txmo best new restaurants

Acclaimed downtown Austin eatery crowned Texas Monthly's Best New Restaurant for 2020

Texas Monthly food editor Pat Sharpe has delivered her annual assessment of the state's best new restaurants. Published Monday, February 17, on the magazine's website, the article, titled "The Best New Restaurants in Texas for 2020," provides a ranked list of Texas' 10 best new restaurants as well as honorable mentions.

To be eligible for the list, establishments must have opened between December 1, 2018 and December 1, 2019, and it must be a restaurant's first Texas location. Sharpe notes that this year's list has an international feel with eateries that take their inspiration from places such as Italy, Japan, Goa, and Spain. She finds another tie that binds most of her choices.

"I've noticed a trend that has been growing since the craft cocktail movement began a couple of decades ago; restaurants are becoming more like bars," Sharpe writes. "That is, more casual and (sigh) noisier than ever."

Austin's Comedor takes the top spot, the first time a local restaurant has taken the top spot since 2011. It also marks the second year in a row that one of the city's Mexican restaurants made a strong impression on the critic (Suerte took second last year).

Sharpe raves about the modern Mexican restaurant, comparing it to Houston chef and James Beard Award-winner Hugo Ortega's three Mexican restaurants as well as Pujol, the Mexico City restaurant ranked 12th in the world.

"Be advised that the Texas Mexican Food Timeline does have a significant new date: 2019," she writes. "In other words, there's Before Comedor (BC) and After Comedor (AC). It's just that simple."

No surprise to see Vixen's Wedding on the list in eighth place; Sharpe's had her eyes on it since she authored a rare preview of the Goan restaurant from chefs Todd Duplechan and Jessica Maher. Honorable mentions go to Nixta Taqueria and DipDipDip Tatsu-ya.

Houston and Dallas lead the way with three entries each, but give a slight edge to the Bayou City — all of its entries rank in the top five: Squable (No. 2), Davis St. at Hermann Park (No. 3), and MAD (No. 5). One Fifth Gulf Coast and Rosie Cannonball earn honorable mentions.

Sharpe praises Squable owners Justin Yu and Bobby Heugel for "wisely staying out of the way" of the creative dishes being served by chefs Mark Clayton and Drew Gimma. Davis St. earns a spot thanks to chef Mark Holley's seafood-oriented menu. The critic seems utterly delighted by MAD's whimsical cuisine and decor, writing that chef Luis Roger is "having the time of his life" with the modern tapas that are the restaurant's standout dishes.

Homewood (No. 4), Salaryman (No. 6), and Khao Noodle Shop (No. 8) represent Dallas, with Ka-Tip Thai Street Food and Beverley's making the honorable mentions. Fort Worth's sole spot on the list belongs to Gemelle, the Italian restaurant from celebrity chef Tim Love.

Savor, the restaurant at the Culinary Institute of America, provides San Antonio with its lone entry in the top 10, but both Evo and Kindling Texas Kitchen (in the suburb of Cibolo) earn honorable mentions for the Alamo City.

The Comedor pork chop.

Photo by Hayden Spears

The Comedor pork chop.

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Back to the Plow

Homey Austin jam and bake shop closing and returning to farmers market

Confituras/Instagram

Confituras Little Kitchen is closing its brick-and-mortar store, but feeling optimistic about the future.

A famers market find is returning to its natural environment after six years in a brick-and-mortar location. Confituras Little Kitchen, which specializes in locally sourced preserves, is closing its jam and biscuit shop after service on Sunday, December 22. However, it will continue selling goods at the Barton Creek Farmers Market and via retailers.

Confituras announced the change in a newsletter to its customers in December. The letter called the news "bittersweet."

"Although the brick and mortar will no longer be, the good news is that this will be a fresh new start for us – we are bursting with energy and creativity at the thought of being back out in the community where it all started for confituras," it said.

The kitchen is closing because the lease is up, and the team has decided to "give up the chase." The newsletter emphasized the ups-and-downs of business over the past several years — ones that were chaotic for just about any business, let alone a small, fairly niche food operation.

"So much has happened since we decided to open a brick + mortar – a wonderful kickstarter fundraiser, THE PANDEMIC, the AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC, and an ever growing city," the letter says. "We tried so very hard but never really got our footing. We know we are not alone, many small business are in the same boat. We renewed our lease during the pandemic because we were hopeful we could make it work - the changing times had other ideas."

Finally, it shared how customers could keep enjoying Confituras creations:

The Barton Creek Farmers Market is open at 2901 S. Capital of Texas Hwy. every Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm.
A list on confituras.net compiles retailers including Royal Blue Grocery, Farmhouse Delivery, and Antonelli's Cheese Shop.
Jam share and Table22 subscription customers will have more instructions coming soon about picking up their goods in January at the same space, 2129 Goodrich Ave.
Customers may also reach out to inquire about continuing to order meals directly.

The kitchen also hosted frequent events and workshops, but the letter did not address this aspect of the business.

A shorter message shared on Instagram has inspired 63 comments so far, five days later. Customers eulogized the shop for its community feel and providing a sense of regularity during the height of the pandemic thanks to weekend pick-ups.