SPUN Opens, Indian Food Comes to Colorado

El Chilito expands, Gelateria gemelli hosts a pop-up, and more morning bites.

Sisters Ashley and Christina Cheng are the second generation of a proud local restaurant dynasty. The entrepreneurial siblings have just announced that the opening of their long-awaited new project, SPUN Ice Cream, is set for Wednesday, Dec. 16. The made-fresh-to-order ice creams at SPUN will be based on organic milk and cream from Liberty Farms Dairy near Hico, and will use liquid nitrogen technology to freeze. The concept will offer a rotating menu of seasonal specialties like vanilla bean, dark chocolate, popcorn, and gingerbread with such pairings as a chocolate shell, peanut brittle, caramel popcorn sprinkles, brown butter powder, and meringue snow. SPUN will be open Sunday -Thursday, noon-10pm; Friday - Saturday, noon-11pm.

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In other ice cream news, Blue Bell announced this week that they are adding peppermint stick ice cream back to the lineup. The overwhelming holiday favorite joins homemade vanilla, Dutch chocolate, cookies 'n' cream, buttered pecan, Great Divide, and pistachio almond on store shelves. No firm date yet on when the company's various ice cream novelty items will be back in stores, but it could be a few more months.

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Gelateria Gemelli hosts a pop-up bake sale featuring such treats as banana bread, cinnamon rolls, cookies, savory frittatas, and more from Hannah Bakery. Guests will have the option of ordering baked goods à la mode to enjoy with a full line of Tweed Coffee Roasters beverages, and $6 mimosas. Saturday, Dec. 12, 9am-noon.

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Métier Cooks Supply hosts author Robb Walsh for a discussion and signing of his newest book, The Chili Cookbook: A History of the One-Pot Classic, with Cook-off Worthy Recipes from Three-Bean to Four-Alarm and Con Carne to Vegetarian (TenSpeed Press, $18.95). The event will be held Lenoir's shady wine garden. Tickets to the discussion are $30 and include a copy of the book, a bowl of chili, and beer. Saturday, Dec. 12, 1-3pm.

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Son of a Sailor Jewelry + Supply hosts a jam and champagne pop-up with Confituras, featuring a curated selection of sweet treats for holiday giving. Saturday, Dec. 12, 3pm.

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The Kuhlken-Osterberg family has opened the Armadillo's Leap Tasting Room at 6258 Hwy 290 West near Fredericksburg this week. “We're delighted to be opening this new tasting room directly on the 290 Wine Trail,” said Julie Kuhlken, co-owner of Armadillo's Leap. “We've enjoyed launching Armadillo's Leap and creating this brand of wines, and we felt the time was right to give them a higher profile with their own tasting room.” The new tasting facility will include a wine club that offers member access to special events and preferred pricing on tasting room purchases. Armadillo's Leap will be open daily from 11am-6pm.

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In keeping with his seeming quest to rehabilitate all of Austin's empty former Church's Fried Chicken outlets, Carlos Rivera and his restaurant group are creating another El Chilito location at 6425 Burnet Road. The projected opening of the new outlet will be spring of 2016, sometime before the opening of their fourth El Chilito at 4501 Manchaca Road. The south Austin location was never a fast food restaurant and is requiring more work than originally anticipated. Rivera's group also celebrates the 10th anniversary of El Chilito this spring.

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Look for a new Indian restaurant called Papadom Cafe to open in the former Imperia space at 310 Colorado Downtown sometime after the first of the year.