Continued from page 62
Aaron Austin, Executive Chef, Vintage
Car Museum & Grill
Dream Job: Soldier in the U.S. Army
SEPTEMBER 2016
PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
Photo by Megan Parks
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Austin is a true Weatherford man. He actually grew up in Jack Borden’s childhood home.
“I grew up in the room they’d built for Jack,” Austin said.
Always intrigued by the excitement of being in the Army, Austin enlisted and served for
eight years. “I got tired of that. When I got out of the Army I went to school to be an EMT,”
Austin said. “Then I worked at a couple of hospitals. I worked at Baylor in Dallas and Harris
Southwest and I got burned out on that.”
Austin’s wife told him to find something he liked to do so he went to the Culinary
School of Fort Worth.
Culinary arts always interested Austin. He took the job at Vintage in 2015.
“I’m not only four blocks from home but I see people daily that I’ve known for most of
my life,” Austin said. “I think it makes a difference to be able to come out and say, ‘I really
am here to make everything great.’”
Austin’s mother was a nurse and his father, Jim Austin taught at Weatherford College
and had better hours, and did a lot of the cooking for the family.
“I toyed around with cooking for a long time,” Austin said. “You know what they say,
‘Find something that you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.’ That’s what I’ve
done.”
The Austins have three children, a 3-year-old, a 6-year-old and a 5-month old.
“I like being here at Vintage because it’s like a big family,” Austin said. “Everybody takes
care of everybody.”
Vintage launched its breakfast menu in August. Austin was instrumental in the creation
of the breakfast menu, but don’t worry, Brunch is still a tradition at Vintage. “We will
change the menu seasonally,” Austin said. “We will be rolling out our autumn menu in
October.” His eyes glowed. No matter how much he works at Vintage, he’s not working at
all — Austin is a man who loves what he does.