Third Child

Newest location of healthy casual restaurant Flower Child blooms in Westlake

Flower Child will open in Westlake on November 1.

Photo courtesy of Flower Child

Nine months after Fox Restaurant concepts announced a new Flower Child in the works, the new Westlake restaurant is ready to open on Tuesday, November 1. The Arizona-based concept is in 10 states and D.C.; the new location is the third Flower Child in Austin and the 11th in Texas.

The fast-casual restaurant specializes in holistic food made from scratch, which visitors order at the counter. Almost everything on the menu is dotted with at least one of three diet indicators — vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free — and the website points out a blanket tendency to keep paleo, keto, low-sugar, and other dietary considerations in mind.

Stylistically, it just gets wider from there. A cauliflower rice becomes “risotto” with the addition of maple coconut cream. Chicken enchiladas live in harmony with spicy Thai wraps with tofu and veggies. More Mediterranean treats like hummus, or a Greek yogurt and feta dip, join the American Cobb salad.

A new spot at 3300 Bee Caves Rd. situates the eatery among several others: both large fast food chains and smaller, but still casual restaurants. Flower Child is very similar to Modern Market Eatery, directly across the street, which serves similar “clean, nourishing and delicious food."

Where Modern Market seems to focus more on bowls, sandwiches, salads, and pizzas with straightforward American flavors, Flower Child digs deeper into more complicated flavors and an entrées-and-sides approach. Both rely on modular foods that are easy to customize and create quickly.

Flower Child’s other Austin locations are at Domain Northside (between Sephora and RH), and downtown on West 2nd Street. Despite the industrial genre conventions of fast-casual restaurants, these restaurants are homey and not identical to each other. As the name might suggest, Flower Child brings the outside in, with lots of plants and woven patio seating that close the gap between a quick meal in the middle of running errands to a warm catch-up with a practical friend.

The Westlake Hills Flower Child will open to the public on November 1. More information is available at iamaflowerchild.com.

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Taco News

Popular Austin taco truck Con Todo wraps up business after 3 years

contodotacos.com

Con Todo is closed, but Chef Joseph Gomez is looking forward to the future.

A very popular Austin taco trailer at Celis Brewery has suddenly shut its ordering window. Con Todo chef Joseph Gomez made the announcement on his Instagram account, which was previously the business' account.

As Gomez points out in the message, the account predated Con Todo and will survive it, too, under his own name. It's a clear handle for what the chef plans to do: continue his career and the things Con Todo stood for, but not under the Con Todo name or project.

"Sorry for delay on posting but, after much thought, I’ve made the difficult decision to close the doors to Con Todo 😢. This is one of the hardest choices I’ve ever had to make," Gomez wrote. "Con Todo wasn’t just a business — it was my livelihood, my passion, so deeply personal to me. For those of you who know me, you understand how much heart, soul, time, effort I put into it."

Gomez lists several identities and callings he plans to continue expanding: among them, advocacy, cooking, writing, and being "a proud ADHD weirdo."

"My commitment to supporting migrant workers’ rights remains is as strong as ever, and I’ll continue that work through new projects, as I always have," he writes. "You’ve heard me talk about this mission before, and this year is going to be especially important to take a deep dive into it and explore what’s happening on the border towns where I am from. I won’t be quiet about it."

Gomez and Con Todo have garnered acclaim from food industry and media sources including the James Beard Foundation, Texas Monthly, and CultureMap's own Tastemaker Awards; however the chef doesn't seem too concerned with formal praise from the Michelin Guide as he signs off with the snarky Spanish "#michelinmisnalgas." (He had already been using the hashtag for years prior to winning a recommendation from Michelin in November 2024, and the team did attend the ceremony.)

According to Con Todo's website manifesto, cuisine at Con Todo was both deeply personal to Gomez and representative of the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), so it seems likely that Austinites will get to enjoy eats in the same style from Gomez going forward.

"In the mean time, keep an eye out for me doing pop ups, events, talks, panels and a little pot stirring," Gomez writes. "Nos vemos pronto!"

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