Austin is the Chicago neighborhood home to Mayor Brandon Johnson, a vibrant farmers market and some delicious food, writes critic Louisa Chu.
Kathryn Holmes shops at the Forty Acres Fresh Market stall at the Austin Town Hall City Market on Aug. 24, 2023.“I tell people all the time, I’m from this dirt. I’m an Austin girl, born and raised,” Larde said. The chef and resident of the West Side Chicago neighborhood put her busy catering business on hold to take over as manager of Austin Town Hall Market for the season.“I’ve seen the different transitions that the neighborhood has gone through,” she said.
“At one point, we had a Buddy Bear food store and a Jewel’s, right there on Chicago Avenue,” Larde said. “They’ve been closed for maybe about 30 years.”But she’s not just grateful. She put her Austin-based business, Two Sisters Catering, on hiatus despite a prominent neighborhood resident and customer: Mayor Brandon Johnson.Two years later, during, Johnson called their home turf “the beautiful Austin neighborhood on the mighty West Side of Chicago.
The chef is doing more than imagine. There was no way she could do full-scale catering and manage the market with all its twists and turns, she said, but it’s worth it. “The Austin Town Hall City Market is a much-needed entity in our community,” Larde said. “We are basically, for lack of a better phrase, a food desert on all levels. So having this market is a blessing for those who don’t have access to vehicles, who don’t drive themselves, or whatever the case may be.”It’s a small start for neighborhood residents, who largely go to the adjacent suburbs just for groceries. But the market is more than just the food.Larry Moore Sr.
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