News You Can Eat

5 openings and a lavish Christmas bar cheer up Austin restaurant news

Spread and Co. charcuterie cheese Austin

The more snacks, the better.

Photo from Spread and Co.

News is just flying by in the Austin food scene right now, so this week we've got five openings, two festivals, and a couple other deals and offerings to fill things out.

Openings and closings

This is a two-in-one: first Austin Eastciders Collaboratoryannounced it would be closing its last taproom at 979 Springdale Rd., Ste. 130. It is still producing ciders, but the taproom is already gone. However, that space was almost immediately publicly claimed by event venue Springdale Station owners and artists Moya and Colin McIntyre, who are spearheading a new concept called Stargazer. It covers lots of ground from cocktails and mocktails to coffee, to beers and cider on tap. It also pulls in some other local businesses: scoops from Lick Honest Ice Creams, grab-and-go items from Lucky Lime, tacos from Santo Patio, and fried chicken from Dipping Springs Tender Co. Pizza joint Bambino is already next door, and QR codes at Stargazer will make ordering easy. There's no opening date yet, but hours will be 7 am to 10 pm daily.

We let readers know in July that a lush cheese shop and cafe would be moving into Cherrywood this fall, and here it is right on time. Spread and Co., located at 2406 Manor Road, Suite B, opened quietly on October 15 and has been serving up beautiful charcuterie boards as well as fresh coffee, sandwiches to go, and fancy-but-classic American breakfast and lunch items. The concept isn't new — coming from Jefferson Square — but this will probably be many customers' first experience with the shop, since the new location is much easier to stumble upon. Hours are 7 am to 7 pm Mondays through Saturdays, and 9 am to 3 pm Sundays.

Folks looking for some holiday cheer can find it in droves at the returning Christmas pop-upMiracle on 5th Street at The Eleanor, the smaller bar adjacent to the Roosevelt Room. Management really goes all-out with the decorations, covering the bar in lights, garlands, bows, and much more. The playful, themed drinks include the Snowball Old Fashioned with Jim Beam Rye Whiskey, gingerbread syrup, angostura and wormwood bitters, and orange oils; and the Christmapolitan with Grey Goose Vodka, St. Germain, elderflower liqueur, Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth, spiced cranberry sauce, lime, rosemary, and absinthe mist. They're served in playful glassware and tiki-esque mugs. Note that tickets (starting at $12.50) are required to enter, except during happy hour daily from 2-5 pm. The soft opening date is November 14.

Miracle on 5th Street at The Eleanor in Austin It almost hurts the eyes.Photo courtesy of The Eleanor

ICYMI: We covered four restaurant openings and closings since last week, so I'll be brief. First, we broke the news that Mian & Bao, a Sichuan-Shanghai comfort food hybrid by a highly regarded San Antonio group had opened at The Triangle. Then there was Serenade, an absolutely beautiful brasserie serving classic French dishes, which is opening on 2nd Street on October 27. We also heard that Baby Acapulco — colloquially, Baby A's — had suddenly closed its Barton Springs location, leaving fans without Purple Margaritas after swimming. Finally, the people behind the upscale sports bar Cover 3 announced it would be starting a new bar and restaurant called Whiskey Ridge in Driftwood.

CultureMap also announced we're throwing a tailgate party at the end of fall, featuring tailgate-inspired bites by top local restaurants. Attendees at The Tailgate will try samples and vote for their favorite; plus, a bracket-style tournament before the event will reveal Austin's favorite chicken wings. More details are available here, and tickets are currently on sale at a discounted rate.

Other news and notes

A City Council meeting on Thursday was dominated by more than eight hours of testimony about a proposed police association agreement and budget increase (which eventually passed), so understandably folks may not have noticed that a property including the address of Cherrywood Coffee House is up for rezoning (see item 80). Whatever this will mean for the cafe — and for Austinites who seem split on whether or not it should be saved — the public hearing has been pushed to November 21, 2024.

Readers were very interested in the 40th anniversary celebration of Manuels, a Mexican restaurant in North Austin; it was one of the week's top stories. This is those readers' reminder that the deals are ending soon, on October 27 — namely, a special three-course menu for $40 per person. But if guests miss it, they'll have a few more days of drink specials and giveaways, some benefitting Farm Share Austin and the Hill Country Conservancy, which run through the end of the month.

There's something about an Italian brunch that Austinites go crazy for, and Poeta — voted 2024's Best New Restaurant by CultureMap readers — is feeding the obsession with a new brunch menu. Even better, it's available all day. It features dishes like roasted beet and farro with avocado, orange, almond, and dill; arancini (fried rice balls) with lamb confit, tomato butter, and poached eggs; and crespelle (crepes) with house ricotta, orange, and hazelnut caramel. The full menu is available at poetarestaurant.com.

Poeta Ausitn Wafflegato Poeta's signature Wafflegato with maple gelato and espresso butter is on the all-day brunch menu.Photo by Jessia Attie Photographe

The combination music-and-food festival Hot Luck, headed by pitmaster Aaron Franklin, has sent foodies a save-the-date for Memorial Day weekend, May 22-25, 2024. For an idea of what this festival is like, check out our top moments from 2024. In short, the food portion includes a lot of tasting at sprawling events full of booths; and the music portion is organized as showcases at regular venues around town. What's amazing is the two halves of the festival have almost nothing to do with each other, except that the musicians and chefs end up hanging out. More information and early bird tickets are available at hotluckfest.com.

openings news you can eat brunch lunch dinner cocktails coffee cheese holidays

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