Little Ola’s Biscuits Free for a Year, Baldinucci’s Pizza for Lunch and Dinner, the Nido Is Open for Real, Dali’s Naked Feast for Surrealism’s Sake, Plenty of Booze for Toasting, and More

Here's some of what's happening in Austin's culinary scene, as wrangled from numerous PR releases, words on the digital street, and even the occasional (verified) IRL eavesdroppings.

Free, every day, for a year? From Little Ola's Biscuits? It's a definite possibility!

That’s right, citizen – it’s your “Food News Buffet,” come to woo the autumnal city as the weather finally allows more layering of clothes.

We swear this section of the issue won’t be All Fojtasek All the Time. But, yes, our Food Editor Melanie Haupt does review the chef’s new Maie Day restaurant right here. And we can’t help but raise a rousing ruckus about the new promotion going on at his Little Ola’s Biscuits (14735 Bratton), in celebration of their first anniversary: a chance to win free biscuits for a year. That’s right, just one winner will get a Golden Biscuit Card, good for any Little Ola’s biscuit or biscuit sandwich every single day for an entire year for free. (That’s a value of more than $3,000; but money is only worth the stuff it can get you, right? And these biscuits – so butterly perfect, not too flaky, and bulging with all manner of tasty fillings – are the stuff of foodie dreams.) All you have to do for a chance to win is click “like” on the giveaway photo on Little Ola’s Instagram; and, come Oct. 31, they’ll do a random draw to see who’s gonna be feasting like a king for the next 365 days. Meanwhile, even nonwinners can’t be total losers, now that Little Ola’s has expanded their open hours to seven days a week…

Look – a town can never have too much pizza, right? That’s why we’re glad to report that, after working from a ghost kitchen since March of this year, Baldinucci Pizza Romana has opened a first brick-and-mortar place at Westbank Market (3300 Bee Caves Rd.). The new joint is owned and operated by husband and wife Salvatore and Patricia Baldinucci, along with Sal’s twin brother, Gabriel; they’re following in the pizza footsteps of their father, Enrico, who emigrated from Italy and opened his pizza place on Long Island back in 1977. We reckon that’s hella authentic, and the Baldinuccis’ two styles of dough (Roman and New York) and what they do with it, piewise, will provide sufficient evidence of how delicious authenticity can be. Oh, you want dessert? Mmmhmmm, they’ve got that, too…

Biscuits! Pizza! And … burgers? Yes – and one of our local faves in that area, Hopdoddy, is offering free delivery on orders of $20 or more through Oct. 23. And while we do crave those burgers in all their meaty glory, what amplifies that “fave” status is Hopdoddy’s new partnership with Black Fret: They’re now providing financial grants to local musicians. Awww, you guys…

The annual surrealist spectacle has been dormant for three years, but now Salvador Dalí’s Naked Feast returns to the Vortex (2307 Manor Rd.) on Saturday, Oct. 22, definitely keeping Austin weird and showcasing the culinary skills of chef Nic Patrizi…

The Nido is open! The Nido is open! Yes, the elegant new restaurant on the rooftop of the Loren at Lady Bird Lake (1211 W. Riverside) will be serving up breakfast, lunch, brunch, and dinner with internationally inspired, locally sourced menus, as crafted by Executive Chef Brad McDonald and his crew, starting on Thursday, Oct. 20. (Some dishes to look forward to: kabocha squash beignets, Denver cut lamb ribs, ricotta gnudi, Acornseekers pork belly, and mmmmm that dry-aged ribeye.) You can find the menus right here, and click here for reservations. But of course the only way you can actually enjoy that above-it-all skyline view and the height of well-fed relaxation is to be there soon…

Still Austin – one of the distilleries included in our recent roundup of Central Texas spirits – is releasing their annual Monster Mash cask-strength whiskey for purchase exclusively via their website on Monday, Oct. 24, at 1pm. This year's offering is a wicked blend of five Texas grains, which was aged for four years and bottled at 108.6 proof. Bottles are $100 and will be sold first-come, first-served, so you’d best get those fingers ready for clicking… Garrison Brothers, on the other hand, will be hosting a special HoneyDew bourbon-pairing dinner at Juliet Italian Kitchen on Wed., Oct. 26… and while we’re wrapping the adult beverages for delivery, let’s also mention that roundup of local ciders and meads from last week’s Drinks Issue – along with Jessi Cape’s look at the craft mocktails of Sans Bar, Rowan Halliday’s “Five Texas Wines That Wow” along the Hill Country trail, and those recommended not-exactly-secrets of the local scene…

Let’s see now – what else, what else? Oh! The Hotel Granduca’s new Laurel restaurant, as helmed by chef Tommy Suddeth, brings its best to the latest of the venue’s excellent Long Table Dinners on Thursday, Oct. 20… and there’s that Starlight Soirée for Ballet Austin at the Domain that same night… Independence Brewing is throwing a state fair-esque 18th anniversary party on Saturday, Oct. 22… that Blind Salamander in the Omni Barton Creek is offering a wine-paired Taste of Two Hemispheres on Tuesday, Oct. 25… and Distant Relatives’ Damien Brockway is cheffing a three-course meal and plenty of local historical knowledge at the Neill-Cochran House on Wednesday, Oct. 26… and surely you’re aware of the Texas Food & Wine Alliance’s annual Wine & Swine shindig at Camp Mabry on Sunday, Oct. 30…

WUXTRY! Antonelli’s Artisan Austin Bus Tours are back! That’s where you, along with hosts John and Kendall Antonelli, will “hang out with goats, eat cheese, drink wine, and hear the stories of some of Austin's favorite [cheese] producers.” Does exploring the delights of Pure Luck Farm and Treaty Oak Distilling and more sound like a good time to you, citizen? Check it out right here…

WUXTRY! As internet-saturated as our lives are getting in these sorta-post-pandemic days, we reckon it’s a good time to remind you of what local technopundit A.M. Gant ranted earlier, about online food-ordering and its implications…

Now eat as well as you can, tip like it’s going out of style, and don’t forget to bring a moist towelette.