CITY GUIDES | TEXAS

Austin’s Best Restaurants Have Outgrown the Breakfast Taco

The breakfast tacos remain excellent. So do the Michelin-starred barbecue, ambitious omakase, and Laotian sausage.

By Rebecca Thompson
Updated Aug. 20, 2026

Birdie’s

AUTHOR BIO: Rebecca Thompson has held many jobs, from newspaper writer to middle-school teacher. As a restaurant critic, she’s reviewed the Michelin-starred to gas station BBQ.

I’ve eaten around Austin long enough to accept that some of its best restaurants come with a line, a gravel parking lot, or a neighboring vape shop. The reward might be Michelin-starred barbecue, 22 courses of omakase, or tacos handed through a trailer window. Austin’s dining scene has grown considerably sharper, while keeping its appetite for brisket, queso, and a little unnecessary spectacle. These are the best restaurants in Austin right now.

Barley Swine

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There was a time when you could show up at Barley Swine without a reservation and just order Bryce Gilmore’s tasting menu at the bar like a civilized Austinite. That time is gone, mostly because of the Michelin star and the seasonal menu that changes before you can even Instagram it. Still, the food here remains weird in all the right ways—this is where you go to eat carrot ice cream next to someone discussing their composting system.

Best for: A tasting menu rooted in Central Texas

Birdie’s

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Birdie’s is one of those places where you stand in line, order at the counter, and then eat food that should not, by any logic, be served at a place without table service. Chef Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel makes French-ish, Italian-ish plates with local vegetables and enormous talent, and her husband runs the wine list like a secret club you’ve just joined. It’s casual, but not remotely chill.

Best for: Serious cooking without formal service

Canje

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Chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph’s East Austin spot is loud and colorful and unashamedly joyful, like a dinner party that refuses to end. The Caribbean-inspired menu changes constantly but might include a whole snapper or a grilled pineapple dessert that ruins all other desserts. If you leave here without dancing in your seat at least once, I don’t know what to tell you.

Best for: A loud night of Caribbean cooking

Craft Omakase

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It’s hidden in a Rosedale strip center behind a dental office, which is probably intentional. From former Uchiko chefs Charlie Wang and Nguyen Nguyen, Craft Omakase serves 22 courses of precision-cut raw fish, earns you a Michelin star just for sitting through it, and will make you say things like “that scallop was life-changing” before realizing how ridiculous you sound. The service is reverent, the sake list intimidating, and somehow, none of it feels stuffy.

Best for: Celebrating over 22 courses of sushi

Cuantos Tacos

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A trailer on East 12th with a cult following and a Bib Gourmand, Cuantos Tacos is your new taco benchmark. They serve CDMX-style tacos with meats you can’t pronounce and toppings you didn’t know you needed. You’ll eat five, think you’re full, and then order two more while pretending it’s “for later.”

Best for: Mexico City-style tacos from a trailer

Hestia

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Hestia is all fire and darkness—literally. It’s named after the Greek goddess of the hearth, and nearly everything is cooked over open flame by Kevin Fink’s all-star kitchen crew. The dining room is so dim you’ll need your phone flashlight to read the wine list, but when the food shows up—say, ember-roasted beets or duck glazed with smoked honey—it’s clear the light levels are the only thing they’re holding back.

Best for: Watching dinner meet an open flame

InterStellar BBQ

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You’ll find it in Anderson Mill, between a vape shop and a daycare, and yes, there will be a line. InterStellar is the kind of place that makes barbecue nerds whisper reverently about bark and fat render. It now has a Michelin star, which is wild considering you eat it on a picnic table next to a parking lot. Worth it.

Best for: Michelin-starred brisket on a paper-lined tray

la Barbecue

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There’s a fine line between cult following and full-on religion, and la Barbecue crossed it a while ago. Their beef ribs are Flintstones-sized and deeply smoky, and the brisket has that perfect meat-butter ratio. If you show up on a weekend without a plan, you’ll end up eating on the curb with sauce on your shirt, and that’s just how it goes.

Best for: Beef ribs that require both hands

Lao’d Bar

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Some bars are quiet, civilized places for a negroni. Lao’d is not that bar. It’s a Laotian night market party with coconut escolar ceviche and banana-leaf cocktails, tucked away east of East Austin. Chef Bob Somsith made the James Beard semifinalist list this year, and you’ll understand why after one bite of the lemongrass sausage. If it’s your first time, don’t wear white.

Best for: Laotian cooking with party energy

LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue

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Known for doing barbecue the “new school” way, LeRoy and Lewis offers things like cauliflower burnt ends and smoked beef cheeks, which is the barbecue equivalent of releasing a jazz album after three Top 40 hits. Pitmaster Evan LeRoy and Nathan Lewis, who runs the bar, use this spot to run smoke-based experiments, yes, but the results taste like the future of Texas barbecue, especially if that future includes government-mandated pickles.

Best for: Seeing where Texas barbecue goes next

P Thai’s Khao Man Gai

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Chef Thai Changthong (who also goes by Chef P) has brought his poached chicken and ginger rice back to North Loop after a short break, and it’s a low-key miracle. The khao man gai is one of those dishes that looks humble and tastes like someone’s grandmother poured her soul into it. Add some noodles if you want, but the chicken’s the reason you’re here.

Best for: Thai chicken and rice at its purest

Parish Barbecue

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At Parish, Holden Fulco, who used to work the pits at InterStellar BBQ, now slings duck along with brisket, and it’s better than it has any right to be. The smoked pulled duck comes piled onto a sandwich with crispy cracklin’ and plum barbecue sauce, like something your Cajun uncle would make if he moved to Manor Road and got real into kolaches. Get the cornbread dressing if it’s on special, or just go straight to dessert: the pecan pie brownie is rich enough to make you briefly reconsider your cholesterol goals.

Best for: Barbecue with a Louisiana accent

Ramen Del Barrio

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Birria ramen sounds like something you’d dream up after three tequila shots, but here, it’s executed with the kind of care usually reserved for fine dining. Ramen Del Barrio in North Austin is a collision of Japanese technique and Mexican comfort food, and it somehow works. The broth is deep and beefy, the noodles springy, and the James Beard nod feels justified.

Best for: Ramen that speaks fluent Mexican

Roya

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Roya spent eight years working its way toward a permanent address. Chef Amir Hajimaleki began serving Persian pop-up dinners in 2018, using the food to reconnect with the Iran he left as a child. His North Shoal Creek restaurant now serves Olivieh chicken bites, short rib ghormeh sabzi, and mahiche gheymeh built around a saffron-tomato-braised lamb shank. The $85 Sofreh menu hands the decisions to the kitchen, a welcome arrangement once the table begins arguing over kebabs.

Best for: Letting the kitchen plan a Persian feast

Serenade

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Serenade is a French-Texan brasserie with design that looks lifted from a Nancy Meyers set. Chef Johnny Ray Stinebaugh knows how to make a duck confit that makes you want to propose marriage, and the space hums with downtown date-night energy.

Best for: Dinner before a show downtown