At $80 per person, including tax and gratuity, the dinner is a worthy splurge. Seating is family-style in the chef’s table room, an intimate private space with views of the kitchen. Seating is limited, so snag tickets online at oliveandjune.eventbrite.com. 7:30p.

It’s super easy, and you get to painlessly donate money to a charity of your choice just by doing something you’re already doing!

You register on GoodDining.com, which has a list of 10,000+ restaurants across the country that will donate 3.5% or 6% (depending on how often you dine out) of the diner’s bill, including tax and tip, back to the charity or school of the diner’s choice.  Yes, that’s any charity or school the diner chooses from GoodDining’s list of over 105,000 – whether that be a large national organization like The American Red Cross or a local cause like a neighborhood dog rescue or homeless shelter.

Bonus: users that sign up in May and spend $30 at a participating restaurant within 60 days of signing up, will earn a $5 bonus donation for their favorite cause. This is in addition to earning a donation of up to 6% of their bill year-round.

There are tons of participating restaurants in Austin, but none in Aspen, though there are in Denver!

Don’t forget that you can also use GoodShop (goodshop.com), enter your favorite charity or school shop at more than 2,500 participating stores (like Amazon, Macys and Toys R Us) and a percentage of what you spend will go back to your cause + GoodSearch (goodsearch.com) which we’ve talked about before where you also enter your favorite charity then search the web in the Yahoo-powered search box as you usually would – each time you search, a donation is made to your cause!

I digress. Point is that I’ve often seen those pre-cooked whole chickens in the grocery stores of the world and wished I could consume them (well, only sort of, to be honest, as touching a cooked chicken with bones and wings is only slightly above touching raw chicken on my personal ick scale). Enter:
 

Fresa’s Chicken Al Carbon plans to light up central Austin with an 8-foot neon chicken and signature take-out meals. In the old Emerald City Press spot on Lamar, the  take-out ONLY restaurant will spotlight chicken: Fresa’s is slow-grilled over hardwood charcoal to lock in robust flavors and juices, giving it a rich, deep smokiness and savory charred skin. There are two flavorful marinades: the classic Numero Uno, in a blend of achiote and citrus, and the Numero Dos, seasoned with fresh oregano and cracked black pepper. Served as a complete meal, whole or half-chicken dinners are perfect for busy couples or families and come with rice, beans, grilled onions, jalapenos, salsa, and tortillas.

Fresa means ‘strawberry’ in Spanish, but it’s also a cheeky slang for trendy Mexican urbanites. The name and concept came from a seasoned team of Austin restaurateurs: Larry McGuire and Tom Moorman from Lambert’s, Perla’s, and Elizabeth Street Café, and Tracy Overath and Margaret Vera from Stubb’s.

Almost everything at Fresa’s is made in-house. Chickens are exclusively sourced from Peeler Farms in Floresville, Texas, where they’re humanely pasture-raised and fed top quality, non-GMO feed that is always void of any animal by-products or medicines.

Fresa’s also offers three different salads and Mexican Street Corn, grilled vegetables, and spicy potato salad sides. There are three torta sandwiches served on Bolillo rolls, plus homemade ice cream in both classic and seasonal flavors. Beverages are packed to go, including Mexican sodas, fresh fruit aguas frescas, and a variety of bottled beers and wine.

Looks like a certain large grocery store with prepared food just down the road has met its match. Wanna play chicken?

Fresa’s Chicken Al Carbon is open daily from 11am until 11pm. fresaschicken.com

Any questions about the legitimacy of a namesake steakhouse from former UT QB  should be alleviated by this invitation. When Vince Young Steakhouse cooked at the James Beard House last weekend in New York, Executive Chef Philip Brown said, “Cooking at the Beard House is one of those pinnacle moments, a bucket-list item for your career. It was an amazing experience for myself and my team and truly exceeded every expectation I had.”

Menu
Hors d’Oeuvre
Crispy Pork Belly with Fennel and Garlic
Braised Short Ribs on Grit Cakes
Duck Prosciutto Flatbread with Goat Cheese and Arugula
Pulled Pork Tacos with Pickled Onions, Cilantro–Jalapeño Crème Fraîche, and Margarita Shooters
Champagne Jean Pernet Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs NV

Dinner
Foie Gras Duo > Foie Gras Custard with Seared Foie Gras and Brioche
Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume 2007

Farm-to-Table Salad > Roasted Local Texas Beets with Texas Blue Cheese and Champagne Vinaigrette
Siduri Sierra Mar Vineyard Pinot Noir 2010

Fish and Chips > Olive Oil–Poached Halibut with Parsnip–Apple Purée and Brown Butter
Tablas Creek Vineyard Côtes de Tablas Blanc 2009

Meat and Potatoes > Prime Rib-Eye with White Truffle–Gnocchi Macaroni and Cheese, Broccolini, and Bone Marrow–Red Wine Demi-Glace
V Madrone Old Vine Zinfandel 2007

Milk and Cookies > Brown Butter Financiers with Chocolate Ganache and Chocolate–Cabernet Sauvignon Milkshake
The Rare Wine Co. Historic Series Charleston Sercial Special Reserve Madeira NV

Bread and beer. Things I shouldn’t eat but happen to love. [Sidenote: there's a new bakery in Aspen on the mall under the Psychic called Annette's and the bread there is TO DIE FOR, so to speak, as I ate almost half a loaf and spent the rest of the night with sores in my mouth and farting. Sorry that's gross. But I'm pretty sure I can thank the high gluten factor for that. But there's sourdough...] Back to Easy Tiger, 709 E. Sixth Street, the long-awaited new bake shop and beer garden (this post has it opening in May … of 2011)  from the 24 Diner people.

The key players:

Bread: Artisan baker David Norman [creds: Grand Central Bakery (leading artisan bakery in Pacific Northwest), TriBakery (supplying NY greats such as Tribeca Grill and Nobu), Ecce Panis (NY, NJ) and Bouley Bakery (NY)]. Breads: baguettes, French country levain, rye bread, German pretzels, Danish, turnovers and more all day long.

Beer: Billy Caruso [creds: CIA graduate and 24 Diner sommelier] Cocktails, wine, unique bombers, and 30 craft beers on tap: local Real Ale and Jester King and boutique domestics such as Avery, Lagunitas and Ommegang.

Meat: Andrew Curren [creds: CIA valedictorian, worked for top New York restaurateurs Danny Meyer and Jonathan Waxman, nom for People’s Best New Chef from Food & Wine magazine/CNN’s Eatocracy, Top Chef: Texas] House-cured meats: housemade sausages, jerky, corned beef and pastrami, as well as homemade krauts, relishes and peperonata.

Decor: Veronica Koltuniak [creds: clients include Madonna, Courteney Cox, and Jennifer Lopez] The Royal Tenenbaums: “Turn-of-the-century building meets end-of-the-century kitsch.”

Seriously. Someone go and report back. I can’t put myself in another gluten coma.

easytigeraustin.com / twitter.com/EasyTigerATX / facebook.com/EasyTigerATX

The Blind Cafe comes to Austin January 26-28 and Aspen February 14. The Blind Cafe is a completely dark dinner, live music, and speaking experience. For more on the individual events in each of the cities, read on.

AUSTIN Blind Cafe

Keynote speaker Richie Flores will lead a Q&A and discussion on life with blindness. Richie is the president of the National Federation of the Blind in Austin, runs The BELL program (helping young blind children learn valuable life skills) and will also be doubling as a musician in the band.

Dinner is a delicious multicourse vegetarian/vegan meal prepared by local Chef Brian Henderson and includes a decadent, dark chocolate dessert. Then, guests indulge their ears during a full set of live music by Rosh & One Eye Glass Broken. Proceeds from The Austin Blind Café will be donated to support The BELL Program (a two week workshop for blind children in Austin).                        

Where: The Church of Christ (1903 University Avenue)

When:  January 26th, 27th & 28th  (Thursday – Saturday)

Thurs & Fri: (6:45pm check-in / 7pm seating)

Sat: (5:45pm check-in / 6pm seating)

Tickets: Available by calling 1-800-838-3006 and online at brownpapertickets.com/event/212981

Cost:  *Special pricing note: Guests are asked to ‘pay what you can’ from $45-$95 (suggested ticket cost is $55) to keep the event accessible to all. Group rates (8+ people) call 720.495.7797

theblindcafe.com/austin-blind-cafe.htm

ASPEN Blind Cafe

Make this Valentine’s Day something extraordinary: spend an evening in an event completely unlike anything else. Visit the Sky Hotel in for a delicious three course meal, full concert and community awareness event in complete darkness. The servers at the event are blind and guests have the special opportunity to explore darkness with their keynote speaker, Gerry Lerry, who will lead a Q&A and discussion on life with blindness. Gerry has been blind since birth. He was a car mechanic for over 40 years and then shifted gears to pursue one of his great loves, coffee. Gerry taught himself the roasting industry and opened his own coffee roasting business and café, The Unseen Bean, in Boulder, Colorado.

Dinner is a delicious three course meal that includes a decadent dark chocolate dessert that will be prepared by the Sky Hotel’s star chef. Full set of live music by founder Rosh & One Eye Glass Broken. Then there is the Black Box. It’s something special for this Valentines Café. While in the darkness guests will open their Black Box. What’s inside? To figure that out, they’ll have explore their senses of smell, taste and touch!

The Blind Café is also committed to giving back and improving the lives of sight limited individuals in our communities and will donate 10% of proceeds to Challenge Aspen to help their efforts supporting the blind.

Where: Aspen’s Sky Hotel

When:  February 14th  (Two times: 5pm or 8:30pm)

Tickets: Call 1-800-838-3006 or online at brownpapertickets.com/event/215857

Cost:   $195

theblindcafe.com/aspen-blind-cafe-valentines-day.htm

The second location of Chef Tyson Cole’s critically-acclaimed restaurant, Uchi, will open to the public on February 2^nd.  In the iconic former Felix space on Westheimer near the corner of Montrose. Offerings from the kitchen and sushi bar showcase his signature style of combining unexpected textures and flavors, pushing the boundaries of Japanese cuisine, drawing flavor inspiration from numerous points around the globe and mixing traditional master knife work with cutting-edge techniques.

Acclaimed pastry chef Philip Speer ends things on a sweet note with his ground-breaking desserts that showcase familiar flavors in completely original forms and combinations. Chef Cole is pleased to name Kaz Edwards of the original Uchi as chef de cuisine in Houston.  Monica Glenn, longtime protégé of Philip Speer, will be pastry chef.

The transformation of the building from the Felix space was helmed by (obviously) Michael Hsu, who also designed almost every impressive restaurant space in Austin including Uchi, Uchiko, Malverde, and so on.

“We have been looking forward to becoming a part of the Houston community for many months,” says Chef Tyson Cole, recent winner of James Beard Foundation Best Chef Southwest. “It’s a thrill to open our doors.”

904 Westheimer / Houston, Texas 77006

However, I apparently forgot how much I also love lattes and cappuccinos.

I made that^. With a one-shot espresso and steamed milk in the accessory milk foamer. It heats it up but not too hot, which is perfect since I use raw milk and I don’t want it heating up too hot or it kills the good bacteria.

Turns out, it’s just as easy to cold-brew coffee as it is to press a button on the one-touch machine. At least now I have options: cold-brew coffee, or one-touch brew espresso and foamed milk.

If I didn’t have the milk foamer, I’m not sure I’d use the machine quite as much. I’m enjoying using it, but if I had to invest in one, I’m not sure I would. It is a lot of fun to play with the different flavors, and a total party trick hit. But either way, it looks good sitting on my counter:

There’s also the issue of the waste of the one-cups from an ecological perspective. Keurigs have a refillable cup you can use, but as far as I can see there’s nothing like that for the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Kaldi …