Roosevelt Room Reopens, Launderette Brings the Bagels (and Schmears), and – Who Was That On Netflix's Meateater Last Week?

Here’s your Food News Buffet for the fourth week of September, culled from numerous PR releases, official posts, words on the digital street, and even the occasional (verified) IRL eavesdroppings.

A good idea, nu, to break your Yom Kippur fast this year with Bagels & Schmears from Launderette?

So, ah, the Roosevelt Room has reopened.

OK, let’s say that again with the amount of enthusiasm we’re actually experiencing here: The Roosevelt Room! Has reopened! That elegant bastion of top-flight brews and spirits Downtown is again welcoming patrons to its well-appointed premises, now with solid safety and sanitization protocols in place, and with the return, too, of the joint’s popular Bartending Master Class Series (first up: American Whiskey 101), and some new cocktails – a Banana Daquiri and the classic Charlie Chaplin that started the Roosevelt off back in the day – added to the vast menu, now accompanying expanded food offerings like, ah, potato pancakes, chicken-liver crostini, and chocolate-and-smoked-salt pretzels, and more.

Even though Tso and Old Thousand and Ramen Tatsu-ya remain at the top of our let’s-eat-here-as-often-as-possible list, it’s good that Chowbus, the national food-delivery app that connects meal-seekers with authentic Asian food, is now serving the ATX. Because that Chowbus already has more than 20 local restaurants on its roster – but especially because it features a unique “bundling” option that lets you order dishes from multiple restaurants in a single delivery, with no added fees. Yeah, that – that’s a smart move, tell you what.

Always Be Learning is our motto, so we’re glad to note that the Texas Food & Wine Alliance has launched Alliance Academy, a new digital broadcast series of cooking classes delivered by high-profile chefs, leading food artisans and top craft bartenders providing personal insights and guidance to Texas food and wine lovers. You just missed Nixta Taqueria’s Edgar & Sara, aaaargh, but the classes continue with Jackie Letelier of Casero ( Oct. 1) and Tavel Bristol-Joseph of Hestia (Oct. 15), and on from there in equally impressive style.

That Eastside den of unstoppable deliciousness Launderette has your Yom Kippur fast-breaking totally covered this year, featuring fresh Bagels & Schmears boxes and dessert sets that you can pre-order for pick-up on Sun., Sept. 27 or Mon., Sept. 28, thus accommodating all your savory and sweet nomming needs. Because few things, we’ll suggest, follow a day of atonement better than, mmmmm, toasted pumpernickel topped with deviled egg salad, trout roe, and chives.

And, what else? We told you that the salumi-mongering Salt & Time was gonna open a new cafe in Downtown’s Republic Square, right, featuring all their wondermeats and so on? Now we’re reminding you that they have opened and OMG those muffuletta sandwiches are enough to make you shout hallelujah …that smoky jewel in the barleycorn crown of Rainey Street, Banger’s Sausage House & Beer Garden, is reopening on Thursday, Oct. 1, but wisely starting off slow with max social distancing and limited food and drinks even as they righteously celebrate every German beer-lover’s favorite holiday. (You know that’s Oktoberfest, right? Citizen, please.) … Scholz Garten, too, speaking of things Germanic, also has humongous platters of sausage – bratwursts, weisswursts, and pepperwursts, with all the classic sides – cooking up for your at-home Oktoberfest celebrations … and the new Tony C's Pizza & Beer Garden is opening up there in Round Rock, right near the Dell Diamond, on Thursday … and did you catch Dai Due’s Jesse Griffiths on Netflix’s Meateater last week, as that Butcher & Forager Supreme took host Steven Rinella to South Texas for fishing and hunting and dishing up some crab-stuffed flounder, heart ceviche, and more? That’s some drool-worthy screentime right there, to be sure … and but now – *sigh* – back to the pandemic.