Péché
An Ibérico pork chop comes under morel demi glace, and it is Nicolai McCrary's pick of the whole menu.1
Why go
The happy hour is the best-known thing on this card: $6 cocktails and half-price snacks through the early evening on weekdays, and all day Sunday and Monday.1 The cooking McCrary rated 8.4 sits further down the card: veal sweetbreads, pink pork chops, lamb loin crusted with pistachios and herbs.1 The room started narrower than that. It opened as a dedicated absinthe bar after the United States reapproved the spirit in 2007, with a pre-Prohibition cocktail list beside it. One of the biggest absinthe selections in the city is what stayed.21
Order this / avoid
- The grilled Ibérico pork chop with morel demi glace.1
- Then the grilled lamb loin, crusted with pistachios and herbs, with roasted fennel alongside.1
- For the table: escargot. The French onion soup under crusty bread and broiled cheese, which McCrary calls one of the best versions in town.1
- Avoid: building the visit around the happy hour. The burger and the duck confit mac and cheese are worth full price. They are not the plates the score is about.1
What locals & experts say
- Nicolai McCrary, The Infatuation, January 2026, 8.4, on the escargot:
We're pretty sure snails are just a vessel for butter, garlic, and herbs, and we're OK with that.
1 - Claudia Alarcón in the Austin Chronicle, September 2010, wrote it up as an absinthe bar running pre-Prohibition cocktails. That piece is sixteen years old and nothing of its cooking is carried here.2
Good to know
- Where it is: 208 W 4th St, in the middle of the downtown bar strip, between Irish pubs and music venues.1
- Hygiene: Austin Public Health scored the kitchen 74, inspected 12 September 2025, after 87, 90 and 82 back to June 2023. Austin runs a 100-point demerit scale where higher is better and 70 is the failing line, so 74 is a pass. It is also the lowest of the four and the third consecutive fall, which is why it is printed here.3
- Not this room's record: three other permits sit on the same block, including Fourth & Co at 208 W 4th Ste D. Their scores belong to them.3
Verdict
should-visit — Book it, and book for dinner. The cooking is straight French done accurately, which downtown Austin is short of.