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Another Robot Restaurant Delivery Service Comes to Austin

Plus, there are new owners of Stubb’s, and more news

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A small box robot on wheels in red with white letters reading “Coco”
The Coco delivery robot.
Coco
Nadia Chaudhury is the editor of Eater Austin covering food and pop culture, as well as a photographer, writer, and frequent panel moderator and podcast guest.

Los Angeles-based robot delivery service Coco made its way into Austin this month. Austin restaurants participating in the program include Vaquero Taquero, Arpeggio Grill, Bambo Bistro, Clay Pit, DeSano Pizzeria, Tuk Tuk Thai, and Aviator Pizza. The robots, which will be controlled remotely, will make deliveries in the South Lamar, South Congress, general South Austin, downtown, North, North Loop, and Domain areas. Last summer, food delivery service company Refraction AI debuted its robots with Southside Flying Pizza.

New owner of Red River barbecue restaurant/venue

Now concert promoter C3 Presents and Live Nation completely own Red River barbecue restaurant and venue Stubb’s, as reported by Austin 360. There was a whole lawsuit between the then-owners of the restaurant company and the retail barbecue sauce brand of the same name in 2019, and the Red River spot got to keep its name while its satellite location had to undergo changes.

Austin restaurant closures and temporary shutters

Rosedale cafe Pacha closed at its nearly-20-year-old location at 4618 Burnet Road in late January, ahead of its relocation onto Guadalupe Street.

Austin Haitian truck Kreyol Korner has temporarily closed. Chef and owner Nahika Hillery plans to reopen the truck in a new location at some point this year under a new food truck manager and operator. In the meantime, she is cooking as part of the meal-prep service Cook Unity.

Austin restaurant openings and reopenings

Rainey Street bar Clive Bar has reopened as of February 9, after its renovation into a multi-level building, which preserves the original bar building.

Buda-based truck Tejas Birria is opening its new second location, this time in South Austin as part of the District 5 South Food Truck park at 10701 Menchaca Rd. This week, as it preps for the opening, the Buda truck will be temporarily closed. It had operated a pop-up space in East MLK commissary kitchen Wingman Kitchens last summer.

Texas publication restaurant accolades

Texas Month’s regular best new restaurants of the year was released this week, taking the angle of best dishes of the year due to the pandemic. For Austin, this means Birdie’s panisse, Lutie’s garden hand rolls, Sammie’s grilled yellowtail carpaccio, Simi Estiatoria’s lavraki, Canje’s black cake, J. Carver’s Belgian chocolate tartufo, and drinks from Tiki Tatsu-ya.

Tracking Austin food events

Westlake Thai restaurant Sway is hosting a dinner for the Buddhist holiday of Makha Bucha tonight, Wednesday, February 16. There will be special dishes like mussels hot pot, a DJ, free non-alcoholic drinks, an extended happy hour into 7 p.m., and a shrine on the rooftop. People are encouraged to write down whatever they want to let go of on pieces of paper and burn it on the fire.

Still Austin Whiskey Co. is hosting a steak dinner with Jack Allen’s Kitchen. The Full Circle: A Sustainable Steak Dinner will include meat from Double J Ranch, live music, and live fire. It takes place on Tuesday, February 22 from 6 to 10 p.m. at event space the Long Time found on 5707 Dunlap Road North in the Hornsby Bend area. Tickets are $200 or $350 for two.

New York chefs Ed Szymanski and Patricia Howard of popular restaurant Dame are coming into Austin for a brunch collaboration with chef Fermín Núñez at Mexican restaurant Suerte. The menu will focus on seafood, including squid alambres, oysters on the half shelf with chiltepin mignonette, and kedgeree a la tumbada. While it takes place on Sunday, February 27, unfortunately, reservations are all booked up, but there is a waitlist.

Still Austin Whiskey Co.

440 East Saint Elmo Road, , TX 78745 (512) 276-2700 Visit Website

Sway

3437 Bee Caves Road, , TX 78746 (512) 326-1999 Visit Website

Pacha

4618 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX 78756 (512) 420-8758

Clive Bar

609 Davis Street, , TX 78701 (512) 524-1623 Visit Website

Suerte

1800 East 6th Street, , TX 78702 (512) 522-3031 Visit Website

Tejas Birria [Austin]

1023 Springdale Road, Building 1, Austin, Texas 78721 Visit Website