Eater’s Best Texas Restaurant Guide Features Seven Austin Spots

Eater turned its attention to Texas for its next regional guide, and it’s out right now. Eater’s roving restaurant critic Bill Addison put together the list of 38 essential restaurants found in the Lone Star state, which includes seven Austin places.

Austin’s picks include patio haven Contigo, grain-obsessed Emmer & Rye, award-winning Franklin Barbecue, Japanese Texas izakaya Kemuri Tatsu-ya, New American Odd Duck, legendary Tex-Mex spot Tamale House East, and taco queens of Veracruz All Natural. Also included was pitmaster Tootsie Tomanetz’s barbecue spot Snow’s BBQ out in Lexington.

“With our choices, we tried to represent as man aspects of Austin dining as we could,” Addison told Eater. “I devoted the least amount of writing to Austin because it’s the most media-adored place in Texas (America?) and I wanted to make sure other cities got their due.” Houston is represented with ten restaurants, Dallas with five, Fort Worth with two, and San Antonio with five.

Addison appreciates Austin’s role in Texas: “Austin knows the singular space it occupies in the country’s dining ecology: deeply devoted to its Texan roots but also wondrously supportive of wacky, wonderful ideas that work, Kemuri Tatsu-ya being Example A.”

The rest of the Texas guide includes Addison’s take on the state of dining, a deep-dive into Tex-Mex, as well as hotel and activity suggestions throughout the region, including Austin.

• The 38 Essential Restaurants of Texas [E]
• The Essential Guide to Eating Texas [E]