Austin Expert Pastry Chef Joins East Austin Korean-American Restaurant

East Austin Korean-Mexican restaurant Oseyo added an Austin pastry great to its team. Laura Sawicki is now the spot’s culinary director. This means a revamped menu with a first-ever pastry lineup under her, executive chef Mike Diaz, and owner Lynn Miller. The newer dishes include Mexican flavors and ingredients, such as kimchi posole, gochujang marinated grilled skirt steak paired with a perilla chimichurri, and oysters dressed with kimchi.

Under Sawicki’s purview, desserts include panna cotta made with fermented soy and misugaru (a Korean multigrain powder); fudgsicles made with dark chocolate and soybean paste doenjang; silken tofu cheesecakes, and roasted barley/honey ice cream.

Sawicki had previously been a partner of the group behind Launderette and Fresa’s, but left in 2021. Oesyo opened at 1628 East Cesar Chavez Street in 2019.

Forthcoming restaurant relocation

Downtown Italian restaurant La Traviata is moving into far southwest Austin in 2023, as reported by Statesman. It’ll be found in the Lantana Place complex at 7415 Southwest Parkway sometime later this year. Owner and chef Marion Gillcrist opened Traviata in 2000 and had temporarily closed the restaurant in August 2020 because of the pandemic. She and her sister Joan Gillcrist also opened an Italian restaurant 68 Degrees in West Austin in 2016. Recently, chef Ling Qi Wu opened her fourth restaurant, Ling Wu Asian Restaurant, in the same complex in February.

Restaurant opening alert

A new location of Soup Peddler opened today, Wednesday, March 1 at 3720 Far West Boulevard, Suite 105 in the Far West Austin area. Its hours are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Austin restaurants donating to Amplify Austin

Amplify Austin — a 24-hour period where people are encouraged to donate to participating nonprofits and charities, run by nonprofit I Live Here, I Give Here — takes place starting today on Wednesday, March 1 at 6 p.m. through Thursday, March 2 at 6 p.m. Austin restaurants/food businesses are getting in on the action. Amy’s Ice Creams is making a Central Texas swirl combination and will also donate five percent of all sales from all locations during that period; Italian restaurant Juniper is donating 10 percent of its overall days from March 1; Italian cafe Uncle Nicky’s is doing the same from March 1 to March 2, and more.

Tracking Austin restaurant events

Three Austin chefs — Tavel Bristol-Joseph (Canje, Emmer & Rye, etc.), Damien Brockway (Distant Relatives), and Amanda Turner (Olamaie) — are cooking at a Black chefs food event for the Neill-Cochran House Museum as part of the Reckoning with the Past: The Untold Story of Race in Austin campaign. The meal takes place on Saturday, March 4 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $125.