austin Motel, Hotel San Jose, Hotel Saint Cecilia, Hotel Magdalena, Jo’s Coffee, and other hotels in San Antonio, Marfa, Arizona, and Mexico.

Austin Food and Farm Festival
A new festival focusing on farms and food is coming to Austin this fall. Field Guide Festival is led by event production company Blue Norther Live’s Lindsey Sokol and Urban American Farmer’s Trisha Bates, who tagged Austin chefs Philip Speer (modern Mexican restaurant Comedor) and Michael Fojtasek (Southern restaurant Olamaie). Participants range from Uchi’s Ariana Quant, Distant Relatives’s Damien Brockway, Este Garden’s Anamaria Guiterrez and Lea Scott, Cielito Lindo Farm’s Julia Poplawsky, and much more. The two-day event will include bites made from local farms by local chefs, Central Texas drinks, educational programming, and concerts. It takes place from Friday to Saturday, October 29 to 30 at Govalle farm Rain Lily and Holly event space Fiesta Gardens. While the dinner is sold out already, there are still a variety of Saturday passes and tickets to the brunch run available, ranging from $45 to $300. There will be a farmers market that will be open to the public.

Texas Beer Festival
The Texas Craft Brewers Festival will take place this year with over 85 breweries serving over 200 beers on Saturday, October 23 at Fiesta Gardens. General admission tickets are $40, VIP tickets $85, and designated driver tickets $20.

Downtown Fast-Food Chain Opening
That downtown Chick-fil-A on 600 Congress Avenue at Sixth Street is opening on Thursday, July 29. Hours are from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, and then from 6:30 a.m. to midnight Thursday through Saturday.