News You Can Eat

New mac & cheese restaurant and Buddy the Elf's bagel top Austin's 8 bites of tastiest food news

Nervous Charlie's and Fancy Marshmallow collab bagel

"Buddy's Breakfast" is an undeniably cheerful way to start the day.

Photo courtesy of Nervous Charlie's Bagels

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 closings

If there's one menu item it's hard to wrong with, it's macaroni and cheese — especially in Texas, where it's a star side on many barbecue trays. But of course Wisconsin could give this state a run for its money. One mac and cheese-devoted restaurant out of Wisconsin Dells is opening at Kalahari Resorts and Conventions in Round Rock; This will be the chain's ninth location, and the first outside of its home state. MAC Mac and Cheese Shop serves 18 different twists on the dish, including the over-the-top "Hangover Mac" with pepper jack, mozzarella, hash browns, bacon, hot dog, Western veggies, and sriracha. The new restaurant at 3001 Kalahari Blvd. opens "the week of December 17."

In early November we shared that two prolific local restaurateurs were working on a New York-inspired watering hole with a 50-foot bar, situated in the former site of Gourmands Neighborhood Pub in East Austin. Murray’s Tavern has set its opening date for December 8. Folks who miss the old restaurant may be pleased to see that the space is going for similarly cozy vibes.

ICYMI: This week NADC Burger, a passion project for local chef Phillip Frankland Lee and professional skateboarder Neen Williams, brought its ultra-simple menu to a new flagship on East 6th Street. Fans of Austin's Commodore Perry Estate and Lutie's Garden Restaurant may want to stop by a new hotel by the same collection in Fort Worth, with a fancy chophouse. Finally, after 23 years, Austin institution Opal Divine’s is closing.

Other news and notes

If you're not putting marshmallows on your bagel, we won't say Buddy the Elf would be disappointed in you, but ... it's best to just give it a try. (And if you've had Nutella on a bagel, you have no excuse not to.) Nervous Charlie's Bagels, known to make some of Austin's best, is teaming up with the Fancy Marshmallow Co. to toast up a tribute to the contemporary Christmas classic, Elf, called "Buddy's Breakfast": the customer's choice of bagel (I recommend egg, as pictured) with hot chocolate mix cream cheese, topped with vanilla-flavored marshmallow fluff and fun sprinkles. This treat benefitting Toys for Tots is available now through December 31 at both Austin-area Nervous Charlie's.

When it comes to pugs and Christmas sweaters, we know that some things are just so ugly they're cute. Pug lovers can support the breed on December 9 via Camp Out and Yard Bar's 2023 Pugly Sweater Party, which benefits Pug Rescue of Austin. Wear your worst-best threads, enjoy some seasonal drinks like hot toddies and ciders, and consider taking home a 2024 calendar or even a new best friend — adoptable pugs will be on-site. This is also a good chance to check out Camp Out, the new outdoor eatery. The party runs from 1-3 pm.

Birdie's, one of Austin's most popular new restaurants of the last two years, is getting even more creative than usual with the return of a special pop-up. Bistro Remy will operate December 12-16 and 19-23, offering a prix fixe menu of "French favorites" and emphasizing seasonal comfort foods: gougères, boeuf bourguignon, duck confit, and more. The pop-up is named after Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel and Arjav Ezekiel's son, who surely eats better than all of us on a daily basis.

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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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