The company boasts not just a makeup line, but a skincare line, too. Cofounders Michelle Perez and Ivonne Ruggles met while attending Kellogg Business School, put in a few good years of impressive corporate work, and then decided to act on the business plan they’d been dreaming up, once and for all. The two work together on all aspects of the business, consulting labs around the country to ensure the products being branded with their company’s name is quality enough for their own use, as well as for that of a variety of women.

Evie Evan’s philosophy is “to tailor products and services to accommodate the unique needs and preferences of the individual.” The mission is evidenced in skin care lines tailored for everyone from young adults to those with adult acne and women focusing on the “maintenance stage” later in life, which features nutrient rich cremes and their own version of a microdermabrasion creme called “Crystal Clarity.”

What females in Austin will be most pleased to find about Evie Evan is the warm and friendly environment in contrast to the austere and stuffy high-end makeup counters that seem to proliferate these days. They welcome customers to come to their downtown store-front for one-on-one consultations and even offer makeover services (Ruggles attended a makeup designery in Burbank, CA). Recently, they glossied up an entire bachelorette party before they hit the town. How’s that for charm?

Oh, and guys, you’re not forgotten. There’s a skincare line for you, too. Purposely situated at the front of the store for a swift entrance and exit, might I add.

www.evieevan.com

Most popular items include the Panthenol Face Wash, Sheer Tint Mineral Liquid Foundation, Decircling Eye Serum, and Mint Lipgloss.

“We are thrilled to have the SFC Chef Series back at La Condesa,” says La Condesa owner Jesse Herman. “We strive to offer our patrons the best farm fresh and local foods, much of which is purchased from vendors who also sell at the Austin Farmers’ Market. We strongly support SFC’s work in the community and are excited to help them promote the benefits of buying from local growers and ranchers and supporting small businesses in the community.”

Participating chefs include: Rene Ortiz, executive chef at La Condesa; Paul Qui, executive chef at Uchiko; Shawn Cirkiel, executive chef at Parkside; Todd Duplechan, executive chef at Trio; Jesse Griffiths of Dai Due Supper Club; Laura Sawicki, pastry chef at La Condesa; and Zack Northcutt, executive chef at Mulberry and Haddingtons. Participating mixologists include: Nate Wales of La Condesa and Malverde; and Bill Norris of Haddingtons.

“Sustainable Food Center is so happy to partner with La Condesa for the second year, bringing together outstanding Austin chefs who each demonstrate a commitment to supporting Austin Farmers’ Market growers, ranchers and food artisans,” says SFC Executive Director Ronda Rutledge. “By attending this fundraiser for SFC’s programs, guests are supporting those in our community without access to healthy, local food.”

Sustainable Food Center is devoted to sustainably grown and humanely harvested food that supports local farms and cultivates a healthy community. From seed to table, the Sustainable Food Center creates opportunities for individuals to make healthy food choices and to participate in a vibrant local food system.

Tickets are $125 per person, and all proceeds benefit the Sustainable Food Center. Click to buy here!

ABOUT SUSTAINABLE FOODS CENTER

Sustainable Food Center cultivates a healthy community by strengthening the local food system and improving access to nutritious, affordable food. SFC envisions a food secure community where all children and adults grow, share and prepare healthy, local food.

Official Press Release

The casings in place, Runkle turns on the machine, and within seconds the first batch of sausage is snaking across the counter while Thomas coils it and pops any remaining air bubbles.

After ten years as a vegan, Runkle decided that eating pork from the farm “down the road” was better than eating heavily processed monoculture-produced soy. He joined a meat Community Supported Agriculture farm with Marin Sun Farms in northern California, later apprenticed with the farm as a butcher, and finally “hounded chefs and butchers around the Bay Area to tell me all their secrets.” When he moved to Austin, he says it was inevitable that he would begin his own salumi business.

Vital to Runkle’s post-veganism and to his business are the locally-sourced, locally-produced ingredients he uses. “I think it’s the butcher’s job to build the relationships with farmers and visit the farms to see how animals are raised and treated,” Runkle says. “It’s one of my favorite parts of the job.”

For his farmer’s market customers, Runkle lists the farms from which he sources on a blackboard, as well as in his weekly emails. This list is in addition to his walk-in display of cured meats (Sopressata, Genoa, Chorizo, Brianza, Tuscano, and Peperoni Salumi)—not to mention his pickled items, which I’ll get to in a minute—and he’s pretty much solved any meat-eating dilemma.

Several of his customers have even told him that his salumi takes them back to Italy. “That’s about the highest compliment I can get,” Runkle says. “It’s right up there with, ‘I don’t eat pork, but I made an exception for Salt & Time.’”

As for pickling, which involves so much more than your average pickle, he uses both vinegar brining (how most commercially available pickles are made) and salt brining (an older form in which vegetables are submerged in a salt brine and natural yeasts ferment the sugars to create tangy, sour flavors).

So what exactly does Runkle pickle? Just about anything: jalapeños, garlic, cucumbers, okra, radishes, fennel, beets, squash, and lately, eggplant.

But what truly sets Salt & Time apart in the charcuterie market (though Runkle prefers the Italian term “salumi”) is the dry curing process. To dry cure a meat is twofold: first, he ferments the meat in a high-humidity, high-heat environment for 48 hours until it reaches the correct pH, and then he transfers it to a cool (50-60° F), dry (73% humidity), and dark room where the meat will hang for at least two months. Runkle is the only person in town to use this process.

Eventually, Runkle would like to have a Salt & Time storefront in Austin, but for now his goal is to expand to other farmers’ markets sometime in September and to sell to more of the Austin restaurants he admires.

Until then, you can find a selection of his salumi in Antonelli’s Cheese Shop, on Hotel St. Cecilia’s charcuterie plate, or meet Runkle and sample his full range of meats and pickled products every Sunday from 11-3pm at the HOPE Farmer’s Market at 5th and Waller.

Now, J. Black’s is giving our great state even more to feel good about as they expand northward into the Dallas and Fort Worth markets. The restaurant moved onto Dallas’ Henderson Avenue this year, joining the flux of local trendy bars and restaurants that continue to pop up.

Up next is Fort Worth’s So7 neighborhood—an up-and-coming urban area that fronts West 7th Street, the main thoroughfare that connects the Cultural District and West Fort Worth. This fashionable location is pedestrian-friendly and will soon be home to Chuy’s, Barcadia (think Kung Fu Saloon), and an upscale sushi restaurant, among others.

J. Black’s critically-lauded Austin menu is to remain consistent across all three locations, the only culinary difference being that each city’s kitchen pledges a commitment to using local products unique to its area.

The Austin kitchen is run by executive chef Josie Paredes—one of the city’s few female chefs who comes with over 20 years of experience. Before joining J. Black’s, Paredes worked with Eddie V’s and Asti, learning to concoct culinary gems that pair well with classic and creative cocktails or finely crafted beers and wines. Her food can be described as “female-friendly,” meaning it can be eaten daintily, leaving the ladies unfettered. And where there are happy ladies, men are sure to follow.

Some of J Black’s standout items include Texas Kobe Sliders and a newly added sausage pizza (the dough is homemade) called Shiner, Texas. The spicy sausage is sourced from Shiner, Texas’ oldest—and only—grocery store, Patek’s, which gives the pizza its name. One foodie friend devotedly frequents J Black’s for their Pigs in a Blanket, which are made with Niman Ranch hot dogs and wrapped in that very same homemade pizza dough. My personal Austin favorite? The hummus, which I declare the best in town.

Libation-wise, the cocktail menu is separated into two categories: “classic” and “specialty.” Choose an old standard like the Manhattan and know it’s made with consistency, or choose the special Manhattan Night for a unique twist on an old favorite. If grapes are more your speed, the wine list is parallel to that of any fine-dining restaurant in town, including over 60 bottles, without the ridiculous mark up.

Rest assured that J. Black’s will not forget its Austin roots and does not intend to change drastically in order to adapt to the Dallas and Fort Worth markets. In fact, they are committed to bringing that relaxed Austin vibe to each of the new establishments. After all, Franzman, Fric and Sutherland have built a concept that just feels good and would not take it to a market ill fit for the friendly Austin brand.

So what is a vegan, vegetarian, diabetic, or disillusioned dieter to do in today’s hectic, schedule-driven age where healthy eating takes a backseat to life’s crazy, time-consuming demands? The answer: look to the new wave of health-conscious businesses in Austin.

Imagine whole restaurants filled with the pre-packaged to-go sections of Whole Foods and Central Market—with meals that are not only portioned out, but labeled with nutritional information and specific dietary needs (non-dairy, vegan, gluten-free, etc.). This dream has quickly become a tasty reality over the past few years as businesses such as MyFitFoods, Tasty Healthy Meals, Simply Fit Meals, and Snap Kitchen have cooked and baked their way into the Austin scene, redefining our visions of affordable fast food.

“There are so few alternatives where someone can eat real food and still lose weight,” explains Snap Kitchen’s founder Martin Berson of the challenges Americans face in a culture that’s always on the move and often insensitive to common dietary concerns. And with frozen meals and drive-through fare increasingly becoming dinner-table staples out of necessity, it’s no wonder that Austin, a city well known for its emphasis on health and fitness, is beginning to long for meals-on-the-go options that adhere to its health-conscious identity.

Echoing the high culinary standards held by so many Austinites, Berson knows that the words local and fresh are part of the recipe for success in this neck of the woods: “First and foremost, [Snap Kitchen] protects the integrity of our food,” he stresses. “All of our meals are chef-driven, and we use local and organic ingredients as much as possible.”

Berson’s commitment to providing quality, nutritious meals that also cater to those watching gluten, sodium, or calorie levels reflects the sentiments of similar local fast-food alternatives. So next time you’re short on time and craving a juicy Big Mac or seven-layer burrito, take a detour to one of the following businesses and try their balanced, portion-controlled offerings on for size. Your waistline and blood sugar will thank you.

Simply Fit Meals

Simply Fit Meals’ owner Chris Sanchez puts a spin on balanced meals by offering three portion sizes based on calorie count (5K, 10K, and Marathon) so customers can tailor their food intake for optimum energy. Meals combine vegetables, proteins, and low-glycemic grains to fill customers’ stomachs without emptying their wallets. Whether the containers hold cinnamon French toast, green chili chicken enchiladas, or Greek salad and hummus, their contents feature healthy twists on classic restaurant favorites. Vegetarian and wheat-free options are available, with prices starting at $4.75.

Note-Worthy Features: Delivery friendly, meats ground in-house, 21-day program available

Must-Try Dish: Spaghetti and bison meatballs, served with broccoli

2405 Nueces Street, Suite A
www.simplyfitmeals.com

Tasty Healthy Meals

Also known as Mel’s Meals, Tasty Healthy Meals provides a menu that caters to everyone on the healthy food chain—from vegans to low-carb dieters. Desserts are sugar-free and selections fall in line with popular diets without skimping on flavor. Owner Melissa Sterns’ unique combinations include apricot stuffed pork tenderloin, kale and roasted beet salad with a blueberry vinaigrette, and an eggplant and chicken curry. Sides are as low as $1.25, with most meals priced at $6–7.

Note-Worthy Features: Free delivery for MoreHands Maid Service customers

Must-Try Dish: Sweet-potato pancakes

706 North Lamar Boulevard
www.tastyhealthymeals.com

MyFitFoods

Created by former personal trainer Mario L. Mendias, MyFitFoods believes that a lifestyle complete with proper nutrition is more than half the weight-loss battle—80 percent to be exact. The store offers a fridge full of preservative-free, unprocessed choices that range from breakfast tacos to chili, and are based on a 40/40/20 breakdown—40 percent low glycemic carbohydrates, 40 percent lean protein, and 20 percent healthy fats. Meals can be pre-ordered, picked up, delivered, or microwaved on-site, with most prices falling between $7–9.

Note-Worthy Features: Delivery friendly, 21-day challenge available

Must-Try Dish: Lean lemon turkey,served on a bed of asparagus

Braker: 10740 Research Boulevard
Bee Caves: 3201 Bee Caves Road, Suite 105
William Cannon: 4301 W William Cannon, Building G, Suite 300
Lamar: 4200 North Lamar
www.myfitfoods.com

Snap Kitchen

As one of the newer contenders in the healthy fast food market, Snap Kitchen boasts a menu consisting of fresh, local ingredients. Vegans and vegetarians can take comfort in their signature gluten-free vegetable lasagna (which bypasses pasta carbs completely by replacing noodles with thin layers of veggies), and dieters can defeat their hunger by munching on 100-calorie quinoa and fruit snack bars between meals. The store has two locations, with a registered dietitian on staff to help customers create the perfect dietary plan for their individual needs. Prices average between $5–10, depending on portion size.

Note-Worthy Features: Delivery friendly, 21-day challenge available, on-site nutritionist

Must-Try Dish: Ginger chicken stir-fry

The Triangle: 4616 Triangle Avenue
6th and Lamar: 1014 West 6th Street
www.snapkitchen.com

Most days, we overlook dinner, treating it like just another meal. But there’s a long history of nights filled with food and entertainment, of putting on your finest clothes and sitting down with a table full of friends. This tradition goes back to Ancient Rome when dinner was accompanied by plays, poetry readings, or music. Today we watch some TV over a quick meal and call it a night, but every now and then we have the chance to give dinner its due.

There are a few places in Austin that know how to take us back to the old days of dinner, of whiling the hours away over decadent meals and good conversation while enjoying exotic entertainment.

For something a little different, there’s Phara’s Mediterranean. The restaurant is dark and cozy, with a large outdoor seating area that twinkles with strings of lights. Start with the shawarma hummus plate—thinly sliced lamb served with creamy hummus and warm, fresh pita bread. Move on to a main course of spicy beef tenderloin. Phara herself will typically greet you at some point during the evening. Then, around 8 pm, the entertainment begins. Dancing with scarves or finger cymbals called zils, a belly dancer circles through the crowd to upbeat, rhythmic music.

“We have a belly dancer every night of the week,” says Phara, the owner of the restaurant. “In the Mediterranean, it’s part of the culture. It’s an art form and an expression of happiness. That’s what I wanted to bring here, a feeling of happy times,” she says.

Phara is one of the main dancers at the restaurant and one of the most experienced. What began as a hobby has become an integral part of her life since she began dancing about 25 years ago, even helping her get through tough times when she lost her son, Christopher, to complications due to cystic fibrosis in 2004. The restaurant is dedicated to him.

“Right after I lost Christopher, the restaurant was up for rent, and I thought maybe I can do something good out of something tragic,” she says.

Now, Phara’s offers one of the most distinctive dining experiences in Austin. You can finish off the evening with mango ice cream, or move your party to the hookah lounge and sample the exotic shisha flavors.

“I want the customer to feel that it’s their place when they are here, to feel like they are at home and I want everyone to leave with a happy experience,” Phara says.

OPA! Coffee & Wine Bar is a family owned and operated business, situated in a house along eclectic South Lamar. Diners and coffee-hounds alike flock to OPA! for the main patio; the area features a giant oak tree strung with lights that twinkle above scattered tables, benches, and swinging chairs. The relaxed area feels like it was made-to-order for a long warm summer evening somewhere in coastal Greece.

Frequenters describe OPA! as more of a “social coffee shop” than traditional dining venue, with a menu that boasts beer, wine, and coffee in addition to small Mediterranean plates. Not an institution to be outdone, OPA!’s entertainment aspect is rounded out by board games, live music, and… fire dancing.

A variety of members from two fire troupes—Sangre del Sol and Elemental Uprising—perform each Friday night for OPA!’s patio patrons by way of fire-eating, breathing, and body-burning. The group’s performances include “stunning and extraordinary costume design and original fire props, with the option of integrating live music and graphic art installation.”

“Watching the fire dancing [at OPA!] helps take people to a whole other place within themselves that sparks a flame of inspiration and passion,” says troupe leader Sage Tonya Jacote. “To dance there every week is an honor.”

If you’re looking for more something with more Latin flair and taste, dinner at Buenos Aires Café on a night that showcases Tango offers a glimpse into Argentinean culture.

Sample the empanadas with the delicious chimichurri sauce, or try one of their special dishes of roasted lamb or chicken while enjoying a deeply intense show of Tango.

“The passionate music is imbedded in us and in our food,” says Paola Guerrero, the manager of Buenos Aires Café and the daughter of chef and owner, Reina Morris. “Reina really and literally wants to be able to sit in Austin and realize that special feel of the city of Buenos Aires… It is why we play Argentine music at the café,” she says.

Buenos Aires has Tango every Thursday night at their East Austin location, though they also plan to incorporate Tango into their new location in West Austin’s Hill Country Galleria soon after opening in September.

As different dancers come in throughout the month, diners can experience different forms of the dance, from the traditional Tango, to more of a modern mix, which is what Guerrero and her partner, two of the dancers at the restaurant, perform.

“To me Tango is more than dance. It is very personal. It is part of who I am as a person. Some will tell you it is a reflection of the soul, others that it’s the dance of emotion, of passion and of pain, and even others will say Tango is a philosophy of life,” she says.

In addition to the dancing, twice a month the restaurant offers a live Tango musician to accompany the dancers.

From the ancient Romans to 1950s supper clubs, there is a long history of dinner-time entertainment. In Austin, whether it’s the Middle East or South America, Phara’s Restaurant, OPA!, and Buenos Aires Café can take your evening to new heights. What are you doing for dinner tonight?

While honeymooning in Grenada three years ago, the spunky young couple made the bold decision to eschew corporate America and follow their bliss: an unwavering love for cheese. So longstanding was this love that John had previously formed and funded a “gourmet grilled cheese club” out of his home in high school. After their honeymoon, the Antonellis breathed new life into the same concept, and reopened a similar club out of their home.

Rather quickly, their devotion to cheese became serious. John undertook internship after internship—which included studying under Hervé Mons (one of the world’s leading affineurs) in France—and both Kendall and John attended a “cheese boot camp” at the famed Murray’s Cheeses on New York City’s Bleeker Street. To truly test the limits of exploration, the couple then traveled around the European continent. “We traveled parts of France, Italy, and Switzerland on a glorified cheese tour,” Kendall says. “It was truly amazing. It was there that we realized it was the cheese itself, the cheese-makers, and their stories that we loved and were passionate about.”

The couple has been working as business partners since the opening of their Hyde Park cheeseshop in early 2010. Everything within the red-walled store is done with purpose. The first thing the Antonelli’s staff explains to customers is how the cheese case is arranged—by increasing flavor profile, from right to left. Possible alcoholic pairings are arranged in similar fashion on a corresponding wall. John cordially steps up behind the counter, asking his customers a series of questions while handing out samples, all in an attempt to hone in on the perfect selection of fromage. If any doubt lingers, informational chalkboards detailing cheese style, flavors, and examples hang in clear sight behind the counter.*

Most remarkable about the Antonelli’s experience is the staff’s genuine respect for the craftmanship behind cheese-making and the corresponding goal of passing that knowledge along. For example, some fresh cheeses (like Chevre) are ready to eat immediately after production, while washed-rinds (like Taleggio) may have to be washed with an acidic solution, rubbed, and flipped two to three times per week in order to create a hardened exterior. Such are the interesting nuances any willing participant is guaranteed to learn when visiting with the shop’s approachable owners.

Upon explaining how to create the perfect cheese plate, Kendall says that, while it really takes years to understand, the magic number seems to be between three and five different styles of cheese. Pick three different styles you like, she suggests, and do not to stress over perfection.

“Consider your purpose, plate the cheeses in order [according to style] clockwise, serve at room temp, and enjoy!” Kendall says of her no-fail approach for would-be cheese-hosts.

And such a spirited attitude is precisely what has earned Antonelli’s Cheese Shop its devoted customers and positioned the shop as Austin’s premier authentic cheese retailer. Other local mainstays, like the Alamo Drafthouse, have taken note of Antonelli’s grand reception within the community, and the two Austin businesses offer occasional joint tasting events, with more on the horizon.

“There’s nothing John and I do better than get excited about cheese,” Kendall shares. “So the best job for us was to share that passion and those stories with others.”

Twelve strangers stand around a table. Some are couples, there together, and others are alone. Conversations begin, and a just-sharpened knife sits between them. Soon, they will share a common story.

The evening is not the plot from an Agatha Christie novel, but a mystery will be solved—how to master the technique of Thai cooking. These twelve people are at a class offered by Chef Jam Sanitchat at Thai Fresh in South Austin, one of several classes she teaches on a weekly basis. Like Miss Marple, Sanitchat will lead her students through the puzzle, but this time it is a culinary one.

People love Thai food and often are drawn to it for dietary reasons, as it can easily be vegetarian, vegan, and even gluten free. Sanitchat begins every dish by having her students become familiar with the ingredients—seeing them, smelling them, tasting them raw, and in some cases learning how to grown them in a garden. She wants people to be comfortable with these staples so they learn more than just a recipe. Tonight they learn coconut soup, pad thai, a red curry, and mango sticky rice—all part of her Vegetarian Thai Favorites Class. By the end, all the students know each other, enjoying the communal atmosphere, and leave with new friends and another mystery solved.

Chef Danika Boyle of La Petite Pêche has just returned from one of her culinary tours in France. Here in Austin, she teaches hands-on classes in her culinary studio on the East Side Friday and Saturday nights.

Boyle focuses on teaching technique, not just a recipe, as she wants her students to understand both the why and how of cooking. She has a very strong personal connection with food, especially local and sustainable, and wants people to have more confidence in the kitchen.

“Cooking for yourself is the biggest investment for your health, both physical and emotional,” she says. “Knowing how to cook is the gift that keeps giving. It is an art meant to be shared with friends and family. It is not just a painting on the wall.”

The Natural Epicurean Academy, opened less than a year ago by the owner of Yoga Yoga, focuses on designing your health through diet. Their extensive schedule of classes will lead you through the basics of vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, Ayurvedic, and raw food. Dimitra Kristicos, the operations manager, says they take a holistic view—physical, mental, energetic, and emotional—and want students to learn not just technique, but also how to shop and read labels. The classes are geared toward beginners and experienced cooks looking to learn more about diet, nutrition, and health.

Chef Myrna Kallergis has a lot of energy and passion for both cooking and teaching. This fall, she will open her Silver Whisk Cooking School in a state-of-the-art culinary studio in Lakeway. Her courses are run more like a culinary school, focusing on ranges of technique, styles, and ingredients. She wants you to learn how to shop and cook from the market, how to make stocks and sauces, why we sear meat, and how to chop that onion.

“Eating is a lifestyle; how can you be a part of it if you don’t have the tools?” Kallergis asks. “I want to get Americans back in the kitchen, either theirs or ours.”

The Sustainable Food Center, the organization that operates many of our farmers markets in Austin, just began offering public cooking classes through The Happy Kitchen program. They focus on improving health through better nutrition, teaching hands-on classes that build skills of food selection and preparation. After each class, you even get a bag of groceries to take home to try that week’s recipe.

The next time you have a free evening with friends, consider a cooking class. We take dance lessons. We have a personal trainer at the gym. However, life can be so much more fulfilling if we learned how to cook for ourselves and were able to share that with each other. That mystery isn’t hard to solve.

Tate’s fascination with good drinks started way before he distilled his first whisky—his childhood was filled with early tastes (sips only, of course). An early education about the finer things was all-inclusive: Tate fondly remembers growing up in a house where both food and drink were explored.

“Although the term ‘foodie’ wasn’t really thrown around then, I remember peering around the corner in my pajamas to try to see what was going on at the dinner parties my parents threw,” Tate recounts. “My mom was really a great cook—still is. It took a while, but my dad has finally gotten in to cooking in the last few years, too. Before that, though, he claimed he couldn’t boil water, which was why my mom vowed that no son of hers would not know how to cook. She got a bit more than she bargained for though. After a few months, I basically took over the whole kitchen.”

A self-proclaimed science geek in high school, Tate studied physics and worked for a nuclear engineering company early in college. Add in a Philosophy degree, a Master’s in Divinity, and a near-complete Master’s in Education, and you have quite the varied school experience. But fortunately for drink-lovers everywhere, Tate also developed a healthy enthusiasm for home beer brewing in college.

He took the Institute of Brewing’s diploma exam, a three-day long exam intended to give those in the brewing industry a chance to earn the equivalent of a four-year brewing degree credential, in 2002. As chance would have it, while Tate was studying for the exam, the Institute of Brewing combined with the Guild of Distillers. This merger forced Tate to study the science of distilling—and an idea became deeply rooted.

Though Tate would eventually move on from beer brewing to the world of whisky, he doesn’t like to think of leaving one for the other.

“I have always been fascinated with the process of imagining how raw ingredients can combine and be transformed through heat and fermentation—first bread, then beer, now distilling… Ultimately, when I made the move from being a beer drinker first and foremost to a whisky drinker, the transition from brewer to distiller came shortly thereafter.”

A summer in Scotland working at the Bruichladdich Distillery in 2008 sealed his whisky fate. Upon returning home, he and some bold colleagues—like Stephen Germer, a major investor and sales handler, and Balcones’ production manager Jared Himstedt—got to work.

Starting the Balcones Distillery wasn’t a shiny, order-equipment-from-a-catalog endeavor; Tate and his team custom built incredibly intricate and complicated distilling equipment from scratch. This handmade equipment gives every person who works for Balcones Distillery, from Tate to his colleagues and band of enthusiastic interns, a supernatural understanding of how distilling works—and makes for some darn fine whisky.

Though you might imagine the home Tate shares with his wife (of the incredibly supportive and understanding of distilling obsession kind) and four children full to the brim with distillery technical manuals, brewing magazines, and stray equipment parts, he assures us he does have interests outside of the fermentation world.

But, like someone completely in love with what he does, Tate admits that some aspect of the distillery is usually running through his mind. So in love is Chip Tate with distilling whisky and his distillery, that fermentation will be part of his future for a long time to come.

“Distilling whisky, and perhaps related spirits of interest, is the only plan at the moment,” Tate says. “I know interests can change, but the current plan is to keep distilling for a while—maybe 30 to 40 years—and then go from there.”

Life in restaurants is not all flowers and candy, as anyone who has read Anthony Bourdain knows well. Having worked as a host, a waiter, a floor manager, and as a pastry chef at establishments around Austin, I have seen and lived the day-to-day. The hours and the schedule became more of a lifestyle than a job.

A Monday morning in a kitchen—one that does not serve lunch—starts around 10 o’clock. The chef has only partially recovered from a long, grueling weekend, and the prep cooks work before they have to head back to culinary school that night for classes. They run through their long prep lists, knowing that the next few hours will not be easy.

The deliveries begin to pile up. Large 50 pound bags of flour and sugar just stare at the pastry chef asking to be taken away. Cases of butter must be unpacked and arranged in the dairy cooler. Even with two people, the task takes a while. Peaches, onions, and carrots are in their own bins. Herbs are separated and labeled. Not a single piece of cardboard remains—boxes are broken down and stored outside for recycling. But the fish order never arrived; it was mis-delivered and will not come until tomorrow. The chef runs hurriedly to Whole Foods or Quality Seafood to find replacements, if possible.

Harlan Scott, the General Manager of Parkside, noted that working in restaurants can be a very grey-collar profession. Hostesses may be just-graduated high school students. Waiters might be undergrads or even pursuing their Master’s or PhD. Some have found their career, having worked in the job for over twenty years. Others, yes, may be dropouts just earning cash for their lifestyle. Chefs and cooks have a mix of college degrees, culinary school, and self-taught technique. All, though, have chosen their profession not out of necessity, but out of passion.

Executive Chef Shawn Cirkiel of Parkside is married with two kids. His days start at the gym after taking his son to school at 7:30am. His phone has already started to ring, even before his morning meetings with purveyors, construction contractors, or his staff. During a busy season, he often lucks out if he finds even one day off amid the late nights to see his wife and find rest.

Deegan McClung runs similar hours at Jeffrey’s as the Executive Chef but has the blessing of working with his wife, Kate, who is the General Manager. Twice a week he is at Boggy Creek Farm by 8:30am and won’t leave the kitchen until after 11pm. Otherwise his mornings may start by sorting through invoices, planning menus for both regular service and large private parties, or looking at the weekly sales. Deegan and Kate occupy different worlds at the restaurant—he in the kitchen and she on the floor—but they both say they would never see each other if it weren’t for their jobs.

Parkside, a large restaurant in the heart of downtown, can easily serve 300 to 400 people on a Friday or Saturday night, along with a large area upstairs for their numerous private parties. In one week, the kitchen staff has put in over 1000 hours and the servers, bartenders, and bussers over 400.

Jeffrey’s, a smaller fine-dining restaurant in the Clarksville neighborhood, will seat over 200 diners on a busy night. Five cooks will be in the kitchen, and 14 staff will run the front.

Kate Wallace McClung, the manager at Jeffrey’s, noted that most everything is made from scratch—fresh bread, stocks, sauces, and often their own ricotta cheese. They pride themselves on their passion for quality. No shortcuts are taken, out of principle.

The pay disparity between line cooks and waiters has confused those in the industry for years, when you consider that most cooks cannot afford to eat at the restaurant where they work. On average, they earn between ten and twelve dollars an hour. There is no health insurance, and vacations are few and far between, if they happen at all. Ironically, the diet of cooks is often “poor” and late at night—bread, butter, cheese, and sometimes fast food. Stress from the job and tasting food all day kills almost any appetite. Their happy hour starts at 1am, when they hope to have a few before they head home and open a bottle of wine or whiskey. They suffer for their passion.

To outsiders, what happens day-to-day may seem like chaos, slightly controlled. To those inside, it’s normal. The experience and skill of the managers and chefs keep the doors open every day. Every hiccup has happened before, and they know just how to hold their breath and move on.

The afternoon comes. The manager and hostess have called to confirm all the reservations for the evening. Prep is winding down in the kitchen just before service. The bartender fills containers with freshly squeezed juice and restocks wine and liquor bottles from the day’s deliveries. Servers have polished all the flatware and wine glasses and are researching the new wines and menu items—ones that have just been printed and inserted into leather books diners will pick up that night.

The doors open. The happy hour crowd enters and regular diners take their seats. Order tickets start to roll out of the printer. Back in the kitchen a line cook slices off a chunk of his thumb on the mandoline. The food he was preparing has to be trashed, the cutting board cleared and washed, and his finger bandaged with that ugly blue kitchen Band-Aid and covered with a tight, latex finger condom.

Customers send special requests to the kitchen, requests that sometimes offend chefs who spent hours, days, and weeks developing menus they feel represent the best techniques and their personal creativity and tastes. Placatingly, the kitchen, waiters, and managers respond with a smile.

A group of twenty diners arrives for a friend’s birthday. They order round after round of drinks but become distracted from ordering food despite the waiter’s best efforts—throwing off the hopes of timing their meal around all the other diners in the restaurant. The restaurant is at capacity, and several of the staff are “in the weeds,” meaning they are overwhelmed and cannot keep up with the tables and orders piling in.

A diner begins berating a waiter and then the manager. Another yells at a hostess, eventually bringing her to tears. Nothing went wrong, but they both brought their overly aggressive personalities to dinner. Waiters can end up serving as counselors to couples or friends when personal disputes erupt at their table. Physical threats are even made from time to time, but once again the experience and skill of the staff diffuses any situation.

In the kitchen a small reach-in cooler breaks down, rendering it useless. All the items have to be moved, making the efficient dancing movement of the line cooks less beautiful. The power goes out briefly, shutting the electronic ordering system down requiring the waiters to handwrite tickets and run credit cards on those old, clunky mechanical swipers. The cooks find flashlights to cook in the dark while the diners begin to enjoy the real, candle-lit ambiance.

Ten minutes before closing, a group of people come in and ask to be seated. They order several courses, keeping the waiter, manager, bartender, busser, dish washer, and kitchen staff at work two hours later than expected.

The night ends with the sous-chef running through the inventory and making the order for tomorrow. Perhaps a can of Lone Star sits on the stainless steel prep table next to the spindle full of order tickets from the previous five hours.

The floors have been cleaned, and all the containers have been covered, labeled, and put away. The cigarette butt can out back is just a bit fuller, the door locked, ready to be opened the next day.