The Austin food scene is hot this summer! We are excited as ever for all the new restaurants opening as Austin quickly becomes one of the fastest growing cities in the country! While longtime restaurants keep a close eye on the surprisingly abundant bounty the hot climate provides, new restaurants just keep coming due to Austin’s relatively reasonable cost of doing business. Here are some of the new Austin restaurants we think you should be visiting!
Honey Moon Spirit Lounge, opened in the Heritage neighborhood in April in the space formerly occupied by Salvation Pizza. It is the passion project of an Austin couple who turned their pandemic-affected wedding plans into a labor-of-love restaurant featuring a menu piled high with elevated comfort food. The menu leans New American, with dishes such as blue crab rice and rabbit confit, and vegan barbecue burnt ends, all served in an eclectic stylish space. The restaurant is only open for reservations-required dine-in service, with indoor and outdoor space available.
Summer House on Music Lane is slated to open this week at the Hotel Magdalena, with a low-key but high-ambition menu of “grilled local meats and seasonal vegetables with bold accompaniments and bright salads,” along with biodynamic wines and “ice-cold martinis” served on an outdoor patio, a rep says.
The high-end restaurant, from Austin power couple Bradley Nicholson and Susana Querejazu, made its public debut in April within private members club-slash-hotel Commodore Perry Estate. The New Texan menu features plentiful local produce and meats, from the grand aioli to the charcoal-grilled chicken served with hominy. Don’t skip desserts, especially the luxurious kouign amann ice cream. The lush space is an added bonus. The restaurant is only open for dine-in dinner service, with a patio available. Required reservations are extremely limited for the public.
Couple Kevin Truong and Rosie Mina-Truong based their first-ever Central East Austin food truck, which opened in March, on their backgrounds. The result is the Filipino-Vietnamese menu with items such as banh mi stuffed with sisig and meaty braised/grilled beef ribs paired with garlic rice and chả trứng (Vietnamese steamed omelette). Round off the order with one of the numerous drinks, from the Vietnamese cold brew paired with bright purple ube coconut milk or the Filipino beverage of sago’t gulaman with little tapioca pearls and chunky grass jelly. Pickup orders can be placed online. The truck plans to relocate into the lot across the street at some point soon.
Austin group McGuire Moorman Lambert Hospitality (formerly just McGuire Moorman Hospitality) opened this new Italian-American restaurant in the downtown area in late April, taking over the former space belonging to Hut’s Hamburgers. The higher-end dinner menu is full of red-sauce favorites, from assorted parmigiana to spaghetti to lasagna. The restaurant is only open for dine-in services, with indoor and outdoor spaces.
