Hustle Over to Russell's Bakery

My friend Batami belongs in Europe. At least when it comes to dessert and coffee. These are two things she can't live without, no matter the time of day, and despite her love for sugary indulgance, she always looks great! She was visiting this past weekend, and she requested that we escape into the quickly-passing morning, as time always flies with good friends, to a coffee shop for her breakfast of choice...coffee and a pastry. So, I used this opportunity to try out Russell's Bakery, which I saw as a high ranker on an Austin360.com poll for the best bakery in Austin. After researching it, I realized their original location is up North, but their newest location is in Jefferson Sqaure on Kerby Lane (right off of 38th) and almost next door to Kerby Lane Cafe.

Coffee and Breakfast Recommendation: Russell's Bakery. If you're not feelin' the wait at the original Kerby Lane Cafe, hop next door for a delicious cup of coffee and a pastry, baked fresh daily. They also have a simple lunch menu with fresh salads, soups, and sandwiches. Download a buy one, get one 1/2 off sandwich coupon here. This Jefferson location has a cozy, European cafe feel, with a spacious patio outside for those sunny Sunday mornings or for a leisurely mid-day meal. They will be introducing their Brunch menu on April 12th (Easter Sunday), and I'm definitely adding this to our list for a future Austin Breakfast Club meeting location. And, rumor has it, a dinner menu will be debuted on April 14th!

Beef & Pie &...Coffee, a Lovely Combination!

About three weeks ago, Jen and I were tasked with a creative project at our technology consulting workplace (not usually creative) with our assignment being, "Go make a video." Jen was given a very large budget, and a small amount of time, to find a video production company and begin our promotional video for a presentation that we soon found out would be held only about 3 weeks later. And, this wasn't supposed to be a cheesy commercial. We work with large government technology contracts, and to say the least, the stakes were high, very high. Through one of our partners, we were lucky enough to have Beef & Pie land in our laps and work with us day and night for about 10 days to produce the final product. It was an incredible experience! They were so fun to work with, and the resulting video was just what we needed, funny, yet emotional enough to be persuasive (somewhat like the title of their company...it's pretty funny when you first hear it, but when it comes down to it, most people don't joke about serious food like good meat and decadent dessert). Not only is their creative work dazzling, but their secret motivation and the fuel that keeps them charismatic is their very own Beef& Pie coffee! We had the privilege of tasting a few cups as we edited the final product, and we were sold!

Local Coffee Recommendation: Next time you're at Whole Foods on 6th and Lamar, and are thinking about stopping by the Starbucks across the street, take the elevator 1 floor up to the Pure Austin gym to endulge in a cup of freshly brewed Beef&Pie coffee!