Tex-Mix
Austin, that millennial boomtown with aTexas-sized appetite, condo fever, and no pretensions, salutes an ever expanding range of restaurants with silver-plated forks and raised longneck beers. Katherine Gregor reports
Posted: August 10, 2009
Foie gras in flip-flops?
In laid-back Austin, Texas, that's no contradiction. Casual is much the preferred way of life in the self-styled Live Music Capital of the World, where Willie Nelson passes for a fashion icon and every month brings shorts-and-sandals days. With a metro area approaching one million residents, Austin supports an array of chef-owned restaurants. Firmly established fine dining favorites that still turn out reliably stellar food include Hudson's on the Bend, Fonda San Miguel, the Driskill Grill in The Driskill Hotel, and Jeffrey's. Upscale Austin-spawned standouts also include Aquarelle Restaurant Français, Vespaio, Wink, Starlite, Asti Trattoria, and Uchi. Newer and noteworthy on the chef-owned dining scene are Parkside, Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, and Garrido's.
Yet this town most loves its authentic, locally owned dives. For regular taco and enchilada fixes, Austinites remain loyal to humble spots like Taco Xpress, Guero's, and Juan In A Million. They mourn the recent loss (to make way for a hotel) of the iconic downtown Las Manitas Avenue Cafe. For barbecue they flock to joints like Stubb's, Rudy's, Ruby's, Sam's, and Iron Works BBQ-but also the newer chef-driven Lamberts Downtown Barbecue. Favorite Southern cooking cafes include Threadgill's and Hoover's. When asked to recommend a quintessentially Austin restaurant, locals tend to steer visitors toward a favorite eatery with quirky Texana-Mex decor, a quenching Margarita, fresh-air patio dining, and a local singer-songwriter twanging acoustic guitar.
Austin has been a premier U.S. boomtown, and it's still enjoying modest growth in this recession. But its explosion of new restaurants isn't just outposts of national chains, which dominate in other recent boomtowns like Las Vegas or Phoenix. Austinites like to patronize locally owned shops and restaurants. That's helped foster an interesting mix of Austin offerings that draw on the region's unique food heritage and traditions-a mélange of Mexican, Southern, barbecue, and Hill Country German cuisines, as well as locally sourced comestibles.
Many chef-driven restaurants originally sprouted in converted cottages or bungalows. Starting the trend in the 1980s were Hudson's on the Bend, the refined Zoot, and Eastside Café. (Zoot moved to a new location in February 2009.) At Aquarelle Restaurant Français in a turn-of-the-century home on the west side of downtown, chefs Teresa Wilson, Robert Brady, and Jacques Richard offer high-French on an $80 Menu Gourmande-duck foie gras ice cream "floating island"-and homey-French on a $40 Menu Rapide-grilled young hen with baby bok choy, grape/raisin marmalade, and white wine grape sauce.
At Hudson's, chefs Jeff Blank and Robert Rhoades soldier on with wild game and Hill Country ingredients, resulting in such dishes as a grilled axis venison chop topped with lump crabmeat and a Gewürztraminer-poached pear filled with Dripping Springs goat cheese and guajillo beurre blanc. Blank says he's a big fan of sushi master Tyson Cole at Uchi (see "Deep in the Heart of Sushi," Food Arts, March 2006, page 50) another top restaurant in a refurbished old home.
Now Cole is developing two new local restaurants. He plans to open a second Uchi in central Austin (Lamar and 45th) next spring. And downtown, Cole will launch Canteen, which he describes as "Spanish tapas meets Japanese izakaya," to go into a project anchored by the W Hotel & Residences and a new Austin City Limits music venue; it's set to open in summer 2011. Cole also opened a fast-casual Japanese restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama, last fall called Maki Fresh, offering rolls, bowls, and salads.
But to truly understand Austin's essence, kick back in your flip-flops with a cool longneck beer at Shady Grove. Year-round, diners wait in age-patinated metal patio chairs for a plastic table on the flagstone patio, shaded by 100 year old pecan trees, and home to free "Unplugged at the Grove" concerts by Austin's musicians. Tasty beef brisket tacos come on soft corn tortillas with pickled red onions. Health-conscious eaters who frequent the nearby Whole Foods flagship store favor the Hippie Chick Sandwich (grilled veggies on whole-grain, plus Thai-grilled chicken). But you can't avoid the condo boom: A mid-rise project is going up next door, causing local outcry when a longtime funky trailer park was razed.
The surprise: those beef brisket tacos were developed by David Garrido, who rose to national prominence as the executive chef at Jeffrey's. Founded in 1975, Jeffrey's set the standard for fine dining excellence back when Austinites had very few choices. A quiet storefront bistro in the Clarksville neighborhood, Jeffrey's continues to exemplify Austin-style casual elegance. After Garrido departed in 2005, longtime chef de cuisine Alma Alcocer assumed the helm; in January Deegan McClung, a New Orleans native, took over as executive chef. The new menu by the alum of Commander's Palace, Herbsaint (both in New Orleans), Uchi, and Cissi's Market integrates influences from Creole, Southern, classic French, and Asian cuisines.
Garrido joined forces with local entrepreneurs Mike Young and John Zapp to learn the mid-market restaurant business. They own both Shady Grove and Chuy's, a Tex-Mex favorite since 1982 that's just down restaurant row on Barton Springs Road. Chuy's decor errs on the side of garish kitsch (gaudy wooden fishes from Mexico, smoldering black-velvet paintings, hubcaps galore), and the place is usually crowded and loud. Featured dishes include Elvis green chile fried chicken (breaded with Lay's potato chips); "Big as Yo' Face" stuffed burritos and sopapillas; and enchiladas with fresh house-made sauces-Tex-Mex, ranchero, Hatch green chile, and deluxe tomatillo. Garrido's culinary upgrades included introducing house-made chicken broth and hormone-free beef from Uruguay.
That mid-market experience equipped the chef to take on Garrido's-a modern Mexican restaurant and bar with Spanish and Latin American influences-which recently opened in a downtown condo tower, the new 44 story "360." With his partners, the chef developed a small plates format affordable for everyday dining. Patrons can order a couple of $3 mahimahi tacos with a beer or pair luxurious $9 lobster tacos with a salad mingling jicama, pumpkin seeds, pickled onions, and sweet candied chiles complemented by a $40 bottle of wine. Other inventive fare includes coffee-marinated rib eye tacos with chipotle and horseradish as well as mojo de ajo shrimp with mango salsa. For other ideas, Garrido will dip back into Nuevo Tex-Mex, the cookbook he coauthored over a decade ago, and his grandmother's handwritten recipe collection from the 1930s.
Over the last year, a number of national chains have opened in Austin, including outposts of several Mexican restaurant outfits: Rio Grande, Cantina Laredo, and Maria Maria. But locals wonder how many will make it.
Bringing a chain Mexican restaurant to Austin is a bit of coals-to-Newcastle, when so many authentic taquerias abound. "Keep Austin Weird" is a rallying cry. Virginia Wood, the Austin Chronicle's longtime food critic, notes that "Austin is very chauvinistic about Mexican food," favoring homegrown places serving the sort of indigenous dishes found at Manuel's or El Meson. For classic regional Mexican food in a distinctive, gracious setting rich in artwork and Mexican artisanship, Fonda San Miguel has been the upscale choice for 34 years.
"Chain operations look at Austin's demographics and get fooled; their business models don't necessarily translate to Austin," observes Wood. "Some fail, others are often shocked at how their sales numbers in this market differ from other cities." Memorable transplant failures include Mark Miller's Coyote Café and Stephan Pyles' Star Canyon. (Rather than downtown, a variety of high-end chain restaurants have opened at The Domain, a major new development in far northwest Austin-which feels like anywhere U.S.A. Whether the 3,000 to 5,000 new dining seats there can stay consistently filled is a matter of local speculation.)
The Austin hotels with the most respected cuisine are the Four Seasons and The Driskill. At the Four Seasons, longtime executive chef Elmar Prambs and chef de cuisine Todd Duplechan retooled the hotel's menu for the new restaurant Trio, which features a sleek decor, steak, seafood, and wine flights. The Driskill Grill now maintains the only traditionally dark, clubby atmosphere in town. Last year, after the departure of noted chef Josh Watkins (to start his own restaurant), Jonathan Gelman, who hailed from the L'Auberge de Sedona resort in Sedona, Arizona, stepped in as executive chef. At Lake Austin Spa Resort, named by Condé Nast Traveler as 2008's No. 1 resort in North America, inventive "healthy indulgence" eating lures overnight guests. Longtime chef Terry Conlan translates indulgent food into spa fare by serving multicourse tasting portions and reducing the fats: "The entrée is dead!" he proclaims.
For a more urban vibe, diners head to South Congress Avenue. The hip SoCo area is anchored by the chic minimalist Hotel San Jose in a converted 1939 motor court. Always a pleasure is Vespaio, where the Italian-inspired food is first-rate and the setting relaxed, and its more affordable cousin, Vespaio Enoteca. The haute Southwestern fare at South Congress Café also earns kudos, as does The Woodland.
Another strip offering an interesting, affordable restaurant row is Manor Road, east of I-35, in the French Place neighborhood. The once-bleak area was homesteaded for finer dining by Eastside Café; against all odds, chef/owners Elaine Martin and Dorsey Barger celebrated the cafe's 20th anniversary last year. Sited on a tree-shaded acre of land, Eastside Café (another homey bungalow eatery) uses the produce from its backyard organic garden to turn out fresh healthy fare drawing on diverse ethnic traditions, with a wealth of vegetarian choices. Nearby is Hoover's, where an ethnically integrated crowd (still notable in Austin) satisfies cravings for traditional Southern comfort food like meat loaf and mashed potatoes. Definitely worth a stop is the affordable El Chile Café y Cantina, founded by Jeffrey's alums Kristine Kittrell and Jeff Martinez. It epitomizes Austin's sophisticated-yet-funky ethic, serving prickly pear Margaritas, a chile en nogada stuffed with shredded duck confit, almonds, green olives, currants, walnuts, and cilantro, and an addictively dark and smokey house salsa. A new downtown El Chile recently opened.
Another chef/owner carefully hedging his upmarket-versus-downmarket bets is Shawn Cirkiel. His new restaurant, Parkside, created a buzz when it opened in February 2008, quickly becoming the preferred after-hours hangout for chefs and kitchen staff. It's located on Sixth Street, the sometimes raunchy entertainment district that attracts college students and tourists out for a hard-drinking good time. To help sober them up, the menu offers a $10 cheeseburger, spinach/bacon salad, or a fried egg sandwich. For serious foodies, Cirkiel offers a raw bar selection of Olympia, Cameron Shoals, Rappahannock, Stingray, and Cooke's Cove oysters on his sophisticated menu.
In sustainable food circles—a community given a booster shot when quarterly Edible Austin started publishing two years ago—Wink is often cited as a paragon. Local Boggy Creek Farm provides much of the produce. Chef/owners Mark Paul and Stuart Scruggs (who also own Zoot) have earned a loyal following since 2001 for their dedication to local/sustainable tenets. Paul cites the reinvigoration of downtown-especially the warehouse district and all those new condo towers-as having fundamentally changed Austin's dining universe. "The best thing that's happened is the new density and walkability. Now you can park once downtown and have 25 places within walking distance," he says. The Italianesque Asti Trattoria also works the sustainable and local angle.
No serious discussion of food in the Texas capital is complete without an nod to barbecue, of course. Relative newcomer Lamberts Downtown Barbecue has proved a successful indie in the historic brick Schneider Building across from City Hall. It serves the town's most expensive and sophisticated oak-smoked 'cue and oak-grilled meats, including Texas-sourced Heartbrand beef from Yoakum and Texas wild boar. A standout is the affordable charcuterie platter composed nightly of house-made delicacies: cabrito pâté, potted foie gras, veal head cheese, sausages, local artisan cheeses, and house-cured salamis, duck prosciutto, chorizo, and lomo. Also downtown but worlds away, Iron Works BBQ serves a great traditional menu of smoked meats in a humble 1930s tin building that once housed Weigel Iron Works; it's a visit to Texas' storied past.
Then again, meaty country-style pork ribs (cut from the loin) are mighty good at Artz Rib House, where a heaping plate with sides sets you back $10.99. The roadhouse cafe on South Lamar has a pleasantly small town feel and a delicious smoky scent. When a live bluegrass band starts playing nightly, the crowd gets to smiling and toe-tapping along with the sweet fiddle music. A diner in shorts and flip-flops tucking into a slice of Artz's sweet potato/pecan pie could be forgiven for thinking: foie gras ice cream?!
Katherine Gregor is a staff writer for the Austin Chronicle.
HOME-GROWN
Austinites don't just support local restaurants, they also "keep Austin weird," as they
like to say, by favoring hometown products.
Sweet Leaf Tea is a prime example. Beginning in 1998 when Clayton Christopher wanted to make a tea that tasted like his grandmother Mimi's, this company has grown from two guys (Christopher and his best friend David Smith) producing iced tea using pillowcases as filters to nationwide distribution. This past March, they announced a partnership with Nestlé Waters North America, bringing Sweet Leaf Teas into stores like Kr-ger, Safeway, and Whole Foods as well as to foodservice. They currently boast more than 10 iced tea flavors and lemonades, with top sellers being Original, Half and Half, and Mint & Honey.
They're not the only locals making it big. Tito's Handmade Vodka can cite a similar rags-to-riches story. Tito Beveridge went from geologist to mortgage broker to vodka meister once he started making flavored vodkas for his friends in 1992 and realized that he had something special. He taught himself to properly distill vodka by studying old photographs of moonshiners in order to build his own stills. As there had never been a legal distillery in Texas, he couldn't get funding and had to finance the project himself. Liquor stores told him that they'd only carry his vodka if he "could make it so smooth that a girl can drink it straight." He did this by distilling his vodka six times in methods similar to making single malt Scotch and French Cognac. He also lobbied to change the laws so that he could get a permit to distribute. Finally successful, he started with 1,000 cases in 1997 and by 2007 had grown to over 200,000. Not only was his the first legal distillery in Texas, but his vodka won the double gold medal at the World Spirits Competition, beating 72 other vodkas from around the world.
Elsie the Cow can also call Austin her home. While Borden milk started in New York, its dairies, too, are now part of the Austin landscape, adhering to the same strict standards that put them on the map over 70 years ago.
Even though Austinites are dubious about supporting chain restaurants, they don't seem to have a problem with chain stores as long as they're born locally. Whole Foods Market started 29 years ago as a small neighborhood grocer in Austin. Today the flagship store on Sixth and Lamar occupies 80,000 square feet, making it one of the country's largest. Although Whole Foods has gone national, this store still serves as not just a grocer but as a community gathering place. Central Market, now found all over Texas, also started in Austin. It's committed to using only the freshest products and providing a place of learning, sharing, and community outreach.
—LEANNA BLACHER
