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The curried lamb terrine was indicative of the elegant but soulful food served at Olamaie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aaron E. Martinez \/ American-Statesman<\/p>\n
One of Austin\u2019s most celebrated restaurants of the 21st century will soon turn out its lights permanently.<\/p>\n
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Olamaie, the Southern fine dining restaurant from chef-owner Michael Fojtasek\u00a0will serve its final meal on July 19.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Olamaie’s smoked beef belly topped with a cane syrup glaze and green onion on Sept. 12, 2022.<\/p>\n
Aaron E. Martinez \/ American-Statesman, Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
The only restaurant named No. 1 in the city by \u00a0the American-Statesman on three separate occasions (first in 2017) was the first Southern restaurant in America to earn a Michelin star,<\/a> joining six other Austin restaurants that received stars in the influential food guide\u2019s inaugural 2024 Texas edition.<\/p>\n The American-Statesman\u00a0ranked the restaurant, now helmed by chef de cuisine Amanda Turner, No. 14 in 2025<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI’m sad. I’m incredibly grateful to everyone that’s come through those doors and for all the contributions. When you open a restaurant, you want to accomplish all these things, you want to live forever and making it 12 years is pretty impressive,\u201d Fojtasek said. “I’m really proud of this team and what we\u2019ve accomplished.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n ‘This market is incredibly hard.’<\/p>\n Dallas native Fojtasek, who returned to Austin to open Olamaie with co-executive chef Grae Nonas in 2014, after working in celebrated restaurants in New York City and Los Angeles, said the economics of running the restaurant in a difficult Austin market became untenable. He pointed to the dreadfully slow summer months \u2014 Olamaie\u2019s sales are currently down 40% from March \u2014 as one of the biggest challenges. \u00a0<\/p>\n “I’m really proud of this team and what we\u2019ve accomplished,” said Olamaie chef-owner Michael Fojtasek, seen here with the restaurant’s chef de cuisine, Amanda Turner.\u00a0<\/p>\n MIKALA COMPTON\/AMERICAN-STATESMAN<\/p>\n \u201cI think everybody’s out of town, especially the people who can afford to dine in the types of restaurants we’re talking about,\u201d Fojtasek said, referring to upmarket restaurants like his. \u201cIt\u2019s been a hard business forever. I think that the general population thinks the more expensive things are, the better the margins are, and unfortunately, the more expensive things are, oftentimes the margins are worse.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Though he praised his own landlord, Fojtasek said Austin\u2019s high rents and labor costs \u2014 his are up 45% across the board since before the pandemic \u2014 have made it a very hard restaurant market. He noted that, unlike other major cities across the country, people in Austin rarely dine out late, making restaurants reliant on fewer guests to make ends meet, and also acknowledged that a higher-visibility location with better foot traffic may also have helped buttress the restaurant at 1610 San Antonio St.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this market, nobody is taking a reservation after 8:15 p.m. I’ve always warned operators from outside of the city who are coming here who would listen that this market is incredibly hard,\u201d Fojtasek said. \u201cI\u2019ve worked in LA; I\u2019ve worked in New York. I’ve been around the block, and I’ve never seen a market that’s this challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n Michelin traffic rush lasted less than a year<\/p>\n The Michelin star earned by Olamaie in November 2024 initially brought\u00a0a rush of traffic. The restaurant booked hundreds of reservations in the days following the ceremony in Houston, but the bump from the award only lasted about eight months.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Olamaie chef-owner Michael Fojtasek (left),\u00a0chef de cuisine Amanda Turner and then-CEO of MaieB Hospitality, Ben Fordham, react in 2024 as they learn\u00a0Olamaie won the first Michelin star ever granted to a Southern restaurant.<\/p>\n MATTHEW ODAM\/AMERICAN-STATESMAN<\/p>\n Retaining the star did little to change the flow of traffic. Fojtasek said he received hundreds of calls and text messages congratulating him and his staff in 2024, but only received one or two texts following the news that the elegant Southern restaurant had retained its star in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n Olamaie attempted to extend its viability last year when the restaurant changed to a $175 prix fixe menu, complemented by a biscuit and snacks menu served at the bar. Fojtasek had seen numerous guests arrive following the star, curious to get a sense of the \u201cMichelin experience\u201d and only order a few appetizers and entrees to share among the table.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople would come to Austin and have lunch at Interstellar BBQ and\u00a0LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue and then pop in here for a few bites for dinner,\u201d Fojtasek said with a laugh, referring to two other Austin restaurants that received their initial stars in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Leaving fine dining behind<\/p>\n The celebrated chef, who operates the Gimme Burger truck at Butler Pitch & Putt \u2014 with plans for a second location in Hyde Park \u2014 is working on the food and beverage concepts for a championship golf course and event center called The Burn in the Houston area, but says he\u2019s not sure what the rest of his future holds.<\/p>\n Olamaie, which opened at 1610 San Antonio St. in the building that had previously been home to Mars and Oat Willie’s, gave the sense of dining in someone’s well-appointed Southern home.\u00a0<\/p>\n Aaron E. Martinez \/ American-Statesman, Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t really have a really clear pathway to what’s next, but I’m sure there’ll be something. I doubt that I will engage in another fine dining restaurant like that,\u201d Fojtasek said. \u201cIt\u2019s just so hard. It’s the hours, the level that you have to play at.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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