When Grae Nonas left his post as executive chef at Carpenters Hall in January, he says that it was because he’d finally discovered who he was professionally and was ready for the next challenge. Little did he know that his timing (i.e. trying to launch in the middle of a pandemic) would derail any of his best intentions. “I was forced to create a restaurant around takeout, which is not something I ever anticipated, nor really enjoy,” Nonas says. “But I feel like the best thing I do is work in restraint.”
Taking elements of what he’d initially conceived, the chef created Le Cowboy, an intimate Italian food spot in the space formerly occupied by Mum Foods deli on Manor Road. Besides the timing and the square footage involved, the “restraint” Nonas mentioned also involves the focal point of his menu: namely, fresh pasta—a dish that notoriously doesn’t fare well to-go. Yet, the chef bristles at that assumption, insisting heartier pastas like orecchiette and strozzapreti can defy expectations. And he’s right. Take the former, for instance, which is daily pressed on the chef’s thumb, cooked to order, then tossed with a spicy sausage ragu. Far from congealing or turning into a starchy mess, it wows with its texture and depth of flavor. Same goes for tortelli that are pinched around ricotta filling and adorned with a bright walnut pesto. Even if the concept is short-lived (Nonas predicts somewhere between six months and a year), some variation of Le Cowboy will live on in whatever the chef chooses to open next. Or, at least, one can hope. lecowboyatx.com
The Link LonkOctober 31, 2020 at 03:19AM
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Le Cowboy Wows with Its To-Go Pasta Pop-Up Concept - Austin Monthly
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