double shifts

6 Austin coffee-and-cocktail hot spots where drinks flow from day to night

Bars splitting time between coffee and cocktails, like this one at the Carpenter Hotel, are central to Austin's unpretentious daytime and nighttime appeal.

Photo by Jessica Attie

Coffee, beer, and cocktails have been needlessly separate experiences for far too long. Thankfully, you can never really accuse Austinites of being prudes or traditionalists. This city is all about sitting outside for hours, mixing work and pleasure, and browsing long, eclectic menus.

These six neighborhood cafe-bar hybrids are staples in their communities for their breadth of offerings and commitment to the real deal. Open early, closing late, and hosting community events, they are home away from home for lots of locals and are quickly becoming one of Austin’s best identifying features. The great news is no one needs a fancy excuse to enjoy them, day or night.

Better Half
This downtown bar boasts a wide variety of dishes, from vermicelli to pastrami to grilled halloumi. The Fourth Street location makes it easy to pop over in between errands or a walk from Zilker, and the long bar and booths make it easy to squeeze tons of friends together. The adventurous coffee menu includes flavors like cardamom, lavender, and lemon, while the Chagaccino showcases “wild foraged chaga mocha” sweetened with monk fruit. Here, unsurprisingly, the cocktails have an adventurous worldly slant, augmented by a healthy beer list (with at least one non-alcoholic option), and a long list of wines by the bottle. This low-key but chic gathering place is the epitome of Austin's wonderfully indecisive grab-any-drink-and-chat culture.

The Buzz Mill
This 24/7 Riverside community staple is as unpretentious as it gets. The log cabin could take you from one dawn to the next if you had the stamina, with coffee, beer, and spirits; vegan-friendly food trucks; and a rotating schedule of entertainment. Behind the bar, jugs of house-infused liquors line up, including blackberry apple gin, smoked peach whiskey, and … bear mace vodka. Let us know what that is, if you’re brave enough to try it. In case you do ever leave the premises, the Buzz Mill and Camp Master Chris Hyde prepare Lumber Society members with woodsy survival skills. The Seventh Street outpost has more limited — but still extensive — hours and offers plant-based brunch favorites from early morning well into the night.

Carpenter Coffee Bar
Another counter that changes jobs for the night shift, the coffee bar at the Carpenter Hotel feels a bit like a speakeasy, tucked away in a city library-like brick building just south of the river. The open, industrial interior looks like a community room converted into an artist’s collective loft, with vaguely mismatched leather chairs facing each other in little pockets and a wall of vinyls to browse and play. It serves coffee and pastries during the day (including some unique cafe offerings with opaque names like Ladybird and Ponyboy, along with the universal coffee standards). At night, it switches over to cocktails, wine, and a couple of beers, plus a gourmet snack menu. Stay for the transition and hit the pool in between.

Cosmic Coffee
Cosmic Coffee + Beer Garden is practically a botanical garden. A central pond houses edible plants, frogs, fish, and more occasional visitors, and is self-sustaining with a tiny amount of help from an electrical pump powering a decorative waterfall. The bar’s efforts in maintaining this space, plus raised garden beds and a chicken coop, have earned the property its National Wildlife Habitat Certification. Food trucks on the lot use some of the edible plants harvested there, fertilized by waste composted onsite. Inside, the creative coffee and alcohol offerings overlap in “boozy” coffees: the Nitro Espresso Cocktail featuring Deep Eddy vodka, and a Rum Thai Iced Coffee, among others.

Opa
If it’s possible to be 100 percent Austin and 100 percent Mediterranean all at once, Opa does it. The busy little house on South Lamar is full of homey furniture, coffee table books, and board games. It would almost be overstimulating if it weren’t so darn cozy. The mostly meat-free menu is great for sharing, from unassuming but lovely thin-crust pizza to sampler plates featuring traditional Greek dishes like hummus and dolmas. This cafe offers some cocktails, but mostly focuses on wine, with bottles lined up at the end of the bar for perusing. There’s live music inside and outside on one of Austin’s most beautiful oak-shaded patios, and regular open mic nights. All this on a busy street means Opa can’t be beat for meetings, dates, or spontaneous solo unwinds.

Turnstile
Turnstile doesn’t do anything halfway, except its daily schedule. Instead of splitting attention between coffee and cocktails, this North Austin food park “transitions” from morning roasts to evening brews. It emphasizes quality, with locally roasted fair trade coffees, a “highly curated” roster of draft beers, and occasional craft cocktails. Equally over-the-top are the grass-fed burgers, piled high with sauces and veggies. Austin FC fans are a big part of the clientele, heading over from the Q2 Stadium half a mile away, but Turnstile stays connected to the broader community with Tuesday trivia nights, a weekly sustainable community market, and frequent donation drive collaborations.

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Omakase for Everyone

New South Austin restaurant swims against current of expensive omakase

Photo courtesy of Tancho Sushi

Tancho Sushi keeps things simple.

Austin had no shortage of beautiful sushi restaurants, but a new one at Lantana Place is doing drawing the trend away from the center of the city and sticking a lower price tag on the experience. Tancho Sushi, offering "everyday omakase," is now open at 7415 Southwest Parkway.

The thought of casual omakase feels like a bit of an oxymoron in Austin, where the service style — which tasks the chef with choosing what the diner will eat — is almost synonymous with something fancy and expensive. Factor in the interior design at Tancho, which certainly doesn't look pedestrian, and it's hard to believe it's actually an everyday meal.

But all things considered, these prices seem reasonable: $29 for the lightest dinner option, and capping out at a $59 feast. Lunch is even less expensive, starting at $24.

Tancho Sushi interior The airy space takes advantage of its surroundings outside of the city.Photo courtesy of Tancho Sushi

In some omakase experiences, the chef might factor in a diner's taste, the special ingredients that are available that day, and any number of other factors to determine what hits the table. But at Tancho, these prix fixe options are predetermined, doubtlessly contributing to the more accessible pricing.

The 50-seat restaurant also uses a clever marketing angle to get diners in who aren't necessarily experienced in sushi, or might otherwise be intimidated by letting a chef choose unfamiliar foods. "With thoughtfully curated preset menus, Tancho simplifies the dining experience by eliminating the guesswork so guests can focus on enjoying their meals," a press release announcing the opening says.

The release was sent November 22, but it looks like Tancho has been serving customers in a soft opening capacity for about a month, based on its Google reviews (which are stunningly high for a new restaurant at 4.7 stars).

Offerings at Tancho are simple.Photo courtesy of Tancho Sushi

Although each menu is different, there is a shared arc. All four experiences start with sunomono salad, a cucumber-based dish with red seaweed and sesame. Then there's tuna sashimi with smoked yuzu ponzu and scallions, and the rest depends on what the diner chooses.

Some standout items across the dinner service are sea bream on the light menu; akami (very red meat along the spine of a tuna) on the standard omakase menu; a lobster open hand roll on the rolls-only menu; and a tuna flight on the grand omakase menu.

No menu item is especially complicated. The focus is on doing each ingredient right, including the temperature the fish is served at and even the flavor of house-made soy sauce and ponzu.

“We keep the focus on the ingredients,” said co-founder Brad Van Otterloo in the release. “By stripping away unnecessary flourishes, we allow the quality of our fish to take center stage. This is a Texas-born concept through and through, and we’re proud to contribute to Austin’s growing sushi reputation.”

The open hand rolls are a signature for the restaurant.Photo courtesy of Tancho Sushi

Despite all this talk of omakase, it is possible to order à la carte items: some appetizers, nigiri (sliced fish on top of rice), and rolls. There's also a carefully curated beverage program, which largely focuses on sake. That includes the Kubota Manju or “Ten Thousand Celebrations" ($79), renowned in Japan for its complex layers and smooth mouthfeel.

“As Austin continues to grow, we wanted to introduce a fresh take on the sushi experience,” said Van Otterloo. “We’re here to make sushi approachable for Austinites while honoring the integrity of this cuisine. It’s about creating a space where everyone can discover and enjoy sushi at their own pace – no pressure, no pretense.”

Tancho Sushi exterior This restaurant is meant to be approachable.Image courtesy of Tancho Sushi

Tancho Sushi is located at 7415 Southwest Parkway, Building 4, Suite 300. It's open daily from 11 am to 10 pm, offering both dine-in and takeout. There are no reservations.

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