Here’s some of what’s happening in Austin’s culinary scene – as wrangled from numerous PR releases, words on the digital street, and even the occasional (verified) IRL eavesdroppings.
Yes, citizen, it’s the “Food News Buffet” that leads into the first week of July.
Should we talk about the weather? Yeah, it’s maybe the tiniest bit hot out there – which is why the amiable gang at Radio Coffee & Beer (4204 Menchaca) is offering heat-busting, thirst-slaking, half-price frozen margaritas every hour that the temperature’s above 100 degrees …
And Dovetail Pizza (1816 S. First) – that neighborhood joint of delicious pies, from the folks behind Lenoir, Salt & Time, Rosen’s Bagels, Swedish Hill, and G’Raj Mahal – is running happy hours now (Sun.-Thu., 3-5pm) and weekend brunch (Sat.-Sun., 11am-3pm), too – the latter of which features such delights as beignoli, breakfast pizza (with ricotta cream, bacon, egg, caramelized onion, and arugula), and more. Hint: Give the brunch-spiking Pizza Sauce Bloody Mary a try, see if it doesn’t start your well-earned lazy day off right …
Mmmm, here’s East Austin’s summertime corn of plenty, served up with personal history and culinary flair. Edgar Rico and Sara Mardanbigi’s highly acclaimed Nixta Taqueria (2512 E. 12th) has expanded the front patio for dinner events called Flor Xakali, starting on Wed., July 5. This means that every Tue.-Thu. (with seatings at 6 and 8:30pm), the space will host an eight-course tasting menu that relates the story of chef Rico’s family, from “Roots” to “The Future of Masa,” with a keepsake zine guiding the whole delicious narrative …
Meanwhile, in the ever-bustling Downtown sector, one of our favorite hangs is hosting a weekly Industry Night Pool Party. Every Monday night, from 3pm until closing, from now until August 28, Wax Myrtle’s in the stylish Thompson Hotel (506 San Jacinto) offers a privately reserved pool party that includes special prices on fresh guacamole, queso, and sandwiches, as well as $5 draft beer and more. This is for you, hospitality worker! And you, friends of hospitality workers! Never mind the interminable sidework and that table of assholes who stiffed you on the second shift of your most recent double, relax with a plunge and a splash with your truest crew in the cool blue above sweltering streets before you’re back in the wage-slaving fray again …
And of course everybody with even half a bar is busy brightening their array of quenchers with new summer cocktails – so, no matter where you’ve been before, there’s likely fresh delights to be discovered. We’ll shout-out the audacious Heaven Neglect (with vanilla- and sumac-infused vodka, passionfruit, egg white, and soda water) at Devil May Care (500 W. Sixth) and that bracing Kinoko (with tequila, mushroom-infused rum, citrus liqueur, and bitters) at TenTen (501 W. Sixth) … but, whoa, the Austin Proper Hotel? That paragon of hostelry at 600 W. Second has unveiled an entire new room of cocktails, French-inspired cuisine, and suave relaxations: Acclaimed designer Kelly Wearstler’s The Quill Room, now elegantly ensconced within the building’s second floor and awaiting your pleasure …
Let’s see – what else, what else? Lenoir’s Backyard Beefsteak Dinner is coming up fast-fast-fast … Launderette’s annual Lobster & Friends Feast follows hot (and crimsonly carapaced) on its heels … Sushi Bar is bringing in Miami’s celebrated Adrianne Calvo to turn the volume of omakase brilliance to 11 for two nights … Salt & Time (1912 E. Seventh) will host a wine pairing dinner on Friday, July 7, with winemaker Lewis Dickson presenting six unique wines from La Cruz de Comal, a pioneering low-intervention Texas winery, to complement the succulent dishes cheffed up by S&T’s talented Ben Runkle and featuring Wagyu beef from Peeler Farms … the Driskill Hotel will dazzle your daughters (and, hey, why not your sons?) with a live-character-filled Princess Tea Party on Sat., July 8 … our man-about-town Rod Machen’s got a revealing look at Mum Foods Smokehouse and Delicatessen … the Chron’s ever-discerning Food editor Melanie Haupt was, shall we say, less than blown away by most of what Aaron Franklin’s Uptown Sports Club has to offer … and *pours out a 40 of spiked kombucha* the former Native Hostel has suddenly called it quits …
WUXTRY! Locally based Tiff’s Treats has launched a “Tiff’s Remix” package of their always-delivered-warm cookies, featuring six flavors that are usually available only one per year: lemon sugar, pumpkin spice, red velvet, rocky road, salted caramel, and triple chocolate. Right? We’ve been waiting for this, too. Bonus: Available through Aug. 31.
Now eat as well as you can, tip like it’s going out of style, and illegitimi non carborundum.
This article appears in The Books Issue and June 23 • 2023.