a date

Destination · Texan · South Lamar · $$$

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Cast-iron cornbread is permanently on the menu, usually under green onion butter, and the chicken hearts come glazed in mole and doused in masa gravy.

Destination · Mexican · East Austin · $$

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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.

Destination · Mexican · East Sixth · $$$

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The mole negro over the duck confit flautas runs on three chiles, ancho, mulato and chipotle, with chocolate made in the building from toasted sesame and sunflower seeds.

Destination · Contemporary American · Brentwood · $$$$

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The shiitake dumplings have outlasted every other dish on the menu: four soup dumplings of shiitake broth over scrambled eggs soft enough to pass for sauce, with a tiny rubber spatula so you can finish the bowl.

Destination · Restaurant · South Lamar · $$$$

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The 72-hour short rib nigiri comes crisp outside and melts into beef-flavored butter. It sits on the same list as bluefin otoro and Hokkaido uni flown from Toyosu twice a week.

Destination · Restaurant · Manor Road, Cherrywood · $$$

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The tartare is dry-aged nilgai antelope, and the butchers behind the counter work wild boar, antelope and goat.

Destination · Pizza · East Cesar Chavez · $$$

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Three or four handmade pastas run beside the Neapolitan pies here, and Raphael Brion rates the room 9.4.

Destination · Restaurant · Rosedale · $$$$

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A grilled oyster arrives under caramelized onions, beef jus and gruyere. It is a Uchiko exclusive.

Destination · Sushi · North Lamar · $$$$

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A piece of bluefin sits two weeks in the aging cabinet behind the counter, then goes into a long soy bath, and Matthew Odam says Charlie Wang's version will make you wonder whether akami is your favorite cut after all.

Solid · Modern American · Holly, East Austin · $$$

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The birthday cake ice cream sandwich puts a thick slab of vanilla between two confetti cookies that stay soft and slightly doughy straight out of the freezer.

Solid · Contemporary American · Rainey Street · $$$

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Kevin Fink cooks ground pork liver into dirty farro from Barton Springs Mill, then buries it under smoked lamb and confited pig head and trotter.

Solid · Japanese · North Austin · $$$$

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Shima aji drizzled with salsa macha sits next to nigiri dressed in nothing but soy and wasabi. Most of the fish has been dry aged or cured first.

Solid · Yucatecan · Bouldin Creek · $$$

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Scallop crudo arrives under coconut leche de tigre, and the entire kitchen is gluten free rather than a section of it.

Solid · Modern Mexican · Downtown · $$$

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The bone marrow tacos come out as giant slabs of roasted marrow bone under pecan gremolata, over a bed of greens, with warm corn tortillas to build them yourself.

Solid · Japanese, sushi · East Austin · $$$

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Nearly every piece of nigiri is dry-aged, comes two to an order, and runs about US$5 to US$8 a piece.

Solid · Italian · East Cesar Chavez · $$$$

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The bucatini comes with grilled kale, aged cheddar, chili oil and chives, and it is the one dish The Infatuation would keep if it could only order one.

Solid · Cocktails · North University · $$$

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The charred cabbage is a wedge salad taken apart and rebuilt, blue cheese and buttermilk dressing against chili oil and five-spice pecans.

Solid · Italian-American, pizza · East Austin · $$

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The Hot Boy Summer is pepperoni, pepperoncini and hot honey. It is the pizza both reviewers tell you to order.

Solid · Restaurant · North Central Austin · $$$

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Gruyere and black pepper popovers have outlasted two owners here, and one of the reasons is a clause in the sale.

Solid · Restaurant · East Cesar Chavez · $$$$

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The saffron cavatelli arrive with a gnocchi-like bite under a whole-grain mustard sauce, seeds included.

Solid · Izakaya · East Austin · $$$

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Chicken thighs, hearts and meatballs go over binchotan, and the nigiri comes cut large over rice the reviewer singles out for its seasoning.

Solid · Italian · East Cesar Chavez · $$$

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The wings come confit first and fried after, under calabrian chili jam, three whole wings for US$16.

Solid · European · East Austin · $$$

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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.

Solid · Agave spirits · East Austin

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The bar pours mezcal straight and builds no cocktails. The list is the whole proposition.

Solid · Pizza · Brentwood, Burnet Road · $$$

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The Neapolitan pies come off a wood-fired oven with a leoparded crust, yeasty and light and airy.

Solid · Japanese · Downtown · $$$$

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The yakitori grill is the thing this room has that Uchi and Uchiko do not, and the kinoko skewers come as portobello doused in brown butter and broccolini pesto.

Solid · Agave spirits and gin · Bastrop · $$$

booking essentialthe room’s own account

Creador is clay-pot mezcal made in Oaxaca by maestro palenquero José Alberto Pablo, and they pour it next to a Texas spirit distilled from desert spoon.

Solid · Wine, light bites · Bouldin Creek

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More than a hundred bottles on the list, and every one of them can be ordered as a glass.

Solid · Cocktails · Downtown · $$$$

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The bar clarifies its punches, chills olives with liquid nitrogen, and stamps its ice by hand.

Listed · Mexican · East Sixth · $$$

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The tetela arrives under a mole manchamanteles built on plantain and pineapple, topped with slow-cooked pork belly.

Listed · South East Asian · East Austin · $$$

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The char kway teow arrives with a whole leg of duck confit dropped into the rice noodles, Chinese sausage and shrimp.

Listed · Japanese · South Lamar · $$$$

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Order the salmon over fire and a few raw slices arrive with raspberry chili sauce, hung over a live flame at the table.

Solid · Texas wine · Hye · $$

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Benjamin Calais dug his winery into the side of a hill outside Hye, and both tastings happen down in the cave, four people at a time.

Temp closed · Restaurant · Downtown, Congress Avenue · $$$

Charred edamame arrives under pop rocks, and it has been on this menu since the room opened in 2012.

Listed · Mediterranean and Asian small plates · Downtown · $$

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Shiitake mapo tofu under red Sichuan peppercorn, on a menu that also runs lamb kibbeh meatballs and whipped feta.

Listed · Texas wine · Hye · $$

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Benjamin Calais makes the mourvèdre here off Dell Valley vines planted in 1976, and calls the red blend Châteauneuf de Hye.

Listed · Texas wine · Fredericksburg · $$

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Dan Gatlin planted 22 vinifera varieties in Denton County in 1981 to find out what Texas could ripen, and forty years later the answer is Tempranillo.

Listed · Texas wine · Comfort · $$

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Souzão has dark flesh as well as dark skin, it is normally grown in Portugal to colour port, and this winery was the first in Texas to plant it.