Food crawl

9 eateries transforming East Austin's underrated restaurant strip

When Austinites head to the east side for food and drinks, chances are they’re looking somewhere between East Cesar Chavez and Seventh Street. Sure, that area has some of the buzziest restaurants in town, but sometimes diners need something more mellow.

For a quieter evening, make a beeline for Manor Road’s restaurant row. A short hop from campus, it is packed with superlative spots that all have a cozy neighborhood feel. Better yet, wait times are far shorter than many places in town. For those catching a show at Bass Concert Hall or a Longhorns game, the strip is an absolute must.

The Butterfly BarandPatrizi’s
Few local spots capture the old Austin’s keep it weird vibe as much as this pair of concepts located on the grounds of The Vortex Theater. The Butterfly Bar serves up classic cocktails and originals like the energizing Whippoorwill with Basil Hayden Bourbon and cold brew. Patrizi’s is a revered favorite with fresh Italian offerings like handmade pasta and seasonal salads. Both rest in a courtyard that features some of the best people-watching in town — and an occasional impromptu performance.

Dai Due
Though it offers a handful of dishes for vegetarians, this 100-percent local eatery is a carnivore’s dream. The butcher shop in the front supplies the restaurant with ever-changing inspiration, from dry-aged Wagyu for burgers to wild boar for lettuce wraps. Those seeking a great date night will want to check out the fantastic weekly specials, like the Gulf seafood dinner for two every Friday evening or the Sunday supper featuring decadent, tallow-fried chicken.

Haymaker
This sporty spot offers a quality patio, multiple TVs, and satisfying comfort food. Definitely order up the poutine, served either traditionally with brown gravy or Southern-style with white. The snack pairs beautifully with almost everything on the menu, from a huge croque monsieur smothered in Gruyere sauce to a patty melt with grilled onions and cheddar. At the bar, there’s craft cocktails, but the lengthy craft beer list is the highlight. Be sure to check out the daily drink specials — there’s one for every day of the week!

Hoover’s Cooking
No guide to Manor Road is complete without Hoover’s “honest-to-goodness good Texas cooking.” For more than 20 years, the restaurant has offered up quality Southern comforts, such as chicken fried steaks, charbroiled catfish, barbecue pork ribs, and meatloaf. If you’re on a budget, head to the bar for Hoover Hour from 3-7 pm every Wednesday through Friday for deals on select beers, wine, and spirits, plus food options like a $7 fried chicken basket.

Mi Madre’s
This Tex-Mex institution has been operating since 1990, long before Manor Road became a restaurant destination. Still, it has remained an essential spot, especially during the bustling morning hours. Get your day going with breakfast tacos and a horchata, then bring it to a close via chicken mole enchiladas or a chile relleno in tangy ranchero sauce. Cervezas, cocktails, and wine are available, as is a lovely patio to set the scene.

Mum Foods
This charming delicatessen from a farmers market favorite will only have a limited run at its current address, so Austinites should catch it while they can. The sandwiches, especially The Rachel with hot pastrami and the slightly fiery pimento cheese, all astound, but the salads and daily soup are just as good. Finish the meal with a praline or the velvety brown butter chess pie, and bring a bottle of rosé to sip on the porch. Non-imbibers can choose from a selection of locally made water, tea, and kombucha.

Salty Sow
Ask any Austinite who has the best happy hour in town, and they will likely point to this spot, which offers super deals on select cocktails (try the maple-glazed Old Fashioned) and snacks from 4:30-6:30 pm every day of the week. Even when not discounted, hors d’oeuvres like earthy truffled deviled eggs and duck fat fries are a steal, but save some room for an entrée. The candied pork belly with collard greens and soy balsamic syrup is not to be missed.

School House Pub
Next door to Mi Madre’s is School House Pub, offering plentiful outdoor seating, a sizable list of craft beers and cocktails, and a friendly neighborhood crowd. Though the drinks are the big event, the food isn’t an afterthought. Solid choices include everything from soft pretzels to spicy ginger chili wings to burgers, but the best dish of all may be the savory popcorn — a snack masterpiece with shaved Parmesan, bacon, and sage.

Yuyo
Located in the middle of an oddball triangle island between Manor Road, Lafayette Avenue, and Dean Keeton Street, Yuyo brings dining diversity to Manor's strip. Kickback with a refreshing Pisco Sour and enjoy Peruvian-inspired dishes, such as churrasco (grilled Angus steak with chimichurri), bao buns filled with hoisin pork belly, or one of four ceviche options. While dining, be sure to snap a few pics of the beautiful interiors.

Start the day off with Mi Madre's popular breakfast.

Mi Madre's/Facebook

Start the day off with Mi Madre's popular breakfast.

breakfast brunch dinner happy-hours cocktails where-to-eat east-austin craft-beer where-drink desserts lunch drinks

Belles of the Ballroom

9 Austin bar and venue experts take over popular Old Austin space near UT

29th Street Ballroom/Facebook

Changes are coming at the 29th Street Ballroom, but the goal is to preserve what already makes it special.

The evolution continues at the 29th Street Ballroom, the music venue formerly attached to Spider House Café. It's no secret, Resound Presents CEO and co-founder Graham Williams says, that he and a large team of other industry pros are taking over the space; but now they're ready to talk about what comes next for the venue and adjoining bar.

Although Spider House Café closed in 2020, the Ballroom stayed open, and has continued serving University of Texas students and anyone else who wants to see a show outside of the ordinary: punk shows, burlesque revues, fundraisers, and more. It'll stay open through most of the renovations, scheduled through January of 2025, and is expected to hold a grand opening in March.

Now Resound — one of Austin's top live music organizers, which was itself born from the ashes of another Austin institution — is lending two of its co-founders to managing the space going forward: Williams and Ian Orth. They're joining seven other team members from venues around town, many of them overlapping: Amy Mullins, Brian Tweedy, Jason McNeely, John Yaklin, and Shannon LeBoeuf of Hotel Vegas, Chess Club, Kinda Tropical, Tweedy’s, and Yellow Jacket Social Club, in varying capacities; and Brian Buscemi and Mike Sanchez of the Little Darlin’.

Williams emphasizes that although things will be changing at the Ballroom, the goal isn't to change anything people already love.

"Over the next few months as we kind of ease into the spring, we're using this downtime to revitalize things, decorate, revamp some of the stuff in the venue and the bar, and just kind of get things moving in the right direction," Williams says, "taking what's already popular about the venue and just adding to it, really."

Bar updates
The biggest shift will be turning the bar from an accessory to live shows into its own entity that's open even when there's nothing else going on. Amy Mullins, best known as a co-owner of Yellow Jacket Social Club, is overseeing that transition. She's never operated a venue that is primarily focused on music, and has been enjoying learning more about how to do it; she even worked the door recently when a staff member called out sick.

Mullins echoes Williams in assuring that the change is more about logistics than tone. It'll still feel like Old Austin, but she does express a hope to run more than the "typical venue bar," handing out simple drinks as quickly as possible. She's working on a new menu that includes wine, beer, craft cocktails, and non-alcoholic options like tea, kombucha, or mocktails. Regardless of what's on the schedule on any given night, Mullins says the menu will stay the same.

"There's no drink too complicated for us to make, however busy we are," she says.

Food options
Another goal for the team will be making sure the space works when there's not someone onstage to crowd around. They'll expand the front and side patios and create a food truck food court that features the same trucks that are there now, plus one newcomer. All in all, that includes Yalla Burger & Wings, Gyro Center, Li’l Nonna’s Vegan Pizzeria, Guppy’s Indian Fried Chicken, Waylon J’s BBQ, and Ay Chihuahua Tacos.

The expanded patio will connect to Tweedy's Bar next door, which also has its own food trucks. The idea is to create a space to hang out after shows that feels fit for the purpose. It's possible to stick around after events now, but the layout does create a vague feeling of loitering.

Artist and fan-friendly tweaks
On the entertainment side, Williams says some of the renovations include putting in a new sound system, redoing the green room, updating the facade, and repainting signs. Since the winter is a slower time for live music, they'll be taking advantage of the extra time to work on things before packing the calendar with more events than before. Resound will handle most of the bookings in live music, comedy, and DJ sets, welcoming both national and local talent.

Whatever the details end up being, this team has proved to Austinites that they know how to run venues worth visiting. And since they're all friends and business partners on multiple levels, it sounds like having this many cooks in the kitchen just isn't an issue.

"Some of us have been roommates and known each other since we were young," says Williams. "It's a good mix of people who are all very like minded, so a lot is being brought to the table per decision. So yeah, it's it's really exciting. Sometimes that's not the case. .... But with this project, it's a lot of really great, creative people that are good at what they do [and] they trust each other."

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