Dining Out Sustainably: Cipollina

Cipollina, a casual bistro in Clarkesville, is the younger sister to Jeffrey's, that icon of Austin restaurants, located across the street.  Cipollina serves high quality sandwiches, pizzas and entrees to hungry neighbors.  

A few years ago, Cipollina began hosting a Farm to Table dinner on Wednesday nights featuring locally-sourced dishes.  Now, you can find locally grown and produced ingredients on the menu any day of the week.  

I recently visited Cipollina for the Slow Food Austin Happy Hour.  If you aren't familiar with Slow Food Austin, the organization focuses on reconnecting people with their food and encouraging people to take the time to cook rather than buying processed food.  They host farm tours, monthly Slow Sessions highlighting a different facet of cooking or food, and Happy Hours for socializing and supporting local restaurants who source local.  It's a great organization.

Our table ordered a couple of appetizers to nibble on - a local Brazos Valley Brie and a Countryside Farm duck liver pate. The pate by itself had a strong liver flavor, but when you combined it with the brie or the pickled tomatoes garnish, it was much more enjoyable. 

Eventually, we could not resist the temptation of the pizza aroma wafting from the kitchen and decided to split a few salads and a pepperoni pizza.  The pizza has a crunchy hand-tossed crust and a luscious homemade tomato sauce, but the pepperoni was the star of the show.  Made locally from Richardson Farms pork, the pepperoni was outstanding with a little sweetness and a nice spiciness.   

I was reminded that Cipollina is an easy sustainable choice.  It's the perfect place to visit with friends in a relaxed atmosphere while enjoying an affordable, delicious, locally-sourced meal.