Community members can stay up to date on various restaurants coming soon to the Austin area as well as see what new additions have popped up in the last few weeks. This list is not comprehensive.
Impacts of the week
Merit Coffee Co. pours up craft coffee, lattes at new Mueller cafe
Merit Coffee Co. opened its fourth Austin coffee shop at Mueller in East Austin in mid February. The San Antonio-based craft coffee company serves drip coffee and cold brew as well as matcha and espresso lattes served hot or iced. Current specialty drinks include the cereal milk cold brew, bourbon cream cold foam, dulce spice latte and cinnamon toast crunch matcha.
Rainey Street’s first-ever sushi bar to open this spring
Nick Ford and Wade McElroy of Rocco’s will open neighborhood sushi bar Kinsho off Rainey Street in Austin, the first-ever dedicated sushi restaurant on the street. Kinsho will offer an a la carte menu, as well as an omakase option. The restaurant will feature an 18-seat sushi bar where chef Victor Gonzales, who has spent time at Uchiko and Lucky Robot, will guide guests through chef-chosen courses. Beverages will include a selection of sake, beer, wine and cocktails.
Opening in March51 Rainey St., Ste. 140A, AustinInstagram: kinshoaustin
Nick Ford and Wade McElroy will open Kinsho, a dedicated sushi restaurant off Rainey Street. Ford previously served as the executive chef at Sammie’s Italian while McElroy also co-owns Love Supreme and Teddy’s Cocktail Bar on Manor Road with his brother, Ryan McElroy, co-owner of Bird Bird Biscuit. (Courtesy Kinsho)Roya now serving up Persian cuisine to North Austin
A new Persian restaurant from Amir Hajimaleki—chef and owner of District Kitchen and Cocktails, Oasthouse Kitchen and Bar, Keepers Coastal Kitchen, and Daisy Lounge—is now offering dishes that Hajimaleki has been serving at exclusive pop-up dinners across Austin since 2018. Roya honors Hajimaleki’s family heritage, according to a news release, serving dishes including wild mushroom borani, mahiche gheymeh and wagyu chenjeh kabob,
Roya is a new Persian restaurant from Amir Hajimaleki, also behind other concepts in Austin. (Courtesy Bita Ghassemi)San Pedro Limon opens additional location in Georgetown
San Pedro Limon owner Yuri Paz and her husband, Victor, opened a second location in January to “make the dine-in experience better,” employee and family member Jessie Benitez said. The Mexican restaurant’s owners and staff decided to move their tortilla machine to the new location, which now operates as a to-go restaurant without seating. Sit-down dining is still available at the original location at 905 N. Austin Ave., Georgetown.
Snooze, an A.M. Eatery gears up for spring opening in Southwest Austin
Brunch enthusiasts will soon have another South Austin spot as the Snooze, an A.M. Eatery team ramps up to open its fourth Austin location at The Shops at Arbor Trails. Snooze’s menu features a variety of breakfast fares, including classic breakfast plates, biscuits and gravy, omelettes, breakfast tacos and burritos, pancakes, french toast, eggs Benedicts and more. To drink, the AM eatery serves coffee, espresso drinks, hot chocolate, fresh juice and cocktails.
Dining spotlight
Down South Texas BBQ brings neighborhood cookout vibe to North Austin
Owner and self-proclaimed pitmaestro Rico Smith started sharing his barbecue skills with the community while he was working at Texas Roadhouse. Throughout the 2014 summertime, Smith crafted his meals in his apartment complex and his brother made deliveries.
In 2017, Smith officially left the restaurant business and put his money together to buy the food truck which houses Down South Texas BBQ on Howard Lane today.
“People would tell me, ‘Hey, it’s really good. You should open up a place,’” Smith said. “I’d never listen to what they would say. I loved my job where I was. Eventually over time it does start getting to you and that’s when I took a leap of faith.”