Opening Alert

Whole Foods' new low-price store finally opens in Austin area — with local surprises

Cedar Park gets the first 365 by Whole Foods Market in Texas.

Photo courtesy of 365 by Whole Foods Market

The first Austin-area 365 by Whole Foods Market, a new lower-price concept designed to appeal to younger shoppers, debuts Wednesday, April 26. The new Cedar Park store is stuffed with local touches, including outposts of Austin favorites Easy Tiger and JuiceLand.

This marks the second Easy Tiger outpost. It will offer the same sausages, sandwiches, pretzels, craft beer, and fresh coffee as the original downtown location; signature breads and pastries will be available for purchase in-store.

"Our exciting partnership with 365 by Whole Foods will give us a chance to feature not only Easy Tiger's food and hospitality to a new audience, but also to showcase many local farms, purveyors, and products that are not typically represented on such a huge stage," says chef Drew Curren of Elm Restaurant Group, in a release.

JuiceLand will serve its signature lineup of juices, smoothies, and snacks. The opening is part of JuiceLand's rapid expansion in the northern suburbs of Austin that also includes a new spot in Georgetown.

The 30,000-square-foot 365 store, located on the U.S. Highway 183A toll road near New Hope Drive, offers a wide selection of 365 brand goods, grab-and-go meals, bulk foods, and body care products. This is the fourth location in the U.S. Stores opened last year in Bellevue, Washington; Lake Oswego, Oregon; and the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

"Whether you're looking for a quick in-and-out shop for a few items, stocking up on groceries for the week, grabbing a smoothie from JuiceLand, or meeting for a drink at Easy Tiger, you'll find a blend of innovation and convenience in our store,” says Jeff Turnas, president of 365 by Whole Foods Market.

365 by Whole Foods Market hosts a grand opening celebration on Wednesday, April 26, with live music from Shinyribs. Five percent of proceeds from the day will benefit The Thinkery.

openings

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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