Austin, TX

A New Restaurant With Southeast Texas Cowboy Flair Has Food Truck Roots

Published

11 months ago

January 6, 2025

A New Restaurant With Southeast Texas Cowboy Flair Has Food Truck Roots

One of Austin’s best barbecue trucks finally has a full-blown restaurant.

Micklethwait Craft Meats, a barbecue truck that formerly took up residency on Rosewood Avenue, opened its first standalone restaurant at 4602 Tanney Street in East Austin on Friday, January 3.

Tom Micklethwait, the owner and founder of Micklethwait Craft Meats, says the new space has also allowed the restaurant to expand its menu to offer an ever-changing lineup of specials and baked goods, in addition to butchering its own cuts of meats. The restaurant has also incorporated new offset pits, including one that allows Micklethwait to cook ingredients and meats directly on the fire. “The new cooking style will allow the restaurant to expand its repertoire and how we approach barbecue as opposed to the classic Central Texas offset smoker,” he says. “We’re getting more into Southwest Texas cowboy style.”

Micklethwait Craft Meats has been an Austin staple since 2012, but diners have largely secured its smoked meats from a truck — until now.

Micklethwait Craft Meats’

Though he believes brisket will always be the restaurant’s No. 1 seller, Micklethwait predicts newer favorites will include chicken al carbon. Cooked Southwest Texas style — smoked with post oak and finished directly over mesquite coals — the dish is served with salsa verde and tortillas, almost like a build-your-own taco platter, he says.

The restaurant, which Micklethwait says had a good first-day turnout, has launched with limited hours from 11 a.m. to around 4 p.m. or sellout Thursday through Sunday, but by March or April, Micklethwait says he plans to expand the hours — adding on dinner or more hours earlier in the week.

a brisket sandwich from Micklethwait Craft Meats served with slaw, pickles, and red onion. — Get your brisket on a plate or in sandwich form.

a person holds up smoked dino ribs from Micklethwait Craft Meats. — Micklethwait Craft Meats is known for its variety of smoked meats, including its massive Dino Ribs.

Micklethwait purchased the building at the corner of Springdale and Oak Springs last summer from friends. He had already used the 90-year-old building, which previously served as a farm store and a neighborhood church, as Craft Meat’s headquarters and commissary kitchen for its food truck for the past six years. He began renovating the building last August. The revamped building now offers 40 indoor seats and 80 seats on its spacious outdoor patio, which is shaded by pecan trees. The Micklethwaits say they plan to add some new components, including an onsite herb and vegetable garden that will help fuel their menu.

Though known mainly for its food trucks, Micklethwait has owned other restaurants. The team originally opened a Micklethwait restaurant in Smithville in 2018 but closed it in 2020 to focus on the Austin food truck, which he opened in 2012.

Micklethwai also operated the sandwich truck Romanouskas Delicatessen from 2015 to 2016 and the taco truck Taco Bronco in 2020. He expanded his footprint in 2021 with Saddle Up, a beer garden and icehouse located on Rosewood Avenue, where the Micklethwait truck was once located. As planned, Micklethwait closed Saddle Up late last year to launch the restaurant.

Micklethwait Craft Meats’s new building. — Micklethwait Craft Meats’s new restaurant is housed in a former farmhouse and church.

Micklethwait Craft Meats is located at 4602 Tanney Street, East Austin, 78721. It is open from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., or sellout, from Thursday through Saturday.

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Austin, TX

Southwest Airlines to open a new Crew Base in Austin, Texas

Published

9 hours ago

December 15, 2025

Press Room

Southwest Airlines to open a new Crew Base in Austin, Texas

Southwest Airlines announced today that a new Crew Base for Pilots and Flight Attendants will open in March 2026 in Austin, Texas, creating more than 2,000 new jobs based at Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) and positioning the airline for continued growth in Central Texas.

Most Employees at the new Base will be Captains, First Officers, and Flight Attendants, supported by new Base Leadership and supporting staff. Southwest is also planning to add a recurring training facility for Flight Attendants as part of its ongoing business transformation.

Bob Jordan, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Vice Chairman of the Board, said: “This investment demonstrates our commitment to Austin and to our Customers.

“As the largest carrier at Austin Bergstrom International Airport, we appreciate the vision of Governor Abbott and Mayor Watson in clearing the way for Austin to become an even bigger part of our future.”

Southwest is Austin’s largest air carrier with more than 130 peak-day departures that served approximately 6.7 million Customers in 20241.

Next March, new service begins to popular leisure destinations, including Fort Myers, Fla., Palm Springs, Calif., and Steamboat Springs (Hayden), Colo., bringing the total of nonstop destinations from Austin to 53.

Southwest also will begin daily service between Austin and Cincinnati, Ohio, next June, and has increased seasonal service in markets such as Pensacola, Fla.

Southwest expects to open the new base in early March, starting with approximately 335 Pilots and 650 Flight Attendants. By mid-2027, the base will reach its expected size of 2,000 total Employees.

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Austin, TX

Austin opens cold weather shelters ahead of freezing temps

Published

21 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Press Room

Austin opens cold weather shelters ahead of freezing temps

As the Austin area prepares to plunge into freezing temperatures Sunday night, the city is initiating its Cold Weather Shelters protocol.

Those wanting to use the emergency shelters, which open when overnight temperatures reach 35 degrees or lower, must register between 6-8 p.m. at One Texas Center (OTC) on Barton Springs Road, according to a release from the city. Those interested and in need of transport can reach the OTC via bus lines 1, 7, 10, 20, 30, 105 and 801. Anyone who can’t pay bus fare but needs shelter will still be allowed to ride, a Facebook post from the city said.

Following registration, CapMetro shuttles will take guests from the OTC to a cold weather shelter. The addresses for these shelters are kept confidential due to “safety, privacy and capacity concerns,” according to the Austin American-Statesman.

The Statesman also reported that shelters provide meals and allow leashed, friendly pets.

All parks and libraries are meanwhile serving as warming centers during regular operating hours, except for Austin Public Library’s Old Quarry Branch and Willie Mae Kirk Branch.

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