Let's Brunch

Boozy Houston-based brunch chain hatches first of 9 Austin-area locations

Toasted Yolk is set to open in Cedar Park on October 31.

Photo courtesy of The Toasted Yolk

The Toasted Yolk Café breakfast, brunch, and lunch restaurant chain is hatching nine locations in Austin’s suburbs. The first Austin-area location of the Houston-based chain is set to open October 31 at 14105 Ronald Reagan Blvd. in the Cedar Park-Leander area.

In total, franchisees Ron and Val Claypool are bringing six Toasted Yolk restaurants to the Austin area. Aside from Cedar Park, the Claypools plan to open a Georgetown location in late 2023 and a Pflugerville location in late 2024, Ron Claypool tells CultureMap.

Bastrop, Hutto, Round Rock, and Taylor are under consideration for the Claypools’ three other locations, he says. “There’s no doubt that ... Toasted Yolk’s friendly atmosphere and amazing food are going to be a big hit in the Austin area,” Claypool said in January. Beyond the six locations being built by the Claypools, Toasted Yolk is on track to open restaurants in Kyle, Lakeway, and San Marcos, the chain’s website shows. Details about those restaurants weren’t available.

Toasted Yolk’s menu includes items like churro doughnuts, the CowboyScramble, and the West Coast Arnold club sandwich, along with alcoholic beverages like mimosas, frozen Bellinis, and Bloody Marys.Founded in 2010 by Chris Milton and Mathew DeMott, Toasted Yolk currently operates 23 locations in Texas, primarily in the Houston area, according to the company’s website.

Another 19 locations are in the works, including the Austin-area restaurants, as well as new Texas restaurants in Addison, Humble, Lubbock, Magnolia, Mont Belvieu, Pearland, Richmond, and New Braunfels. The chain is also gearing up for out-of-state locations in Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee.

“Customers and franchise investors can feel the excitement; we believe that the Toasted Yolk brand is really resonating more than ever,” Milton, the chain’s CEO, says in a news release.

Basil And...

Pflugerville chef brings Vietnamese eats to Hutto with new concept

Broth & Basil/Instagram

Basil & Bites, a new concept by the owner of Broth & Basil, is opening in Hutto in spring 2025.

A Pflugerville chef is circling Austin and opening a second, new concept in Hutto. Basil & Bites, which fuses Vietnamese cuisine with Texas influences, will open in fall 2025 at the junction of TX 79 and CR 119, according to a press release.

The new restaurant by the chef behind Broth & Basil is part of the Townwest Commons development, owned by NewQuest Properties. The same company also promised this summer to bring a new Chuy's to the same development by early 2025. It says in the Basil & Bites release that Chuy's is on track to open in January.

Basil & Bites has claimed half a building, totaling 5,500 square feet of space. It's across from the EVO Entertainment — a movie theater, bowling alley, arcade, bar and restaurant, and more — that the developer has been using as an anchor in promoting the new business park. It also maintains its "original anchors" Lowe's and the YMCA.

Phen T. Diep owns Broth & Basil, and was already familiar with in NewQuest because the restaurant is located in another one of its properties, Stone Hill Town Center in Pflugerville.

The release offered few details about the restaurant itself, including what would be on the menu. At Broth & Basil, as the name suggests, pho is a main offering. And like Basil & Bites, the existing restaurant also takes pride in its Texas heritage, offering Texas Wagyu Beef from Ranger Cattle, which is based in Austin.

Other menu offerings include a variety of meats served over vermicelli or rice, and a few specials like Wagyu bo luc lac (shaking beef) cooked on the hot plate it's served on.

According to the Broth and Basil website, Diep started out as a home chef. He's committed to traditional Vietnamese dishes, even though he's added some Texan elements, and the bone broth simmers for 10 hours so no additives are needed.

"We recruited him because of the yearslong success of his first restaurant, which was the first one in Austin to feature Pho Wagyu," said NewQuest leasing director and senior vice president Josh Friedlander in the release. "It's now one of the most popular dishes on the menu."

openings asian cuisine hutto pflugerville