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Married couple Phillip Frankland Lee and Margarita Kallas-Lee recently opened Pasta|Bar. (Pasta|Bar)
The couple duo behind the Los Angeles Michelin-star winning Sushi by Scratch team has landed in Austin with a new concept: Pasta|Bar.
Scratch Restaurants chefs, owners and married couple Phillip Frankland Lee and Margarita Kallas-Lee opened Pasta|Bar, 1017 East Sixth St., for business as of March 13, shortly before welcoming a new daughter in April.
(Pasta|Bar)
“Pasta Bar has been a runaway success and we just continue to be so grateful to this city and everyone here for making us feel at home and supporting us,” former Top Chef contestant Lee told Austonia.
A longtime team together, Lee and Kallas-Lee first met in middle school before reconnecting in their early 20s and starting their lives, and businesses, together.
(Pasta|Bar)
The pair dipped into Austin in December 2020 for a five-week pop-up after the California government shut down outdoor dining for the second time. The pop-up was so successful, that they opened up a waitlist and decided to put down roots.
“Austin was so amazing in wanting to support us that I felt responsible to stay until everyone had the opportunity to dine with us, so we kept prolonging and prolonging our pop-up until eventually, it became apparent that we needed to just make it permanent,” Lee said. “That is around the time that Margarita and I decided that this is where we wanted to make our home going forward.”
With the great success of restaurants prior behind them, the partners have plans to open yet another restaurant: a high-end omakase restaurant called Shokunin in Dripping Springs later this fall.
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(Austin FC)
Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff is here to stay as the Club announced he signed a three-year contract extension.
Wolff, who was previously an assistant coach for the U.S. Men's National Team, will coach Austin FC through the end of 2025 under the new contract.
Wolff has been the Austin FC head coach since November 2019. In the team's first year, some hoped to oust Wolff as the team was at the bottom of the Western Conference. But this year, the team is at the top, ranking No. 3.
“This is still a young, growing Club but seeing our vision for Austin FC come to life on and off the field has been one of the great honors of my career. My staff and I will keep working every day to represent the city, and to develop our team both competitively and as human beings. The best is yet to come," Wolff said.
(Moriah Wilson/Instagram)
Austin police are investigating the killing of Moriah "Mo" Wilson after she was found with gunshot wounds inside an East Austin home.
Wilson, a gravel and mountain bike racer, was visiting Austin from Colorado in preparation for the Gravel Locos race on Saturday taking place in Hico, a small town 2 hours from Austin.
On Wednesday, her roommate came home and found Wilson unresponsive with "a lot of blood near her,” police said, on Maple Avenue near East 17th Street. Officers and EMS performed life-saving measures before she was declared deceased at 10:10 p.m.
The Travis County Medical Examiner's office conducted an autopsy and determined the official cause of death to be multiple gunshot wounds, and the manner of death was a homicide. It is being investigated as a suspicious death and as of Saturday, police said they have a person of interest.
Wilson, 25, recently had become a full-time biker after winning a slew of races in the past year.
This story was updated on May 15 to include that police have determined a person of interest.