Good news

One of Austin's most popular food trucks opens anticipated brick-and-mortar

Paperboy opens on July 9.

Photo courtesy of Paperboy

The pandemic hasn't stopped one of Austin's most anticipated restaurants from opening. On Thursday, July 9, uber popular food truck Paperboy officially opens its East Austin brick-and-mortar.

In a sweet twist, Paperboy's new restaurant is located at 1203 E. 11th St., the same plot where the trailer was first parked in 2015.

Paperboy's menu, crafted by chef Patrick Jackson, features the favorites fans love, like Texas hash, alongside new dishes such as the Paperboy Pancakes and migas. Breakfast and brunch menus include an expanded pastry program, which the restaurant has been teasing on its Instagram for the past few days. For lunch, diners can opt for a "variety of soups, salads, and bowls," notes a release.

Like the food truck, the new Paperboy brick-and-mortar is open for lunch and dinner from 8 am to 3 pm, daily. Unlike the food truck, the new restaurant offers a full alcohol and coffee program, two levels of patio space, a takeout window, and bar and inside seating.

“We’ve put just as much thought into the Paperboy experience as the food itself,” Paperboy owner Ryan Harms says in a release. “We hope that when people come here, they feel like they can be themselves. It’s a welcoming place for all.”

Crafting that experience were architect Chioco Design and interior designer Laura Harms, who used a blend of raw and natural materials to create the casual-yet-sophisticated space. Concrete floors, a wood-paneled counter space, and quartz counters are accented with pops of muted colors like burnt orange and dark green.

The theme continues outside where Texas terra-cotta bricks have been used to construct the restaurant's facade leading up to the rooftop patio space. The surrounding "no-fuss" landscape design is the work of Spencer Landscape Company, who used succulents and native plants to accent the exteriors.

To begin, Paperboy will open using a reservation system in order to maintain social distancing. The grab-and-go window will open with limited offerings, but the restaurant says it's working to make the full menu available for takeout orders soon.

Staff are required to wear face coverings, and guests must also wear face masks unless eating or drinking, per the governor's current order. Guests are also asked to maintain the suggested six feet of social distancing while dining.

“This has been a dream of ours for a long time, and we’re grateful to be opening our doors,” says Harms. “We’ve been working around the clock to be able to open safely while still delivering an experience that’s true to who we are at Paperboy. We can’t wait for people to safely enjoy the new space with us.”

food-trucks 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.

michelin guide awards