seis for cinco

Austin gets in the spirit with 6 festive Cinco de Mayo celebrations

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with $5 house margs at Z’Tejas.

Courtesy of Z Tejas

Francamente, no one in Austin needs a list to find margaritas on Cinco de Mayo — everyone is mixing up tequila and lime drinks to celebrate. The holiday has spiraled out from its military roots, initially commemorating victory over France in the Battle of Puebla in 1862, and more recently representing some United States rendition of Mexican joy.

Texans have a unique privilege as Mexico’s closest U.S. neighbor; an opportunity to interact with actual Mexican and Mexican-American culture on a daily basis, and absolute Mexican camp on May 5.

The following are six Austin spots getting in the Cinco de Mayo spirit with parties and specials that go beyond a margarita happy hour. Whether this year feels like a tamales holiday or a burgers and beer holiday, Austinites have another fun opportunity to learn about and celebrate our Mexican friends and family.

Z’Tejas
There will be margaritas galore all over Austin on May 5, but Z’Tejas has something else to offer as your coordination wanes: hitting things with a stick. The Southwestern grill will have $5 house margaritas, piñatas filled with prizes, and live music. Whether that celebration calls for a snack (aguachile shrimp ceviche, guacamole) or a full meal (fried tamales, smoked chicken chile relleno), Z’Tejas has got you covered. This event is happening at both the Avery Ranch and Sixth Street locations.

The Lucky Rabbit
This new “live music bar and kitchen” is doing what it does best, slinging drink specials and connecting visitors with local music. This party focuses on $5 margaritas, queso, and nachos, plus a special burger with “Texas crack mayo,” green chili queso, jalapeños pickled in-house, and chipotle sour cream. Blues and dub group Audic Empire is playing a live show, and Tequila Código, a brand championed by George Strait, is sending a team to give free tastings and cardboard cutout photo ops with the country star.

Hopdoddy
One of Austin’s greatest contributions to over-the-top burgers, Hopdoddy, is bringing back a “fan favorite” Mexican burger for the month of May, starting on Wednesday, May 4. The Bidi Bidi Burger is a cross between a burger and a tostada (layered with entire intact tostadas the size of the burger itself). That’s topped with two cheeses (pepper jack by Tillamook, and cotija), a black bean spread, pico de gallo and shredded lettuce, and seasoned with chipotle aioli, guacamole crema and cilantro.

Blue Owl Brewing
On such a cocktail-centric holiday, la cerveza can feel a little neglected. At Blue Owl Brewing, there’s no way it’s going overlooked. Its sour beers will be featured in classic micheladas, and more unusual frozen palomas and ‘ritas. It’s also running a community game of Lotería that’s free to play, and sends winners home with Blue Owl merch. An ongoing game on Mondays uses stickers from the brewery’s Limetastico six-packs, which can be redeemed at the Cinco de Mayo party for special combo prizes.

The Arboretum X Renaissance Austin Hotel
A collaboration between the Arboretum and Renaissance Austin Hotel is bringing the party to a North Austin lawn for free, with catering by the hotel. They’ve invited some local friends who walk the Latin walk year round: Simar Seafood Cocina, a family-owned coastal Mexican restaurant from down the road, for margaritas, and the Darin Layne Latin Duo for live tunes. There will also be a raffle, swag bags, and other festivities. Tickets are free, but registration is available on Eventbrite.

Fiesta Austin
Fiesta Austin is a local heritage organization that aims to preserve Mexican-American culture, especially through its annual Cinco de Mayo celebration. This year’s festivities at Fiesta Gardens on May 7 include catering by Casa Morenos, music by Mariachi Corazon de Tejas, and a performance by social dancers ¡Viva Tejana! Dance Company. Other partners bring shopping and conversations with community leaders, for a well-rounded festival. Presale tickets ($5) are available at themerchgroup.com.

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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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