Jackets Required? On Dressing Up and Dining Out in Laid Back Austin
Austin is the kind of town where the concept of “laid back” is ingrained into the daily fabric of life. The sartorial casualness that kind of flows from the campuses, tech firms and home offices resonates outward and has created a minimalist style of dining attire here – even at the fine dining establishments – […]
Why Restaurants Should Avoid Grand Openings
We’ve had over 100 new restaurants open in the past year in the greater Austin area. And in keeping with what many restaurants see as an obligation most had some kind of grand opening. And most of those, in all likelihood, did not go well. Opening a new restaurant and making sure all cylinders are […]
Jew Boy Burger Truck Moving from Burnet to the E 6th Food Trailer Court.
Mo Pittle announced today that he is about to move his iconic Jew Boy Burgers truck from Burnet to the trailer court at 1606 E 6th. Hours will be 11-2 and 5-8 Tuesday thru Saturday. The El Paso native turned Austinite is a gregarious sort and has already developed a following. We’ll keep you posted […]
L’Oca d’ Oro Declares Itself a Sanctuary Restaurant
The national furor over sanctuary cities and counties in the U.S. has extended to a local restaurant, L’Oca d’ Oro in the East Side Mueller neighborhood. The owners have a sign out front declaring it to be a sanctuary restaurant, meaning that they would not comply with federal requests to detain undocumented workers without an […]
Merry Christmas Downtown
Although folks might not quite realize it yet, downtown Austin got a nicely wrapped Christmas gift in the form of the new Cafe Blue restaurant at the site of the former Crave across from the convention center on 2nd. This was dead space in an areas of town that could ill afford to have it, […]
Curtis Clark of Evangeline Cafe Talks Cajun
My Dining Out Austin Podcast that I cohost with Don Pryor features Curtis Clarke, who started Evangeline Cafe on Brodie over 13 years ago. We talk on a wide range of topics from how to make a great roux to the essence of crawfish etouffee and what it takes to be a certified coon ass. […]
Downtown Dining: Quo Vadis?
When former Mayor Will Wynn launched his downtown density campaign a while back, the idea was to create a downtown population that could support downtown dining, shopping and general commerce. Well he achieved that. The last ten years has seen an sunami of building and development unparalleled in Austin’s history. Condos, apartment towers and lofts […]
Paul Qui: A Chef and a Life in Transition
I first became acquainted with Paul Qui’s talents when he worked under Tyson Cole at Uchi. There was a passion about him and a drive to make each dish he created an ultimate flavor experience. So when he became executive chef at Uchiko I was one of the first in the door. I was not […]
The Cost of a Sub
As a rule I prefer to make my own subs on the fairly rare occasions that I have them. Lot of bread for a guy who dines out 5-6 time a week. But I do occasionally get subs out and it seems that not that long ago, you could get a large turkey sub in […]
Celebrity Sightings
I was really into writing about celebrity sightings at Austin restaurants for some time, Then I guess ennui set in [probably due to the same celebs being sighted over and over] around 2012 and that part of our site kinda went dark. But it’s back and here are some of the latest sightings with some […]
Last minute Mother’s Day choices.
It’s still not too late to choose a dining option for Mother’s Day. Here’s a quick list, many of which include members of our new Top 25. Trio Always the best brunch in Austin. Fonda San Miguel Consistently the best Mexican brunch in Austin. Dine at the Radisson. David Garrido and exec chef Mario work […]
Austin Wine and Food Festival Cancellation
For the first time in the 30-year history of the event the Austin Wine and Food Festival was cancelled this past weekend. That’s sad but sadder still to see how far this has strayed from its original roots. Ed and Susan Auler, founders of Fall Creek Winery had begun the Texas Hill Country Wine and […]
Whole Foods Cake Allegation
It was Marie Antoinette that said: “let them eat cake!” Well an openly gay Austin pastor ordered a cake from the Lamar store several days ago. He wanted “Love Wins” written on it. The story goes that he was in a hurry, picked up and paid for the cake, and later noticed a three-letter homophobic […]
Austin Restaurants I Miss
I often ruminate on restaurants that have come and unfortunately gone in the 35 years I’ve lived in Austin. While I’ve only officially been talking and writing about restaurants since 1998 I’ve always been a foodie. So some of these go way back. La Vista at the Hyatt. Absolutely the best fajitas ever. Most nights […]
The Return of the Gonzo Gourmet Club
During the earlier years of Dining Out with Rob Balon.com, I used to go out regularly for dinner with three of my guys friends: Auggie Garrido, Mike Konderla, and Hugh Lewis. One night on about our third bottle of Caymus Special Selection, one of us came up with the idea that our little group should […]
