Last summer when we did our big, comprehensive roundup on dining out at Lake Travis, the cover shot was, appropriately enough, a photo of a kid headed down a water slide with a big plate of nachos. That photo evoked a great lakeside image: big-time fun on the water with plenty of tasty, casual food. The big stories last summer were the overall lack of water and the openings of LemonGrass Asian Bistro in Lakeway Plaza and Willie Nelson’s Lighthouse on the northwest end of the lake, near Nelson’s enclave at Briarcliff. This summer, business is so good at LemonGrass they’ve expanded the dining space, there’s plenty of water in the lake, and the Lighthouse has been closed for months, with no word of its revival. The buzz this year is all about the area’s overall dining diversity and two new restaurants, the open-air Cafe Bleu near the water’s edge at the Sandy Creek Yacht Club and the Vineyard on RR 620 in the Lakeway Commons Shopping Center. Though vastly different in ambience, both places have menus inspired by Mediterranean cuisines, fine dining prices, and wine lists chosen to complement the food.
For years, eating out near Lake Travis was pretty strictly limited to burger joints, Tex-Mex places, fish shacks, and typical Texas roadside cafes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that kind of food, really, but there just weren’t many choices unless you were hungry for a burger, a plate of nachos, catfish fillets, or a chicken fried steak. Restaurants overlooking the water were famous for ambience, sunsets, and margaritas, not necessarily their menu offerings. Business boomed in the summers, and restaurants hung on through the rest of the year, waiting for summer sunshine and water lovers to return, towing boats and appetites.
Granted, the venerable Hudson’s on the Bend has been one of Central Texas’ top-rated eateries for years, but it’s always been a year-round destination restaurant, not a sunny day lake-area hangout. There was just precious little variety and very few fine dining options available.
But in the past five years, dining out at Lake Travis has taken a considerable turn for the better, and it’s obvious why. Increased development in the area means plenty of workmen to fill up the restaurants along 620 at lunchtime any day of the year. With more and more people pouring into the fancy new housing developments surrounding the lake, there’s a hungry, year-round clientele that doesn’t want to drive back to Austin after work to go out for dinner, shop for groceries, or buy a good bottle of wine. This phenomenon has been supporting restaurants along the Capitol of Texas Hwy. and 2222 for the past couple of years, and now it’s causing an increased demand for better food in the lake area as well. There will be plenty of people who preferred the lake area pre-development and definitely pre-traffic, but the moral of the story appears to be “if you build it, they will come, and they will want to have somewhere to eat.”
Looking over the list of restaurants on this year’s map, the diversity jumps right out at you. There are three Asian eateries (Pao’s, China Pacific, and LemonGrass), a gourmet pizza delivery joint with professional baristas pulling espresso, a billiard parlor with a full-service bar and grill (Mulligan’s), a neighborhood ice cream parlor (Paradise), waterside party palaces approachable by boat (Sam Hill, Carlos ‘n’ Charlie’s, Shades, Sundowner Grill), and sunset viewing locations with good food and good margaritas (Iguana Grill, the Oasis). While the national and regional chains are also cashing in on the development of the lake area as a full-fledged suburb rather than a warm-weather hangout, the presence of Sonic, Taco Bell, DQ, and Starbucks doesn’t appear to threaten Sandy’s Hamburger Hut, the always-packed Boat House Grill, or Flores Mexican restaurant. Interesting, locally owned and operated restaurants have a firm footing in the Lake Travis neighborhood.
We’ve checked out the newest spots, updated our listings from last year, and sent our resident wine guy, Wes Marshall, to check out the wine offerings and service in area stores as well as the wine lists at lake-area restaurants (see Liquid Assets). The news is pretty good. The sunshine is here for months to come, there’s plenty of water, and the food and wine are getting better all the time. See you at the lake!
This article appears in August 10 • 2001.