With the opening of our newest, non-buffet, Cantonese restaurant, Austinites can now experience Chinatown cuisine without having to travel to southwest Houston. Rainbow's weekend Dim Sum brunch mixes traditional Cantonese - Roast Duck with Plum Sauce, Shu Mai, Fresh Shrimp Cheung-fun, Duck or Chicken Feet, Rice Congee with 1,000-year-old eggs, Snowballs, etc. - with nouveau offerings like Deep Fried or Panfried Chicken Dumpling, and Baked Barbecued Pork Buns. The dinner menu offers a variety of authentic noodle dishes, Cantonese soups, and entrées in addition to the more familiar dishes available locally. Bonus points for being one of the few places in town where you can get dishes with soft tofu. Rainbow is a magnet for the Asian community celebrating family banquets, so you may find the restaurant only serving take-out orders, but they take reservations for as few as two.

view this award on its own page ›

Where else could you chat with the best chefs in town (Stewart Scruggs, Charles Mayes, Mike Ravago, David Garrido, Jeff Blank, to name only a few), the best chefs in the state (Jay McCarthy of Cascabel in San Antonio, Stephan Pyles of Star Canyon in Dallas), and the top cookbook authors in the country (Martha Rose Shulman, Aglaia Kremezi, Lora Brody, Patricia Quintana, Tommy Tang) in such a comfortable and educational atmosphere? Kudos to Director Rene Thomas, Executive Chef Ron Brannon, and J.P. Hayes for a terrific job. We love it!

Central Market North Cooking School
4001 N. Lamar
512/206-1014
www.centralmarket.com

view this award on its own page ›

We've eaten desserts all over town in the past year and it just comes down to a tie between these two popular spots. On Valentine's Day, Zoot pastry chef Craig Bushey blew us away with an exquisite heart-shaped creation of sponge cake, chocolate mousse cake, ganache, fresh berries, and whipped cream topped with a solid chocolate heart decorated with elegant, edible flowers. It was almost too lovely to eat. On the other hand, we're equally delighted and amazed by the splendid Chocolate Bag filled with Amy's Ice Cream and fresh fruit that chef Stephen McInerney and his staff serve up regularly at Granite Cafe. We should be faced with decisions like this every day.

Zoot
11715 Bee Caves Rd.
512/477-6535
www.zootrestaurant.com

view this award on its own page ›

We salute super cookie baker Penny McClain for the success of her new East Austin wholesale cookie plant. Her scrumptious pastries are flying off the counters and shelves in local markets, and bags of her chocolate chip cookies are regular snacks on the flights of Southwest Airlines.

Penny's Pastries
512/302-3663

view this award on its own page ›

You may have seen these delicious filled pockets in deli cases and in stranger places all over town, but did you know they now have a home of their own? This quaint little downtown restaurant serves lots of goodies you can eat with your hands, including sandwiches, hummus, and those famous empanadas - both fruit flavors and savories (meats and vegetables). The homemade soups and salads are tasty as well, but we recommend utensils for these.

view this award on its own page ›

Chron staffers addicted to Flo's rib-sticking lunches were shocked when they drove up to the site of her serving trailer and found only a vacant slab! But lo and behold! Flo's is risen with her old favorites in a new location. Pick an entrée and three veggies, plunker down a coupla bucks and have a home-cooked epiphany! New Location!

view this award on its own page ›

Part chef, part engineer, and part Ph.D. food scientist, local restaurateur Foo Swasdee created one of Austin's most popular Asian restaurants, Satay, as a test site for her stellar line of Thai sauces and condiments. We are all lucky that she did. While she's busy testing recipes and developing new markets, we'll just keep eating at Satay and making stir-fries at home with Satay sauces. That's Dr. Foo, to you.

view this award on its own page ›

We wonder if filmmaker Richard Rodriguez envisioned this joint when he was shooting El Mariachi. You can rent your choice of Spanish-language videos and then belly up to the counter for some of the best comida casera (home cookin') on the Eastside. Try the soft, homemade gorditas stuffed with carne guisada and a fresh cantaloupe liquado for a true taste of Mexico. Look for Acapulco Video on East Seventh street for peliculas Mexicanas, and you can't miss the taqueria inside.

view this award on its own page ›

Though not technically in Austin, Blue Ribbon's ethereal pillows of yeast dough, with fillings made from scratch, are worth the short, scenic drive to the nearby Caldwell County hamlet of Prairie Lea. The sign above the small white frame building says "Your wife called and said to bring home Kolaches." There you have it.

view this award on its own page ›

The cozy Vietnamese place at Koenig and Lamar not only slings a mean noodle, it also offers a number of cheap frills. Treat yourself to an iced French roast coffee with sweetened condensed milk, a fat shrimp spring roll, or an ice-cold Snowflake, China's best export beer.

view this award on its own page ›

There are many things to love about the Green & White: the ambiance, the delicious tamales, the lucky candles. But where else in town can you buy a giant bottle of La Vencedora brand Mexican vanilla without coumarin or preservatives? It's the most wonderful vanilla flavor we've ever tasted.

Green & White Grocery
1201 E. Seventh
512/472-0675

view this award on its own page ›

It seems there is a great new eatery, coffeehouse, or watering hole on the Avenue every time we go downtown. Regulars on the scene note that the atmosphere is not nearly so rowdy as on Sixth Street and not quite as chi-chi as the quickly developing west downtown district. Just good food, good drinks, and wonderful coffees on a leisurely stroll down the Avenue.

view this award on its own page ›

Judges at the recent Fancy Food Show in New York just validated what we have known for years: that Timpone's smoky Salsa Muy Rica, chock full of garlic cloves, is true salsa nirvana. Our congratulations to Patrick Timpone and his hardworking salsa staff.

view this award on its own page ›

Every so often, our resolve to eat things that will prolong life - green, leafy vegetables, fresh fruit, bran - is swept away in a flood of craving for food that's really tasty and really bad: salt, sugar, fat. When this Dining Death Wish hits, we enrapture our taste buds while plugging up our arteries like the Dutch boy's dike at the spot on Guadalupe that's home to both Mangia Pizza and Amy's Ice Cream. After downing some extravagantly cheesy pie and a scoop of Belgian chocolate, we're ecstatic enough to be beyond this mortal plane, anyhow.

Amy's Ice Creams
10000 Research #140
512/886-5955
amysicecreams.com

view this award on its own page ›

Central: Pasta & Co. Mary Lou Morales has been making excellent pasta in this busy shop on Austin's quaintest shopping street for more than 12 years. In addition to fresh pasta, there are take-out lunch specials, frozen entrées, eggplant parmesan, and risotto, plus fabulous homemade breadsticks and biscotti. 3502 Kerbey Lane, 453-0633 South: Bottega de la Pasta It's a measure of how much Austin has grown and changed that this wonderful little pasta factory prospers in South Austin. Stop in to see Rino Lanzalotti for pasta; fresh or dried, stuffed or die cut, sauced or not. Andiamo!

view this award on its own page ›

Whether you're out to simply pack the fixins for sandwiches or desire a fancier spread of ready-made gourmet fare, these connected businesses supply a portable summertime feast. The neighborhood Fresh Plus is the cream of the crop, with its sumptuous snacks, ample beer selection, and imported comestibles. Cook's Night Out offers a large selection of wines and a deli case full of fresh entrées, salads, breads, and baked goods too delicious to leave out of your basket.

Fresh Plus
1221 West Lynn
512/477-5574
www.freshplusaustin.com

view this award on its own page ›

The Sfuzzi folks raised over $1,000 for the victims of the Oklahoma City bomb tragedy by inviting extremely well-heeled, well-dressed, and well-fed people to blow smoke. What a concept.

view this award on its own page ›

These two classic Austin bakeries are celebrating their respective 20th and 15th anniversaries. This year, both businesses have returned to their former glory with excellent lines of naturally leavened artisan breads. Local bread- and pastry-lovers revel in new flavors and textures served up among the old favorites.

view this award on its own page ›

Chef Jean-Louis DeHoux and his talented staff have created a charming, comfortable little get-away that is the perfect restaurant in which to fall in love, get engaged, and celebrate an anniversary, according to good friends of ours who have done it all there. Maybe it's the relaxed atmosphere of a European country restaurant, the red roses presented to ladies at the end of each dinner, or the Belgian chocolate truffles that arrive with the after-dinner coffee. Whatever it is, our friends assure us, it works.

view this award on its own page ›

They're crunchy! They're salty! And they're wallowing in whichever variety of the doctor's chocolate you order - white, milk, or dark. You say you have a worthy contestant to sate this salt/sweet craving? Well, pardon our skepticism. Bring enough for everyone in the office and we'll get back to you....

view this award on its own page ›

Saturday is "Italian night," and every few weeks, for reasons unknown, the staff dresses in Star Trek uniforms.

view this award on its own page ›

If you've enjoyed the summer bounty of fresh, homegrown tomatoes at Kerbey Lane Cafe, then you are acquainted with Austin farmers Cora and Bob Lamar. For years now, the Lamars have been growing produce specifically for the three Kerbey Lane restaurants at their farms in and around Austin. You can't get any fresher than that.

view this award on its own page ›