Cold Snap

10 best hearty restaurant meals for a short winter in Austin

Austinites keep ramen shops in business year-round.

Austin’s cold fronts may be fleeting, but when they hit, they hit hard. In those rare but glorious moments when the air feels crisp and the sky finally remembers how to be gray, there’s nothing better than settling into a hearty winter meal.

Whether your idea of comfort food is a bubbling hot pot or something Texan smothered in gravy, these Austin restaurants have all your cozy winter needs covered — for all 15 or so days of it.

Mulligatawny Soup at the Soup Peddler
Multiple locations
This Austin classic restaurant has plenty of cold-weather soup options, but when it comes to a hearty winter stew, we're going with their Mulligatawny. It's a velvety, lightly spiced lentil stew that manages to both stick to the ribs and satisfy that nostalgia itch. If that's not enough, Soup Peddler also has a full menu of gooey grilled cheese sandwiches to choose from.

Pork Rib Noodle Soup at Julie's Noodles
8557 Research Blvd. #110
This hearty, aromatic winter soup is filled with thick, chewy noodles, slow-braised pork ribs, and steaming hot broth to ward away those 60-degree temperatures.

Bouldin Creek Cafe's sweet and savory oven cake breakfast. Photo from Bouldin Creek Cafe Facebook

Oven Cake Breakfast at Bouldin Creek Cafe
1900 S. 1st St.
The oven cake breakfast at Bouldin is a great cozy option for vegetarians, vegans, or anyone else who loves a mix of sweet and savory. Diners can choose between two eggs or tofu scrambled "eggs," plus a warm and flaky grilled house-made vegan blueberry cornbread covered in vegan butter and maple syrup.

Chicken Fried Steak at Moonshine Grill
303 Red River St.
A list of hearty winter foods wouldn't be complete without some chicken fried steak. It may be Austin, but we are still in the South. Moonshine's classic chicken fried steak is crispy, golden, and smothered in creamy gravy, paired with mashed potatoes, and a guaranteed post-meal food coma.

Ramen Tatsu-ya has plenty of options for chilly days, but you can't go wrong with the OG Tonkotsu. Photo from Ramen Tatsu-ya Facebook

Tonkotsu Original at Ramen Tatsu-ya
Multiple locations
There's a lot to choose from at Ramen Tatsu-ya (including a vegan option), but we think the Tonkotsu Original is a good order for almost anyone; like the little black dress of ramen. It's a relatively straightforward dish — a bowl with rich pork broth, tender chashu, and an ajitama egg — but a deeply satisfying one.

Matzoh Ball Soup at Mum Foods
5811 Manor Rd.
It's a rarity to find a good matzoh ball soup in Austin, but Mum Foods on Manor Road (a joint that somehow mixes barbecue and New York delicatessen), has done it. This dish combines mirepoix with smoked chicken, fresh herbs, homemade matzoh balls, and pure comfort.

Mum Foods matzoh ball soup The matzoh ball Soup at Mum Foods, a barbecue and delicatessen combo. Photo from Mum Foods Smokehouse and Delicatessen Facebook

House Pho at Sip Pho
512 W. 29th St.
The House Pho at Sip Pho near Campus is simple, but comforting. It's a steaming bowl of fragrant herbs, paper-thin slices of beef, and a rich broth that reminds us why pho is the universal cold weather food.

Golden Chicken Broth at Old Alley Hot Pot
11900 Metric Blvd. F
Old Alley Hot Pot, open since this summer, really goes deep on the communal East Asian dining experience, where the group cooks raw ingredients like thinly sliced meats, veggies, tofu, and noodles in a simmering pot of broth placed at the shared table. The golden chicken broth (one of several choices) comes to the table like a bubbling and fragrant personal space heater, with a choice of meats, mushrooms, and veggies for the whole group to enjoy.

brisket chili from la Barbecue La Barbecue's smoky brisket chili for a cozy winter day.Photo from La Barbecue Facebook

Smoky brisket chili at la Barbecue
2401 E. Cesar Chavez St.
It wouldn't really be winter without some chili, and it wouldn't really be Texas without barbecue. The smoky brisket chili at la Barbecue does an excellent job combining both, with rich, meaty, and slightly spicy flavors. It's available by pint or quart, depending on how long you're trying to hibernate.

Hashbrown Casserole at Phoebe's Diner
Multiple locations
Hashbrowns and casseroles are distinctly comforting in their own, nostalgic ways, and at Phoebe's, diners get a mix of both. This popular dish is stuffed with crispy, shredded potatoes, gooey cheese, onions, and garlic. Phoebe's is open for breakfast and lunch, but it's also well-known for catering, takeout, and delivery for those cozy nights in.

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NYT best dishes

2 Austin restaurants make NY Times' best desserts list

Mercado Sin Nombre/Facebook

The honey bun at Mercado Sin Nombre caught this New York Times' writer's attention.

The New York Times included four Texas restaurants among its favorite dishes of 2025, divided into two lists: The 23 Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025 and The 14 Best Restaurant Desserts We Ate Across the U.S. in 2025. The dishes are:

Bad Honey Bunny at Mercado Sin Nombre (Austin)
Ketan Hitam at Yeni’s Fusion (Austin)
Konafa Naama at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen (Houston)
Picadillo Macaroni and Cheese at 2M Smokehouse (San Antonio)

Times food writer Priya Krishna, who authors the entries for all four Texas dishes, the praised the rice pudding at Yeni’s Fusion in Austin. “This barely sweet version, lush with coconut milk, aromatic with pandan and as soothing as warm porridge, is the gentlest way to end a meal,” she states.

Krishna singles out a honey bun at Mercado Sin Nombre, which is already hailed as one of America’s best breakfast spots by Bon Appetit. “The coiled honey bun at this semi-clandestine cafe looks almost cartoonishly perfect, and the heady scent of cardamom and honey hits you before you even take a bite. Somehow, it tastes every bit as plush and elegant as it appears,” she writes.

In San Antonio, the picadillo mac and cheese at 2M Smokehouse showcases how the restaurant incorporates Mexican flavors into traditional Texas barbecue. “Imagine Hamburger Helper, but spicier, punchier and even more luxuriously creamy. It’s not easy to one-up the singular, thickly spiced brisket here, but the picadillo mac and cheese — which runs as an occasional special — holds its own and then some,” Krishna writes.

Krishna also traveled to far west Houston to visit Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen. “The konafa, a signature here, arrives with a molten layer of cheese under a sticky-sweet layer of golden, nutty semolina. The craft is evident, the konafa gone in a few bites,” she writes.

Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen Konafa Naama Don't skip dessert at Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen.Sayad Mediterranean Kitchen/Facebook

The New York Times regularly shines its spotlight on Texas restaurants, In September, it named four establishments — ChòpnBlọk (Houston), Isidore (San Antonio), Lao’d Bar (Austin), and P Thai’s Khao Man Gai & Noodles (Austin) — to its list of America’s 50 Best Restaurants.

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