It’s a big day! After much hard work by our Kitchen Team and volunteer Member-Owners, today is the first day that the world gets a peek at our draft Rational Menu.

Most everything you see will be on the menu year round, but with slight changes due to seasonality. For example, you’ll see pickled okra for most of the summer, but soon after the locally grown okra starts to become hollow and woody, it can be replaced with pickled summer squash. When the weather starts to cool off, you might not see beer-braised spare ribs, but you’ll see braised pork shoulder and the beer used for the braising might shift to the seasonal Moontower.

Everything on the menu was created to be flexible and will evolve as the seasons change and as our members give feedback. Recipes have also been designed to use as much of the whole ingredients as possible. The scraps from the chips will be made into mashed potatoes to soak up the rich sauce for the roast chicken. The ends of the carrots we shred and celery we chop for the vinegar slaw will be used for the Mirepoix in stocks and braises. There will be very little waste in our kitchen.

As for our Irrational menu, stay tuned. We have some exciting ideas that are still being tested. These are menu offerings that will be updated as often as twice a week. For example, if one of our suppliers has an extra case of figs, they might just be stuffed with blue cheese, wrapped in pancetta and grilled to perfection. Of course we would drizzle it with a sweet malt vinegar gastrique to finish it off. That’s just one idea.

If you just can’t wait to get a taste of what’s in store, you’re in luck. We’ve got A Bite of Black Star BEER SOCIAL coming up on July 17th. We’ll be modifying the usual Beer Social format to feature a couple outdoor friendly versions of items found on our Rational Menu. Be there!

Rational Menu (DRAFT)

Foraged Mushroom Tart

We’re on a roll here. The Investor Thank-You Happy Hour was a blast. Johnny and I had a lot of fun and both learned some things about ourselves and our combined potential when we’re actually in the kitchen together. We served mushroom tarts, country paté on toast with pickled radish, mini burgers with home made mini buns and spicy tofu popcorn. While these items won’t necessarily be on the menu, I think it gives you an idea of the options you’ll find on the menu.

In addition to the investor happy hour, we’ve been using the office “kitchen” (a term I use loosely) to test a few ideas. Last week we made lunch for the Workers Assembly. It was sort of a test run and a welcome for Dana Curtis, the newest member of the WA. We made veggie burgers and tested three methods for the perfect chip (they’re not “fries!”).

Going forward, we want to expand the scope of our experimentation. If you’re a member-owner and you’re reading this now, you’ve probably already heard call to assemble a kitchen team. If you’re a member and have culinary experience, we want to hear from you. If you’re not a member and want to be involved in the development of the Black Star kitchen, now is the time to join the Co-op.  You can become a Joining Member right now for just $25 and get in on the action. If you were waiting for something, this is it.

The most exciting thing about Black Star for me is the chance to create a menu that truly represents Austin and it’s beer culture. There are some great places to eat in Austin and its changing and growing at a rapid pace. We seem to be actually forming a somewhat respectable culinary identity. Queso is fine and good, but there are so many ways to do it poorly, and it seems that we’ve explored all of those ways at length. At the end of the day, it’s cheese sauce. I’m not saying I’m too good for queso. I order chips and queso 8 times out of 10 when I see a movie. (I am, of course, too good for movie
theaters that don’t serve beer.)

We’ve been missing a place to eat good food with local, high quality ingredients and have more than 4 beers on tap. It’s true that 2009 has brought us a few refreshing options with good food and good beer in one place. Black Star is going to take it to the next level. The beer AND the food is going to be made in the same place you’re ordering it from and prepared and served by the people that developed the menu.

That brings us to this term we’ve been throwing around while trying to concisely define what the Black Star food will be like. Texas Pub Fare. The rules you thought you knew about casual pub dining are being thrown out the window. The food will make sense. It won’t get boring. It won’t be the same in October as it was in June. Johnny and I have been dreaming this menu for months… ok.. years.