News you can eat

Austin adds 4 new restaurants, Whole Foods debuts fresh look, plus more food news

Lotus + Cleaver has launched a new lunch menu.

Editor's note: We get it. It can be difficult to keep up with the what’s what and who’s who of Austin food. But we have you covered with our regular roundup of the freshest Austin restaurant news.

Chihuahua, Mexico-based fast casual chain Woko Loco is opening its first U.S. store at 1201 Barbara Jordan Blvd. in the Mueller development this fall. The restaurant is yet another “Chipotle of” concept, this time allowing customers to build their own noodle bowls from a variety of veggies, meats, and sauces.

Lubbock franchiseBahama Buck’s is moving into 105 E. Stassney Ln. on May 29. The shop focuses on acai bowls, fruit cups, smoothies, shaved ice, and frozen coffee drinks — many made without sugar or dairy to accommodate specialty diets.

Hi Wings Chicken House is now open at 2525 W. Anderson Ln. in Northcross Mall. The menu features all sorts of things to make your cardiologist nervous, including fried macaroni, mozzarella sticks, fried pickles, jalapeño poppers, Korean fried chicken, and fried wings.

Construction on beloved institution Tacodeli has begun at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Along with an Einstein Bros. Bagels, the taco joint will replace the Austin Java and a newsstand near Gate 14 in the Barbara Jordan Terminal. The renovation, which should be complete by late 2018, also includes a live music venue and stage.

A mixed beverage permit has been filed for a new concept called She’s Not Here at 440 W. Second St., the former home of tapas bar Malaga. According to LinkedIn, one of the partners is Ben Cachila, also a partner in Old Thousand and the newly opened 40 North. CultureMap has reached out to company reps for details.

With its new Northwest-style pale ale, Thirsty Planet Brewing Co. is getting into the music business — sort of. To celebrate, the brewery is releasing a six-track flexi-vinyl recording of production sounds on May 26 at End of an Ear, which will no doubt be sampled in an EDM banger years from now.

Whole Foods Market has completely revamped its Gateway location at 9607 Research Blvd. In addition to adding tons of new products, there is now a self serve pizza station, a larger hot bar, a new bulk department, and a new wine department with 60 new sparkling wines (perfect for toasting the renovation). See the new features yourself May 18 and enjoy 10 percent off purchases on $75 or more.

We may never know what went down with VOX Table’s sudden shutter, but we do now know what happened to its talented chef. Joe Anguiano has joined the Kerbey Lane team as executive chef and will spearhead the creation of future seasonal menus.

The upcoming Bird Bird Biscuit is hosting one last pop-up on May 19 in preparation for a June opening. The party at the Thunderbird Coffee on 2200 Manor Rd. will feature its Dough Dough biscuit doughnut holes from 9 am until sold out.

Following the ageless advice of Huey Lewis, Cane Rosso has decided it’s hip to be square. The pizzeria has introduced Sicilian-style square pies during dinner to go with its Neapolitan offerings.

Lotus + Cleaver in the Domain Northside has launched a new lunch service allowing customers to build their own bowls from a variety of bases, veggies, and proteins. Sides like avocado toast will also be available, as well as fresh juices and teas.

Legendary winemaker Jean-Michel Cazes, a 1960 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, will return to town May 22-23 for two special appearances. First up is a free meet-and-greet and bottle signing at the 4001. S. Lamar Blvd. location of Twin Liquors on May 22, followed by a decidedly not free wine dinner at Jeffrey’s on May 23. The latter will feature a lavish four-course dinner from chef Mark McCain.

Act now to score the last few tickets available for Cochon 555 on May 20, the annual heritage pig cooking competition featuring some of Austin’s best chefs. This competitors showing their (pork) chops this year are Abril Galindo Lopez and James Flowers of Trio, Ben Runkle and Louis Ciola of Salt & Time, Fiore Tedesco of L’Oca d’Oro, Gabriel Erales of Dai Due Taqueria, and Nathan Lemley and Sarah Heard of Foreign & Domestic.

Imbibe Magazine and Campari are once again inviting Austinites to see red for Negroni Week, the annual fundraising promotion that invites bars and restaurants around the city to mix for a good cause. Participants this year include Holy Roller, Odd Duck, The Townsend, Via 313, Half Step, Gelateria Gemelli, and a whole lot more. Find the full list of local participants here.

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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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