A Taste of Austin

Celebrate Austin's best food and drink at CultureMap's tastiest party of the year

CultureMap Austin 2018 Tastemaker Awards at Fair Market Hall of Fame Sophia's Cold Smoked Beef Sirloin Tartare

Join us at the 2019 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards on April 10.

Photo by Shelley Neuman

It's time to raise your glass to Austin and San Antonio's culinary rock stars: The annual CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, our signature food and drink celebration, returns to Austin on April 10.

This has become one of the most popular food parties of the year, and at the heart of the event is our coveted awards program honoring the best restaurant and bar talent in the area.

Each year, CultureMap shines a spotlight on the people making the city's culinary scene special. First, we collaborate with a panel of experts, including previous Tastemaker winners, to determine the nominees. The panel then selects winners in every category, except Best New Restaurant, which will be determined by readers in our interactive tournament this spring.

In Austin, this year's categories are Restaurant of the Year, Chef of the Year, Rising Star Chef of the Year, Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year, Bar of the Year, Bartender of the Year, Wine Program of the Year, Pastry Chef of the Year, Brewery of the Year, Favorite Taco, and Best New Restaurant.

In San Antonio, the categories are Restaurant of the Year, Chef of the Year, Bar of the Year, Favorite Taco, and Best New Restaurant.

We'll unveil the nominees soon, and then you'll get to know them all in a special editorial series leading up to the big event.

Join us April 10 at the Bullock Texas State History Museum for the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards presented by Woodford Reserve, where you'll nosh on signature sweet and savory bites from participating nominees; sip wine, beer, and specialty cocktails from Woodford Reserve; and toast the winners at our awards ceremony.

Discounted tickets are on sale now. Through February 15, you can snag general admission tickets for $50 each or splurge on VIP admission, which includes early access to the event, a dedicated VIP bar, an elevated food pairing experience, and more, for $95.

Advanced general admission and VIP ticket sales will run through April 9 for $60 and $105, respectively. Day-of tickets will be available for $70 and $115. A portion of the proceeds benefits Austin Food & Wine Alliance.

Grab your tickets now, then follow along as we unveil the nominees and more delicious event details, and we'll see you at the party in April.

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Whoops

Michelin goofs on a few restaurants honored in first Texas guide

Kau Ba/Facebook

Houston's Kau Ba has been removed from the Michelin Guide.

Texans' reactions to the first Michelin Guide in the state have ranged from glowing to unimpressed, but a few notable mix-ups are more concrete than differences in taste. The November 11 ceremony honored more than 100 restaurants across the state, but at least two were in error. In Dallas the guide confused two restaurants with each other, and in Houston one of them had closed.

Starting in Dallas: The Guide's release announcing the list of restaurants who'd won awards included The Charles, an award-winning Italian restaurant in Dallas' Design District, as one of 57 restaurants that earned a "Recommended" rating.

The Charles is a surely deserving restaurant that opened in 2018, the first concept from acclaimed food & beverage group Duro Hospitality, which has since gone on to open other restaurants such as El Carlos Elegante, Sister, and Cafe Duro.

But the Guide got the wrong Charles: The real recipient was Mister Charles, a sibling Duro Hospitality restaurant that opened at 3219 Knox St. in early 2024.

The Charles specializes in Italian and Texas-inspired dishes.

Mister Charles features French and Italian-influenced dishes.

It wasn't just an incorrect name; it listed the accompanying (incorrect) address.

A spokesperson for Michelin Guide verified that Mister Charles was the winner and said that the listing of The Charles was a mistake.

“This was an internal error caused by our geolocation process. The problem will be corrected in the most expeditious manner,” the spokesperson said. The Guide website has since updated the list and replaced The Charles with Mister Charles.

Having a difference of opinion about a critic's choices is one thing — but having an error of this magnitude is something else entirely.

And blaming "geolocation" as the source of the error is a curious excuse. Geolocation refers to the ability to track the whereabouts of an electronic device using GPS, cell phone towers, WiFi access points or a combination of these.

The Houston mix-up was also disappointing, but only involved one restaurant: In a press release issued Thursday, November 14, the Guide announced that it had removed Montrose Vietnamese restaurant Kau Ba from the list of Bib Gourmand recipients.

The reason: "Upon further investigation, our team has discovered the restaurant has been permanently closed since our Inspection team's visits occurred," the statement reads.

As has been widely noted in local media, Kau Ba closed earlier this month. The restaurant’s Instagram account now belongs to Alora, which is described as “a fresh Peruvian-Vietnamese fusion concept inspired by travels to Saigon.” It is expected to open soon.

Open since 2018, Kau Ba served an innovative take on Vietnamese fare created by Nikki Tran. The restaurant built on the notoriety Tran had achieved after being featured in two Netflix series: Somebody Feed Phil and Ugly Delicious. It earned considerable acclaim, including a spot in the Houston Chronicle’s top 100 restaurants as recently as 2023 and a nomination for Best Neighborhood Restaurant in the 2021 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards.

The restaurant went through a number of iterations during its tenure. For three-and-a-half years, Tran partnered with Aya Sushi owners Minette Corpuz and Bruce Kish to oversee operations, but they parted ways in February 2023.

In an email sent to Houston Public Media, Tran expressed regret over Michelin's decision.

“But we understand and respect Michelin’s decision to remove Kau Ba from its selection,” Tran said to HPM. “Exercising an abundance of caution from a legal position, I am not able currently to share further details of our situation but I do hope to follow up soon with more information.”

“Until then, on behalf of the entire Kau Ba team, we want to thank the entire culinary community for the recognition and support,” Tran added. “Kau Ba is proud of the dishes we created and look forward to sharing very soon what’s next.”

Thankfully in Austin, things seem to be going okay. The capital city swept the competition with seven stars (one more than Houston now that the change has been made), and two green stars for sustainability — in fact, the only green stars in the state.

Austin also had four of the first-ever barbecue restaurants to be awarded stars. Houston also had one.

Austin's winning restaurants were Barley Swine, Craft Omakase, Hestia, Olamaie, InterStellar BBQ, John Bates, La Barbecue, Alison Clem, and LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue.

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