The Foodth Dimension

The Food th

Dimension

Find out the hottest, newest Austin restau-rants on pg 16

Take an in-depth look into the nutrition of AISD meals on pg 12

Hungry for tacos? Make the right choice with our guide on pg 28

An Austin Food Magazine

Table Of Contents

Biographies Meet the Authors of this magazine

Letter From the Editor Read our editor, Ja-son’s, message

Billy’s On Burnet A profile of a piece of old Austin in a changing city by Henry Jarnigan

How to make piz-za Pizza, enough said. By John Kilfoyle

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The pizza John had at ABGB pg 12

The drinks at AGBG pg 12

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School Lunches A piece about nutrition of AISD school lunches by Jason Jesudass

New restaurants of Austin 2015-16 Map of restaurants by Henry Jarni-gan

Valentina’s A profile of a food truck that blurs the line be-tween tex and mex by Jack Kinney

How to pack a proper school lunch By Jason Jesudass

The Pizza Dimen-sion Profile of the beer garden ABGB written by John Kilfoyle

Where should you go to get tacos A culi-nary quiz by Jack Kinney

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Photo of bacon and cheese burger from Billy on Burnet pg 17

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12 28

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LETTERfrom the Editor

The topic of food seemed easy. In a city like Austin, TX, unique and interesting food

would be everywhere. However, it didn’t all work out. The sources for my first story

were unable to be interviewed, so with a couple days left I had to find new sources, interview

them, transcribe the interviews, and then write a feature story. This was very stressful but

ultimately the final product was something that I am proud of. We all worked very hard on

this magazine in order for it to be a product that represents our creativity and quality. All these

stories were not easy to create, it took a lot of work on our part as individuals and as a group.

The graphics were the most time consuming, making sure that all the features were unique, but

flowed together, and trying to fit our stories to the layouts without awkward white space. With

this newfound knowledge, the sky’s the limit for us individually and as a group. I hope that

you enjoy the work we put into this magazine and find something to entice your palette. Happy

Reading!

Signed

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Contributors

Jack Kenney, a

freshman at LASA, has

always enjoyed cooking

with his family. Even as

young as 4 he was help-

ing in the kitchen. Being

born in Tulsa, Oklahoma

but, growing up in Jersey

City, New Jersey gives him

a unique prespective on

food and cuisine in Austin,

Texas.

Henry Jarnigan, a freshman at LASA, has always enjoyed eating at different restaurants in his neighborhood, which inspired the premise of his article. Even though he grew up in Austin, Henry did not know much about restaurants beyond what they served, and writing and learning more about these places was an inter-esting experience to have.

Jason Jesudass is a fresh-man attending LASA who enjoys spending his free time playing video games, watching movies, and eat-ing food. His favorite cui-sine is Chinese with Amer-ican as a close second. He has lived in Texas for all of his life and person-ally enjoys trying out new foods and going back to the same good ones. He has an interest in healthy eating and nutrition.

John Kilfoyle is a fresh-man at LASA, and ever since a young age has enjoyed both producing and the consumption of food. His favorite Cuie-zine is tex-mex food (al-though he will eat italian food till the day he dies) and he loves to bake cakes. The secret to making the perfect cake is adding more flavor-ing such as chocolate, vanilla, and cinnamon and rounding up to the nearest half cup when it comes to butter.

Jack Kenney

Henry Jarnigan

JasonJesudass

JohnKilfoyle

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On the busy corner of Burnet and Hancock, there’s a one story

building that is small in appearance with a large sign proclaiming the establishment as Billy’s on Burnet. As I walk up towards the door, I hear relaxed country music playing, and see people outside enjoying the evening. Inside, the lighting is low, and tables are filled with people that look right at home eating and drink-ing with their friends. Even though I’ve only been here one time before, it seems familiar and friendly, and I don’t feel nervous as I sit down to talk with Mrs. Rebecca Walston, the bartender and co owner of Billy’s.As I soon learn, Billy’s On Burnet is a traditional pub/icehouse run by the Walston family and Billy Forrester on Burnet street and Hancock Drive. The establishment has been here since 2004, and is still going strong, bringing in people every day. “A majority of our business is from regulars, especially we have like our Happiest Hour, which starts at 4:00 so you get a lot of regulars then,”

Forrester says. Staying connected to the customers as well as the neighborhood is important to both Rebecca and Alex, her husband, in terms as running Billy’s successfully, they say. they say. “That’s what makes up our whole theme, the whole concept of it, I think that’s why some of these other places have closed within a year, because they’re not very local.” Walston says when asked about the way Billy’s operates. Rebecca’s words have considerable truth to them, such as the closing of the trendy yet expensive Fork and Taco in Decem-ber of 2015, and the quick closing of Man Eats Dog on Burnet Road in March of 2015. “They’re trying to be real expensive,

Billy’s On

BurnetA piece Of Old Austin In A Changing City

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The front door to Billy’s

By: Henry Jarnigan

not really going with the whole neigh-borhood feel,” Walston (last name) says as well. During my interview at Billy’s, I ordered some food to see what it would be like, as well as give the reader a better idea of what they serve. Looking over the menu, I saw sand-wiches, hamburgers, salads, and ap-petizers, all staples of a typical Texas Icehouse. The back boasted a large variety of beers locally sourced in Central Texas. As I enjoyed my burg-er, Walston explained where the food I was eating came from, and the inspira-tion behind the items on their menu. “We have a lot of homemade stuff, like Bar and grill, kind of bar food, and a huge vegetarian menu, our pat-ties are made fresh from a San Antonio slaughterhouse. I feel like we just have pretty fresh foods, and then we have a good variety of local beer, that’s what people know us for,” Walston says.

Since Billy’s has been in Austin for over 12 years, it has gathered many different types of people and hosted many events. During football sea-son, Billy’s fills with people there to watch the Green Bay Packers play. During my time researching Billy’s, I decided to talk to a close family friend and long time customer at Billy’s, Bob Hamilton about what he has seen at Billy’s in the past, and what he looks forward to in the future. “if there’s a football game for the Green Bay Packers it fills full of people, sometimes the parking lot overflows out into the street,” Hamil-ton says. Being a center for Packers fans across Austin only helps Billy’s bring in more regular customers. Since its creation, Billy’s has always been very involved in the community surrounding it, from hosting game nights to advertising, Billy’s keeps it local.

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Mrs. Rebecca Walston at the register

been very involved in the community surrounding it, from hosting game nights to advertising, Billy’s keeps it local. “We have a trivia night, a dart league, a softball league, and all our advertis-ing we do is kept real local, like post-ers for Lamar, Macallum, so we try to keep it real local as far as advertising goes,” Walston says. An important part of running a res-taurant that will stay in business is looking to the future, from both a business and aspirational perspective. For Billy’s, that means anticipating increased business. “They keep talking about it [Burnet Road] will be the next South Con-gress, so we’re poised in a perfect location for that,” Walston says. So far, Rebecca’s theory holds water. Burnet road has seen extensive growth and change over the last few years, with the Burnet Marketplace being built less than 2 years ago, and posi-tive trend of restaurants moving to the area. However, Billy’s and its manage-ment have no intentions of making any major changes at the restaurant any time soon. “Well, we’ve thought about it, but I really don’t think it will happen. We like what we have right now, so we don’t really want to jinx it by open-ing another place, or another concept altogether,” Rebecca says. Although no long term additions to Billy’s are planned, Re

becca and the staff are considering hosting more events, like the softball and dart league they already sponsor. Again, getting involved in the commu-nity Billy’s is based in is very impor-tant to its management. we’re trying to do more fundraising events. We did something earlier and it was a real success, so we’re trying to see if we can incorporate that into a monthly event,” Rebecca says. After I finished my research on Bil-ly’s, a lot of information on the Cen-tral Austin restaurant and bar has been revealed.

The Billy’s Shults bacon and cheese burger

Beer options on the menu 8

“They keep really working at it, they do little things like facebook pages, and things to make sure everybody’s thinking about it, and they have those special events,” Hamilton says.Even though Billy’s seems out of place next door to newer, trendier restau-rants, it holds up the memory of old Austin, bringing good friends together to enjoy a burger or beer, and keeping closely connected to the Brentwood neighborhood it is located in. From what Rebecca had to say, Billy’s is still getting good business and still keeping the style of American Icehouse alive in Austin.☺

Billy’s inside bar area

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Step 1

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside in a warm place for 3 to 4 minutes. Mean-while, combine the milk, oil, and cornmeal in a 1-quart bowl. Add the yeast mixture, then the salt and rye flour; mix well.

How to Make a Pizza By John Kilfoyle

Ingredients 1 1/2 Teaspoons of Active Dry

Yeast6 Tablespoons of Warm Water

6 Tablespoons of Milk2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Ol-

ive Oil1 Tablespoon of Fine Cornmeal

1/2 Teaspoon of Salt1 Tablespoon of Rye Flour

1 3/4 Cups of Unbleached White Flour

1 to 3 Tablespoons of Flour for rolling

Step 4

Prepare the topping and preheat the oven to 500°F and heat the pizza stone, if you’re using one, for 20 minutes.

Step 5

To shape the pizza, first form the dough into 1 round ball or 2 equal-size smaller balls. Roll out on a floured surface, turning it regularly to keep a round shape. It should be about 1/8 inch thick, slightly thicker at the edges.

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Step 3

Put the dough into an oiled bowl and turn it once so the surface is coated with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until it has doubled in bulk, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Step 2

Gradually add the white flour, making a soft, workable dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for about 5 minutes, sprinkling in a little flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the surface.

Step 6

Lay the dough on an oiled pizza pan or a well-floured wooden peel. Cover with the topping you have chosen. Bake the pizza on its pan or slide it onto the heated pizza stone.

Step 7

Eat and Enjoy!

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School

LunchesBy: Jason Jesudass

Many school students eat half their meals in school, which means that the bulk of many students nutri-tion comes from what the school offers. The health

of students is directly related to the school lunches and that is a big role for schools to fill. Schools could serve unhealthy food, full of sugar and excess fat. These meals would be cheap, easy, and the students would love it. Instead schools try to serve whole grain, low sugar and low fat meals, which the students still enjoy eating. The issue which many people have is that schools are not able to fit this goal, and are actually just serving lower quality foods.

An in depth look at the nutrition of AISD school lunches. This article focuses on the pros and cons of the current school lunch system, and ways to improve that to better students.

The nutrition of school lunches is important to many people other than the students, an example would be the government getting involved and making laws to better the lunch system. In the current climate of healthy eating, schools try to follow suit. If not, students could be met with poor nutrition that could lead to a host of prob-lems, the most direct being stress and tiredness. The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) made the connection between eating complete and healthy meals and improvements on test scores in math and vocabulary. If students get proper nutrition they can

avoid missing school days because they were sick. School lunches can be directly related to the students’ grades and ultimately their futures, and that makes it all the more important than just another meal. The school serves a variety of food so that students can have many choices. They serves chicken tenders, different types of burg-ers, fried rice, sandwiches, taco bowls (the ingredients of a taco in a bowl), milk, chips, and cookies for dessert, says Dima Pokinboroda, a freshman student attending Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin, TX. He eats lunch everyday and usually gets the chicken burger and a cookie. He personally enjoys the food served and finds portion sizes appropriate. ”You don’t leave hungry,” Dima says. However there is something more important than the type of food that is served and that is the quality says Joseph Strickland, ACN (Ap-plied Clinical Nutritionist) in Austin TX.

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This is an idea for a school lunch packed from home. This lunch has quality foodand represents all the food groups.

“From my perspective, I would say it , is lacking because they’re not paying attention to food quality,” he says. School lunches do not offer high quality meals that are made from quality ingredi-ents,” he says. “The students are eating processed and packaged foods, basically a fast food lunch,” says Strickland. “A large portion of a student’s diet is processed meat. It comes in many different forms, a burger,some chicken nuggets and tenders, and it would seem to be fine for students, but that however isn’t the case. During the processing of the meat, it is common to add fillers and additives to these chicken nuggets,” says Strickland. “The chickens that are used for these products are often raised in a large scale farm, where disease is common. To lessen the chances of consumer get-ting

“They’re not paying attention to quality”

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sick they add different chemicals during processing,” says Strickland. “Food, Inc.” a 2008 documentary about the food industry highlights these problems. “As far as a protein source, I wouldn’t necessarily recom-mend it,” he says. Protein is an essential nutrient that is used by almost the entire human body. It is especially important to athletes and weightlifters, as protein is vital to exercise and building mus-cle. Normal students need protein to be able to successfully learn at their full potential. Since beef would be very expen-sive for schools to serve on a large scale, it is often times cut with soy during processing as well, according to Strickland. This is not good either, as over 90 percent of soy is geneti-cally modified, he says. Genetically modifying foods has been linked to bowel problems in Europe and consuming these kinds of foods on adaily basis isn’t very good for students.

Photo Credit: Jinn Catering

“Everything is unhealthy, except the salad, but you know, it’s all a matter of choice,” Dima says.There is always the choice to eat healthy, but many choose not to eat healthier, a clear example is the rising trend in obesity, especially if they do not real-ize that the food is inadequate from their schools. “Many students choose to get the burgers or pizza rather than the salad, simply because of taste. The same principle fors for snacks such as

Doritos and Cheetoschosen over a fruit cup or carrots and celery. The food lobby would argue that the stu-dents want that food so schools don’t have a right to take that away,” says Strickland. “The argument I would make is, in a school setting you’re wanting the student to be able to think clearly, and if they’re loaded up on MSG and corn starch and a lot of these additives that are in a lot of these different packaged products, it may modify behav-ior and it may make the student tired or unable to learn as well,” he says. In 2010 the FDA found that food additives can trigger behavioral responses in

A few healthy options served in schools in California. This is not the case in many schools however, but it is start.

students and those same additives are in the packaged foods today, specifically food dyes. While many scientists argue against these chemicals, such as Center for Science in the Pub-lic Interest, they are still found in large quantities especially in packaged snacks. A particularly important, but often not noticed problem is the 3rd parties that influence schools. “One of the biggest problems that you have in the United States is the corporate influence,” says Strickland A few years ago, it came out that the food pyramid wasn’t based on what was the absolute best, but actually what companies wanted to sell. The first food pyramid ever was de-layed in its release because companies that sell meat would’ve been hurt by its high placement on the pyramid. Even today in some high schools, companies have deals that place their vending machine in school and are guaranteed a certain quota of products sold per year. If not, the school itself has to pay because students didn’t buy enough of the company’s prod-ucts. In some states, deals like this are no longer allowed, but not in all states, this remains a prevalent problem with the food system in America. There are other problems too that have to do with the beverage industry.

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Photo Credit: FDA

The food pyramid as of 1992. This was later revised many times to make the food pyramid that is so widely know and recognized today.

Photo Credit: USDA

grown on school grounds for the purpose of feeding students, according to Strickland. This would ensure that quality ingredients are used in lunches and ents and the packaged nature of the food. This can and most likely will lead to problems in the future if not addressed now. The State of Obesity found that the United States has an obesity rate ranging from 6.4%-18% in high schools.

This is a school lunch served in LASA. It consists of a fish burger and potato fries. It also comes with milk (not pictured)

Schools spend a lot of time and money on dif-ferent programs to better a student’s potential, and another way they could help is by bettering school lunches. The benefits have been seen in other countries. The Washington Post published an article about the different food system in Japan and the benefits that it had on the students there. Another solution was tried domestically and produced results. A study by Jama Pediatrics found that schools that implemented a chef to cook saw that students were more often eating fruits and vegetables. This is a small change and one that was done in many schools with promis-ing results. School lunches have and will play a vital role in students’ lives, but schools need to change in order to keep the students interests at heart.

“I think one of the biggest challenges these days in high school is these Monster energy drinks and heavy stimulants,” says Strickland. Red Bull and Monster sold over two billion dollars worth of their product each. Despite the recent controversy sur-rounding the safety of these drinks with cases of teenag-ers dying after drinking Monster, sales still continue to show growth. Strickland says that the food students are eating is not properly feeding them because food is sup-posed to give you energy, and if a student needs an energy drink to go through school, then there’s something wrong with their diet. If school lunches can provide students with enough nutrition, it would help tremendously. Strick-land finds that in his own practice, when someone gets on a proper diet and eat right, the need for sodas and energy drinks disappears. That would mean that some school would need to have a new system, but those take time and money. Strickland, however, says that a good choice would be to base it off what other countries already have in place. He says that Japan is a good example because students bring their own silver-ware and students themselves get to do some of the cook-ing. The food is made from scratch everyday and made with vegetables

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Photo Credit: Jason Jesudass

Photo Credit: FDA

1 in 3 children in the US are overwieght or obese

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Vox Table

Launderette

Fork & Vine

Ophelia

Emmer & Rye

Central Stan-dard

Founded in April 2015, Vox Table serves New American foods with Basque/French influences. Some of the dinner items include smoked hamachi pipette and smoked oys-ters. Vox Table uses locally sourced ingredients in their dishes, and is a great place to dine, Austin style.

Launderette was opened in February of last year in a launderette building, giving the restaurant its name. Since then, Laun-derette has gained recog-nition for its wide range of dishes from Mediter-ranean to Mexican. If you can make it through the lines, Lauderette’s food is well worh the wait.

New Austin Restaurants of 2015-16

Fork and Vine has been open since December of 2014, serving a variety of foods including ribs, crab cakes, shrimp, and other options as well. The restaurant also fea-tures a large wine menu, and is a great option for a wine/grill bar in North Austin. 16

For years, Aus-tin has experienced a boom in the num-ber of restaurants operating there, especially in the years of 2015 and 2016. With the sheer amounts of restau-rants opening in our town, it can be over-whelming to find one worth trying. This guide should give you an idea of what emerging res-taurants might be worth eating at.

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Vox Table

Launderette

Fork & Vine

Ophelia

Emmer & Rye

Central Stan-dard

Ophelia is a Cajun style restaurant in East Austin. The menu there features classic Louisiana dishes like Gumbo and crawfish, but with plenty of original dishes, like Frog legs and waffles and Mardi Gras Poutine. Oph-elia brings food of the Bayou to Austin.

If you’re looking for a restaurant to spend a lit-tle extra for quality new American food, Central Standard is the place to try. It opened in Decem-ber 2015, and already has been established as a high end bar and grill in South Austin.

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Taking local to the next level, Emmer and Rye not only uses local ingre-dients, but mills its own grains as well. This new restaurant opened in December 2015. Emmer and Rye uses dim sum service as well, where food is ordered off of carts in the restaurant.

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By Jack Kenney

The trailer made a rath-er average gas station appear alive. A long line of people talking and waiting made a cold spring day appear

like a pool in the heat of summer. The air is thick with the smell of smoke and barbecued meats. Miguel Vidal, the owner is seen running from the cooking trailer to the ordering trailer, giving orders, and stopping to talk to customers in between everything else. On his arms lie two very prominent tattoos. The tattoos read “Valentina” and “Violet”, one on each arm. The

food comes out at a seemingly endless rate being carried off in paper bags or on paper plates. The paper on the bags seemingly is two different shades as grease soaks through. The paper plates seem to soak up the grease just as well. Valentina’s is a Tex-Mex barbecue trailer on Brodie Lane. Originally behind Star Bar, Tex-Mex had to move as of May 4th 2015 with original plans to move back but instead Violet Taco, his new trailer, was founded in its place. Valentina’s was founded by Vidal(use last name since you already introduced the source) in 2013. Vidal has worked in the food industry for the last 17 years. Work-

VAlentinA’s: Blurring the line Between

tex And mex

18Photo of a pork and fajita taco. Photo credit: Jack Kenney

ing previously at Ranch 616 and at Violet Taco--his most recent venture. His trailer’s names come from his two daughters Vio-let and Valentina respectively. Valentina’s was originally located behind Star Bar, but moved due to renovations, Violet Taco now resides in that spot. When asked why he started Valen-tina’s, “I’ve always loved food and I have worked a large portion of my life in the ser-vice industry” says Vidal. Vidal says he has always had an in-terest in cooking. His love of cooking seems to have lead to all of his work in the restau-rant industry. “I also really enjoy being able to share the gift of great food to others” says Vidal. “My trailer is a very Texas centric restaurant. I think it would work well in most places in texas and the southwest,” says Vidal. The food at Valentina’s is a mix of texas barbecue and Americanized mexi-can food. The rather concise menu includes

a variety of sandwiches and tacos. Addi-tionally, you can buy barbequed meats by the pound and sides by the ounce. Like many other barbecue restaurants they only stay open until they run out of meat for the day. “I choose things that I would have cooked for my family....I like to think this gives a very comforting feel to my food ...Me and my family, have always loved holding large BBQs ...[M]y food is mostly items cooked at those meals.” says Vidal. The food is very much comfort food, leaving trails of grease when set

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A photo of Valentina's menu. Photo credit: Graham Kenney

A photo of sausage. Photo credit: Jack Kenney

on to a table. Valentina’s also tries to differ-entiate itself from other barbecue trailers by serving a daily breakfast. In the relatively new business of food trailers a lot of trailers pop up, and then after the initial burst, fall flat. Valentine’s survived that stage, but his other trailer Violet Taco is in that stage currently. Vidal also talks of the importance of wanting your trailer to suc-ceed and not to focus on making money. ”Getting your trailer up and running is generally agreed to be the hardest part. Like any restaurant the first 6 months to a year is really make or break. Getting the necessary public view is very important. As cliche as it sounds I guess just do something you love and hope everyone else will like it as much as

you do,” says Vidal. The trailer is still very popular after it moved from its old location behind Star Bar. Not only being that, it is also well reviewed. Valentina’s has a 4.5 star rating on Yelp and a 4.6 on google reviews. It appears in Zagat, a book that lists the best restaurants in differ-ent cities, it is listed as the best barbeque in Austin and has received high praise. It cur-rently holds the number 8 spot in the Fed Man Walking’s top ten Austin barbecue and is on his top 500 taco list. Additionally other critics have given it good critique. These re-views drive up interest in the restaurant. Local Austinite Tanner Andrews says “I come here often. I really enjoy eating here”. Andrews also says it is a “personal favorite”

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A photo of people waiting in line. Photo credit: Jack Kenney

but also lamented on the food’s greasiness. He also talked about how much he enjoyed the queso, calling it “incredible”. He quickly returned to his meal after my questions were completed. “It was pretty good but it was very greasy and heavy,” says Peter ZIrins another customer.Zirnis also read about it it online, showing

how important online reviews can be. He did say he was unsure if he would return very of-ten. “It is far too calorie dense to eat very often, in my opinion” says Zirnis. As the trailer grew smaller and farther away the thick smell of mesquite being burned seemed to dissipate. The bag the food came in was turned to liquid in some places due to the grease. The food still warm in the car emit-ting a strong smell. The smell made it an easy thought to pull over and just eat on the side of the road.☻

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A photo of people waiting in line. Photo credit: Jack Kenney

A photo of a carnitas sandwich. Photo credit: Jack Kenney

“The first 6 months to a year is really make or break. Getting the neces-sary public view is very important [to a restau-rant’s success]”

How to Pack a Proper School LunchWhile many people try to pack a healthy lunch, it gets difficult and often times boring. Follow these quick tips and you’ll be on your way to a healthier and better lunch for school, work, or a picnic in the park.

MILK

Carrot Chips

High fiber whole wheat bread

Fresh, local lettuce and tomatoes

Milk for strong bones and energy

Actual fruit instead of rolls or gummies

Carrot chips instead of potato chips

Pack nuts for a quick, nutritious snack

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DO DON’TVary the lunch. Try flatbread or new snacks from healthy companies.

Pack leftovers from dinner last night. Delicious and it saves money.

Pack someone else’s lunch. Let them have a say about-what they eat.

Use low quality ingredients, they may cost less, but they aren’t healthy

Try it! Deli Meat WrapsTurkeySpinachCream CheeseApplesSalsa Whole Wheat TortillaAvocado

Photo By: Lara604

Photo By: Takeaway

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An ABGB Profile By John Kilfoyle

The Pizza Dimension

Just before the train tracks at 1305 West Oltorf, Austin, Texas sits a large ware-house. Dozens of cars are parked outside of it and a hundreds of people bustle in

an out of it. But this is no sketchy warehouse, this is Austin Beer Garden Brewing Company (ABGB). The beer garden that is a hopping and pizza that is popping. When Amos Lowe, now a professional Brewer and Co-owner of ABGB, was at the University of Texas at Austin as a mechanical engineer he met a man named Scott Simmons, a homebrewer. When Simmons invited him over to help throw hops into the kettle Lowe was hooked, that day sparked a passion for home-brewing he didn’t even know he had. Later, he met Tim Schwartz and Brian Peters, an award winning and “Legendary” brewmaster, and with support from them, his ever growing expe-rience, and with a big help from his friends, in 2013, he decided to open ABGB. ABGB is now a booming success of a Beer garden. ABGB serves a multitude of beers, brewed by Brian Peters, Lowes, and Kim Mizner. They also

serve pizzas, cooked by head chef Tim “Jesus” Stevens.“I am having a pint of Lighten Up, Francis the schwarz beer, which is a light roast in charac-ter and dry in the finish and quite delicious, I am about ⅔ done but I could be drinking it for hours more,” Says Susan Morrison, a customer at ABGB and a friend of one of the owners, Brian Peters. At ABGB there are two different types of beers, “Always” beers and “Sometimes” beers. The “Always” beers are: Hell Yes, a Helles beer; Day Trip, a Pale Ale; Superline, an IPA; and Big Mama Red, a Hoppy Red. The “Sometimes” beers which are only occasionally served there are: Rapid Scorpion, a India Session Ale; Apa! Apa #6-Mandarina Bavaria, an American Pale Ale; Klassiker, a Vienna Lager; Lighten Up, Francis, a Schwarzbier; Ed’s Best Bitter, a special bitter; and the Rocket 100, a pre-prohibition-style pilsner. ABGB beer is self-brewed and uses the freshest ingredient. They brewed many styles of beer over the years but their favorite types of beer are dry, hoppy ones. You will be

25Photo of Menu by John Kilfoyle

Photo of drinks by John Kilfoyle

pleased if you are big fan of lagers, especially the German-Style Pilsner. “The pizza was actually surprisingly good, the flavors were very fresh, the crust was New York style: thin; but the toppings which were, since it’s a mar-garita, tomato and basil as well as the cheese were very nicely balanced and flavorful so I was honestly very surprised.” Says Jim, another customer at ABGB and friend of Brian Peters. The head chef of the restaurant Tim “Jesus” Steven grew up in a household that made cajun and creole food. Constantly. His kitchen always had something going in it whether it be roux for the weekend or the next day’s breakfast, it was always going. That is where he learned to love cooking. After Stevens attended the University of North Texas he went to the Institute of New Orleans, a cooking school and being enriched in the culture of the food capital of the world developed his love for cooking even more and furthered his career dreams of being a professional chef. In Austin he is doing what he has always wanted to do, become a chef and create partnerships with his suppliers so that he can keep his food as

Photo of pizza and salad by John Kilfoyle

local and fresh as possible. He says he tries to keep things in season and go from there, he makes the food emulate the feeling of a certain season, so he keeps it fresh and colorful for summer and warm and cozy for winter. Stevens also says he tries to mix the sweet and savory ingredients to make dynamic flavors for ex-ample a couple that came in was shocked by his use of cantaloupe on pizza but when they tried it they were hooked. “ABGB in Austin is the best it’s got wonderful music, it’s pretty chillaxed here, there’s dogs barking, there’s little kids screaming, there’s shade, of course we’re here on a Sunday in February and the tem-perature is about 70 degrees so it’s perfect, there are no mosquitoes because it’s not the summer, so you couldn’t ask for a better day,”Morrison says. The owners of ABGB chose this location to be ABGB because available parking, a very large patio space, a large enough building for a brewery, kitchen, a stage, dancing space and seating space, and it is close to where Lowe and Peters live. When you go there you have to walk into the large warehouse to order your food and after you order you are given a sign with a fa-mous movie character or musician on it and then have to find your table, you often have to share a table with other customers. There are little kids and dogs a plenty there, as well as a diverse group of people from differ-ent backgrounds, and many people of different ages. “We have the freshest beer and the best locally-sourced menu of any beer garden in Austin. We have great indoor and outdoor seating And we have live

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music four days a week.” Peters said when asked about the difference between ABGB and other beer gardens. Jim has also said that ABGB has a nontraditional feel in comparison with beer garden that are attached to German restaurant and serve classic German meals like schnitzel, sauerkraut, or sausages and instead serves thing like pizza and focuses on fresher ingredients and fresher flavours. Susan also say that ABGB is more chill and relaxed when compared to other beer gardens. So come to ABGB they are open every night, except Mondays, and enjoy their beer and pizza. ☻

Close up of a pizza slice by John Kilfoyle

Photo of the front of ABGB by John Kilfoyle

Photo of the side of ABGB by John Kilfoyle

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Photo of the back of ABGB by John Kilfoyle

ABGBThe beer garden

where dreamscome true

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SALTMississippi’s Own

“Best darn salt I ever tasted in my darn near life!”

-Cousin Lou

High Quality at a Low Price!

955 Kelly Road, Biloxi, MI, 39531228-567-5469

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$149.95US $199.99CA