Get a taste of downtown Austin; Austin Page Turners, downtown restaurants holding month-long progressive dinner

Published 8:58 am Friday, March 16, 2018

The Austin Page Turners selected cooking memoir “Give a Girl a Knife” by James Beard Award-winning author and Minnesota native Amy Thielen as their 2017 book of the year.

Thielen, who hosted “Heartland Table” on the Food Network and who has been featured in several magazines, will be coming to Austin on April 12.

To celebrate, the Austin Page Turners’ will be holding a Progressive Dinner event, starting today and ending on April 12.

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The Austin Page Turners hold an event every year to promote the selected book.

“Our Austin Page Turners’ project is such a fun one to work on,” said Austin Page Turners president Bonnie Rietz. “It brings the community together to read a book, discuss it with friends and in book groups and then the author comes to town so you can ask all the questions you have. It is a great way to celebrate Minnesota authors and to promote reading.”

The Progressive Dinner will include 11 restaurants in downtown Austin.

The Original Hamburger will offered by The Tendermaid during the Austin Page Turners’ Progressive Dinner.

“We’re all for promoting downtown and for exposing everyone to one of Austin’s longest traditions,” Sara White, owner of The Tendermaid, said of her restaurant’s participation in the dinner.

White chose the “Original Hamburger” as the special for the event.

“I picked the ‘Original’ because it is original to this establishment, which was founded in 1938,” she said. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Other restaurants participating in the Progressive Dinner are:

• 1910 Fresh Mexican Kitchen – Burrito

• B & J Bar and Grill – Baja Fish

• Bella Victoria – Lasagne

• Coffee House on Main – Chicken Salad on Cranberry Bread

• Dusty’s Bar and Lounge – Prairie Cucumber Press

• El Mariachi – Margarita

• George’s Pizza – George’s Special

• Piggy Blues Bar-B-Que – Pork Tacos

• Steve’s Pizza – Mama Mia Pizza

• Tienda Y Taqueria Guerrero – Beef Tacos

To track their progress, diners will use a bookmark that lists each restaurant and the particular special they are offering for the Progressive Dinner. The restaurant will punch the bookmark when the item is ordered. Diners can drop the bookmarks off at the Austin Public Library or bring them to Thielen’s presentation at 6:30 p.m. on April 12 at the Hormel Historic Home for a chance to win one of several prizes. Diners must have at least one item punched to be eligible to win.

Bookmarks will be available at the participating restaurants and the Austin Public Library.

Other events leading up to Thielen’s arrival include the presentation “How to Grow a Kitchen Garden” by Jim Stiles at 6:30 p.m. on April 4 at Super Fresh and the Edible Book Festival from April 7-13 at the Austin Public Library.

Thielen will host a writers’ workshop at 10 a.m. on April 12 at the Austin Public Library. She will also be presenting at 7 p.m., with a reception starting at 6:30 p.m., at the Hormel Historic Home.

Members of the Austin Minnesota Friends of the Library and the Austin Minnesota Foodies Facebook group will be eligible to win a chance to have a free dinner with Thielen at 5 p.m. on April 12 at Piggy Blues Bar-B-Que. Five winners will be selected from each group.