The 4 Most Anticipated Restaurants in Austin, Fall 2019

Fall is one of Austin’s busiest seasons — the temperatures drop, it’s bearable to be outside again, etc., etc. — which means it’s also jam-packed with forthcoming restaurant openings.

The fall restaurant preview is full of fun and delicious options. The pastry mastermind behind Julie Myrtille Bakery is opening her first full-on French bakery and daytime cafe in Govalle. The acclaimed team behind New American restaurant Emmer & Rye is opening a new downtown restaurant dedicated to live-fire cooking with Hestia. Butcher experts Salt & Time are also opening in the downtown area with a new cafe attached to Republic Square Park, full of sandwiches and bowls.

For the purposes of this guide, Eater Austin is focusing on restaurants that are opening after the first official day of fall, Monday, September 23. There are still some holdovers from the summer, like eagerly anticipated taqueria Nixta and the coffee shop/Roman-style pizzeria Meteor, both of which should be opening relatively soon.

With that, here are the four most anticipated Austin restaurant openings of the fall season, plus a wider look at what autumn will bring to the city as well as what’s in store for winter.

Know of an impending restaurant opening that is missing below? Send it through the tipline. This guide will be updated throughout the season as details change and places open.

Julie Myrtille Bakery

Amanda Hartfield

Location: 1023 Springdale Road, Govalle
Key Players: Julie Myrtille
Opening Date: Wednesday, December 4

Julie Myrtille is opening her first full French bakery based on her popular farmers market stand. This means a steady stream of classic pastries (think almond croissants, cakes, canelés), as well as breads, jams, crepes, quiches, and sandwiches. As for drinks, expect beverages like hot chocolate, coffee, and tea. Don’t worry: the farmers market stands will still run when the bakery opens.

Hestia

Hestia

Location: 208 Nueces Street, Downtown
Key Players: Kevin Fink, Tavel Bristol-Joseph
Projected Opening: November 2019

The Emmer & Rye team’s next trick is a modern grill restaurant with dinner club vibes right in downtown Austin. As indicated by the name (the Greek goddess of the hearth), the kitchen will focus on live-fire cooking methods centered on its 20-foot grill. This means meats (beef, lamb seafood) and vegetables. Originally, the restaurant pegged for early 2019.

Salt & Time Cafe

Salt & Time/Facebook

Location: Ben Runkle, Bryan Butler
Key Players: 422 Guadalupe Street, Downtown
Projected Opening: Fall 2019

Austin’s favorite butcher shop and restaurant Salt & Time is opening a downtown cafe this fall at Republic Square Park (ahead of its forthcoming South Austin restaurant within the Saint Elmo Public Market next year). The menu will offer dishes made for breakfast and lunch, from sandwiches, bowls, and pastries, along with canned and kegged beer and wine.

Rebel Cheese

Rebel Cheese/Facebook

Location: 2200 Aldrich Street, Mueller
Key Players: Kirsten Maitland, Fred Zwar
Opening Date: Sunday, October 27

The vegan cheese and sandwich shop, which was originally pegged for summer, is aiming to open this fall. On deck are house-made vegan cheeses and fake meats — think parmesan, aged blue cheese, tofu eggs, carrot lox, fake bacon — to be used in sandwiches, salads, soups, and boards. There’s a wine and beer shop component as well.

Also tracking (in alphabetical order):

• A holdover from the summer, MLK restaurant Batch Craft Beer and Kolaches is opening its brewery branch, Batch Brewing, on Friday, November 8. (3220 Manor Road, MLK)
• It’s unclear if and when duckpin bowling alley, mechanical bull-riding spot, and bar Bull & Bowl will open in downtown Austin. It had been pegged to debut in September, but doesn’t seem to have opened. (501 West 6th Street, Downtown)
• Steakhouse chain Perry’s is opening a comparatively more casual restaurant Carve American Grille in the late fall, featuring live-fire cooking methods and a butcher shop (West William Cannon Drive and Southwest Parkway, Oak Hill)
• Govalle is getting another beer spot with Central Machine Works Brewery and Beer Hall, which is expected to open in the fall. (4824 East Cesar Chavez Street, Govalle)
• Sandwich and chicken wing trailer Cluck-n-Burger opened its first restaurant in the former Turntable Eatery space as of late September. (5111 Airport Boulevard, North Loop)
• Gati, the vegan ice cream shop from Thai Fresh owner Jam Santichat, will bear coconut milk-based frozen sweets, opening sometime in the fall. (1512 Holly Street, East Cesar Chavez)
• Could Better Half’s next door brewpub Hold Out Brewing open this fall? Expected are lots of beers and burgers. (1208 West 4th Street, Clarksville)
• Forthcoming downtown Hotel Zaza and its two restaurants/bars Perfect Strangers and Group Therapy opened in September. The former is an all-day restaurant and the latter is a bar with shared plates, both being overseen by the hotel’s corporate director of food and beverage Jacob Weaver, formerly of Juliet Italian Kitchen. (401 Guadalupe Street, Downtown)
• Brand-new casual restaurant Provision took over the vacated Red’s Porch space in the Quarry as of late October with a wide-ranging menu on deck. (4200 West Braker Lane, Suite B, Quarry)
• The historic Victory Grill, a notable blues club during and after segregation, is being turned into chicken and waffle restaurant Rolling Rooster’s second location, opening sometime this fall. (1104 East 11th Street, Central East Austin)
• Chef Jack Gilmore’s Round Rock seafood restaurant Salt Traders Coastal Cooking’s south Austin opened in late September. (1101 South Mopac Expressway, Zilker)
• Cheese and charcuterie company Spread & Co. opened its very own restaurant in late October, with boards, sandwiches, loaded toasts, wines, and lots of, well, spreads from jams to mustards. (1601 West 38th Street, Rosedale)
• Fredericksburg winery Southold Farm & Cellar is opening a wine bar in Johnson City, featuring its wonderful Hill Country wines and snacks, open as of mid-October. (109 North Nugent Avenue, Johnson City)
• Eater 38 Italian truck Patrizi’s new Cajun restaurant Vic & Al’s, which is taking the place of Manor Road pizzeria Unit D, is hoping for a fall opening, but it might be delayed into the winter. (2406 Manor Road, Cherrywood)
• Southern California seafood chain Ways & Means is turning downtown Austin restaurant Annie’s Cafe into an oyster wonderland sometime in the late fall. (319 Congress Avenue, Downtown)
• Popular Hispanic and Asian drinks and snacks chain Zero Degrees is opening two Austin-area locations for the first time, the first already open in Cedar Park as of September and the second in South Austin along South Lamar in November. (800 West Whitestone Boulevard, Suite B5, Cedar Park; 4211 South Lamar Boulevard, Suite A3, South Lamar)

Winter 2019/2020: Austin Proper; Honest Mary’s [Rosedale]; The Kebab Shop [Plaza Saltillo]; Paperboy [brick-and-mortar]; Poke Austin [Plaza Saltillo]; Southside Market & Barbeque [North Burnet]; Tiki Tatsu-ya; Wanderlust

• All Coming Attractions [EATX]
• The 5 Most Anticipated Restaurants in Austin, Summer 2019 [EATX]