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Statesman critic Matthew Odam unveiled his annual Austin dining guide today. At the top of the list of 25 restaurants is Olamaie, the modern Southern restaurant helmed by Michael Fojtasek and Grae Nonas. He cited the duo's updated yet old school approaches as reinventing the definition of Southern food with a local bent in the Texas context, like the tomato-less barbecue sauce and their take on ambrosia.
Also included in the top five were were Barley Swine, Lenoir (which topped last year’s list), Qui, and Dai Due. Other newcomers to the list were Apis, Counter 3.Five.VII, Launderette, Prelog’s, Gardner, and Clark’s, which took Perla’s place from the previous year.
For more list fun, Odam included a barbecue one, where he placed Franklin back at the top after dropping it to second place last year. For Mexican, he named El Naranjo as number one, and Kyoten as the best trailer. There’s also his unranked list of 50 recommended places for everyday dining, which ranges from Apothecary Wine Bar, Contigo, Fonda San Miguel, Hopfields, Lonesome Dove, Quality Seafood, to Vino Vino.
