Ronald Cheng Restaurant Group to Donate 100% of Dining Sales to Rockport
Ronald Cheng of Chinatown and Street restaurants When most restaurants pitch in to help people after a tragedy or natural disaster they usually donate 10% of sales for a day. Very generous to be sure. But it pales in comparison to the three Chinatown restaurants and Street restaurant owned by the legendary Ronald Cheng. On […]
Jobell Cafe & Bistro in Wimberley Celebrates 3rd Anniversary
Jobell Cafe & Bistro is hosting their 3rd year anniversary celebration with a sneak preview of their upcoming Fall & Winter 2017 menu! Join them at the private event on September 18th for a tasting of their new fall/winter 2017 menu before its launch to the public. Executive Chef Mike Massaro and Sous Chef Tomas […]
Juliet Italian Kitchen Review
We wrote in an earlier post the process by which Juliet Ristorante became Juliet Italian Kitchen. Today we’re going to dive a little deeper into the new dishes that resulted from that transition. A big step in the makeover was to steer the cuisine toward more traditional Italian fare. For the most part Chef Jacob […]
Austin Restaurants Catch a Break from Hurricane Harvey
I am appalled by the pictures of Houston and the unprecedented chaos and destruction that is going on there, not to mention LaGrange, Smithville and Bastrop closer to home. My heart goes out to those who have been rendered temporarily, or worse, permanently displaced by the ravages of Hurricane Harvey. In times like these heroes […]
Eldorado Cafe Opens at the former site of Alborz
We have a new Latin restaurant that just opened off Anderson Lane at the site of long-time Middle Eastern spot Alborz. Eldorado Cafe is the brainchild of Joel Fried and his wife Joanna. Fried has deep roots in the Austin food community that go back to Jean Pierre’s Upstairs (Jean now runs a pizza joint […]
Cisco’s is Back Under New Ownership
Rudy Cisneros, my old pal, would be happy to see that his beloved Tex-Mex joint on E 6th is now in good hands. Grandson Matt Cisneros is now the new owner with a team of partners and they have big plans: for the first time in the history of this iconic spot they’re going to […]
Homespun Kitchen and Bar in Dripping Springs Continues Tuesday Tradition with Chinese
Some time ago Homespun Kitchen and Bar in Dripping Springs began handing out survey forms to its customers asking them about their favorite styles of cuisine. The idea was to take the results and create a series of Tuesday menus reflecting those choices. This is an ambitious task for a restaurant that primarily does New […]
Austin Pizza Wars 2017 Coming Soon
Dining Out with Rob Balon pioneered Pizza Wars 17 years ago when Austin had relatively few really decent pizza joints. But all that has changed. We now are blessed with a number of Upper East Coast (CT, NYC, JERSEY) and Italian spots, not to mention za from Detroit. So much so that our cup is […]
Rob Reviews Lunch at Jobell Café and Bistro
After having had several memorable dinners at Jobell Café & Bistro on Highway 12 in Wimberley over the past year, I recently had a chance to finally try their lunch. Big question: what the hell took me so long? Jobell takes on an inviting glow as shafts of light from the noonday sun illuminate the […]
Juliet Italian Kitchen: The Dynamics of a Restaurant’s Mid Course Correction
The restaurant business is enormously competitive. Typically, restaurants that are successful over the long haul face a variety of challenges, not the least of which is the challenge to realistically assess one’s own concept/operational plan and the decision to either change or augment that plan as necessary. Owner Dan Wilkins and Exec chef Jacob […]
Burgerville To Open in Dripping Springs
Miles Frost, a long time player on the Austin restaurant scene is opening Burgerville in the Pig Pen Trailer Court on 290 in Dripping Springs. Miles had a great restaurant in Westlake with his Redbud Grille and he almost singlehandedly saved Smoke’n Hops on 290 when he took over as GM and started serving his […]
Big Cat BBQ in Cedar Park Celebrates 2nd Anniversary on August 12
Lunch at Big Cat BBQ with KEYE-TV’s Chikage Windler and family. One thing that is critical to new restaurants is anniversaries. Each one, particularly the first three, is cause for celebration in the arduous restaurant biz. So Big Cat BBQ on 401 W Whitestone in Cedar Park is understandably pretty buzzed about their 2nd anniversary […]
