New Austin Farm Grows Hydroponic Hops for Local Breweries

— Lakeway farm Hopperdashery is growing Texas hops for local breweries, as Austin 360 reported, like Lazarus Brewing Co. and Brewer’s Table. Co-founders Dan Krause and Chris Redmond have been growing the hops the hydroponic way in their greenhouses. It’s currently raising money to help produce more hops and grow the business through IndieGoGo.

— While downtown restaurant Forthright fixes up its space after suffering a fire in October, It’s been serving a limited menu through a food truck at East Cesar Chavez and Brazos streets from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. And then, for Sunday brunch, the restaurant teamed up with event space Trinity Hall at 311 East 5th Street to serve the weekend meal from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. until it reopens.

— South Congress Japanese restaurant Lucky Robot chef Jay Huang tries to focus on sustainable seafood as much as possible, so much so that it partnered with California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program. The restaurant already didn’t serve bluefin tuna (opting to go with bigeye tuna instead). The program figures out which fish are the “best choice” (aka green), “good alternatives” (yellow), and “avoid” (red). Lucky got rid of eel on its menu because of the system.

— Downtown restaurant Russian House revamped its bar area into a new cafe with coffee, cocktails, and food, dubbed Coffee Bar Europe.

— California-based fast-casual salad chain Chop Stop is opening eight locations of restaurant in San Antonio by the end of 2019, plus potentially eight more in Austin after that.