The Ultimate Guide to Brunch in Austin

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Better half coffee & cocktails

Co-owner Matthew Bolick likes to joke that after painting their outdoor picnic tables pink, they were destined to become a brunch haven. But that weekend destination status was practically baked in from the start when the owners, including Chef Rich Reimbolt, decided to model their “Texas Diner” around places like Whataburger and Waffle House. Every day before 3 p.m. you can order a chicken biscuit with curry bread and gherkins or a block of waffle iron hash browns as a substrate for a sticky farmer’s egg and coffee sauce. And it wouldn’t be Bolick’s own concept without a distinctive sense of humor manifested in a 75 French riff named after the Lilith Fair and a “gabagool” Kolache that Tony Soprano would love to beat you up for. betterhalfbar.com

Better Half’s breakfast sandwich with hash browns and fried egg.

Brooklyn breakfast shop

Like lace summer tomatoes or asparagus just sprouted from March soil, Chef Ryan Rosen swears that Brenham’s Shirttail Creek Farms eggs are “the purest essence” of the product. Not too big and with an electric-orange egg yolk, weighted down with umami and anointing that covers the palate, these pasture-grown beauties crown everything from barbacoa heroes to avocado toast to Rosen’s star breakfast sandwich: a tender whey biscuit, stacked with house-fermented mustard Pickles, pimiento cheese with charred Fresno chillies and fennel sausage that has been seared hard on the flat top. Subjected to the slightest pressure, this fluorescent magma seeps through every salty, fissured layer in an early morning portrait of perfection. brooklynbreakfastshop.co

The cavalier

As the constant clink of beer mugs and pool shots suggests, The Cavalier takes its Louisiana-style diving approach to Mediterranean comfort food damn seriously. This also applies to a no-frills brunch menu that works according to a rule of thumb: Every offer must be enriched with a “secret” ingredient that grandma deserves. Think honey butter steeped in the powerful kick of dried guajillo peppers, fried chicken marinated in a brine of orange and black tea, and an award-winning Bloody Mary that achieves a smoky transcendence of what Fox “simple” Love “calls (although it could be so) pinch of mezcal thrown into the mixture). thecavalieratx.com

Elizabeth St. Cafe

It would be all too easy to laugh at a bunch of white guys (yes, that’s Larry McGuire and Tom Moorman’s brainchild) trying their hand at Vietnamese food, but then you taste the results and, reluctantly or not, you have to come back. Again. And again. Try the “diner” version of Xôi des Duos – a breakfast on the go, usually served with fried shallots or dried pork topped with house ginger sausage and poached eggs – and don’t be impressed. Or suck up a stupid bowl of pork pho that smells like charred onions, konbu, fish sauce, and a pantry full of spices, and be anything but a true believer. Welcome, you have become one of the converts. elizabethstreetcafe.com

Pour Vietnamese iced coffee at Elizabeth Street Cafe. Photo by Jackie Klusmeye.

Abroad & domestic

Chefs Sarah Heard and Nathan Lemley’s always fully booked brunch service loosens their belts to indulge in unpretentious offerings like juicy Berkshire pork over golden grits from Barton Springs Mill and fried chicken marinated in buttermilk for 24 hours and then served with it peppery jerk courtesy of Lemleys’ espresso-infused red eye sauce. On the more adventurous side of the menu, garden-grown cardamom adds a cool spice to sticky cinnamon buns, and Heard’s personal pancake recipe uses vinegar-acidified milk to achieve both that pungent pale taste and extra fluffy texture that was first rated by its toughest reviewer was called for – aka her youngest daughter. fndaustin.com

Open minded

There is a specific area of ​​sensory science developed by Oxford Professor Charles Spence who studies how our physical environment affects the enjoyment of food. It’s called Gastrophysics, and Forthright’s Operations Director Brandon Acuña has long been a student of it. That’s why everything feels so cozy and accommodating in this downtown cafe: lighting that ebbs and flows based on the amount of natural sunlight that pours through the space designed by Michael Hsu; the humidity they control through a choreographed dance of opening and closing various entrances; and the delicate sounds of Litany and other Scandinavian pops. Coupled with Chef Zach Sutton’s penchant for upscale classics (think hashish made from JNL smoked barbecue pastrami and homemade doña sauce), it’s a study in full sensory bliss. direct.cafe

Gabriela’s downtown

From the outside, Gabriela’s may seem totally trendy (Bad Bunny Brunch, anyone?), But generations of family traditions are anchored in this lively downtown eatery. For owner Gabriela Bucio, nutty tamarind margaritas and ripe grapefruit palomas bring back memories of fruit trees that bloom behind her childhood homestead in Michoacán, Mexico. While the delicious selection of Mexican offerings on the menu is derived from Bucio family recipes, such as pancakes with sweetened condensed milk, chilaquiles rojos to cleanse the sinuses, and a brilliant, chocolate-like mole prepared by the Bucio matriarch herself on the weekend: Gabriela’s mother , Maria. gabrielasdowntown.com

Grizzly that

What began as a culinary R&D trip through Tulum and Mexico City turned into much more for partners Adam Jacoby and Kris Swift in 2015. On the food side, there were the churro stalls down the street that eventually led to Grizzelda’s ingenious waffle version that is adorned with beer. breaded chicken strips and a syrup enriched with chilli. But more importantly, the beach vibe itself, which Swift likes to remember as simply “dynamic”. As a practicing interior designer, he tried to mimic the flora and fauna of those dreamy coastal nights with palm frond wallpaper, Mexican tapestries, and even margaritas in barragán pinks (courtesy of Dragon Fruit). The effect is like a corona commercial that has come to life. grizzeldas.com

Pharmacy on the slope

When you consider that the term “farm-to-table” was usurped in the PR buzz cycle by “sweet tooth” and “fish in a can”, it is courageous to proudly hang your hat to this culinary trend today . But hey, when local farmers have a habit of dropping in to offer okra flowers or borage microgreens before serving, it’s hard to pretend who you are. With products also supplied by co-owner Sonya Cote’s Eden East Farm in Bastrop, Chef Tony Henderson goes into town and creates the freshest dishes that reflect his Gulf Coast roots. As a student of Cochon’s Donald Link, Henderson displays his pedigree in dishes like a bowl of shrimp and grits bathed in a seafood broth that provides a whack of all the extracted husks and ground ancho chilies steamed in the oceanic elixir will. Hillsidefarmacy.com

Jade restaurant

In 1986, William Wong flew from Houston to Hong Kong, where the young chef spent nearly three years learning the secrets of making great dim sum. Since returning to Texas (Austin this time), those lessons have shaped the scene with a number of successful protégés like Qis Ling Qi Wu – because hey, this kind of labor-intensive dim sum cannot be achieved by one man alone. Step into Jade any weekend and you’ll see a team of up to 10 people knead and roll wheat flour for hours to get the ideal package consistency for shrimp and pork sui mai and Shanghai soup dumplings That pop with a salty hearty broth with every greedy nibble. jaderestaurantaustin.com

Josephine house

Imagine, if you will, a Chip and Joanna Gaines-designed bougie getaway to Vermont: white walls, sunlight reflecting off vintage champagne buckets, delighted waiters in matching Izod pololos, and maybe a copy of the Sunday New York Times next to a plate of Nutella morning rolls. To say that the powerhouse professionals behind MML Hospitality are detail-oriented is an understatement – even when it comes to one of their more laid back concepts. With dishes like dulce de leche – coated zucchini bread and an Alsatian tart with ham and fluffy eggs from Dewberry Hills Farm – this is escapism at its best. josephineofaustin.com

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes at Josephine House.

Magnolia Café

When the second lavender-colored dining room of the Magnolia Cafe in the SoCo opened in 1988, it was already part of Austin’s culinary lore. Almost a decade earlier, what began as the successor location to Austin’s Omelettry on Lake Austin Boulevard became after the unfortunate one Farewell (both professionally and personally) to Kent Cole and Patricia Atkinson (later to the glory of the Kerbey Lane Cafe). Damn the Breakfast Kingdom, only one of Cole’s establishments remains as a bustling reminder of the funky, sleepy college town that supported his vision of spicy “mag mud” cueso with black beans, cheesy migas, and short stacks of those fluffy chocolate chip pancakes . Sigh. magnoliacafeaustin.com

Matties

It’s not uncommon for Chef Ethan Holmes to come across a table at a brunch service where a family has been in the Mattie’s room for four generations. As an Austinite native and a fan of its earlier version, Green Pastures (opened around 1946), Holmes can relate to it. In fact, the opportunity to cook in this kitchen on his 11th birthday is still one of his most precious culinary memories. 36 years later, he carries on many of those traditions that have made it such a local institution. For example, venison, which shows up in the form of wild boar sausage links, and Green Pastures’ famous milk punch, which he uses to soak a brioche French toast, which is more of a bread pudding than an afterthought. mattiesaustin.com

The peach tortilla

When Hawaiian favorites like Loco Moco and Spam and Eggs met deafening indifference to a ukulele solo, Chef Eric Silverstein said he had that all-too-familiar brunch enlightenment: throw something sweet in. “The thing is, Silverstein’s determination Reinventing even the most mundane canvases with the means of Asian colors and spices has never worked better than in the morning. Attachment A: A hanger steak marinated with gochujang and mirin, which is caramelized like Korean bulgogi over high heat and then nestled next to eggs with the sunny side up, which are sprinkled with Japanese furikake. Voila … a far better plate of steak and eggs. thepeachedtortilla.com

happiness

There are moles, and then there are the otherworldly moles summoned by Suertes’ coven of witches. Using nontraditional cooking techniques like charring, burning and roasting ashes, as well as a garden-wide variety of vegetables and dried chilies, they refine a range of tamales and roasted meats, such as beef knuckle on a black bean puree and a tostada bowl made in Texas cultivated heirloom maize was nixtamalized. In addition to Fermín Nuñez’s style with sauces, Chef Derrick Flynn puts a lot of emphasis on a bastion of scratchy pastries that reflect the best of the season, such as bubble empanadas filled with canned peaches and chorizo ​​kolachs covered in melted Havarti cheese. suerteatx.com

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