East Austin
41 rooms on the Austin list
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The Central Texas pit4 here
- Franklin Barbecue — Salt and pepper on brisket over post oak in an offset, and Daniel Vaughn has kept it on Texas Monthly's Top 50 in every edition since it took first place in 2013.
- KG BBQ — Salt and pepper brisket slow smoked over oak on an offset smoker, from a pitmaster Texas Monthly names in its 2025 Top 50, and the pit also turns out whole racks of lamb and pomegranate glazed pork ribs.
- Micklethwait Craft Meats BBQ & Catering — A rub that runs past salt and pepper into celery seed, chili, mustard and coriander, a beef short rib with a dense peppery bark, and a Bib Gourmand in the inaugural 2024 MICHELIN Guide Texas.
- Space Kat BBQ — Akaushi tri-tip, coppa and lamb chops off a Webberville Road pit that puts no brisket on the board. Post oak in a trailer-mounted offset, then every protein finished over oak coals on a grill. Rated 8.3 by The Infatuation and reviewed by Texas Monthly's barbecue editor in 2026.
Regional Mexican4 here
- Cuantos Tacos — Mexico City street format worked properly: a choricera bubbling lard over longaniza, suadero and tripe, the suadero cut swapped for brisket, and 100 percent nixtamalized corn tortillas brought in from the Colonial Tortilla Factory in San Antonio and brushed with lard before they are filled.
- Nixta Taqueria — Names its region: the enchilada potosina taco is San Luis Potosi on a guajillo tortilla, capped with chile-rubbed queso enchilado shipped from the same state.
- Taquicardia — The trailer nixtamalizes its own blue corn, and The Infatuation calls the cochinita pibil some of the best it has had in town.
- Las Trancas Taco Stand — Nicolai McCrary scored this stand 7.9 and says to order crispy tripas, lengua, carnitas and campechano together.
Outdoor craft breweries2 here
- Lazarus Brewing Co. — Brews its own beer on East Sixth and you drink it on the patio. Adele Hazan described a shady patio you and your dog sit on, and Nicolai McCrary, writing six years later, still put the spacious patio in the same sentence as the beer and the tacos.
- Central Machine Works — The brewery took over a 1940s steel fabrication shop and runs an enormous outdoor beer garden that takes dogs and children.
Austin pizza2 here
- Loudmouth — Nicolai McCrary rates it 7.8 and says the crust at its best rivals Bufalina for blistered, chewy goodness.
- East Side Pies — The menu is organized by nine sauces, and the Moon Dingo stacks five cheeses over ricotta sauce with bacon and mushrooms.
Sushi and omakase3 here
- Shokunin ATX — Nearly every piece of nigiri is dry aged, and a walk in counter omakase runs 250 dollars.
- Uroko — Masazumi Saio spent fifteen years behind the sushi bar at Uchi and now runs a 45-minute, roughly twelve-course omakase here on Friday and Saturday. He and Takehiro Asazu were both 2025 James Beard Best Chef: Texas semifinalists.
- Fukumoto Sushi & Yakitori Izakaya — The rice and the sourcing carry the plate here. The Infatuation rates it 8.3 and describes well-seasoned rice under unusually large cuts of fish that were in a Japanese seafood market days earlier, and files it in both its Best Sushi Restaurants and its Best Sushi Omakases guides for Austin. The kitchen also sits in the Musashino lineage that the same publication credits with much of the city's sushi.
Keep Austin Weird2 here
- papercut — The cocktail list is rewritten around whichever exhibition is hanging, which is what Esquire picked out in 2026.
- Mama Dearest — Taxidermy, rawhide lamp shades and hanging baby dolls sit under an Arkansas flag pinned to the ceiling.
Breakfast tacos3 here
- Joe's Bakery & Coffee Shop — House-made flour tortillas under bacon that is dredged in flour, chilled overnight and griddled flat, fifth on Austin Monthly's 2018 breakfast-taco ranking and the breakfast Fermín Núñez and Amanda Turner both name first.
- Sour Duck Market — The five dollar breakfast taco carries scrambled eggs, fries, red chili sauce and queso fresco on a house made flour tortilla, scored 8.3.
- Granny's Tacos — The chilaquil taco folds crisp corn chips and house made mole into a flour tortilla with no egg, and The Infatuation scored it 7.9.
Restaurants28
Franklin BarbecueBibJeff ★★★★★ 2017?
Destination · BBQ · East Austin · $$$
walk-in
Franklin's brisket gets salt, pepper and nothing else, then smoke in an offset from split post oak that Chief Firewood trucks in from Smithville.
Nixta TaqueriaBib
Destination · Mexican · East Austin · $$
walk-in
The enchilada potosina taco carries guajillo chile paste worked into the masa itself, duck-fat refried beans under potato and chorizo, and a cap of queso enchilado shipped up from San Luis Potosi.
KG BBQBib?
Destination · BBQ · East Austin · $$
walk-in
Pork ribs come out glazed in pomegranate molasses and sprinkled with za'atar, off an oak-fired offset smoker, and the sauce on the table is tahini cut with vinegar and cumin.
Joe's Bakery & Coffee ShopMichelin
Destination · Tex-Mex · East Austin
walk-in
Joe's Bakery dredges its thick-cut bacon in flour, chills it overnight and griddles it flat, and the James Beard Foundation called that strip "a masterful touch" when it named the Avila family's diner on East 7th the 2023 America's Classic for Texas.
Kemuri Tatsu-YaBib
Destination · Japanese · East Austin · $$
walk-in
Tatsu Aikawa and Takuya Matsumoto put a Japanese izakaya inside the old Live Oak Barbecue room, and kemuri means smoke.
DiscadaMichelin?
Destination · Mexican · East Austin · $
walk-in
Xose Velasco and Anthony Pratto sell one taco.
Micklethwait Craft Meats BBQ & CateringBib
Solid · BBQ · East Austin · $$
walk-in
The brisket rub is celery seed, onion powder, garlic, chili, mustard and coriander. It builds a coating thick enough to hold the post oak smoke.
Space Kat BBQnew?
Solid · BBQ · East Austin · $$
walk-in
A Central Texas barbecue joint with no brisket on the board and Akaushi tri-tip in its place.
Fish Shop?
Solid · Seafood · East Austin · $$$
book ahead
Justin Huffman buys his saltwater in California and has oysters called Little Savages farmed for this restaurant alone.
Lao’d Bar?
Solid · Laotian · East Austin
book ahead
Chicken wings doused in caramel fish sauce and crab fat.
Shokunin ATX?
Solid · Japanese, sushi · East Austin · $$$
walk-in
Nearly every piece of nigiri is dry-aged, comes two to an order, and runs about US$5 to US$8 a piece.
Paperboy
Solid · American · East Austin · $$
book ahead
The sandwich that took this place from a trailer to a two-storey brunch room is thick-cut bacon and pimento cheese under a sunny-side egg.
Uroko
Solid · Japanese, sushi and temaki · East Austin · $$$
book ahead
The chef hand roll is fatty hamachi with wasabi butter and crispy quinoa, off a temaki list of fewer than two dozen.
Loudmouth
Solid · Italian-American, pizza · East Austin · $$
book ahead
The Hot Boy Summer is pepperoni, pepperoncini and hot honey. It is the pizza both reviewers tell you to order.
Fukumoto Sushi & Yakitori Izakaya
Solid · Izakaya · East Austin · $$$
book ahead
Chicken thighs, hearts and meatballs go over binchotan, and the nigiri comes cut large over rice the reviewer singles out for its seasoning.
papercutjust added
Solid · Cocktails · East Austin · $$$
walk-in
The cocktail list is rewritten around whichever exhibition is hanging, and the Dream State show by Austin painter Karen Offutt had two drinks written for it.
Holiday
Solid · European · East Austin · $$$
walk-in
The ricotta cavatelli arrives al dente in a shallow pool of parmesan broth with blistered tomatoes, and the Spanish anchovies come with preserved lemon salsa verde and cultured butter.
Nickel City
Listed · Neighborhood bar · East Austin · $$
walk-in
The food comes from a trailer in the back yard, Delray Cafe, doing fried bologna sandwiches, burgers and what The Infatuation calls some of the best wings in town.
Kalimotxo?
Listed · Spanish, pintxos and tapas · East Austin · $$$
book ahead
Mushroom and quail egg tosta, and Spanish wine poured out of a porron if you ask for it.
SitiMichelin?
Listed · South East Asian · East Austin · $$$
book ahead
The char kway teow arrives with a whole leg of duck confit dropped into the rice noodles, Chinese sausage and shrimp.
Taquicardia?
Listed · Mexican, tacos · East Austin · $
walk-in
House-made blue corn tortillas, and cochinita pibil the Infatuation calls some of the best in town.
Granny's Tacosjust added
Listed · Mexican · East Austin · $
walk-in
The signature taco has no egg in it: chips go straight into the flour tortilla and mole does the work migas would.
Old Thousand
Listed · Chinese · East Austin · $$
walk-in
Smoked brisket goes into the fried rice, and that is the dish the room was built to be able to make.
Kitty Cohen's
Listed · Cocktails, patio · East Austin · $$
walk-in
A patio bar with an outdoor kitchen it hands over to other people.
East Side Pies
Listed · Pizza · East Austin
walk-in
A pizza menu organized by sauce, nine of them, including black bean, hummus and spinach curry.
Mama Dearest
Listed · Cocktails · East Austin
walk-in
A Mountain Dew margarita called the Tickle Fight, and a purple drink that arrives in a styrofoam cup.
Central Machine Works
Listed · Brewery, beer hall food · East Austin · $$
walk-in
The house oddity is a Kentucky Common, a dark cream ale that was Louisville's beer in the mid-1800s and is now brewed in East Austin.
LoLo
Listed · Natural wine · East Austin · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
A natural wine bar on East 6th, and I haven't found a review of it or a list of what they pour.
Street food1
Las Trancas Taco Standjust added
Listed · Mexican · East Austin · $
walk-in
Crispy tripas (beef tripe), lengua, carnitas and campechano in one order, which is exactly what the Infatuation tells you to do.
Markets1
Lone Star Farmers Market?
Listed · Farmers market · East Austin · $$
walk-in
A Sunday morning market at Springdale General, 10am to 2pm, run on Richie Romero's rule that his stalls come from inside fifty miles.
Provisions1
Radius Butcher & Grocery
Listed · Butcher and grocery · East Austin
walk-in
Whole animals come in and Kevin Fishner's rule is that the seasons write the menu rather than the buyer does.
Craft beer2
Wright Bros. Brew and Brew
Listed · Coffee · East Austin · $$
walk-in
The bar sits at almost waist height with the espresso machine installed below the counter, so the barista and the drinker can talk across it.
Lazarus Brewing Co.
Listed · Mexican street food · East Austin
walk-in
The tacos here get a layer of cheese melted directly onto the tortilla.
Pubs & cask1
Murray's Tavern
Listed · American tavern · East Austin · $$$
book ahead
The burger comes with goop on request, which is French onion soup reduced down to a gravy and spooned over a thick seared patty.
Tacos1
Cuantos TacosBib?
Destination · Mexico City tacos · East Austin · $
walk-in
Suadero comes off a choricera, the domed lard pan of Mexico City street stalls, and the cut here is brisket standing in for the thin one between sirloin and lower flank.
Agave1
Mezcalería Tobalá?
Solid · Agave spirits · East Austin
walk-in
The bar pours mezcal straight and builds no cocktails. The list is the whole proposition.
Cocktails1
Electric Gravy Mumbai Bar & Canteen?
Listed · Indian · East Austin · $$
book ahead
The chicken tikka masala comes charred with crispy edges before it hits a gravy with a kick.
Coffee2
Sour Duck Market
Solid · All-day cafe and bakery · East Austin · $
walk-in
One enormous 5 dollar breakfast taco: scrambled eggs, fries, red chili sauce and queso fresco on a house-made flour tortilla.
Zhi Tea
Listed · Tea house · East Austin · $
walk-in
The teas are whole-leaf and traceable to the farm that picked them, and the Chronicle's reviewer says bagged tea stops working for you afterward.
Bakes & sweet1
Rockman Coffee + Bakeshop
Solid · Pastry and coffee · East Austin
walk-in
The croissants come three ways here, filled, twice-baked and traditional. The two fillings are churro and lemon meringue.
Producers1
Smokey Denmark Sausage Company
Solid · Producer · East Austin · $
walk-in
Natural casing on everything cooked and smoked, hickory, post oak and pecan in the smokehouse, and a grind that changes with the style.
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