Austin’s popular The Oasis on Lake Travis Updates Menus
Austin’s sunset capital and comfort food emporium The Oasis has updated their menus. I look forward to trying the Sliders and the Southwest Chicken Salad Stuffed Avocado. Chef Gerald has this place rocking!
Banger’s Sausage House & Beer Garden Initiates Massive Expansion
One of the anchors of Rainey Street, Banger’s Sausage House & Beer Garden, has announced plans for a massive expansion. Beginning today, March 20th, work will start on converting an adjacent lot into an additional 15,000 square feet of dining, drinking and performance space. This is a multi-million dollar project that reaffirms how big a […]
The Gnarly Gar at Point Venture to Reopen
Good news for those who like their cuisine on the water! The Gnarly Gar, one of our favorite Lake Travis restaurants, is about to reopen at their Point Venture location. Owner Todd Hynes closed for some refurbishing, but that is finished and they are getting everything ready for an opening blast. The Lake is full […]
Dining Advice for Austinites During SXSW 2017
The madhouse of mind-boggling creative energy and networking that characterizes SXSW Interactive is upon us. Here are some rules for us local folk to keep in mind when dining out during SXSW. During the Interactive event forget dining within three miles of downtown. Focus on fun perimeter restaurants like Chinatown Westlake, Dai Due, Sap’s Fine Thai […]
Heard on the Street: What’s happening with Austin restaurants
I have never seen such volatility in the Austin area restaurant scene as in the last year. And there’s more to come. aRoma Italian Kitchen on S. Lamar looks like it’s about to be sold to a new owner from Italy. We’ll keep you posted on that but it’s probably safe to say the cuisine […]
The Blind Cafe Heading to Austin Feb 22-24.
Taste. It’s subject to influence by many variables. But perhaps none more so than lack of vision. That’s why I so much appreciate Rosh and his team and their traveling dinners in total darkness called The Austin Blind Cafe. All cell phones must be off. No light of any kind allowed. The dining is community […]
Chelsea and Cy Buchheister: Sister and Brother Chefs at Cafe Blue
Chelsea and Cy Buchheister: Sister and Brother Chefs at Cafe Blue [Galleria] and [Downtown]. With all the competition for the best culinary talent in Austin it’s rather fortuitous for Cafe Blue, one of our Top 25 restaurants, to have a sister and brother at the helm of both its Galleria and new downtown restaurants. Chelsea […]
Sap: A Profile
It’s been long journey for my friend Sap, the owner of Saps’s Fine Thai Cuisine with locations on Westgate and Burnet. I would attempt to give you his last name but I can’t even spell it let alone pronounce it. He came from Bangkok to Texas in his late teens and in 1972 enrolled at […]
Qui Segues into Kuneho
Paul Qui’s namesake restaurant Qui on E 6th is no longer. The Top Chef winner who had an admittedly tough year in 2016 shuttered Qui and is back in form and looks to make its replacement restaurant Kuneho into another one of his stellar Pan Asian restaurants. Kuneho is now open for business with a […]
Where Have all the Good Jewish Delis Gone?
I have a long time Jewish friend who, despite his infatuation with Rush Limbaugh, I have great admiration and respect for. We were talking about getting lunch the other day and I was a bit surprised about his interest in the pastrami at Pieous which is quite a piece from his house in Northwest Hills. […]
Emmer & Rye Snags National Attention from Bloomberg News
I don’t normally cover restaurant awards because there are so damn many of them. But this is special. Bloomberg News rarely strays away from New York or Europe to name best restaurant dishes. And true to form in 2016 they pretty much stayed with their usual coverage for their 19 best dishes. But there was […]
Rob’s Christmas Day Dining Recommendations
You’d better not pout, you’d better not cry, and you’d better serve free range turkeys this Christmas. That’s right. It’s time to ponder whether you want to spend half the evening and most of the morning slaving over the ultimate Christmas feast or whether you just want to relax and let some of Austin’s most […]
Creek Road Cafe: Inside a Top 25 Restaurant
Our annual list of Top 25 restaurants is always a popular feature for visitors to our site. We get many emails detailing exactly how a restaurant makes the list. Let’s take one of our newest restaurants on the list, Creek Road Cafe in Dripping Springs, and break it down based on our criteria for inclusion. […]
Thanksgiving Recommendations
Back in the good old days almost everyone stayed home by the fire and cooked Thanksgiving dinner. My how times change. Used to be that just hotels were open on Thanksgiving day in Austin but that is no longer the case. Here are some favorites. Trio at the Four Seasons. This is the ultimate brunch […]
The Best Steaks in the Austin Area: Our Picks
Steak is one of the Texas essentials, along, of course, with BBQ and Tex Mex. We are blessed with some outstanding steak joints in Austin and we often get emails requesting our take on them. Well as you might have expected, we do have opinions on where the best steaks can be found. So here […]
