Austin Food Bytes
Harmony is Restored

Now that we’ve spent some time contemplating differences in culinary style between genders, let’s bring it all back together and feature some restaurants and activities that can be enjoyed by both.

Moonshine Patio Bar and Grill
Moonshine is truly the best of both worlds. The décor is a cross between a southwestern ski lodge and a fancy restaurant. The bar is built in an old carriage house, and has some excellent drinks. Moonshine specializes in kicked-up versions of down-home classics. Macaroni and Cheese becomes Green Chile Macaroni, with grilled chicken, corn relish and green chile cream. Apple pie is cooked in a skillet and served with maple ice cream. Entrée prices range from $10-$20.

Central Market Cooking School
When you think of cooking classes, you might remember your home economics teacher – mine taught us how to make pizzas using biscuit dough. Not very exciting. Or you might think of Julia Childs – elaborate continental recipes using all sorts of techniques and tools with names you can’t pronounce. Or maybe Emeril Lagasse – a loud, charismatic chef who yells “Bam!” way too much and seems to have twelve arms and can somehow execute five dishes in 40 minutes.

At Central Market, cooking school has been packaged to fit anyone and everyone’s cooking style and level. If you’d like to impress your date with something different, take a wine tasting class. You will sample six wines with accompanying cheeses, and they also provide you with a light dinner. Or, you can take any number of hands-on classes, where you can learn anything from how to prepare sushi to how to care for and use your cooking knives. The bulk of the classes are taught in classroom style, the cook talks and prepares food, and the class gets to sample medium size portions of each dish at the end. Wine is always served with dinner, and a variety of other beverages. Two caveats: always bring a sweater - they keep the room pretty cold, and make reservations far in advance – classes fill up quickly.

Stay tuned – I’ll be featuring Central Market Cooking School more in future articles.

Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill
303 Red River
236-9599

Central Market Cooking School
North Lamar at 40th St.
512-458-3068