WATERWAYS
WATERWAYS THE INSIDER’S LIFESTYLE GUIDE TO WEST AUSTIN
THE INSPIRATION ISSUE
SARAH EVANS JENNIFER FANG ALAN GRAHAM TOM MARKUSIC
FEBRUARY 2021
ENTERTAINING
Aba Arrives Austin’s Newest COVID Restaurant Debut is an Inspiring Tale of Passion and Commitment
By Jane Coloccia
When the team at Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants made plans to open an Austin outpost of its incredibly successful Aba eatery in Chicago, the word COVID was not even a part of the American lexicon. The opening was postponed due to COVIDrelated delays, but Aba finally did make its debut this past fall, bringing a lighter style of Mediterranean cooking to the city and a glimmer of hope that the significantly impacted restaurant industry could indeed rebound. Executive Chef Nick Erven recently sat down with Waterways to share how both he and the restaurant arrived in Austin with a singular mission: Make people happy.
Erven grew up in Wyoming with little exposure to fresh produce and no burning desire to cook. Family dinners consisted of Hamburger Helper, spaghetti and mac ‘n’ cheese. He fronted a punk rock band and worked at Target to make ends meet, but one day saw an ad for a culinary school and thought, I can do that. This snap decision changed everything. He enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu at the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena and took a job as a salad cook just to get his foot in the door at a restaurant. “I remember not getting it at first,” muses Chef Nick. “And then one day, it clicked. I relaxed into it and realized timing had a lot to do with it—much like in music.” Jobs at restaurants throughout Los Angeles, including his own—Erven, a plant-based New American spot in Santa Monica—followed before he and his family decided it was time to leave L.A. He made a short stop in Detroit for two years before jumping at the opportunity to relocate to Austin to become Executive Chef at Aba.
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHASE DANIEL; JEFF MARINI; JANE KIM/GIANT NOISE PARTNERS
Pursuing a Culinary Career on a Whim
While COVID delayed Aba’s arrival, the team made great use of the time to strategize. “We weren’t questioning why we were going to do this,” notes Erven, “we focused on how.” A Passion for Cooking is Reinvigorated During Lockdown “I spent so many years not cooking for my family because of my career, so cooking at the house during lockdown reenergized me and gave me a different perspective,” notes Erven. “The new focus is on more approachable food and not making it super fussy. At my previous restaurants, it was all about how to make it great and fancy, and it was so stressful. Now it is less about the crazy combinations and more about simplicity.” Erven and his team at Aba have recognized they are in the business of making people happy, and this is their focus now. It is what inspires them and has become their biggest goal. “COVID helped us sharpen our philosophy. We all feel so lucky to have a job and to be able to do this, and we are committed to taking care of our employees and our guests and to make good food for them to share.”
Finding the Inspiration to Work Toward Opening While COVID delayed Aba’s arrival, the team made great use of the time to strategize. “We weren’t questioning why we were going to do this,” notes Erven, “we focused on how.” They concentrated on what they would need to change to facilitate the opening and figured out how to safely greet guests, define new service protocols, incorporate temperature checks and enhance sanitary measures. Thankfully, the restaurant has a wonderful patio, and the original plan was to have most of the dining happen outside under the big oak tree anyway. Erven still marvels at how Aba’s patio setting feels secluded and not like you are in the middle of the city (1011 South Congress Avenue).
Simple Ingredients Yield Amazing Flavors Aba’s menu features two main drivers: spreads and kebabs. Their signature spread is the Muhammara, which tantalizes the palate with salty, spicy and sweet flavors (see recipe below). “Our goal with the menu has been to focus on simple things, which we work to make really, really good,” Erven says. He adds that he and the restaurant group’s Executive Chef C.J. Jacobson, are students of “get really, really good product, and try not to mess it up too much.” >>
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LOOKING BACK
BON ANNIVERSAIRE, CHANEL NO. 5! Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was one of France’s most prolific and inspirational fashion designers. Her foremost creation, Chanel No. 5 perfume, was developed with the help of a Tsarist Russian perfume master and was launched exactly 100 years ago in 1921. Since then, Chanel No. 5 has remained one of the bestselling perfumes worldwide. This complex floral fragrance was revolutionary and made Gabrielle Chanel a millionaire. She was already doing well, first as a milliner and then in women’s clothing. She practically invented sportswear with her relaxed jersey suits and uncluttered dresses. Her rise to prominence is even more remarkable because she reached adulthood in an orphanage as a poverty case. From there, she went on to achieve incredible success 14 WATERWAYS | February 2021
in the famously exclusive fashion industry. Her difficult youth propelled her to escape destitution. By middle age, she had become a prosperous fashion leader who remained at the top of her field right up to the end of her life.
RAGS TO RICHES Gabrielle’s humble beginnings began with her birth on Au-
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF CHANEL
gust 19, 1883, in a charity hospital in western France. Her father, a roving market trader, abandoned his family repeatedly as he moved among market towns across France, leaving his wife and children scrambling to follow. The Chanel family was already accustomed to hard work, rustic living conditions and a difficult family life when the mother died. Eleven-year-old Gabrielle and her siblings were then essentially deserted by their father. Gabrielle’s brothers were sent to a peasant family to provide farm labor. She and her two sisters were sent to a convent orphanage in Aubazine, France. Chanel never saw her father again. At the convent, she learned needlework. When she turned 18, she transferred to a convent in central France and a year later, took a job and lodging in a drapery shop while supplementing her meager salary at a tailor’s shop. The young woman was fiercely ambitious. In the local clubs, she would fill the gaps between billed acts by singing revue standards such as “Qui Qu’a Vu Coco?” That’s apparently why, according to legend, her nickname became “Coco.” But her ambitions to become an accomplished stage performer did not work out, and she became the live-in mistress of a British aristocrat. But she did not want to be dependent on a man. As she put it, “I would say to myself over and over, money is the key to freedom.” Opportunities for smart impoverished women at the time hardly existed, but Chanel was as talented with her fingers as she was driven. She was already well-known for trimming her own straw boater hats. Chanel went into the hat-making business. When a wealthy benefactor gifted her use of his Paris apartment, she fashioned it into an atelier where she made and sold her uncommonly simple trimmed women’s hats. Paris had become a cultural polestar with its elaborate boulevards and architectural marvels such as the Eiffel Tower. It was a land of opportunity. So it was that in 1910, Chanel boldly opened her first store at 21 rue Cambon. Her hats were popular, and she was able to open additional shops in both Deauville (1913) and Biarritz (1915). Before World War I, she started to design and sell sporty and functional women’s apparel. Her jersey collections were minimalist, unfussy and comfortable. Though simple, her clothes were always costly and exclusive. In 1918, Chanel opened her couture house at 31 rue Cambon. Her business was successful, and it gave her the financial independence she had wanted. She was always looking to expand and even designed costumes for film, ballet and stage.
Catherine Deneuve
ENTER CHANEL NO. 5 Chanel next teamed up with Ernest Beaux, the Russian perfumer for the Tsars, and it was a partnership made in heaven. In 1921, they launched her first fragrance, Chanel No. 5. Gabrielle Chanel was most likely introduced to Beaux by Russian Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich. She had been romantically involved with Pavlovich, who may be best remembered for his part in the Rasputin murder that transpired in Imperial Russia just months before the Russian Revolution. >>
Marilyn Monroe
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February 2021 | WATERWAYS 19
PHILANTHROPY FOCUS
Swan Songs Musical Last Wishes Granted by Austin Charity
Amid the pain and worry that often comes at the end of life, music holds the power to bring much-appreciated peace and comfort. Swan Songs is an Austin-based nonprofit that grants musical last wishes to those who have terminal illnesses or are nearing the end of their lives. At no cost to the recipients or their families, intimate live performances are arranged by the organization in quiet, suitable venues, such as in a private home or nursing home. Anyone can make this request, and any music style is on the table. “These are not just enjoyable and entertaining melodies and songs; the music often represents their culture, important occasions, the vibrancy of youth or falling in love,” says Christine Albert, the founder and CEO of Swan Songs. “It can trigger a lifetime of memories, and their spirit is activated without needing to articulate the emotions they are feeling. They can step outside the illness for a time and feel whole again. Some of the most popular requests have been for music by Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, George Strait and Johnny Cash. There have also been plenty of 48 WATERWAYS | February 2021
unique requests, ranging from Native American flute music to Lithuanian accordion music. Local musicians are paid for the performances, which serves to support the local music scene, and their participation wasn’t halted by the pandemic as they have performed virtually instead. Albert adds that the concerts also offer an opportunity for the recipient’s family and friends to share a positive moment outside of caregiving and carrying the weight of the impending loss. Since 2010, Swan Songs has organized more than 1,100 concerts with the number of requests steadily increasing over the years. To find out how you can support them, visit swansongs.org.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF SWAN SONGS
By Cindy Brzostowski
Chatoyant Malachite in Knightsteel and 24K Gold
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