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Austin's new Mediterranean restaurant opens with build-your-own craze

Mezze Me Mediterranean restaurant in Austin

At Mezze Me, you can build your own bowl.

Photo by Ashlyn Allison

Mezze Me, a new fast-casual concept that highlights contemporary Mediterranean cuisine using locally-sourced ingredients, has opened at The Triangle.

After graduating from college in Austin, Turkish native Moody Ugur operated two successful restaurants in Istanbul before returning to Central Texas to offer distinctive Euro-Mediterranean dishes. Ugur sources ingredients from area farmers and producers with help from farm-product distributor Farm to Table.

Mezze Me specializes in customizable bowls. Diners build their own by choosing pita bread, spring mix, brown rice with quinoa, or basmati rice as a base and top it with a protein (beef and lamb doner, chicken doner, braised lamb, kofta balls, or falafel) and choice of mezze, which include hummus, roasted eggplant, spicy tabouli, and more.

The final step is selecting a topping like sumac onion with parsley, crumbled feta cheese, Kalamata olives, tomatoes and cucumber, or dressings like yogurt dill or spicy harissa. The kitchen uses as many locally sourced and organic ingredients as possible. Bowls range from $7.85 to $9.25.

The space is decorated with reclaimed elements and artwork from local crafters, and it offers free Wi-Fi and built-in iPad stations featuring popular games, movies, and educational apps to keep the kids entertained.

“It’s been a longtime goal of mine to open a Mediterranean restaurant, and Austin is the perfect city and community,” Ugur says in a press release. “Though we have an abundant amount of restaurants, an authentic, quick-casual Mediterranean restaurant was lacking. I’m very excited to be back in Austin serving the food I grew up on.”

Mezze Me is located at 4700 Guadalupe St., Suite 9. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 11 am to 9 pm.

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Raise a Glass

More than 200 whiskeys headed for Austin in traveling tasting festival

Photo by Kathy Tran

Whiskey Riot is coming to Austin in April.

On Saturday, April 5, whiskey nerds in Austin will have a chance to taste and compare more than 200 products at Whiskey Riot, a traveling whiskey festival. This will be the festivals fourth year in Austin — so even if guests try 50 whiskeys each time, they still haven't exhausted the lineup.

A press release invites both whiskey lovers and the "whiskey curious," and it sounds like past events have appealed to both because the 2024 event sold out.

Attendees will learn about whiskey from representatives of brands from near and very far, including some local to the Austin area and Central Texas: Austin's own Austin 101, Milam & Greene from Blanco, Balcones from Waco, and Maverick Whiskey from San Antonio, to name a few.

For a $90 ticket, attendees will get to sample all the whiskeys on the lineup, a commemorative tasting glass to take home, and some whiskey cocktails to break up the flavors. If guests also want to get there early for a more leisurely experience (and to pace out the alcohol consumption a bit), they can get a $120 early entry ticket; that gets them in an hour ahead and gives premium access to each brand and the cocktail bar.

Since more than 200 whiskeys is a lot to keep track of, the Whiskey Riot website also offers a free downloadable tasting worksheet. Using the notes section and a tasting wheel with descriptors like "botanical" and tasting notes like "coffee" and "honey," attendees can keep track of which discoveries were their favorites and why. The wheel might also help identify patterns of personal taste, so it becomes easier to find new favorites beyond the festival.

Whiskey Riot will be held April 5 from 4-7 pm (or 3-7 pm for early access) at Fair Market (1100 E. 5th St.). Guests must be at least 21 years old.

whiskey festivals tasting cocktails