Sweet News

Gabriela's Group brings churro concept and bakery to North Austin

Churro Co. Dessert Shop & Bakery is now open.

Courtesy Gabriela's Group

Siblings Gabriela Bucio and Arturo Bucio have proven pretty nigh unstoppable these past few years. The Michoacán, Mexico natives launched their first concept since 2018, growing in just five short years to include restaurants, bars, nightclubs, music clubs, and more. The projects include Gabrielas, Taquero Mucho, Mala Vida, Mala Santa, Revival Coffee, Seareinas, and now, a bakery.

Located at 11101 Burnet Road, Suite A140, Churro Co. Dessert Shop & Bakery is already open and will celebrate a grand opening (Gabriela's style) in the coming weeks. The group actually acquired the original Churro Co. on South First Street last year, and the new menu will feature an expanded selection of dessert, coffee, and pastry selections from their already delectable offerings. Gabriela herself is behind the seasonal drinks and holiday-curated menu items, while the desserts and pastries are influenced by the co-owners' childhood spent with family in Michoacán, Mexico.

True to the highly Instagrammable brand, neon themes and pink hues will reign supreme in the new concept. The interiors feature personalized neon signs, iridescent lollipop-like wall lamps, and of course, pink amenities from the wall-to-wall booth and velvet bar chairs — down to the grout in between the white tiling on the side of the bar.

For an extra dose of Instagrammability, the bakery is adjacent to the newest Taquero Mucho location and even shares the same classic marble top tables and pink chairs as its neighbor. The bakery likewise pays homage to the team’s café, Revival Coffee, as the same pink-cartoon wallpaper is also found lining the walls of its sister shop. And of course, Gabriela's groupies will be pleased to know the concept features selfie-worthy bathrooms, with floor-to-ceiling custom wallpaper, accompanied by a flirty neon sign that reads “Peachy” next to a pink paper towel dispenser.

As the group's first dessert shop and bakery, the concept will also be visually unique with teal backsplashes and a lilac ceiling, while staying true to the core of design lead Gabriela with its signature all-pink feminine-empowering theme.

“Our team has been fans of the Churro Co. team for years. With our new bakery and dessert shop, we are proud to not only keep the original independent spirit of the company alive, but expand and see the brand grow to reach more residents across Austin than ever before,” said co-owner and designer Gabriela Bucio.

gabriela's churros

Peak Plates

7 Austin restaurants make OpenTable's top 100 for 2024

Jeffrey's Restaurant/Instagram

Jeffrey's Restaurant is a great example of the type of fancy, well-established restaurant that made the list.

Restaurant reservation website OpenTable has issued its new list of the top 100 restaurants in America for 2024, and seven Austin restaurants have made the list. That's already impressive at a glance — 7 percent of the entire national list in just one city — but compared to other Texas cities, it's huge. Austin is the only Texas city to have more than one restaurant on the list.

The "2024's Top 100 Restaurants" list is a compilation of the most sought-after and top-ranked restaurants in the U.S. based on 14 million verified reviews on OpenTable from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024. Restaurants are not ranked, but arranged in alphabetical order by state.

Austin's seven restaurants (including several repeats from OpenTable's 2023 list) are:

Aba: Known for its laid-back, yet fancy patio and being a popular spot for visiting celebrities
J Carver's: Known for a commitment to the classic steakhouse experience and legitimately fancy dining
Jeffrey's Restaurant: Known for fine dining, a connection to Austin before its boom, and a fantastic wine program
Red Ash Italia: Known for approachable, yet high-quality Italian food with rustic touches
Sammie's Italian: Known for its romantic take on the archetype of an East Coast Italian joint
Uchi: Known for bringing Austin into the national sushi conversation and defining the scene
Uchiko: Known for a cool atmosphere and getting creative with sushi and other small plates

Austinites will probably not be surprised by this list, which names some very well-established restaurants that are all upscale. These qualities tend to appeal to similar lists, regardless of who's curating them.

It is interesting, given that the list was democratically based on user ratings, that there were not more beloved food trailers or casual spots. However, other factors that led to high rankings included alerts set and reservations made ahead — things that don't really apply to even the most awesome taco truck.

Mediterranean food was a trend among the Austin picks. Red Ash Italia and Sammie's Italian are, as the names would imply, completely dedicated to Italian food, while Aba covers a wider swath of the Mediterranean. There were also two steakhouses: J Carver's and Jeffrey's Restaurant.

As list-perusers may have guessed, Uchi and Uchiko are in the same family of restaurants, with Uchi being the more formal and Uchiko being a bit more accessible for drop-in meals and cocktails. But are two more incognito duos of sibling restaurants on the list: J Carver's and Red Ash, and Jeffrey's Restaurant and Sammie's Italian.

That could be a coincidence. It could also be a reflection of the utility of money and experience in opening a good restaurant, or a lesson about the effects of good (and expensive) marketing. Whatever it is, it doesn't sound like hospitality groups had any direct sway on how OpenTable made its choices.

This list was different from the inaugural list of OpenTable Icons, which launched in 2024. The "Icons" list chose restaurants that are getting a lot of buzz, which ended up being more subjective. It also seemed to let in — as a side effect of the process, rather than a hard eligibility rule — more new and Mexican restaurants. Two restaurants are on both lists: Red Ash and Jeffrey's.

Restaurants outside of Austin that made the Top 100 list, organized alphabetically, are:

Hudson House — Dallas
Steak 48 — Houston
Signature — San Antonio

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