TAKEAWAYS AND SURPRISES FROM THE ‘NEW YORK TIMES’ 25 BEST RESTAURANTS IN AUSTIN LIST

The New York Times has been on a kick highlighting what the publication deems as the best restaurants in various cities throughout America in the past six months. In April alone, the newspaper covered Boston, Chicago, and New York (with a much longer list). And this week, it was Austin’s turn.

The not-NYC lists, which are capped at 25 places, are similar to various publication’s essential restaurants in cities guides, highlighting new and older places — much like the Eater 38. The food writing team — New York-based and Texas-raised Priya Krishna and New Orleans-based Brett Anderson — note that it will be “updated,” but cadence isn’t noted.

It’s refreshing that the Times didn’t publish the roundup timed to South by Southwest — as major international and national publications tend to do. There’s a lot of the expected places — notably of the older-guard places like Uchi and Franklin Barbecue and the new guard like Nixta Taqueria and Birdie’s. Austin’s two go-to food groups — tacos and barbecue — are well-represented on the list. It’s also no surprise that a big majority of the food businesses have been recognized with national accolades and awards.

Of the not-included surprises, jarringly, there are no restaurants from chef Bryce Gilmore — one of the city’s leaders when it comes to truly seasonal Texas cuisines (tasting menu restaurant Barley Swine, casual restaurant Odd Duck, even more casual Sour Duck Market). And notably, there’s nothing from the very prolific Austin-based restaurant group McGuire Moorman Lambert. And, for Austin purposes, the list is lacking a truly stellar casual all-day patio spot, a quintessential experience in the city.

Here are some more takeaways:

Restaurants that have opened in the past year: 5. Comadre Panadería (technically the pop-up turned into a physical location in the spring of 2023), Ezov, LeRoy & Lewis (the physical restaurant opened in February), Underdog, Wee’s Cozy Kitchen (it technically closed in its original location and reopened in Royal Blue Grocery this past March).

City representation: All 25 restaurants are found in Austin proper.

Neighborhoods with the most places: The wider East Austin neighborhood represents more than half of the list with a whopping 15 restaurants including East Sixth, Holly, Chestnut, Cherrywood, and Blackland (we’re including Veracruz All Natural’s Webberville Road location for these purposes).

Places south of the river: 6. Dee Dee, El Naranjo, Leroy & Lewis, Uchi, Underdog, and Veracruz’s locations in South Lamar and Montopolis

Places north of Highway 183: 2. Interstellar BBQ and Ramen del Barrio

Barbecue: 6. Franklin Barbecue, Interstellar BBQ, Kemuri Tatsu-ya, LeRoy & Lewis, Micklethwait Craft Meats, and Mum Foods

Tacos: 5. Cuantos Tacos, Discada, Nixta Taqueria, Joe’s Bakery, and Veracruz All Natural

Mexican: 9. Cuantos Tacos, Comadre Panadería, Discada, El Naranjo, Este, Joe’s Bakery, Nixta Taqueria, Suerte, and Veracruz All Natural (five of these are very casual, one is mid-casual, and the other two are higher-end).

Very Texan: 1. Dai Due.

Food trucks: 4. Cuantos Tacos, Dee Dee, Discada, and Veracruz All Natural

Pop-ups: 0.

Pan-Asian: 0. Kemuri Tatsu-ya, Ramen del Barrio, Underdog, Uchi, Wee’s Cozy Kitchen

Italian: 0.

Places with tasting menus: 2. Uchi and Underdog

Seafood: 1. Este

Southern: 1. Olamaie

Italian: 0.

Bakeries: 2. Comadre Panadería, Joe’s Bakery

Caribbean: 1. Canje

Mediterranean: 1. Ezov

Wine-centric places: 2. Birdie’s and Underdog

Restaurants with multiple locations: Veracruz All Natural (four food trucks, three physical spaces) and LeRoy & Lewis (one restaurant and one food truck).

Restaurant groups/owners with more than one place: 2. The Emmer & Rye group is represented by Caribbean restaurant Canje (led by chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph) and Israeli restaurant Evoz (led by chef Berty Richter). Restaurant owner Sam Hellman-Mass and executive chef Fermín Núñez’s two Austin restaurants are both on the list: Mexican restaurant Suerte and Mexican seafood restaurant Este.

The most expensive restaurants: Uchi for omakase, Este for general dishes.

The least expensive restaurant: Discada, where three small tacos are $7.25.

Places the New York Times has previously covered: 14. Birdie’s, Canje, Dai Due, El Naranjo, Este, Franklin Barbecue, Kemuri Tatsu-ya, LeRoy & Lewis, Micklethwait Craft Meats, Nixta Taqueria, Suerte, Uchi, Veracruz All Natural, and Wee’s Cozy Kitchen.

2024-04-22T21:13:34Z dg43tfdfdgfd