— There were two “spontaneous combustion[s] of tortilla chips” at an unnamed food factory last week in McKinney on 6110 Trade Center Drive, according to the Austin Fire Department The first fire occurred on Monday, July 9 when waste from the tortilla chips manufacturing caught on fire. This happened again on Thursday, July 12. No one was hurt. — Govalle restaurant the Brewer’s Table is adding weekend brunch starting on Saturday, July 21. Dishes will include smoked pastrami hash, pretzel croissants, banana pancakes, and coconut parfait topped with beer grain ash. There are brunch cocktails, too, like a Michelada made with the restaurant/brewery’s Vor Ort lager beer, and melon bellinis, among others. It’s available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. — Austin Monthly released its best of the city issue. Highlighted among the food and drink picks are takeout from grain bowl spot Honest Mary’s, cookie from Henbit, and candy shop with Yummi Joy. — There’s a name for that South Congress boutique hotel: the Colton House Hotel, managed by the Chicago team behind the Guesthouse Hotel. It will be found on 2510 South Congress Avenue, where Taste of China used to be. Colton’s rooms will feature full kitchens to encourage cooking, as well as a cafe and prepared foods from local restaurants.<doc-sep>Turns out, tortilla chips can explode. According to a Facebook post from the Austin Fire Department Wednesday, firefighters were called to a tortilla chip factory at 6110 Trade Center Drive last week because cases of food waste from making tortilla chips spontaneously combusted, setting the building aflame. "Tortilla chips are big business around these parts," the fire department said. "We take them seriously, as they are responsible for holding all manner of very important things—like queso, salsa, nachos, and various other sundry items that are critical to a Texan's everyday life and well-being. So imagine how distressed we were to be called to a fire at a tortilla chip factory earlier this week." RELATED: Queso de Mayo: 5 great bowls of queso to eat in San Antonio The outside of the building as well as several crates of the tortilla waste burned before the fire could be put out. The factory had been trying out a new method for dealing with the waste from making the chips. It apparently did not pan out long term, especially considering previously un-ignited boxes of the same waste also spontaneously caught fire while the fire department was on the scene. "Then, to add insult to injury, additional (previously uninvolved) boxes of the same food waste spontaneously combusted just three days later," the fire department said. To ensure there would not be any future explosions, the firefighters "drowned" the remaining crates that had not yet exploded. But don't worry, because the fires only involved food waste, there will not be any tortilla chip shortages anytime soon. Chase Karacostas is a staff writer for mySA.com. | Chase.Karacostas@express-news.net | Twitter: @ChaseKaracostas<doc-sep>'Whoever Is Watching This, They're Going To Get A Thrill': Willy T. Ribbs, Paul Tracy, Ernie Francis Jr. Discuss Superstar Racing ExperienceThe Superstar Racing Experience inaugural season begins on June 12 at Stafford Speedway. 'Rugrats' Voice Actors E.G. Daily And Cheryl Chase Call New Animation Style 'Brilliant': 'Every Time They Would Show Us We Would Just Gasp''In the words of Chuckie Finster, "Looks like a giant step to me" as the 90's classic Rugrats returns with all-new episodes and a slick modern animation style on Paramount+. WATCH: Caroline D'Amore Discusses 'Surreal' MTV's 'The Hills: New Beginnings' Experience & Pizza Girl BusinessThe Los Angeles native discusses what it was like to join the cast of "The Hills: New Beginnings" and her new line of sauce. SEC Football: CBS Sports Announces 2021 Schedule Including Alabama At Florida On September 18The SEC on CBS kicks off on September 18 with an SEC Championship game rematch between the Crimson Tide and Gators. Mayweather Vs. Paul: Showtime Sports Announces Broadcast Team For June 6 EventThe network announced its plans for the broadcast of the pay-per-view exhibition bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Logan Paul. The 74th Annual 'Tony Awards' And 'The Tony Awards Present: Broadway's Back!' Come To CBS September 26thCBS and Tony Award Productions will celebrate Broadway’s highly anticipated return to live theatre with a multiplatform event The Tony Awards Present: Broadway's Back! Sunday, September 26th (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) broadcasting on CBS and available to stream live and on demand with Paramount+ or the CBS app.<doc-sep>
Late last year, videos of people eating a single chip and suddenly gasping for air or fumbling for a glass of milk took over the internet. With its “One Chip Challenge,” the tortilla chip company Paqui dared adventurous souls to eat a chip laced with the Carolina Reaper, the hottest pepper in the world. But last week, firefighters from the Austin Fire Department had to deal with a different kind of hot chip—the kind that spontaneously combusts. On July 12, AFD responded to a call from a tortilla chip factory in South Austin, where boxes of chip residue had caught on fire. When firefighters arrived on the scene, they saw more boxes of the waste ignite right before their eyes. The firefighters put out the small but bizarre blaze. But then, three days later, they returned to the factory after even more boxes of tortilla chips combusted in the sun. This time, firefighters doused the burning chips and remaining boxes of tortilla chip waste with water to prevent further chip explosions. A post on AFD’s Facebook page explains that the factory was trying out a new way of handling their tortilla chip waste, astutely noting that it “didn’t work out so well.” Michelle Tanzola, an AFD spokesperson, says that the factory’s disposal method was to grind the chips down into a fine powder, pack the powder into boxes, and then store them outside the factory. Tanzola says that the powder combined with the oil from the chips, their cardboard packaging, and 100-plus-degree temperatures to create spontaneously combusting tortilla chips. Whether the factory will need to change their tortilla chip disposal methods is an issue for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to address with the factory. Luckily, with both incidents, the fires were outside, so there was no property damage or injuries. After hosing down the remaining chips, AFD hasn’t fielded any further calls from the factory. “No news is good news,” Tanzola says.