Texas Chili Parlor
The Mad Dog Margarita is two parts Monte Alban mezcal to one Triple Sec and one fresh lime, and it exists because the writers drinking here in the seventies could not afford anything better.2
Why go
The room opened in 1976, a year before Texas made chili its official state dish.2 Its early regulars were the Mad Dogs, a loose crew founded by Texas Monthly writer Gary Cartwright and Edwin Bud
Shrake that took in Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Ann Richards and Guy Clark; Cartwright had his wedding in the back room.2 Clark's account of the house drink, quoted from Tamara Saviano's biography, is the whole story of the place: Everyone was hanging out at the Chili Parlor, and they started ordering margaritas made with mezcal, which is just horrible. The only reason it came about was because nobody had any money, and it was cheap. That was a Mad Dog margarita.
2 It later got a name-check in Clark's song Dublin Blues, and Texas Monthly reports that management still sees tourists arrive because of it.2 Nicolai McCrary scored the room 9.0 for The Infatuation, the top of its scale.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Freidas Enchiladas, two cheese enchiladas under a ladle of whichever chili you pick, which brings chunks of soft stewed beef with it. McCrary:
If it's your first time here, this is your order.
1 - Drink: a Mad Dog Margarita. Monte Alban mezcal, Triple Sec, fresh lime, shaken and poured over ice.2
- If you came for chili: about half a dozen versions run the menu, graded x, xx and xxx for heat, with a few carrying beans. Order the taster and work across them.1
- Avoid: treating the chili as the main event. McCrary is direct about it:
Despite the restaurant's name, we're adamant that the chili is not the best thing on the menu here.
1
What locals & experts say
- The Infatuation, Nicolai McCrary, page dated 12 September 2024, 9.0:
There's only one place in Austin that can satisfy the wants of dive-bar enthusiasts, chili lovers, and Downtown workers hungry for excellent enchiladas.
He is also honest that the Mad Dog is not the best margarita in Austin, and says itsomehow feels like the most appropriate drink to have at a place like this.
1 - Texas Monthly, David Courtney, 15 December 2018, on walking in: the air is
pungent with the smell of chili spices and booze
and the walls carry the hand-painted house rules,No checks… no foofoo drinks, no talking to imaginary people.
2 - The same piece reports the Mad Dog Margarita as the bar's best-selling drink, on the management's own word.2
- The Infatuation again, on the dishes that define Austin, puts the Freidas Enchiladas on that list and calls the plate
a marriage of Texas Chili Parlor's two halves.
4
Good to know
- Where: 1409 Lavaca Street, on the corner at 15th, a short walk from the Capitol.1
- Hours and price, as the Chronicle prints them: daily 11am to 2am, under ten dollars a head.5
- The room: dim and cold, with regulars at the bar who look like they have been there since 1976. Quentin Tarantino shot part of Death Proof here.15
- No own website to link. The domain circulating for this venue resolves to a third-party user-generated page that says so itself, so nothing is linked here and nothing from it is cited.
- Hygiene: the last seven routine inspections at 1409 Lavaca St, read 77 (25 February 2026), 79, 85, 81, 84, 82 and 78. Austin scores down from 100 and the ordinance's failing line is below 70, so none of these is a failing result.6
- Michelin: checked and not listed, against the live 44-restaurant Austin selection.7
Verdict
should-visit — The Mad Dog margarita is two parts Monte Alban mezcal, one part Triple Sec, one part fresh lime, on the rocks, and Guy Clark's own explanation is that nobody had any money and mezcal was cheap. It has been the best seller ever since. The room opened in 1976, a year before chili became the state dish, and it has worked as a dive bar, a chili counter and a Tex-Mex kitchen at the same time ever since. Order the Freidas Enchiladas, two cheese enchiladas under a ladle of whichever chili you pick, carrying chunks of soft stewed beef. Nicolai McCrary scored it 9.0 and told the truth about the namesake: the chili is not the best thing on the menu. Under ten dollars and open to 2am, in the Capitol's shadow.