New Recipe: Hill Country Brewery Beerburg Opens Mexican Restaurant Taqueria la Violeta

New Brewery Restaurant
Hill Country brewpub Beerburg Brewing Company shifted the focus of its onsite restaurant under chef Ricardo Gutierrez in mid-April. Now named Taqueria la Violeta, the new restaurant’s menu features Mexican street fare ranging from tacos with cauliflower chorizo, barbacoa, and mushroom asado; quesadillas; salsas; papas bravas; and more. For sweets, there are seasonal ice creams in flavors such as Mexican vanilla with cajeta caramel, miso-sesame, olive oil-basil, chocolate, dark roasted coffee, and vegan sorbets. The name comes from Gutierrez’s family ranch in South Texas. The brewery is open for on-site services with outdoor seating, reservations are recommended. Hours are from 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and then from noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Permanent Coffee Shop Closure
Austin coffee shop Epoch closed its downtown location as of April 27. It had been found in the Gables Park Tower Apartments building since 2018. The Facebook note shared that the team decided to shutter this address because “the time to walk away has come for us for the health of the entire business.” There are still three locations around the city.

Temporary Coffee Shutter
Central East Austin cafe Try Hard Coffee is still temporarily closed due to renovations dating to early March. In the meantime, the shop is providing the beans for a new coffee trailer found across the street, Terrible Love.

Fire and Temporary Restaurant Closure
The West Campus location of restaurant Halal Bros. caught on fire last week, and no one was hurt. The fire began at around 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 30, as noted by the Austin Fire Department’s automated Twitter account, starting in the wall of the restaurant which then traveled into the attic. Because of the damage, this location will remain closed until further notice, as noted by the restaurant’s Instagram account. There are three other locations around the city.

The Fika Table/Facebook

Bakery Delivery Service
Austin 360 profiled Laura Galos, the baker behind Austin-area Nordic bakery delivery service the Fika Table. She began baking and selling her pastries — with Scandanivan roots — at the beginning of the pandemic last year, such as Swedish cardamom buns. Delivery orders can be placed online; the baked goods are also found at South Congress grocery store Tiny Grocer.

BIPOC Texas Farmers Scholarship
Texas Farmers’ Market (TFM) launched a scholarship for new BIPOC farmers in Texas looking to become vendors. The organization is looking for sustainable fruit and vegetable BIPOC farmers that are found in the 150-mile area of Austin. The $1,350 fund would cover the starting fee for operating at TFM and six months of the booth fees. The money is coming from TFM’s Ag Producer Support fund. Applications are being accepted online; applicants concurrently have to fill out vendor applications (the fee will be waived).

New Food Truck
Hawaiian-Asian food court restaurant Salty Cargo turned its food truck Aye Carranza, which is parked at North Austin brewery Celis, into a second location in late April. The menu features a similar menu, including garlic butter firecracker shrimp, chicken wings, lumpia, and katsu sandwiches, among other items. Its hours are from noon to 10 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.

Hospitality Group Renaming
Prolific Austin restaurant group McGuire Moorman Hospitality officially added former Bunkhouse Group founder Liz Lambert to its team and renamed the company to McGuire Moorman Lambert Hospitality (MML for short).

Roti Recipe
Austin chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph shares his recipe for sonora flour roti over on Food Network’s YouTube channel.

Teacher and Nurse Meal Donations
For both Teacher Appreciation Week and National Nurses Week, Austin-based restaurant chain Freebirds World Burrito is going to donate 1,000+ meals to schools and medical centers in the state. This started on Monday, May 3, and will run through Wednesday, May 12.