When he spoke to TEXAS MONTHLY back in May, Larry McGuire mentioned he was working on a new oyster bar on West Sixth Street. Just before the Austin City Limits Music Festival, McGuire opened Clark’s Oyster Bar – a “little brother” restaurant to the highly revered Perla’s Seafood & Oyster Bar.

Interior of Clark’s Oyster Bar. Photo taken by Jett Butler @ FÖDA Studio.

The restaurant’s lunch and dinner menu includes an eclectic mix of oysters, fish, and other seafood-centric offerings. The restaurant only opened last week, so we’ll have to wait and see if diners think Clark’s lives up to the legacy of his esteemed older brother.

Tagged: Clark's Oyster Bar, Larry McGuire, Layne Lynch, perla's

The 23rd La Dolce Vita Food & Wine Festival that sponsors the AMOA-Arthouse will take place tonight from 6-9 p.m. at Laguna Gloria.

Food will be served from several Austin restaurants including East Side Showroom, Foreign & Domestic, Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill, Olive & June, Parkside, Ranch 616, and Trace. Famed Austin restaurateur Larry McGuire of Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, Perla’s, Elizabeth Street Café, and Jeffrey’s Restaurant has been chosen as the honorary chef for the evening.

“As a native Austinite, I’ve enjoyed Laguna Gloria, La Dolce Vita, and the museum my entire life, so to be asked to serve as the 2012 Honorary Chef is a real privilege,” Larry McGuire said in a press release. “Not only am I excited about helping AMOA-Arthouse raise funds for its education programs, but I feel that this event stands out from all the other food events in town.”

Cocktails will be prepared by Tipsy Texan’s David Alan and local wineries and distillers including Becker Vineyards, Inwood Estates Vineyards, Llano Estacado Winery, and Pedernales Cellars will be present as well. For more information about the event, check out this link.

Tagged: AMOA-Arthouse, David Alan, East Side Show Room, Foreign & Domestic, Inwood Estates Vineyards, La Dolce Vita Food & Wine Festival, Lamberts Downto, Larry McGuire, Layne Lynch, llano estacado winery, Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill, Olive & June, Parkside, Pedernales Cellars, perla's, Ranch 616, Tipsy Texan, TRACE

You may think that as a Texan, you know beef and smoking and barbecue and such. Friends, you don’t know anything about it until you’ve attended the smoking of a whole,  entire, big honking steer.

At Vaca y Vino, set for Sunday, April 22, from 1 to 6, three Austin chefs are coming together to do an afternoon of beef, wine, song, and camaraderie in the great outdoors at the Bridges Ranch eight miles south of Driftwood, outside Austin. A whole steer (basted in chimichurri) will be slow-roasted over oak coals, and ample vittles will be supplied, including empanadas, veggie caldo, cheese and cured meats, new-potato salad, grilled escarole and other veggies,  tres leches cake, and more. Wine will flow. And of course, this being Austin, there will be live music, by Latino-­funk masters Brownout  and classical Argentine tango maestros Glover Tango.

To cut to the chase: Tickets are now on sale for $75. If there are any left by April 1, they will go up to $95. The price includes food, wine, and music amid the live oak trees on the ranch. Also, bus transportation from downtown. Only 300 tickets are being sold, so don’t procrastinate.

The co-conspirators who dreamed up Vaca y Vino are Emmett Fox (of Fino and Asti), Lou Lambert (of Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, among others), and Larry McGuire (of Perla’s and Elizabeth Street Café, among others). Also involved are Will Bridges, a scion of the family that owns the ranch, and music maven Rose Reyes.

I attended the dress rehearsal for this event about a week ago, on a blustery Sunday afternoon, and I have to say that although my hair, clothes, eyelids, shoes, socks, fingernails, and iPhone were completely and totally smoked before it was all over, I can’t remember when I’ve had more fun.

About 80 people gathered round to watch the three chefs wrestle with half a steer on the crazy swinging grill (more formally known as  a cantilevered parrilla-style grill) that they had had custom-built by a trailer hitch company in Austin. To tell you the truth, the contraption reminded me of some old bedsprings and a piece of tin roofing welded to an upright pole, with half a steer sandwiched in between, but it worked beautifully.

Every half hour (for more than sixteen hours) they swung the bedsprings (excuse me, the parrilla) out from the pole, flipped the half steer over to ensure even cooking, and swung it back over the coals.

I privately thought there was less than a 50:50 chance the meat would be cooked halfway evenly, much less be tender. After all, it takes barbecue pitmasters years to get it just right. These guys were doing it on the fly. (Of course, Lou (pictured) has plenty of experience with barbecue at Lamberts, but still—he’s not working with a whole animal).

But the results were perfect: tender, smoky, juicy, and amazing. They did take out the key cuts, like tenderloin and ribeye and smoke them separately, just to be sure there was something to eat in case the half steer went to hell in a hand basket, but it turned out there was no need to worry.

We sat down to eat family-style at long tables covered in checked tablecloths under the live oaks. Everyone proceeded to baste themselves in Malbec, overload their plates, eat until they couldn’t see straight, and wonder why no one ever thought of this before.

Tagged: Bridges Ranch, Emmett Fox, Larry McGuire, Lou Lambert, steer roast, Vaca y Vino