Delicious designation

Austin restaurant sizzles as best diner in Texas, says food website

Phoebe’s is a 1950s-style diner that cooks up American classics with a modern Southern twist.

Phoebe's Diner/ Facebook

Austin serves up a virtual buffet of diners that whip up breakfast, brunch, lunch, and even dinner. But only one of those diners can lay claim to being the best in Texas, at least in the estimation of one food website.

Lovefood.com just crowned the best diner in each state, and Phoebe’s Diner grabbed the Texas title. Phoebe’s operates two locations: the original (533 W. Oltorf St., which opened in 2017) and the just-west-of-downtown location (408 W. 11th St., which opened in 2021). A North Austin location is in the works at 2001-D Burnet Rd.

Phoebe’s is a 1950s-style diner that cooks up American classics with a modern Southern twist.

Phoebe’s “turns out classic diner fare and throws some good old Texas barbecue into the mix,” lovefood.com says. “Customers rave about the tender brisket, cooked in a smoker and served with eggs for the ultimate breakfast. Everything’s beautifully prepared, from the fried chicken and grits to the tastiest biscuits in sausage gravy.”

Austin’s Winebelly Group, led by Robert Tran, Eric Tran, and Quang Chau, owns Phoebe’s. The group’s Winebelly wine bar and tapas restaurant, at 519 W. Oltorf St. in South Austin, closed in January. Their Vietnamese-Asian restaurant, Hai Ky, remains open at 1931 E Oltorf St. Suite B in Southeast Austin.

Chef Camden Stuerzenberger, formerly of Bess Bistro, Fork & Vine, and Mighty Bird, oversees the Phoebe’s menu. He crafted the menu at Winebelly.

Back to the Plow

Homey Austin jam and bake shop closing and returning to farmers market

Confituras/Instagram

Confituras Little Kitchen is closing its brick-and-mortar store, but feeling optimistic about the future.

A famers market find is returning to its natural environment after six years in a brick-and-mortar location. Confituras Little Kitchen, which specializes in locally sourced preserves, is closing its jam and biscuit shop after service on Sunday, December 22. However, it will continue selling goods at the Barton Creek Farmers Market and via retailers.

Confituras announced the change in a newsletter to its customers in December. The letter called the news "bittersweet."

"Although the brick and mortar will no longer be, the good news is that this will be a fresh new start for us – we are bursting with energy and creativity at the thought of being back out in the community where it all started for confituras," it said.

The kitchen is closing because the lease is up, and the team has decided to "give up the chase." The newsletter emphasized the ups-and-downs of business over the past several years — ones that were chaotic for just about any business, let alone a small, fairly niche food operation.

"So much has happened since we decided to open a brick + mortar – a wonderful kickstarter fundraiser, THE PANDEMIC, the AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC, and an ever growing city," the letter says. "We tried so very hard but never really got our footing. We know we are not alone, many small business are in the same boat. We renewed our lease during the pandemic because we were hopeful we could make it work - the changing times had other ideas."

Finally, it shared how customers could keep enjoying Confituras creations:

The Barton Creek Farmers Market is open at 2901 S. Capital of Texas Hwy. every Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm.
A list on confituras.net compiles retailers including Royal Blue Grocery, Farmhouse Delivery, and Antonelli's Cheese Shop.
Jam share and Table22 subscription customers will have more instructions coming soon about picking up their goods in January at the same space, 2129 Goodrich Ave.
Customers may also reach out to inquire about continuing to order meals directly.

The kitchen also hosted frequent events and workshops, but the letter did not address this aspect of the business.

A shorter message shared on Instagram has inspired 63 comments so far, five days later. Customers eulogized the shop for its community feel and providing a sense of regularity during the height of the pandemic thanks to weekend pick-ups.