Tinseltown, Texas

Austin bar transforms into a magical winter wonderland this holiday season

It feels like every week there’s a new immersive event. Even when they’re fun, they can be pretty tiring, so it’s exciting that this next one is just about playing with the Christmas spirit. Don your favorite elf socks and meet the lovely citizens of “Tinseltown.”

Wanderlust Wine Co. — the organizer of darker, more chaotic immersive cocktail experiences “The Alice” and “Beauty and the Beast” — has turned its space into a winter wonderland with Christmas decor galore. From November 30 to December 30, this Southwest Pole will welcome guests into one of the most festive spaces in Austin, costumes always welcome.

Of course, there will be Christmas music and themed cocktails. Past photos of the installation in different cities (where it's always a little different) show lots of candy cane stripes, giant disco ball-like hanging ornaments, lights, foliage, and entire trees. And, obviously, a lot of tinsel. Visitors may meet elves on staff, and even Santa sitting on the tufted red furniture.

Austin’s list of Christmas pop-ups (perhaps because we don’t have much cold weather helping us celebrate naturally) is expansive, but few reach the decorative heights of “Tinseltown.” It’s fun for photos, but even more so, being around that much commitment to the holiday is sure to make the season a little brighter.

Photo courtesy of Hidden

"Tinseltown" is all about the Christmas spirit, a stark change since the last event.

Tickets ($22 per person) for the 90-minute experience are available via Hidden, and include a drink upon arrival. Wanderlust Wine Co. is located at 610 North Interstate Highway 35.

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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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