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(El Naranjo/Austin)
Now a month out from her James Beard Foundation win, chef Iliana De La Vega is back on her usual grind as she works to keep up with increased demand.
De La Vega of El Naranjo, 2717 S. Lamar Blvd., represented Austin when she won the title of Best Chef Texas alongside chef Edgar Rico of Nixta Taqueria, 2512 E. 12th St., who took home Best Emerging Chef in June.
“People are very excited when they come to the restaurant because a lot of people have been reading about it,” De La Vega told Austonia. “Everybody's very excited about it—we're crazy, crazy busy.”
Other than busier days, increased reservations and more mouths to feed, De La Vega said it’s been business as usual as she and her husband, Ernesto Torrealba, carry on the business they’ve been running since they opened in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 1997.
The pair moved to the U.S. after the economy collapsed, moving from New Mexico to San Antonio to Austin, where they restarted their brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2012.
“We keep doing what we have been doing for so many years, just trying to keep up with demand,” De La Vega said.
If you come in to visit, De La Vega recommends starting with the ceviche of the week, an order of guacamole and an order of either Chuletas De Cordero or Mole Negro de Oaxaca.
“Even for the first timers or the people that have been coming to us before, they just keep on supporting us,” De La Vega said. “We're very grateful to the city and the customers.”
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Austin is one of the top metro areas where homebuyer income saw the greatest surge during the pandemic and it came at a cost to locals.
A new analysis by real estate services firm Redfin reports that affluent out-of-towers have contributed to surging home prices in metros like Austin. Due to this trend, Redfin notes, many local buyers with lower incomes have been priced out.
“For white-collar workers earning high salaries, remote work is a huge financial boon,” said Sheharyar Bokhari, Redfin senior economist. Jobs with that flexibility, Bokhari says, enable them to move from a tech hub like San Francisco to a more affordable part of the country where they can get more home for their money and even put some toward a rainy day fund.
“It can have the opposite effect on locals in those destinations–especially renters–who are watching from the sidelines as home prices skyrocket while their income stays mostly the same,” Bokhari said.
In Austin, the median homebuyer income surged 19% from 2019 to 2021, ultimately reaching $137,000. In that time, the median home price growth was 48%, just behind Boise, Idaho which was more than 50%.
But the housing market is starting to slow. Redfin says high mortgage rates and unsustainable price growth have driven demand down. In fact, Austin is among the 20 housing markets that have cooled the fastest in the first half of this year.
“People are still moving in from California and they still have enough money to buy nice homes in desirable neighborhoods, sometimes with all cash,” said Austin Redfin agent Gabriel Recio. “But the days of homes selling for 25% over asking price with multiple offers are over. Buyers are no longer as eager now that mortgage rates are up and there’s buzz in the air about the slowing housing market.”
As a result, Recio says, local and out-of-town buyers have an opportunity to buy a home at the asking price or even under.
Redfin carried out its analysis using data from the home mortgage disclosure act to review median household incomes for homebuyers who took out a mortgage, though it doesn’t include buyers who paid using all cash.
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(Shutterstock)
School is back in session—do you know the latest TikTok trends?
With Austin ISD resuming session on Monday, school officials are keeping tabs on the newest TikTok trends that could pose classroom disruptions and property damage.
TikTok trends swept through Austin-area schools last year with the “Devious Lick” challenge, which encouraged students to steal from school property and reportedly caused $15,000 in damages at Round Round ISD; and the “slap a staff member” challenge.
On the distraction end, a substitute teacher was dismissed from Bowie High School in December after bringing in a karaoke machine to class and singing Britney Spears’ “Toxic” for the class on TikTok.
Officials told KXAN they are staying aware of the trends as they change during the 2022-2023 school year and the district will investigate perceived threats. Since TikTok trends vary in severity, they will also evaluate to see which trends could cause harm or not.
Finally, the school district said it does not tolerate violence or bullying and will focus its efforts on protecting students both physically and digitally.
