Downtown Southern Restaurant Moonshine Gets Boozier With New Cocktail Bar

Downtown Southern restaurant Moonshine Patio & Grill expanded with a new on-site cocktail bar late last year. Kinfolk opened as of December 30, 2021, on 303 Red River Street.

Kinfolk’s cocktail list is divided into four sections: fancy drinks, old-fashioned and improved, daisies, and fizzes. Guests will receive a welcome cocktail. Then there are rare whiskeys and other spirits. As for food, on deck are La Patisserie macarons. Future options will expand with charcuterie, cheese, and chocolates.

Overseeing the bar are Moonshine co-founders Larry Perdido and Chuck Smith, director of operations Joe Nguyen, curator of spirits and education Tom Koerner, bar manager Elizabeth Rakun, and bartender Brian Bounds. Koerner had recently been the general manager of Seven Grand and Las Perlas. Before that, he worked in bars in Beijing, London, and Austin. Perdido and Smith wanted to open the bar in this specific space (the cellar of the restaurant) as a way to honor the history of the building (the website explains that someone had made wine in the space in the 1860s).

Its hours start at 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. Masks are required when not seated.

Chronicle gets a new food editor

There’s a new food editor at local alt-weekly Austin Chronicle. Melanie Haupt takes over the position recently vacated by Jessi Cape over the summer. Haupt has been writing for the paper for quite some time (often in the food section) and had worked with the late Virginia B. Wood. She wrote a book detailing Austin’s restaurant history, Historic Austin Restaurants: Capital Cuisine Through the Generations, and is a former Eater Austin associate editor.

Downtown taco restaurant expands into North Austin

Downtown taco restaurant Taquero Mucho is opening its second location in North Austin at 11101 Burnet Road starting on Friday, January 7. The menu remains the same: tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, quesadillas, and more, as well as margaritas, micheladas, CBD drinks, and weekend brunch. The new space is decked out in the same aesthetic as the original one: lots of pink, tiles, a counter-top bar, printed wallpaper, and neon. Hours are from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Also under the restaurant’s parent company Gabriela’s Group from co-founders and siblings Gabriela Bucio and Arturo Bucio are Seareinas, Revival Coffee, Mala Santa, and Gabriela’s South.

Gabriela’s Group