Chronicle Picks Austin’s Top Asian Restaurants

To round out the final week of 2016, the Chronicle took a numbered look back at the year with multiple lists. Writer Melody Fury added newcomers Old Thousand and Dee Dee to her round-up of Austin’s best modern Asian restaurants. While she noted that the former still needs to work through its opening pains,

“it’s already clear that [Old Thousand is] challenging and shifting Austinites' relationship to Chinese cuisine. Expect playful spins to hyper-regional specialties like Cantonese clay pot rice with pork belly and duck confit.”

Fury also highlighted restaurants with killer cocktail programs with 2016 rookies Otoko and Chicon. Of the drinks paired with the former’s omakase meal, she wrote that the beverages:

“both alcoholic and zero-proof, all maintain a delicate balance that does not overwhelm the palate.”

While Chicon expertly uses unexpected ingredients within its cocktails:

“Reading the menu alone, it's difficult to imagine how the unlikely ingredients like chai, whey, and smoked pumpkin work together, but somehow they always make it work.”

The other top ten lists focus on vegan spots, 2016's beer year, pickled bites, hashtag Instagram-worthy dishes, and others.

THE BLOGS — Fed Man Walking burgered on with the wagyu brisket burger at Vince Young Steakhouse, Smoking Ho trekked to San Antonio to try former La Barbecue pitmaster Esaul Ramos' new joint 2M Smokehouse where he pleased with his findings, Foodie is the New Forty thoroughly enjoyed Old Thousand, and My Closet Life brunched at Central Standard.

• The Year in Food [Chronicle]