Texas French Bread

This Week’s Bruschetta & Mothers’ Day Question

Murph — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:11:29 +0000

Our Bruschetta this week is spread with a lovely guinea fowl liver pate that based on an Alice Waters recipe. The birds are from Sebastian at Countryside Farm. In addition to the livers, the recipe uses capers, anchovies, shallots, and Marsala – no cream. And as you can see, we topped it with arugula from Boggy Creek Farm and shaved parmigiano reggiano (that would be parmesan cheese, or what I used to call par-MEE-sian when I was a kid and it came in a green can with a yellow plastic shaker top and lived in the fridge). The bruschetta will be here all week folks – don’t miss’m – and be sure and tip your waitresses and bartenders. Wait, we don’t have bartenders… because we don’t have a bar to tend… Come to think of it, we really only have one waitress. Oh well, you get the idea.

Now, about Mothers’ Day. We’re open for brunch and lunch as usual this Sunday, but we’re normally closed for dinner on Sunday evenings. With that in mind, we wanted to float this offer. If some folks would like to come, we’ll open up and make a few special items for an early dinner on Sunday evening. Let us know asap, and if we get enough interest, you’re on. Email us, or you can text me at 512.563.9048. I’ll send out an email late today or early Thursday with an update.

hope to see you all this week – bon appetit,

murph

NEW DINNER HOURS EFFECTIVE APRIL 1

Murph — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:21:54 +0000

Dear Texas French Bread Customers

Per our email of last week, beginning the week of April 1, 2013, we will commence dinner service at 5:30pm on Tuesday through Saturday evenings. Our new hours of operation are listed below. Please disregard the hours posted to the right:

Monday – 7am – 5pm

Tuesday – Thursday – 7am – 9:30pm

Friday – Saturday – 7am – 10pm

Sunday – 8am – 5pm

We apologize for any inconvenience resulting from these new hours, particularly if you were coming for dinner on Monday evening. We do hope you’ll join us another night this week.

Best,

Murph & Ben

NOTES FROM THE TFB DINNER UNDERGROUND

Murph — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:34:56 +0000

Dear Friends,
We’ve made a couple of changes to our dinner menu over the past week or so that seemed noteworthy:

ROAST CHICKEN – Ok we’ve changed the chicken. Yeah, I know. But before you start throwing things at the computer, please just hear me out. For 2 years we’ve been using a 2.25lb bird. We’ve called it a Poussin, but technically, it’s closer to a “spring chicken” (Poussin refers to a bird that is under 28 days old and typically weighs in at under 1.5lbs). We went this direction in order to serve an entire half bird (dark meat and white) without sending you home stuffed like a bird yourself. But I noticed when I cooked the breasts of larger (3lb+) birds from Dewberry Hills that the white meat was exceptional. It had the same crisp, salty exterior, but was far tenderer and juicier inside than the petite spring chicken we’d been serving – which frankly, just wasn’t large enough to roast well. Well anyway – Viola! I had an inspiration (which is way better than an expiration). We could use the larger birds and simply offer the dish for two. Get it with local asparagus and oven roasted sweet potatoes – seriously, shockingly good. And at $31 for 2 people, we even lowered the price – just absolutely not to be

RAVIOLI – as I believe I mentioned a few days ago, we also reintroduced our homemade ravioli. This took mad skilzz of persuasion (by your narrator) to get it done, but Ben and Mike Hamley finally relented (read caved) and agreed to bring this perennial favorite back. I understand their resistance – these things are a serious pain, er…, sorry, I mean very labor intensive – to produce. Anyway – this week’s rav are stuffed with chevre and roasted beets and topped with sage brown butter -

MUSSELS – we’re also bringing back another old favorite, the mussels served with fennel and Pernod. (For anyone who doesn’t know, Pernod is an anise flavored liqueur produced in France that pairs terrifically with fresh fennel). We had moved on from this preparation a while back as we wanted to use the mussels dish as a test kitchen of sorts for various kinds of local produce -fennel for the most part not faring particularly well in our central Texas climate, we end up getting it from California. But we’ve had so many requests for the dish that it is back by popular demand starting this week.

EAT YOUR SALAD – over the last several weeks, we’ve had a plethora of beautiful fresh local salad greens on the menu. We’ve served a simple market salad with shaved parmesan and Texas olive oil, a terrific Ceasar with Ortiz anchovies, our signature take on the Salade Lyonnaisse, and a lovely spinach salad with a 6 minute egg and a bacon dressing at various times. Friends – we live in Texas. Gather Yee and eat Yee yer salad greens while Yee may, because unfortunately – lettuces don’t grow so good in 100+ degree weather, and it will be here before you can blink.

MONDAY MONDAY – EVERY OTHER DAY, EVERY OTHER DAY OF THE WEEK IS FINE…

Finally, a scheduling note – for the last year or so, we’ve been open 6 nights per week for dinner – Monday through Saturday. Alas, Monday has proven the most challenging of the 6 evenings to gather a reasonable crowd. We’ve also been aware that a number of folks would like us to open a bit earlier for dinner. With that in mind, in order to accommodate several overlapping priorities and give you our best work – beginning next week we will be cease dinner service on Monday evenings. We will continue to serve dinner Tuesday through Saturday evenings, but we will change our schedule to begin dinner service at 5:30pm. We apologize for any inconvenience, but we do hope that the additional half hour of service beginning at 5:30pm will make up for it somewhat.

Hope to see you all at TFB soon – bon appetit,

murph, ben, & crew

PS – Happy Nuptials to your favorite ginger headed server and ours, Ben Dechard who will tie the proverbial knot with bride to be Justine this Friday at Laguna Gloria. Justine – just so it’s clear, you are now expected to hang out and drink with us on the weekends, so saddle up – yee haw.

DINING BY VAN – THX JOSH

Murph — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:17:55 +0000

Dear Friends,

Running a business that employs lots of fresh, interesting young people has always been one of my favorite aspects of the job here at Texas French Bread. But I must say, it poses no shortage of opportunities for me to come face to face with how NOT young and NOT hip I’ve become.

To wit – a few months ago Josh Williams agreed to come on board and work with us in the evenings. His dad Steve had gone from regular diner to good friend, and Josh had already done time on our day shift. His interests extended to sustainable farming, the foods we serve at dinner, fine wines, (and of course Chris Wooten’s whiskey collection) – not to mention a few other minor obsessions like Italian motorcycles, culling together his own high end road bikes from parts culled on the cheap through Craigslist, and his newest toy, a 1980′s model VW Vanagon. (Nerd Alert: I believe it is a 1980 Type 2 T3 Aircooled Westfalia).

Assuming I haven’t completely lost you yet (stick with me here), the Vanagon was the tricked out version of VW’s popular van from the 60s and 70′s (think Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers if you’re that old), but it featured full-on camper-fication, including on some models, a stove, refrigerator and sink, in addition to a dinner table that folds out in the middle of the bay and a popup tent-top that provides an upper deck sleeping porch.

Well – Valentine’s Day rolled around and we had great fears that we might have overbooked our seating capacity – not the best night to learn at the door that your 7:30pm reservation will be honored at 9:15pm. So we’re scrambling, counting chairs and thinking about where we might be able to squeeze in an extra table or two, when Josh and Hall rather sheepishly pitched me an idea that I think they thought I would reject out of hand – as I am, as I believe I mentioned above, tragically old rather than tragically hip. It seemed that Josh’s roommate Davey was headed in to dinner with his girlfriend and they wanted to dine “al fresco” as in – you guessed it – the van.

Van dining went pretty well on Valentine’s Day, and I thought that would be all there was to it. But then apparently another group of rather suspiciously young people heard of this mystical, uber-hip dining experience and indicated that they too desired reservations for said Van Dining. This time it was a four top – a tight squeeze to be sure. And miraculously, this event also came off without incident. So maybe that’s finally it. I’m not sure if the van is available – you’ll have to ask Josh. What I am sure of is that I really wish I’d been writing down every goofy thing that’s happened along the way over the past 12 years at TFB. Truth really is stranger and funnier than fiction, and if I ever get around to writing it all down, I’m afraid I might not be able to remember it all.

Anyway – please join us this weekend. Don’t worry – we won’t make you eat in The Van. We’re still running Ben’s amazing Vietnamese style cabbage roll soup (stuffed with ground pork from Richardson’s Farm and Gulf shrimp). We’ve also got a new preparation for the Richardson’s Farm pork belly that involves silky pureed potatoes and sweet caramelized cipollina onions. And look out for a new batch of braised beef shank from Wendy Bar that is slow-cooked to perfection.

Hope to see you tonight – bon appetit,

murph

josh & betsy, in big bend on the van’s inaugural trip

A Few Spots Left for Valentine’s Day

Murph — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 20:27:53 +0000

We’ve had a couple of last minute cancellations and we can accommodate a few more guests for dinner tomorrow evening on Valentine’s Day. Email us at tfbreservations@gmail.com and we’ll see about squeezing you in.

VALENTINE’S DAY MENU

Murph — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 02:11:15 +0000

February 14 – Valentine’s Day

Amuse Bouche

Appetizer (choose one)
bruschetta w/ succulent spinach, 6 minute farm egg, Ortiz Anchovies
beet & chevre ravioli w/ beet greens & sage brown butter
market salad w/ shaved parmigiano reggiano
Vietnamese cabbage roll soup

Main (choose one)
buttercup squash risotto w/ roasted buttercup seeds & dandelion greens
beef shank roast w/ jerusalem artichoke mash & dried cherry wine reduction
shrimp & lobster stew w/ white beans, red potatoes, baby carrots & green goddess oil

Dessert (come on, choose one)
butterscotch budino
strawberry & meyer lemon curd tartlet
chocolate pots de creme
halsey tart

$45
Add a course for $10
corkage included

Valentine’s Day & My Vietnamese Grandmother

Murph — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 18:37:34 +0000

Dear Friends,

When I was little, mom and dad would pack up the car on weekends and drive us to my grandmother’s for dinner. As we walked in, the smell of beef stock, anise and ginger washed over us. On the table was a cup of tea, fresh spring rolls and ingredients for a multi-course feast. And there was my Vietnamese grandmother working her magic at the stove.

Okay…I don’t have a Vietnamese grandmother.

But I do get really excited by authentic culinary traditions and the ways those are interpreted at the family dinner table. That is my primary inspiration to cook professionally. As opposed to the pleasure of learning special restaurant techniques, the rush of being clobbered by a mountain of tickets or the romance of fine dining. I think that much of the food we make at the bakery traces back to somebody’s grandmother’s house and sharing food which is simple, honest and traditional. Of course, my own family has roots in Ireland and England with a smattering of other places. But we look to France, Italy and the Mediterranean for ideas — with respect for tradition and a careful eye to our own regional context.

In that spirit, this week we are making a Vietnamese cabbage roll soup. It is simple and delicious. Individual leaves of Boggy Creek Farm cabbage are filled with Richardson Farms’ ground pork and wild gulf shrimp, along with lots of chopped cilantro. These are folded into neat packages and poached in a broth made from chicken stock with a splash of fish sauce & topped with early spring garlic from Kris at Milagro Farm.

Also on this week’s menu: spinach salad with hot bacon dressing and a six minute egg, as well as an appetizer of seared Spanish mackerel with fennel potato salad and horseradish creme fraiche.

And join us Valentine’s Day! We’re offering 3 courses plus an amuse bouche for $45 & waiving the corkage fee. Email us this week to reserve, and we’ll take that down to $40. Hope to see you soon.

Bon Appetit,

Ben

A Community Supported Restaurant

Murph — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:00:46 +0000

Dear Friends,

In December, we issued an invitation to help us with improvements to our building by participating in a CSR (community supported restaurant) effort. Many of you were good enough to participate, and quite few folks have asked us about our plans.

Well – I’m proud to say that we’ve taken a small step toward spiffing things up. Over Christmas we stripped the laminate tile flooring that had been in place since we opened for business at 2900 Rio in 1987, and covered the concrete floor with a spiffy epoxy coating that is modern, functional, and (I think) quite attractive. It feels like progress, and I want to thank all of the folks who’ve supported our efforts to get going on this.

Next up, we plan to build a new kitchen space adjacent to the dining room. As some of you are aware, the kitchen is presently situated in the bakery oven room. This arrangement tends to result in unhappy traffic jams on Friday evenings as the bakers try to get a jump on production for our Saturday morning farmer’s markets, and the chefs try to continue cooking meals for folks out front. We’ve also got plans to enlarge our bathrooms, and make other technical improvements necessary to comply with city codes. If there’s any bad news in all of this, it’s simply that this city is very backed up at the moment in issuing building permits. We’ve filed an application to do the work and we hope to hear back from the City in coming weeks – I’ll keep you posted.

The long and short of all this – is that this summer, we hope to apply for a license to sell beer and wine in the restaurant and the garden space adjacent to our parking lot. Anyway – there is still a lot of work in front of us. If you are interested our CSR, but did not jump in last month, you can still get a 20% discount on your TFB purchases while helping us put our plans into effect–click here to invest in dinners at 20% discount. We look forward to seeing lots of you in the shop this weekend.

bon appetit,

murph

Coq au Vin By Any Other Name . . .

Murph — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 21:55:38 +0000

Dear Friends,

Each winter, after enough cold days, my mind inevitably turns to French bistro cooking. Robust dishes, slow cooked with big flavors. Although everything we do in our kitchen derives from bistro traditions, the hotter months seem to call for restraint. Not so now.

In that spirit, last week we began trying this year’s version of coq au vin — a fricassee of seared chicken braised in wine. While there are all kinds of regional variations of the dish, some of which are lighter and could be served in warmer months, the one most of us think about is the classic: red wine, lardons of slab bacon, button mushrooms and pearl onions. Deep red, rich with the flavors wine and thyme, with just a hint of smoke.

That is the dish we started to make last week. But we just couldn’t bear to stew the tender young birds we receive from Dewberry Hills Farms in order to follow tradition. They hardly need to be improved by a three day marinade or a long simmer on the stovetop. And really “coq au vin” simply means chicken in wine. We looked around and thought: we want to have it both ways – a perfect roast chicken and a full flavored red wine sauce. So this year we are reducing a cotes du rhone to near syrup and combining it with a robust roasted chicken stock and fresh herbs. And we are serving it with lardons, mushrooms and new potatoes, out of respect for tradition. Also out of respect for tradition, we are simply listing the ingredients on the menu and foregoing a name for our dish. But coq au vin by any other name is coq au vin, even a modern and personal rendition.

Bon Appetit,

Ben

Happy Holidays!

Murph — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:33:50 +0000

Dear Friends,

Happy holidays from Tessa, the only creature at Texas French Bread who is relaxed these days! It’s been a crazy whirlwind of activity around here. I forgot to wrap the cranberry breads before I went home at 11pm last night, but they should be ok because we soak them in an orange juice and sugar solution. The huge order of Buche de Noel that we do for a local doctor every year (and always plan to get done early) is way behind and on emergency schedule as usual. How can we fit the apple tarts in the oven when the bread isn’t done yet, and what about the special order for a key lime pie that someone took even though we don’t make key lime pies this time of year? And can I please have 5 inches of space on this work table so I can keep packing cookie tins???

As I tend to do at this time of year, I find myself wondering why I can’t celebrate Christmas like a normal person. You know – the way y’all do it: rest, recuperation, contemplative reverence for the wonder of existence and quality time spent with friends and family. Ok – just chalk it up to me not getting out much this time of year, but please try not to burst my bubble. In my imagination, that’s how I imagine other people celebrate. Bing Crosby and White Christmas playing on an old-timey turntable somewhere off in the distance as the firelight spreads a soft glow…

The truth is, over the years, I’ve really grown to love the intensity that defines the food business around holiday time, and I don’t think it would feel like the season without this work and this pace. And while it’s certainly good for businesses to have a few weeks when we’re pushed to the limit, I think all of us in this field feel like this is the time of year when we are pressed into service to truly give everything we have in contribution to our community. I believe I speak for everyone at TFB when I say that we are extremely grateful to all of you. You give us the opportunity to do our very best work – and that is one of the best gifts anyone could hope for.

As we wrap up the season, there are a few things I want to point to:

HOLIDAY SUPPER CLUB ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23 6:30

5 festive & delicious courses // $35 per person + no corkage – see menu & reserve here or reserve by email.

GET 20% OFF WHEN YOU ADOPT TFB AS YOUR COMMUNITY SUPPORTED BAKERY/RESTAURANT

What could be simpler or more delicious than gift cards?–buy one for yourself too and save a bundle. Peruse & purchase gift cards here.

GET 10% OFF AVAILABLE BAKED GIFTS WHEN YOU JOIN US FOR DINNER

Enjoy a convivial and relaxing dinner & purchase bakery gifts for giving the next day!

JOIN US FOR NEW YEARS – PRIX FIXE MENU AND MUSIC BY KARA BLISS & AUSTIN HALLER

Ring in 2013 with 4 festive & delicious courses // $45 per person + no corkage fee. See menu here & email us to make a reservation.