NEWS YOU CAN EAT

5 things to know in Austin food right now: Pho-nomenal Asian eatery opens new shop

Pho sho, you'll want to check out the new Asian fusion eatery at the Hill Country Galleria.

Photo by Thanin Viriyaki Photography

Editor’s note: We get it. It can be difficult to keep up with the fast pace of Austin’s restaurant and bar scene. We have you covered with our regular roundup of essential food news.

Openings and reopenings

Southsiders who have been craving fast and fresh Asian fusion fare for, like, pho-ever, are in luck. Simply Pho House, the locally owned eatery with locations in Lakeway, Marble Falls, and Dripping Springs, is opening a new spot at the Hill Country Galleria in Bee Cave on Thursday, September 23. Located at 12913 Galleria Circle, Simply Pho House, run by husband-and-wife team Sonny Tran and Loan Huynh, previously had a location in Bee Cave at the Shops at the Galleria, but shuttered that spot in anticipation of opening at the Hill Country Galleria. The new location will feature an expanded menu of popular Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese dishes, as well as boba tea drinks, beer, and wine. Simply Pho House plans to offer weekend dim sum service in the future. The new location will be open Monday through Thursday 11 am-8:45 pm, Friday and Saturday 11 am-9:45 pm, and Sunday noon-8:45 pm. Get more info on the restaurant’s website.

In an effort to continue beefing up its Central Texas presence, Connecticut-based Wayback Burgers, one of the fastest-growing burger franchises in the country, has announced plans to open its 13th franchised location in Texas, in the Austin suburb of Leander. Slated to open mid-2022, the 1,925-square-foot Wayback Burgers, to be located at 3651 Hwy. 183, will bring with it 30 new jobs and will be operated by local franchisee Bonnie Diwadko. The Leander announcement comes just months after Wayback announced it would open a location in Cedar Park early next year. Menu highlights include cooked-to-order single and double burgers, like its signature Cheeeesy, a burger topped with four slices of melted American cheese, as well as cheesesteaks, chicken sandwiches, veggie burgers, Impossible Burgers, chicken tenders, salads, fries, onion rings, mac and cheese bites, and hand-dipped milkshakes. Follow Wayback on Instagram for updates.

It’s been a long time coming, but finally, one of Austin’s fan-favorite wood-fired pizza joints is reopening its dining room — and adding some tasty seasonal menu items and a new chef to the fold. 40 North, located at 900 W. 10th St., has officially swung the doors back open to its dining room, which closed in March 2020, at the onset of the pandemic. Along with this welcome news, 40 North has expanded its chef team to include co-executive chef Andrew Turner (previously of Pershing), who will work alongside chef and co-owner Clint Elmore to create fresh, seasonal dishes and pizzas to add to the menu. And speaking of tasty collabs, 40 North is teaming up with Hawaiian eatery Salty Cargo to whip up a unique Hawaiian-style pie (pork sausage, compressed fresh pineapples, pepperoni, a cheese blend, Thai basil with Thai basil oil, and Salty Cargo’s signature house-fermented anchovy sambal chili paste) and a Tori Katsu Sando (turmeric- and garlic-brined chicken thigh, fried garlic and nuoc mam aioli, shredded romaine lettuce, and white onions between Texas toast). Sounds like they’d both pair perfectly with 40 North’s new natural wine offerings. The Hawaiian pizza and Tori Katsu Sando will be available on 40 North’s menu from September 28 through the end of October. Visit the 40 North website for more info.

Other news and notes

Today is World Gratitude Day, and Austin’s favorite cookie-delivery service, Tiff’s Treats, is helping locals “Bake It Forward” with an ooey, gooey gifting special meant to help cookie fans show some gratitude to loved ones — for more than just one day. On Tuesday, September 21, the local brand will reward anyone who sends a gift of Tiff’s Treats by gifting the giver with a voucher for a free dozen cookies to send to someone else later this month. There’s a limit of one dozen free cookies per person, which translates into mouthfuls of scrumptious treats. Visit Tiff’s Treats online for more info — and get to work baking it forward!

With the goal of providing land and infrastructure to Austin culinary and beverage professionals so they can grow food for their restaurants, the team behind Urban American Farmer has launched Farm School at Rain Lily Farm in East Austin. The program will guide restaurant teams through the process of growing food, from crop planning and planting, all the way through to harvest, with participating chefs and their staff getting ongoing support during the fall growing season at weekly classes and work sessions led by farmers. Participating Austin restaurants include Assembly, Bufalina, Comedor, Emmer & Rye, Fixe, Southern House, Intero, L’Oca d’Oro, Olamaie, TenTen, and The Well. Chefs have daily farm access for maintenance and harvest, allowing them to bring the freshest ingredients possible to their restaurant diners this fall. For more information on Urban American Farmer and the Farm School program, email urbanamericanfarmer@gmail.com. And check out Farm School at the inaugural Field Guide Festival October 29-30.

chefs desserts burgers farmer-diaries pizza

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."

bars live music concerts comedy

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5 things to know in Austin food right now: Pho-nomenal Asian eatery opens new shop

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