What an Austin wine company owner takes on his desert island

As part of our continuing Desert Island Dish series, we caught up with Grant Richardson, who owns the Violet Crown Wine Bar & Coffee Shop with his husband, Chris Nagelhout.

• Opened last May, the Crestview spot has become a neighborhood favorite.

Background: Richardson also owns Pangea Selections , a natural wine importer and distributor, but wanted to start the wine bar partly because he "missed the customer-facing aspect of the wine industry."

• "Here you can have fun, joyous conversations about why you care about this product so much — instead of just the wheeling and dealing of wholesale."

Running a restaurant can be tough. Is that harder when you're married to your partner?

"We do very well together. Chris is the creative force, I'm the operational force. I am much more focused on wine things, he's much more on the coffee side of things. And the thing is, you can't complain about your business partner to other people when you're married to them."

You're headed to a desert island. What's the one dish you take with you? "The duck carnitas taco from Nixta . It's at such a high caliber but also done so casually. They're using these rich ingredients, but also maintaining such freshness. I could eat a mountain of these."

What about to drink? "I'm going strategic on this one, as a wine professional. Since it's a desert island, I'm choosing something fortified, not just a one-and-done bottle, so I'll go with the Maderized from Alta Marfa, from out in West Texas. It's a Madeira from the grapes of the Robert Clay Vineyards in Mason County. You could drink it over the course of a month.

How about dessert?

"The soft serve from Birdie's . They put this Sicilian olive oil over the top of it that's so freaking delightful, and the richness of the oil totally complements the citrus of the soft serve."

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