Bryce Gilmore has announced plans to open a brick-and-mortar location of the food trailer that propelled him into local fame: The Odd Duck.

Bryce Gilmore

The 120-seat Odd Duck restaurant will re-open in Spring 2013 in its original location at 1219 South Lamar Boulevard with “a rustic and casual atmosphere [featuring] simple and fresh, yet innovative cuisine.” The restaurant will serve lunch, dinner, and late night, and the menus will feature intensely local, seasonal food with a full bar and a wine and beer menu as well.

“All of us involved in the project are committed to knowing where all of our ingredients come from,” Gilmore said in the press release. “One of our proudest accomplishments is supporting local farmers and now we’ll have the capability to support even more farms with the additional volume [at the restaurant].”

Tagged: Barley Swine, Bryce Gilmore, Layne Lynch, Odd Duck, Odd Duck Farm to Trailer

Ready your remotes, my friends. Tonight is the premiere of the final season of Anthony Bourdain’s hit series “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel. The first episode of the season features none other than Austin, which Bourdain stopped by during the SXSW music festival in March. As I mentioned before, Bourdain is leaving the Travel Channel for CNN once the final season of “No Reservations” wraps up.

No official word on all the restaurants and food trailers that are featured in tonight’s Austin episode, but one person we know for sure made it into the lineup is Bryce Gilmore of Barley Swine.

Bryce Gilmore

“It’s great to be a part of the final season of No Reservations,” Gilmore told TEXAS MONTHLY. “We had a great time a few years ago filming for Odd Duck and again a few months ago for Barley Swine. This time around we sat in one of my favorite bars, drank beers, and shot the shit about the Austin food scene. I can think of worse things to do.”

You can catch all the Austin excitement tonight at 8 p.m. CT on the Travel Channel.

Tagged: Anthony Bourdain, austin, Barley Swine, Bryce Gilmore, Layne Lynch, no reservations, Odd Duck Farm to Trailer, Travel Channel

I first met Andrew Zimmern last fall at Whip In in Austin where the spirited television chef was filming his hit Travel Channel series, “Bizarre Foods.” Though Zimmern has traveled all over the world, he made it clear to me during his stop in Texas that Austin’s culinary scene evoked a certain quality he rarely ever saw in American cuisine. “The people of Austin really enjoy being experimented at,” Zimmern explained to me. “They redefine the meaning of bizarre food.”

Tonight, the Austin episode of Bizarre Foods premieres at 8 p.m. CT and features some Austin favorites, including Foreign & Domestic, Contigo, Lamberts, Barley Swine, Gourdoughs, Dai Due, and a number of other Austin spots. It seems like Rene Ortiz of La Condesa will also be featured on the episode as well, according to a post on Sway’s Facebook page which warns, “Spoiler alert: Rene might kill something [tonight].”

Bridget Dunlap with Andrew Zimmern

The host for Zimmern’s Austin visit is Rainey Street Queen Bridget Dunlap, owner of Lustre Pearl, Clive Bar, Bar 96, and the yet-to-be-opened Container Bar. ”Andrew and the crew are super badass! He was so fun, sweet, and down-to-earth,” Dunlap said of her experience with Zimmern. ”We all stayed out together until 12:30 a.m. and had a blast. He loves his job and the crew loves him…the whole experience was really amazing.”

Catch all the Austin bizarreness tonight on the Travel Channel!

Tagged: Andrew Zimmern, austin, Barley Swine, Bridget Dunlap, Contigo, Dai Due, Foreign and Domestic, la condesa, Lambert's, Layne Lynch, Rene Ortiz, Sway, Travel Channel, Whip In

Smoke was definitely in the air.

The quintessentially Texas aroma of smoked beef permeated the air at Live Fire! on Thursday evening at the Salt Lick Pavilion in Driftwood, outside Austin.
Billed as the kick-off event for the three-day Austin Wine & Food Festival coming up this weekend, Live Fire! was sponsored by the Austin Food & Wine Alliance. More than two dozen Central Texas chefs, with an outlier from Portland, Oregon, set up smokers and grills under towering pecan trees on the banks of Onion Creek while 650 attendees paid $75 each to stuff themselves silly, listen to music, swill adult beverages, and watch the amazing performers of Fire Knights, who twirled scary-looking flaming staffs with the ease of high school drum majors.
Meanwhile, the chefs cooked Texas beef up, down, and sideways.
There was smoked brisket from local barbecue hero Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue and tongue pastrami sandwiches from Ned Elliott of Foreign & Domestic. Andrew Wiseheart of Contigo changed his last name to “Beefheart” for the night; his booth served up, yes, cured beef heart with a chicory-and-strawberry salad.
Naomi Pomeroy of the appropriately named Beast, in Portland, went native with Texas wagyu medallions topped with wild-ramp butter.

Jason Dady did battle with maurauding flies.

Jason Dady of San Antonio, owner of Tre Trattoria and Bin 555, did slow-cooked charred beef brisket with blue-cheese spoonbread and a caramelized onion purée. He encountered a problem that plagued many booths: “I’ve been fighting flies all night,” he said, sounding exasperated. ”Maybe our food smelled better.”
Josh Watkins of the Carillon could not stop at just one. He did two dishes: beef ribs with corn pudding and also fried beef cheeks with Brussels sprouts brushed with smoked maple syrup. And just exactly how to you smoke a liquid? Turns out there are at least two ways, but the one that worked best was a no-brainer: put a pan of syrup in a smoker. Watkins also proved himself adept at juggling Myer lemons, to the amusement of onlookers.

The most dramatic entry of the evening was Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chef John Bullington’s whole steer, cooked over coals on a specially constructed Argentine-style grill. “We wired very large pieces of meat to the platform, and cooked them for about sixteen hours,” he said. “We turned it once. The beef alone weighed 407 ½ pounds and the metal rack was another 100. It took six guys to flip that sucker.”

Wagyu medallions with tomato-jam tarts.

After so much bovine protein, it was a relief to find a dessert. Erin Echternach, pastry chef at Fino, skewered fresh strawberries and squares of cake to make grilled strawberry shortcake. Her assistant Christiana Rachut volunteered that “Strawberries are the beef of the vegetable world.” Kyle McKinney of Barley Swine made sweet zucchini bread,  grilled and served with dabs of goat cheese mousse and candied walnuts. (Thankfully, neither barley nor swine was involved.)

(A version of this post will appear on TMDailyPost.com.) Photos by Courtney Bond.

Tagged: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Austin Wine & Food Festival, Barley Swine, Bin 555, Contigo, fino, Foreign & Domestic, Live Fire! Austin Food & Wine Alliance, Salt Lick Pavilion, the Carillon, Tre Trattoria

In case you haven’t heard the exciting news, Austin’s Jack and Bryce Gilmore are headed to the streets and avenues of New York to knock on the prestigious doors of the James Beard House. The father-and-son duo from Barley Swine and Jack Allen’s Kitchen are vigorously planning their feast for the James Beard experience, along with Bryce’s brother and Jack’s son Dylan, but took some time to talk with TEXAS MONTHLY about what it’s like to cook with kinfolk, what’s likely to appear on their gourmet menu, and whether or not they plan on opening a father-son restaurant in the near future.

For those interested in sampling their James Beard menu, Jack Allen’s Kitchen is hosting a preview dinner on April 3. Check out the event here.

Tell me what thought went into creating the James Beard dinner menu? Take me through your planning and preparation process.

B: We wanted to bring our own styles together and create a menu focusing on Central Texas ingredients because that is something we have in common.

J: Bryce came up with half the dishes and I came up with the other half. It all started with us tasting great Texas wines, and then we selected the food to pair with it. And, of course, we wanted to showcase great Texas food ingredients from our awesome local farmers.

What types of meats, ingredients, and dishes did you want to make sure to include on the menu? Why those?

B: I wanted to use ingredients that I enjoy eating, but also what is common with this area, like goat, local cheeses, wines, and beer.  I love eggs, so that is on there, as is pork. Everything [we’re making] is seasonal and growing right now in Texas.

J: Shrimp, goat, great Heritage pork, crab, oysters, chicken, eggs, great cheeses, and vegetables all by our partners that help keep Jack Allen’s and Barley Swine loaded up each week.

What do these dishes say or symbolize about you as a chef?

B: They represent the type of food we both do. It’s great to showcase what the farmers are doing because they inspire us every day.

J: These dishes are all about keeping it fresh and simple with great textures and flavors. Honor the ingredient and let it shine through.

What’s it like to work with your family on something like this? Both of you are individual chefs who work your own restaurant, how did you combine those different styles and work together on a project like this?

B: We don’t get to cook together enough, so why not do something in New York? We recognize and embrace our differences; this is for fun.

J: Working with both my boys, who happen to be my best friends. That’s the main reason I wanted to do this event. I am so proud of them both.

What’s next for you guys? Will we ever see a joint project in the future? Perhaps a father-son restaurant?

B:  Hard to say, but we hope to do something together in the near future.  If not a restaurant then more and more dinners.

J: People ask that question all the time, and the answer is always the same: I would love to do a project with both my boys, and we will at some point. But, for now, I am concentrated on Jack Allen’s Kitchen number two in Round Rock, and Bryce is real busy with Barley Swine.

Tagged: austin, Barley Swine, Bryce Gilmore, Jack Allen's Kitchen, Jack Gilmore, James Beard, Layne Lynch

Dining Room at Congress, Austin. (Photo Ryann Ford)

Starting in 2002, I have eaten my weight in lamb chops, roasted beets, pork belly, and micro-cilantro every year to come up with Texas Monthly’s annual list of the most innovative, exciting, and delicious new Texas restaurants. For 2012, our feature “Where to Eat Now” runs the gamut from a glittering, high-style dining room in downtown Austin to a causal sushi-and-sake bar in Fort Worth.

The full story can be found in the March issue and online. The top ten and runners-up are below.

Pumpkin cheesecake, Barley Swine. (Photo Jody Horton)

The number one slot was captured by Congress, a secluded enclave on the first floor of the swank Austonian condo tower. Since it opened on New Year’s Eve 2010, outfitted in icy crystal lights and cushy booths, Congress has become the city’s default location for special occasions of all types.

(Tip: Congress is also an excellent  choice if you forgot to send candy and flowers on Valentine’s.) Austinites will remember executive chef David Bull when he was a rookie making a name for himself at the Driskill Hotel a few years ago. Now (after a sojourn in Dallas) he’s back in town, at the top of his game.

The year just passed is notable for bringing several dining trends into sharper focus. Chief among them is what I call the offal truth, a.k.a. nose-to-tail eating. Locally sourced ingredients are also the rule these days. Pigs are big, which is observation about both their size and their popularity on menus.

Casual and small-plate dining are more prevalent than ever (several of the top ten choices have beer gardens and community tables). But fine dining is hardly on the way out (three spots are formal with a vengeance). As for culinary style, it’s all over the map: four of

Duck Three Ways, Marquee (Photo Kevin Marple)

the top places are American melting pot, two are classic French, two are Italian, one Indian, and one Japanese.

Here is the list, in order: 1. Congress, Austin. 2. Barley Swine, Austin. 3. Marquee, Dallas. 4. Coppa, Houston. 5. Philippe, Houston. 6. The Monterey, San Antonio. 7. Contigo, Austin. 8. Lucia, Dallas. 9. Pondicheri, Houston. 10. Shinjuku Station, Fort Worth.

The five runners-up (listed alphabetically by city) are Mesa Veracruz Coastal Cuisine, Dallas; Private Social, Dallas. Revolver Taco Lounge, Fort Worth. Feast, San Antonio; Restaurant Gwendolyn, San Antonio.

The restaurants in this year’s story opened between November 1, 2010, and November 1, 2011.

Tagged: Andrew Wiseheart, Anita Jaisinghani, Barley Swine, Ben Edgerton, Brandi Key, Bryce Gilmore, Chris Shepherd, Congress, Contigo, Coppa, David Bull, David Uygur, Erica Waksmunski, Feast, Indika, Jarry Ho, Jennifer Uygur, Lucia, Marquee Grill, Mesa Veracruz Coastal Cuisine, Michael Sohocki, Olga Reyes, Philippe restaurant, Philippe Schmit, Pondicheri, Private Social, Quealy Watson, Raul Reyes, Rebecca Meeker, Restaurant Gwendolyn, Revolver Taco Lounge, Robert Cain, Shinjuku Station, Stefan Bowers, the Monterey, Tiffany Derry, Tre Wilcox, Where to Eat Now 2012

There’s nothing like a bandwagon. No sooner did Food & Wine and Bon Appétit fall all over themselves to give Austin a whole lotta love than StarChefs.com (an online magazine for chefs and culinary insiders) decided to hold one of its four national awards ceremonies in Austin this year.  Their editorial board scoured the landscape for the top talent in Texas’ capital city (and in San Antonio, too) and recently announced more than a dozen winners in nine categories.

As a result, in February, a gaggle of the hottest chefs in Austin and San Antonio are going to be in one place at one time, offering samples of their best bites. And there will be some choice wine and cocktail sips too.

Here’s what you need to know: The tasting will be held on Tuesday, February 21, from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Driskill Hotel. Tickets are $85 for regular admission, $125 for VIP, and can be purchased online at starchefs.com/tickets or by calling 212-966-7575.

So, is StarChefs.com on the mark as far as their choices go? In my humble opinion, absolutely. They considered around 60 candidates (which they found through talking to local media and doing their own research, followed up by in-person tastings and interviews).

OK, it’s time to cut to the chase. Who won?

In the chefs category, it’s David Bull, Congress; Ned Elliott, Foreign & Domestic; Aaron Franklin, Franklin Barbecue; Bryce Gilmore, Barley Swine; Rene Ortiz, La Condesa; Paul Qui, Uchiko; Quealy Watson, The Monterey, in San Antonio; Andrew Wiseheart, Contigo.

In the pastry chefs category, it’s Plinio Sandalio, Carillon; Philip Speer, Uchiko. In the sustainability chef category, it’s Michael Sohocki, Restaurant Gwendolyn, in San Antonio. In the hotel chef category, it’s Josh Watkins, Carillon. In the artisan category, it’s John Bates and Brandon Martinez, Noble Pig. In the restaurateurs category, Tyson Cole, the Uchi group; Jason Dady, Bin 555, Tre Trattoria, Two Bros. BBQ Market, all in San Antonio. In the sommelier category, it’s June Rodil, Congress. In the mixologist category, it’s Jeret Peña, The Esquire, in San Antonio.

The host chef is  Jonathan Gelman, Driskill Grill. (By the way, the photograph is from a StarChefs.com  gala held in New York last year.)

Tagged: Aaron Franklin, Andrew Wiseheart, austin, Barley Swine, Bin 555, Bon Appetit, Brandon Martinez, Bryce Gilmore, Carillon, Congress, Contigo, David Bull, driskill grill, Food & Wine, Foreign & Domestic, Franklin Barbecue, Jason Dady, Jeret Pena, John Bates, Johnathan Gelman, Josh Watkins, June Rodil, la condesa, Michael Sohocki, Ned Elliott, Noble Pig, Paul Qui, Philip Speer, Plinio Sandalio, Quealy Watson, Rene Ortiz, Restaurant Gwendolyn, san antonio, StarChefs.com, the Monterey, Tre Trattoria, Two Bros. BBQ Market, Tyson Cole, uchi, uchiko

In the years since the first Thanksgiving, families throughout the U.S. have created their own culinary traditions, separate from the archetypal choices. Some opt to forego turkey for Cornish game hens, beef tenderloin, or honey spiraled ham. Some would rather buy cheap, canned jellied cranberries than create their own concoction.

Tagged: Barley Swine, Bryce Gilmore, Jack Allen's Kitchen, Jack Gilmore, Layne Lynch, Thanksgiving, Turkey Stuffing

For years, trailers were the ugly ducking of the culinary scene, with spotty service, slim variety, and the constant specter of food poisoning. Enter a new era, the age of the concept truck, when innovative chefs, cooks, and just plain ordinary folks started opening up quirky, fun food trailers to serve their community. I should know. Over the past 50 weeks, I’ve crisscrossed the corridors of Central Texas (and some of the rest of the state), forking down french fries, scarfing sliders, and feasting on Asian fusion to bring you honest reviews of the best and worst (and many mediocre) food trucks.

So today is a special day. Today marks the fiftieth post of Trailer Thursday! It’s been a long time since the inaugural sushi trailer kickoff post.

To celebrate, I thought we should visit a swan on the scene: Odd Duck Farm to Trailer. One of the most innovative, interesting, and delicious spots I’ve been to, Bryce Gilmore’s mobile station has been using local, sustainable ingredients (and a wood-firing oven!) to create a rotating array of small plates since 2009. But y’all are trendy. You’ve likely already visited this belle of the ball more than once, not to mention frequented Gilmore’s hot new brick-and-mortar venture, Barley Swine, on South Lamar. Indeed, the chef was featured in April’s Food & Wine magazine as one of the ten best new chefs in the country, and it’s a challenge to squeeze into Barley Swine’s packed premises or even order at Odd Duck before it sells out of its most popular items each night.

Fortunately for me, on the sweltering evening that I revisited, the kitchen was just firing up. And oh, what a treat. First was a flavorful quail breast, grilled to perfection with just a hint of smokiness, sided with crisp-grilled green beans, and topped with a shishito pepper. One of the things I love about Odd Duck is the presentation. Sure, you might be eating out of styrofoam, but it’s still going to look damn good. Another example: the vegetarian entrée, with grilled zucchini and yellow squash, hints of fresh lettuce, plump texmati rice, and melty gruyere with a sherry onion vinegar. The crimson diced tomatoes on top added the final summer touch.

Though the homestead Parmesan grits and lamb shank was hardly the prettiest dish of the evening, it was certainly my favorite. Smoky, pulled lamb in the center of a hearty round of custard-yellow grits, with crispy grilled broccoli florets and plenty of Parmesan: How can you beat that?

Odd Duck tried its hardest with a beautifully constructed Richardson Farms pork belly slider. The tiny sweet bun was buttered and grilled to perfection and the pork belly had a nice crust and texture, but unfortunately, it was too fatty and tasteless. Even the pink homemade sauerkraut and aioli couldn’t save the slider from its bland fate. Too bad, especially considering that it’s a staple on the menu.

I preferred the venison sausage on a nicely grilled baguette, with a shishito pepper, a dollop of aioli, and a pickle spear on top. Nothing ground-breaking here, but good eating nonetheless. The same could be said for the expertly done roasted beet salad, with tender beet cubes, roasted cauliflower, and heaps of feta in a light champagne vinegar.

So go discover Odd Duck’s exceptional fare all over again. Surrounded by so much satisfying savory food, you won’t even notice the scorching summer heat that’s now upon us. And just think, you might even make it out of the trailer park without overindulging on one of Gourdough’s donuts.

1219 S. Lamar (512-550-5766). Open Tue–Sat 5:30–10.

Posted by Megan Giller

Tagged: Barley Swine, Bryce Gilmore, Odd Duck Farm to Trailer, Trailer Thursday