Richter is an Israeli-born Internationally trained chef who spent more than a decade working at some of New York City’s most distinguished restaurants before moving to Austin in 2016 and opening a food truck. That was the start of TLV (named after the abbreviation for Tel Aviv’s airport) that is housed at the Fareground Food Hall.
What made you move to Austin? I got really tired of New York. I became very angry, very edgy and I didn’t want to be that person.
And how has it been? Things are good here. It’s definitely turned out to be better than I ever imagined.
When you got to Austin you started a food truck. It seemed like a natural thing to do Israeli food here because there wasn’t any.
How did you like going from fancy kitchens to a food truck? I had a completely different picture in my mind of how it would work out It turned out to be not as fun as it’s made to be. My first summer we had 50 days of over 100 degrees and 100 degrees outside feels like 130 in the truck.
When did you open TLV? March 2019. We opened on the first day of SXSW. Then we were open exactly one year when the lockdown came.
How have you had to pivot for lockdown? For the first couple months we moved operations to one of our sister restaurants Emmer & Rye and were offering a limited menu of both concepts from the same kitchen. Then we moved back to the Fareground for just to-go. It actually works well because our food travels easily and looks good on disposable, compostable plates.
We started a market section and added more retail. We put condiments and sauces in mason jars, started a line of the custom spices and holidays we’ve been doing pre-made meal kits that have been a great success.
What’s next? February 1 we started a series of takeover pop-ups at our sister restaurant Emmer & Rye where Mondays we cook full-service dinners with TLV food.
What do you love about being a chef? Making people happy through food.