National Love for Austin Food Scene

Austin hot spots land on Bon Appetit's list of best new restaurants

Austin proves its culinary chops once again. Three local restaurants have made a big-deal list: nominees for Bon Appetit's Best New Restaurants 2013. Restaurant editor Andrew Knowlton "spent countless hours and traveled thousands of miles" crossing the country to compile the list of 50 contenders.

The list — mercifully available at a single glance — spreads its wealth from California to New York and includes a surprisingly robust six from Texas:

FT33 (Dallas)
Jeffrey's and Josephine House (Austin)
The Pass and Provisions (Houston)
Ramen Tatsu-Ya (Austin)
Spoon (Dallas)
Sway (Austin)

In his write-up for Jeffrey's, Knowlton comments that fine dining is alive in Austin, thanks to "empire-builder" Larry McGuire, who gave this local institution and its sibling new life:

These are places where the flowers matter, the customer matters, and — of course — the food matters, whether it's lunch and cocktails at Josephine House or a 35-day dry-aged Texas porterhouse for dinner at Jeffrey's. The attention to detail at is evident in every little thing, from brass valet parking tickets to a roving Martini cart to laser-cut leather-bound menus.

At Sway, Bon Appetit loves the off-the-menu "Moo Sway"— a family-style meal of raw oysters and a whole, slow-roasted Thai-style pork shoulder — at this "stunningly designed" new restaurant:

The outdoor patio with its modern chairs and tables is straight out of Dwell, while the lively interior glows with warm wood and the buzz of hungry diners. The menu is full of sophisticated, Thai-inspired noodles, grilled meats and curries from Austin's beloved Rene Ortiz, best known for his Mexican cooking at La Condesa.

Knowlton calls Ramen Tastu-Ya a "Japanese gem" hidden in a strip mall and advises ordering "kaedama" — extra noodles — to add to bowls of broth:

The dining room's bright red chairs and red-accented lamps set a fun, energetic vibe, but it's the steaming bowls of ramen with hunks of pork belly that cause fans to line up outside the door.

On August 14, the magazine will reveal its list of the 10 best new restaurants and the editor's pick for the best new restaurant in America.

Bon Appetit calls Ramen Tatsu-Ya a "Japanese gem."

Photo courtesy of Ramen Tatsu-Ya

Bon Appetit calls Ramen Tatsu-Ya a "Japanese gem."

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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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