Restaurant Guide

Southern/Down-Home Restaurants in Austin, $10-$25

Broken Spoke

Southern/Down-Home • South Lamar and Barton Springs • $10-$25

“Last of the True Texas Dancehalls and damn sure proud of it!” Thus declares Broken Spoke owner and dance floor greeter James M. White, who opened up the honky-tonk in 1964. Home to both the upper rungs of country music history (Bob Wills, Ernest Tubb, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson) and its local equivalent (Don Walser, Dale Watson, Kelly Willis, the Derailers), there’s no denying the structure stubbornly resisting the sky-high overdevelopment surrounding it on South Lamar. Serving chicken-fried steak, cold beer, and hardcore country almost every night, the Spoke’s swing and two-step lessons happen Wednesday through Saturday, 8:30-9:30pm.

3201 S. Lamar, 512/442-6189

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Cherry Creek Catfish Restaurant

Southern/Down-Home • South • $10-$25

is a comfortable family restaurant with something on the menu to please everyone. Try the fried green tomatoes.

5712 Menchaca Rd., 512/440-8810

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Fixe

Southern/Down-Home • Downtown • $10-$25 • First Plates

Southern food’s humble building blocks – buttermilk, black-eyed peas, grits, and salt pork – are refreshed through a combination of molecular gastronomy and just plain ingenuity.

500 W. Fifth, 512/888-9133

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Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken

Southern/Down-Home • Downtown • $10-$25

As the first Texas outlet of a famous Memphis fried-chicken chain, this newcomer comes in strong. The simple menu includes chicken by the plate or individual piece. Plates come with a choice of two or three pieces: white, dark, or the "half chicken" option – one piece of each. Plates come with baked beans and slaw, but substitutions are allowed for 50 cents extra. Start with a couple of cans of Austin Beer Works brew and a plate of the best fried green tomatoes ever.

117 San Jacinto Blvd., 512/474-4877

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Hit the Spot Cafe

Southern/Down-Home • South • $10-$25

Located inside the Garfield Public Library, this place is the unlikely source of the best chicken-fried steak and onion rings around. Check out the ethereal chicken-fried steak and the Angus hamburger steak in brown onion gravy. Don't forget to stop by for breakfast.

5121 Albert Brown, Del Valle, 512/470-2953

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Hoover's Cooking

Barbecue, Soul, Southern/Down-Home • East • $10-$25 • First Plates

Dishing out huge portions of Southern-style home cooking including jerk pork ribs, pork chops, and amazing sides, Hoover Alexander's neighborhood mainstay still draws crowds.

2002 Manor Rd., 512/479-5006

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Jack Allen's Kitchen

American Cafe, Southern/Down-Home • South • $10-$25

Enjoy a very Texan meal here with locally sourced ingredients and Southern-inspired flavors.

3600-D Capital of TX Hwy. N., 512/351-9399

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Jack Allen's Kitchen

American Cafe, Southern/Down-Home • West Austin and Lakeway • $10-$25 • First Plates

This elegantly casual interior, rich with reclaimed wood, earth tones, and natural light, has a separate lounge and bar area. Locally sourced dishes make this a South Austin delight.

7720 Hwy. 71 W., 512/852-8558

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Lucy's Fried Chicken South

Southern/Down-Home • South Congress and South First • $10-$25 • First Plates

The chicken is tender and juicy, the breading perfectly crisp, and it washes down well with a Juicy Lucy frozen watermelon margarita or the spicy Bee Sting. Like being at an impeccably curated picnic.

2218 College Ave., 512/297-2423

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Sawyer & Co.

Cajun/Creole, Southern/Down-Home • Lower East • $10-$25

The anachronistic friendliness of the service welcomes, while the Breaux Bridge Benedict seals the deal at brunch. Exuberantly rouxed pork grillades over creamy grits may compete at midday, but at dinner the crawfish étouffée rules.

4827 E. Cesar Chavez, 512/531-9033

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Springhill Restaurant

Southern/Down-Home • North • $10-$25

Relax after a day on the lake with a cold brew or a bottomless tankard of iced tea. The daily buffet always features fried catfish, vegetables, and a salad bar.