Cocktail Bar Backbeat Hits the Right Note For Chronicle

Amidst the ever-growing cocktail options in Austin, Chronicle’s Brandon Watson checks in with Backbeat. There he finds familiar and well-put together bar from the Drink.Well team with fun cocktails, swell space, and satisfying bites. Even though his favored drink, the Moon Bridge made with Japanese whiskey, isn't available anymore, he still have other recommendations:

The tap Sherry Cobbler ($8), a favorite in form, is given a citrus-bitter complexity from grapefruit. With packed ice, it's a great refresher coming out of the summer heat.

The rich pate melt wows him from the richer dishes, and he appreciates the vegetarian offerings, especially the manner in which the salad used tried-and-true beets in a surprisingly new way.

Instead of using chunks of roasted root, Backbeat smears a [beet] puree directly on the plate and tops with a frisée, radish, pine nuts, and fennel (both frond and bulb) salad tossed with a poppy seed dressing that bears little resemblance to the cloying varieties you find on grocery shelves.

THE BLOGS — Fed Man Walking continued his burger trek with Cow Bells, Dine With Shayda took in the views and food from Lucy's Fried Chicken's Lake Travis location, and Sushi in the ATX previewed Chinatown's Street.