One of my favorite events is back – Austin Restaurant Weeks, which happens September 1 – 17, 2023. Keep reading to learn all about it!
Austin Restaurant Weeks
This annual event is an easy way for the community to give back and dine out for a cause. Eat at a participating restaurant during the two weeks and a portion of your meal cost will be donated to the Central Texas Food Bank. Restaurants are offering pre-fixe lunch and dinner menus with your choice of dishes. It’s a great way to support your favorite restaurant or try a new restaurant while giving back to the food bank.
In Central Texas, 1 in 7 people don’t know where their next meal is coming from, and the need has gotten larger this year. You’ve probably experienced the rising cost of groceries, bills, and other living expenses yourself.
The Central Texas Food Bank helps community members with all types of needs. Here are some of their stats:
- 93% of clients are not homeless
- 34% of clients are children and teens
- 64% of client households have at least one working adult
- 20% of client households include grandparents caring for grandchildren
The food bank does an incredible job working with partners, pulling in resources, and implementing innovative ways to meet their needs, but they still need more support. Every bit of this Austin Restaurant Weeks campaign helps!
The Preview Dinner
To celebrate the launch of the campaign, I joined the Central Texas Food Bank, Chef Philip Speer from Comedor, and Chef Dan Kennedy from Vixen’s Wedding in a special dinner for partners and media. Wow, it was so good! The six courses combine what both chefs do best and the unique features of their restaurants. Here’s what we enjoyed:
- Course 1: Tuna Crudo, Compressed Melon, Tomato, Herb Oil, Crispy Rice
- Course 2: Ensalada Verde, Lightsey Farm Peaches, Salsa Macha Vinaigrette
- Course 3: Poached Shrimp, Preserved Lime, Shrimp Curry, Shrimp Crackers
- Course 4: Elk Picadillo Tamal, Mole Anaranjado
- Course 5: Peri Peri Poulet Rouge, Basmati Rice, Heirloom Masa Tortillas
- Course 6: Pavlova with Bouldin Food Forest Melon Sorbet
Where to Dine
There are 85 (and counting) places participating in Austin Restaurant Weeks. Restaurants will have $20 lunch options and $40 or $60 dinner options. Some restaurants and breweries will also have drink specials. Here are some of my recommendations on where to go.
To start, Comedor and Vixen’s Wedding are both great places for dinner. Comedor’s menu is yet to be posted but there was talk of a taco omakase, in line with their focus on Mexican cuisine. Vixen’s Wedding, an Indian-inspired restaurant, is doing a $60 4-course dinner menu.
If you want to try newer Austin restaurants, here are the ones to visit:
- Distant Relatives – Barbecue food truck
- Fil N’ Viet – Filipino Vietnamese food truck
- Chapulin Cantina – Oaxacan cuisine
- KG BBQ – Egyptian barbecue food truck
- Diner Bar – Southern-inspired
- Luminaire – Texas-inspired
- Aba Austin – Mediterranean
Here are some Austin staple restaurants you should try:
- L’Oca d’Oro – Italian
- Foreign & Domestic – farm-to-table
- El Naranjo – Mexican
- Via 313 – pizza
- Julie Myrtille Bakery – French
- Watertrade – Japanese-style bar bites
- Second Bar + Kitchen – small plates
These are the menus that look the tastiest to me:
- Carve American Grill – steakhouse
- J-Prime Steakhouse – steakhouse
- Lucky Robot – Japanese/sushi
St Elmo Brewing – one of my favorite Austin breweries – is donating $1 for every glass of their Smalls Hazy IPA sold.
See all the restaurant options on the Austin Restaurant Weeks website.
I hope you get out and dine for Austin Restaurant Weeks! Let me know where you end up going.
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