The Kimberly Is Made for Spendy Date Nights

“Fine dining” in Austin always feels like a strange concept. Our city obviously features a sizable number of chefs with top-tier credentials and plenty of restaurants serving dishes made with premium ingredients and techniques. But even so, the vibes need to stay reasonably casual. Austinites do not take kindly to being told to lose the jeans and cowboy boots, and even when an Austin restaurant wants to emulate the big-city menu style – and menu pricing – of places like NYC and San Francisco, they know that they need to loosen the reins and let diners feel relaxed. The Kimberly, a new American bistro from the team behind J. Carver’s and Red Ash, understands this balance quite well, and this new restaurant will surely appeal to Austin diners who love red meat and aren’t afraid of a hefty bill at the end of the night.

The Kimberly’s Downtown dining room brings plenty of elegance, but with a few softer edges to keep it from feeling too stuffy. Dark botanical wallpaper, polished wood, leather banquettes, white tablecloths, and dim lighting all feed into the classic steakhouse vibe, but touches like a semi-open kitchen and the presence of a flat-screen TV above the host stand make the space feel laid-back enough for post-work drinks and snacks. 

In addition to a high-dollar wine list heavy on French and Californian bottles, the Kimberly offers a whimsical range of cocktails seemingly designed to pop on social media. Examples include the Higher Ground – an aromatic sipper with Cardamaro amaro, vanilla spice, a hit of citrus, a proprietary blend of Maker’s Mark bourbon, and a video-friendly plume of cinnamon smoke – and the Dangerous Woman, featuring tequila, mezcal, lychee liqueur, infused wine, lime, agave, and “salt air” transformed into a pretty cloud of foam. 

The appetizer section of the menu evenly blends items you’d expect to see at an upscale American restaurant – caviar, crab cakes, and steak tartare – with a focus on beef, with some intriguing Asian ingredients and flavor notes. The “salt and pepper” lobster tails, for instance, give lobster meat the fried treatment, but the Kimberly kitchen’s assured hands keep the crisp frying from obscuring the tender and sweet meat. The lobster itself proves well-seasoned with salt and pepper (as the name suggests), but the restaurant makes the unfortunate choice to bathe the tails with a soy-dominant sauce that would be lovely on a heartier red meat but that threatens to overwhelm the lobster’s delicate flavor. 

The beef tenderloin steak tartare is a dream order for those who want their raw beef to burst with indulgence. The silky mouthfeel shows off the Kimberly’s focus on meat sourcing, and add-ons like a jammy cured egg yolk and sturdy toasted ciabatta help to make this tartare one of the best in Austin. 

But now, it’s time to talk about the dish that you absolutely must order at the Kimberly, no questions asked: the Parker House rolls. I know what you’re thinking – how special can buttery little puffs of white bread possibly be? But these rolls will haunt your dreams for weeks after your meal ends. Warm and plush and flawlessly fluffy, they manage to be both light and rich, and the crunchy layer of aged cheddar cheese on top brings a bright and nutty note. Be sure to slather on a thick smear of sweet butter; these are maximalist dinner rolls and they deserve your full commitment. 

I always keep a weather eye out for unique Caesar salads in Austin; I’m proud to be basic in this one specific way. The Kimberly’s Red and Green Little Gem Caesar switches romaine out for the eponymous Little Gem lettuce, which, while leafier and less water-retaining than romaine, still clings to the dressing without losing its texture. Said dressing offers lots of anchovy flavor balanced with a zippy streak of lemon tang, and this salad – like many of the Kimberly’s side dishes – seems designed to be shared due to its sizable portion and the fact that the dish comes with a tiny pair of tongs meant to distribute the greens between plates. 

The Kimberly’s entrées span plenty of protein genres; fish, shellfish, chicken, and duck all receive strong representation. But above all else, the Kimberly is a steak restaurant. Fans of J. Carver’s already know about chef John Carver’s skill with premium beef, and this venture’s steak selection lives up to Carver’s lauded reputation. From the filet to the porterhouse to the bone-in New York strip, you truly can’t go wrong with any of this restaurant’s bovine options (if you have the cash to spend, that is – these cuts don’t come cheap). That said, if you want a more unique dinner experience, consider the beef tenderloin filet Wellington. Beef Wellingtons don’t show up on Austin menus very often, and this dish will make you wonder why this luxurious parcel of beef, mushrooms, and puff pastry isn’t available everywhere. The Kimberly chooses a juicy medium-rare cut of beef tenderloin to serve as the Wellington’s centerpiece, and they smartly swap out the traditional prosciutto for a smoky and salty ribbon of applewood bacon. The beef jus drizzled around the Wellington is almost hedonistic, and the creamy herb-packed bearnaise has a pleasant cooling effect. The puff pastry cracks under the side of the fork just as it’s meant to, but you’ll want to either share this Wellington or eat it relatively quickly, as the interior pastry will soften under the moisture and eventually become a bit sticky and chewy. 

The only negative aspect of the Wellington also shows up in a few other Kimberly dishes: This menu loves it some truffles. Several of its pasta dishes get the truffle treatment too. And maybe I spent too much time working in fine-dining restaurants in 2010s New York City … but a little truffle goes a very long way, and the Kimberly would benefit from stepping back from this polarizing ingredient and letting its other beautiful ingredients – like its lovely fresh pasta, which is currently beautifully presented in a savory beef and Parmigiano ragu – take the lead. 

Memorable date nights and expense-account dinners are the name of the game at the Kimberly, and I encourage anyone who’s ever enjoyed a J. Carver’s steak or a dish of Red Ash pasta to visit this playful but surprisingly mature younger sibling. 

This article appears in November 21 • 2025.