NEWS YOU CAN EAT

6 things to know in Austin food right now: West Coast coffee chain brews in buzzing ’burb

Dutch Bros Coffee College Station location

Kyle goes Dutch!

Courtesy of Dutch Bros Coffee.

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

Along with the many new restaurants, shops, and businesses opening in the quickly growing town of Kyle (P. Terry’s Burger Stand, Costco, Hawaiian Bros., and others), a West Coast chain with some seriously caffeinated plans for Texas is brewing up a location in the Austin suburb. According to a state filing, Oregon-based Dutch Bros Coffee is planning to open a location at 20347 I-35 in Kyle. Construction on the drive-thru coffee shop is expected to begin March 1, 2022 and be completed by May 2, 2022. Dutch Bros confirmed to CultureMap earlier this year that the chain has designs on having 100 Texas locations open by the end of 2023. The company said it planned to open seven locations in the Austin area and three in Central Texas this year, though, according to its website, it currently has only two spots open — one in Round Rock and one in Hutto — and two more earmarked to open soon on the north side of Round Rock and off East Parmer Lane.

SoCo is now TsoCo, as far as one local Chinese food delivery is concerned. Tso Chinese Delivery, known for its free delivery service and innovative no-tipping policy, has opened its third Austin location at 2407 S. Congress Ave. The new location, which was brought on by a demand for Tso in South Austin (along with a funding boost), will offer delivery within a 4-mile radius. It will feature the same craveable menu items available at the Cherrywood and Arboretum locations, including popular dishes like General Tso’s chicken (obviously), as well as fried rice, lo mein, soups, and more, including vegan and gluten-free options. The new TsoCo location is open for delivery service and takeout Monday through Saturday from 11 am-9:30 pm. Visit the restaurant’s website for more details and to place an order.

Fans of beloved Austin comfort food eatery Kerbey Lane Café have reason to toast. The team behind the local fave has opened a new concept: Toomey Tap Room. Located at 300 S. Lamar Blvd. (on the corner of Toomey Road) in the building that formerly housed High Note Kitchen, Toomey Tap Room is a neighborhood sports bar that aims to bring Austinites the “best local brews, burgers, wieners, and wings south of the river.” Wine and booze are also available. Plus, as the tap room website notes, it’s the only other place in town to score some ooey, gooey, lust-worthy Kerbey Queso, so it’s a win-win! Toomey is open Monday through Thursday from 4 pm-midnight and Friday through Sunday from 11 am-midnight. Check the tap room’s website or Instagram for more details.

If you’re sipping (or swigging) wine at one of Austin’s most intoxicating wine bars, you should probably nosh on some tasty snacks, too. Now open at Wanderlust Wine Co.’s East Austin bar at 702 Shady Ln.: SXSE Food Co. Pronounced “sexy” food co., the biz, which also has a spot up north at 4th Tap Brewing, features contemporary Lao cuisine, aka “a blend of Southern American and Southeast Asian flavors.” Menu specialties include brisket rice porridge, crispy fried rice, meaty skewers, fresh crudo, scallops, wings, and vegan dishes. SXSE Food Co. at Wanderlust is open Thursday from 4-8 pm, and Friday and Saturday from 4-10 pm. Visit SXSE’s Instagram for more details and schedule updates.

Other news and notes

One location of an always-packed taco fave may be getting an overhaul. According to documents filed with the Austin Planning Commission, Roberto Amaya, the owner of Amaya’s Taco Village, hopes to receive a rezoning amendment that would enable him to redevelop the the north location of Amaya’s, located at 5804 N. I-35, into a mixed-use project that would feature the restaurant on the ground floor and 70 condo units rising above it. Though the Planning Commission staff supports the rezoning request, Austin City Council will have to take up a vote on the project, which is expected at its meeting on December 9. No word on whether future condo dwellers would get a deal on the massive margs.

While today, November 30, is Giving Tuesday, and we at CultureMap always encourage Austinites to give back to their favorite causes, one cherished biz is turning the tables, treating locals to a sweet gift this weekend. In honor of National Cookie Day on Saturday, December 4, Tiff’s Treats is giving out a free, warm chocolate chip cookie to anyone who pops by a Tiff’s Treats shop. (The brand has 11 Austin locations and five in San Antonio.) Additionally, Tiff’s is giving five cookie fanatics the chance to win free cookies for everyone on their holiday gift list (that’s a dozen warm cookies delivered to 10 of their favorite people in Tiff’s Treats’ delivery zones), as well as a $250 Tiff’s Treats gift card and a one-year Tiff’s Treats Elites membership featuring unlimited free deliveries and special discounts. Sign up here for your chance at this sweet deal.

openings breakfast coffee wine desserts tex-mex

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