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Naming Austin’s Restaurant of the Year 2021 may sound like a dubious honor. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Over the past year and changing, Austin restaurants have faced unprecedented barriers to success, and unfortunately, many of our favorite restaurants did not survive the pandemic. Those who did had to navigate their way through a new world of spinning restaurant closings, roadside pickups, and masking rules – not to mention the inevitable staffing shortages, supply chain disruptions, and that ever-looming bottom line.
That’s why we’re overwhelmingly proud to recognize local restaurants and bars at our annual CultureMap Tastemaker Awards.
Read below about our picks for Austin Restaurant of the Year (you’ve probably patronized it for a while), support them with your appetite and your money, and then join us at the Fair Market on August 5th when we see the winner announce and look to a better future for our beloved local restaurants. Get your tickets now.
Carpenter’s hall
Austin is a place where rejuvenation and reinvention thrive. No wonder a neighborhood eatery housed in a hip South Austin hotel that was once a union hall hits the nail on the head for Austin foodies. Decorated with union banners and lots of beautiful wood and brick, Carpenters Hall offers a menu of modest, working-class cuisine, enhanced with simple but refined touches for spectacularly satisfying dishes. From brunch dishes such as shrimp and grits with delicata pumpkin and leek to all-day dishes such as roast chicken with hatch chilli fries and chow chow, delicious dishes come out of the wood. And don’t forget to try the well-prepared classic cocktails; the New York Sazerac is impeccable.
How many tacos
With a small but flavourful menu of Mexico City-style street tacos, quesadillas, and other true Mexican salivary classics, this little yellow food truck on E. 12th St. attracts so many taco fanatics that it often does is sold out. You can’t go wrong here as a pastor, and the Friday torta specials are well worth waiting for all week. Adventurous eaters and those with a taste for the authentic should opt for the Tripa and Lengua tacos. In a city with so many taco hotspots that you can’t toss a tortilla in the air without hitting one, Cuantos Tacos stands out for its unpretentious approach and decidedly Mexican cuisine. When it comes to tacos, the only question that arises is “How many?”
Come on two
Carefully prepared dishes made from locally sourced ingredients, in local culinary traditions, and with a healthy respect for the path these ingredients make from farm to plate are of paramount importance at Dai Due, the Manor Road butcher and supper club that Austinites love. In the award-winning hyper-local restaurant, Chef Jesse Griffiths – an experienced hunter and butcher – serves a changing menu of weekend brunch and dinner specialties, including perfectly cooked steaks, big game, pork chops and seafood. If you get the chance, start your meal with the meat cutting board for a true Dai Due experience.
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Employing a “cowboy wok” cooking technique that has been used on Mexico City-style tacos in northern Mexico for generations, this humble Rosewood Avenue taco truck serves fresh and beautifully light taquitos that have quickly become an Austin favorite are. We’re talking about family recipes that include 24-hour marinated meat and tender, slow-cooked vegetables that add multiple layers of flavor to each bite. It’s a lot of hard work from Chef Xose Velasco, but it’s a “shell” of a delicious meal.
Hestia
Taking inspiration from the ancient Greek goddess of the stove – and literally a custom 20 foot cooker that anchors the space of the restaurant – Hestia is a fiery phenomenon that opened the Austinites’ eyes to the fact that Cooking with an open flame is not only possible for barbecues and burgers. The culinary geniuses behind Hestia have long been delighting local gourmets with their restaurant concepts (Emmer & Rye, TLV, Kalimotxo, Henbit) and Hestia, with its masterfully grilled dishes and an impressive wine program, is well positioned to build on this success and remain an Austin- Darling for years to come.
The golden goose
Okay, real conversation: If you’ve never experienced the incomparable charm and Italian specialties from the farm to the table at L’Oca d’Oro and – let’s face it – the best tiramisu you will likely ever get, you want maybe reconsider your standing as a foodie in Austin. Also known as the Golden Goose, this delightful Mueller neighborhood restaurant is Chef Fiore Tedesco’s passionate love letter to Austin, a place that delicately celebrates community, family and sustainability. Each dish is made with sustainable, locally grown produce and meat, and the pasta is homemade so whatever you order is guaranteed to be a winner. But seriously, don’t skimp on tiramisu.
Nixta
If you’ve lived under a rock for the past few years (or hid in your house since the beginning of 2020), we’re here to share the not-so-secret news that Nixta – the colorful niece – traditional taqueria, will be available in the late 2019 E. 12th Street opened – took Austin by storm. The co-owners, Chef Edgar Rico and Sara Mardanbigi, are known for their corn tortillas, which are made using a meticulous and laborious process called nixtamalization, which originated in Mesoamerica. The result is, as they say at Nixta, “bombless corn tortillas”. But culinary creativity doesn’t stop with the tortillas. Rico skilfully processes ingredients like beet tartare, yellow fin tuna, duck confit and roasted cauliflower and offers a variety of seasonal specialties that challenge and delight the Austin palate at the same time.
Old thousand
Old Thousand is known for great quality: the making of Chinese food. With two locations in Austin (E. 11th St. and Burnet Road), this eclectic restaurant offers classic American-Chinese cuisine with a modern approach. All of your favorites are here, from hot and sour soup to Buddha’s Delight, General Tso’s chicken, and plenty of fried rice. But the most magical dishes are those that are unexpected and quirky, like the mala fried chicken sandwich, the Old Thousand as “hot Nashville chicken having an illegal affair with a happy giant panda,” and the chicken and Duck fat waffles. and the five-spice Chinese churro. And that’s pure dope!
Happy
It couldn’t get any more ausitn-y than this East Sixth Street eatery that serves fresh Texan ingredients using traditional Mexican cooking techniques. Chef Fermín Nuñez’s menu features carefully prepared, beautiful dishes that create some truly delicious lasting memories. Do yourself a favor and try the heavily seasoned raw food dishes (hamachi crudo, tiradito, etc.), the tacos and the spectacular starters such as au poivre a la Mexicana (rib-eye grilled from oak with mezcal chipotle au poivre) and goat bar bacoa . The liquor selection here is as curated as the menu, featuring a dizzying range of mezcal, tequila, and sotol, as well as other liquor, wine, and shooter options.
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