Austin, TX

Cheers to the Best Rooftop Bars in Austin

Published

1 month ago

October 10, 2024

Press Room

Cheers to the Best Rooftop Bars in Austin

Courtesy Otopia

Fall in Austin isn’t just a season, it’s a city game-changer. Every nook and cranny comes alive with activity; folks return from cooler Northern pastures, UT draws in a new semester of student body, and revelers descend for big festivals like ACL and F1. It’s also a time when those who patiently waited out the most intense of months in their condos have a life again. Their hard-earned dollars can now be distributed more evenly, between AC and margaritas. Outdoor margaritas, of course. Austin’s rooftop bars are just the place to rejoice in the great outdoors. We round out the very best spots to soak up B(r)at City’s skyline and lakeside views.

Go forth and be so Julia, y’all.

Campus District
As the Campus District’s only rooftop pool and lounge, this space is routinely busy with fun-lovin’ patrons atop the Otis Hotel, especially come DJ nights and Golden Hour (a.k.a. happy hour). Though you’re in the heart of college town, Otopia has a distinctly upscale vibe that’s also approachable at the same time. Bar bites include plates of sushi and tacos, which we admit are on the small side, so you’d be wise to come for Smokin’ Sundays for deals on meaty pork sliders instead. Day passes are available if you just want to come take a dip.

Downtown
Formerly your run-of-the-mill rooftop parking garage, the P6 Lounge is now a happening watering hole complete with an intoxicating lakeside view. Located inside the sexy LINE Austin, P6 offers Mediterranean small bites and seasonal cocktails alongside the opportunity to see South Austin from a new angle, and you get a front-row seat to the Congress Avenue bat bridge. Wine lovers will want to check out their ‘Sip Well Sundays’ special when bottles are $20 off.

East Austin
For those who flocked to Europe during the heatwave and long to return, you can now relive your best Emily in Rome days in East Austin. Casa Bianca’s new rooftop bar, Bar Alcina, is an alfresco dream, with Italian cocktails on tap spanning Aperol Spritzes and Negronis, and plenty of cicchetti (aka Italian bar snacks) and pasta for the table. Their events lineup provides for added immersion, including a bimonthly Italian film series. Mamma Mia! Bar Alcina is open Tuesday through Sunday 4 pm till 10:30 pm.

La Piscina | Courtesy Austin Proper Hotel

Downtown
The ground floor patio may appear to be Second Street’s buzziest spot, but the cool kids know that the best place to hang at Austin Proper is actually up on the roof. La Piscina is tucked away in the center of floor five, offering an intimate space with Tex-Mex fare and plenty of refreshing beverage options. We love ordering the oysters with a mezcal concoction. Situated beside the pool and overlooking the Seaholm area, La Piscina has a distinct air of fat-flung glam, making it an excellent choice for date night.

South Lamar
Nido opened in 2022 but already is every Austinite’s favorite suggestion when it comes to rooftop bars that boast the best views of downtown’s skyline—that’s because it sits right across the lake, at the tip of South Lamar. You’ll tuck into its new American fare and excellent European wine list with obstructed sights of recognizable yet under-the-radar buildings such as the Austin Public Library and the Gables Towers. It’s the best place to do as the locals do.

Downtown
Both indoor and outdoor poolside seating at Group Therapy offers all-day dining, snacks, and drinks—and there’s a lot to love about the beverages here because they are huge (everything’s bigger in Texas, you know!). We’re talking full wine glass-sized pours of bubbles and pitchers capable of quenching a thirsty gang of four. Views overlook Republic Square, brunch is offered daily, and live music strums select days of the week.

West Fifth
Transplants missing their LA, Vegas, and Miami parties should make a beeline to this open-air, bottle-service emporium. The swank interior sports a posh feel that, combined with a huge glitzy dance floor, evokes a vibe that’s quite literally the opposite of Austin casual—meaning, of course, guests arrive dressed to impress. The experience is high-energy, with an emphasis on EDM, so plan accordingly and don’t forget to hydrate.

Warehouse District
There have been talks of the Coconut Club and the rest of fourth street closing down to make way for street renovations, but years on, the color hasn’t stopped flashing. This two-story Warehouse District queer bar heaves with bodies every night and all weekend, with no signs of stopping yet. Head up to the rooftop lounge which hosts drag events during the day, and come dusk it transforms into disco heaven. The whole experience is social media gold too—from Coconut Club’s neon-lit insides to the rainbow crossing out front.

Downtown
For all the breeze, music, and sunshine, head up to Rules & Regs atop Fairmont Austin. R&R by the glittering pool is exactly that, alongside sharable plates and colorful tropical cocktails. You’ll also find non-alcoholic ‘hangover cures’ teeming with trusted recovery agents like Kombucha and coconut water. Best for when the heat is too much to bear downstairs, Rules & Regs keeps things chill thanks to a nearby cluster of shady—and scenic—palm trees. Don’t miss their awesome drag brunches too, which are always a scream.

Barton Springs
El Alma’s casual rooftop patio is an all-year escape from the city, with prices that make you feel like you’ve been airlifted to a neighborhood cantina in Guadalajara. The menu offers seasonal Margaritas and Mojitos alongside Queso Fundido and tangy Ceviche, and the happy hour runs daily between 3 and 6 pm with discounts across the board including on the famed Mangorita, a frozen margarita swirled with tequila-marinated mango purée and served with an el chile rim. Special occasions like Día de los Muertos and Cinco de Mayo are a must.

Rainey Street
Hotel Van Zandt is home to this upscale restaurant and bar, known for hosting talented live music every night of the week. The performers are always top-tier (we’ve never witnessed a bad set), and adjacent to the stage is a sexy rooftop pool and fireplace for added ambience. The bar serves cocktails, beer, and wine, and they often host sizzling parties with guest DJs. The rooftop fun doesn’t stop when the freeze sets in—in December the rooftop is dotted with cute winter igloos.

Downtown
The rooftop of the JW Marriott is open to the public after 6 pm and features a wide selection of crafty cocktails (the Piña Colada is everything), beer, and wine plus a full menu of tacos, salads, and other light bites. The vibe is stylish yet relaxed, with comfy lounge chairs surrounding fire-pits in case the temperature takes a dip, and live music on Thursdays to set the mood. One side has views of Ladybird Lake and the other overlooks the city skyline, so you truly can’t go wrong.

Downtown
There ain’t no party like a W party. The WET Deck downtown is accessible to non-hotel guests who purchase a day pass on the W Austin’s website. Slurpy delights include Frosé and Frozen Cola, and cabanas and daybeds are reservable for a fee and minimum spend. DJ Fridays to Sundays happen every week, and special events regularly take place here, keep your ear to the ground during festival season.

Downtown
Hovering 20 floors above the pavement, Azul Rooftop boasts some of the highest views in town alongside a massive selection of cocktails to help enhance the panoramic entertainment. The rather low-key deck also has a wading pool, cabanas, fire pits, and a wealth of space to snap those coveted sunset pics, and you can cozy up with a good read during the weekday, generally undisturbed.

Downtown
Upstairs at Caroline is an absurdly fun urban backyard party overlooking Congress, complete with picnic benches; astroturf; bar games like foosball, shuffleboard, cornhole, and giant Jenga; koozies; and, of course, all the cocktails. There are always tons of weekly specials including $3 Taco Tuesday, Sunday Yappy Hour (bringing along your pup gets you 25% off your bill), and Thirsty Thursday with $8 draft cocktails from 4 to 7 pm. No reservations are taken.

Domain
This three-story rooftop patio atop the Rose Room is a non-stop Vegas-style dance party, complete with dancers and DJs galore. There’s an outside dance floor and loads of seating to enjoy tapas, cocktails, and bottle service. Soak up the bright lights, hard beats, and big crowds (skewing heavily on students) on weekends—in other words, live it up.

Warehouse District
Speakeasy is one of those rare OG downtown spots that’s managed to weather the storm over the years and even evolve along the way. Terrace59 is the Miami-esque rooftop lounge upstairs, with white cushioned furniture, DJs, low lights, and epic views. Dedicated bar and cocktail waitresses, along with themed nights such as Open Mic and Singalong Saturdays, make this a welcoming destination for the graduated-from-Dirty Sixth crowd, and they even sell cigars if you’re feeling fancy.

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Austin, TX

These 15 Texas restaurants were awarded Michelin Stars. See full list

Published

7 hours ago

November 12, 2024

Press Room

These 15 Texas restaurants were awarded Michelin Stars. See full list

The Michelin Guide for restaurants made its highly anticipated Lone Star State debut Monday night with a ceremony and cocktail reception at 713 Music Hall in downtown Houston.

The globally influential dining and travel guide from the French tire company honored 117 Texas restaurants with a variety of distinctions.

Austin had the biggest night of the five major Texas cities represented, taking home 7 of the 15 coveted Michelin Stars awarded to Lone Star restaurants.

Here’s how Texas restaurants fared.

LIST: 7 Austin restaurants awarded Michelin Stars

Seven Austin restaurants were awarded one-star distinctions:

Dai Due and Emmer & Rye, two Austin restaurants that serve American cuisine, were also awarded Michelin Green Star. The distinction highlights restaurants that lead the industry in their sustainability practices.

LIST: 6 Houston restaurants awarded Michelin Stars

With the second-largest one-star contingency, six Houston restaurants claimed the distinctions:

Dallas, San Antonio restaurants each receive a Michelin Star

Tatsu Dallas (Japanese cuisine) and Mixtli (Mexican cuisine) in San Antonio also received one-star distinctions.

No restaurant in Texas received two or three stars. There are currently only 13 restaurants in the United States with three stars and 33 with two stars. About 200 restaurants in the U.S. claim one star. Michelin and its inspectors review star designation annually, with new stars being assigned, and restaurants fighting to hold onto existing stars while often striving for more.

What is The Michelin Guide?

The Michelin Guide is a renowned international restaurant rating system managed by the French tire manufacturer. It was first published in 1889 in the small French town of Clermont-Ferrand by brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin, founders of the now world-famous tire company. The guides, which were originally free, were created to encourage travel and thus boost care and tire sales.

What do Michelin Stars mean?

Michelin’s anonymous inspectors and employees have been reporting and ranking Texas restaurants since this summer. The company ranks each restaurant based on five universal criteria:

quality of products
harmony of flavors
mastery of cooking techniques
voice and personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine
consistency of food between each visit and throughout the menu

A restaurant may be awarded one, two or three Michelin Stars, used to indicate those deemed to be among the best in the world. Michelin’s site explains what the number of Stars represents:

One Star, “worth a stop”: The restaurant uses top quality ingredients, where dishes with distinct flavors are prepared to a consistently high standard.
Two Stars, “worth a detour”: The personality and talent of the chef are evident in their expertly crafted dishes; their food is refined and inspired.
Three Stars, “worth a special journey”: As the highest award, three Stars are given for the superlative cooking of chefs at the peak of their profession; their cooking is elevated to an art form and some of their dishes are destined to become classics.

What is the Bib Gourmand award?

“The Bib Gourmand is our award for great value, and highlights simple yet skillful cooking at an affordable price,” according to the Michelin website.

See the full list of Bib Gourmand award-winning restaurants at guide.michelin.com.

Why did the Michelin tire company rate restaurants?

Emerging in 1900, the Michelin Guide initially served as a comprehensive guidebook for France, aiming to inspire drivers (particularly those using the company’s tires) to explore the country by road. It gradually expanded throughout Europe, but its publication was interrupted during World War I.

After the war, the guide resumed its operations and underwent a significant shift in focus in 1926, transitioning from a general travel guide to a specialized rating system for fine-dining establishments.

The Michelin Guide’s renowned one- to three-star rating system was fully established in 1931, providing a comprehensive evaluation framework for discerning diners.

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Austin, TX

Michelin Guide plates up first Texas picks, with 7 stars in Austin

Published

15 hours ago

November 12, 2024

Press Room

Michelin Guide plates up first Texas picks, with 7 stars in Austin

Missed out on one of the coveted invites for Monday night’s ceremony that will reveal which Texas restaurants are included in the state’s first ever Michelin Guide? Fear not.

The event will be streamed live on YouTube beginning at 7 pm. We’ve embedded it below.

As CultureMap haspreviously reported, restaurants from Texas’ five largest cities — Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Austin, as well as points in between — have been invited to the ceremony that’s being held at Houston’s 713 Music Hall. They’re eligible for one of four designations:

Michelin stars: rated at one, two, or three for restaurants that offer exceptional experiences
Bib Gourmand: described as “restaurants that offer great quality food at good prices”
Recommended: for restaurants that serve good food but are not quite star worthy
Green stars: for “restaurants that are leaders in sustainable gastronomy”

Considered to be the most prestigious restaurant review site in the world, Michelin uses five criteria to evaluate restaurants. They are: product quality; mastery of cooking techniques; harmony of flavors; the personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine; and consistency over time and across the entire menu.

The guide’s famously anonymous inspectors had already been spending time in Texas when Michelin announced its presence in July. It seems like they’ve been busy.

Texas Monthlyreported that at least 16 barbecue restaurants statewide have been invited to the ceremony, including Austin’s Franklin Barbecue, LeRoy and Lewis BBQ, Interstellar BBQ, and Kemuri Tatsu-Ya, as well as the meteorically successful Lockhart joint Barbs B Q. In the article, barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn speculates that at least one barbecue restaurant could receive a star, which would be a first for America.

Austin’s relatively casual dining scene and inconsistent performance with other food awards (not too shabby, but showing alternating periods of obsession and being overlooked) makes it a bit hard to predict how it will fare in this inaugural year of recognition.

Some Austin restaurants like Pasta|Bar have sibling restaurants in other states that already have stars; others like El Naranjo and Nixta Taqueria already have chef wins from the James Beard Foundation under their belts. There are also some obvious contenders given their ongoing local prestige: Uchi, Hestia, Barley Swine, and Olamaie come to mind. So do newer restaurants that are doing something truly unique, riding huge waves of media praise, or both, like Canje, Birdie’s, and Fabrik.

Of course, CultureMap will be in attendance. We’ll have full coverage of the results later.

—

CultureMap Austin editor Brianna Caleri adapted this story with local commentary.

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Austin, TX

Here Are the 2024 Michelin Winners in Austin

Published

23 hours ago

November 11, 2024

Press Room

Here Are the 2024 Michelin Winners in Austin

It’s finally here: Michelin — the tire company behind the international dining review system — announced the awardees of its first-ever Texas guide on November 11, spanning Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth. The ceremony was presented in Houston and live-streamed on YouTube.

Michelin Guide Texas includes 15 Bib Gourmands; 23 recommended designations. The full Austin list follows below; check out Houston’s and Dallas’s lists on their respective sites.

The first Michelin award of the evening went to Dallas cocktail bar Rye manager Julian Shaffer for the Exceptional Cocktails Award. For San Antonio, Mexican tasting menu restaurant Mixtli’s Hailey Pruitt and Lauren Beckman won the Service Award. Beckman shared that she was “panicking a little bit but completely honored” on stage. The first Austin award went to Edgar Rico of Mexican restaurant Nixta Taqueria for the Young Chef Award. Emmer & Rye’s San Antonio dessert menu restaurant Nicosi got a recommended designation. Only two Austin chefs won the Michelin Green stars — Jesse Griffiths of Dai Due and Emmer & Rye’s Kevin Fink.

Well before Michelin’s Texas announcement in July, its famously anonymous inspectors have been on the ground in the state reviewing restaurants in the five cities and determining which dining establishments are worthy of its stars. Their criteria is based on the quality, creativity, and consistency of the food, ingredients, and dishes. Notably, the website notes that they “do not look at the interior decor, table setting, or service quality.”

Michelin’s star designations breaks down as follows:

Three Michelin stars indicate restaurants that serve “exceptional cuisine” that is “worth a special journey,” per its website.
Two stars are given to restaurants that offer “excellent cooking” that is “worth a detour.”
Single stars are awarded to restaurants that have “high quality cooking” that’s “worth a stop.”

Then there are Michelin’s Bib Gourmands, which are typically given to what the organization describes as places with “good cuisine at reasonable prices,” which is basically just comparatively more affordable and casual restaurants than starred ones. Then there are its Michelin Green Stars given to restaurants that implement highly sustainable and/or eco-friendly practices. And finally, there are its recommended list, which includes restaurants that are good, but not good enough for any of the labels above.

To bring Michelin to Texas, for three years, the state and respective cities’ tourism boards are paying a collective $2,700,000 (Visit Austin’s share of that is $90,000 per year, using the city’s hotel occupancy tax).

Young Chef Award

Edgar Rico of Mexican restaurant Nixta Taqueria (and Eater Award-winning restaurant)

One Star Austin Restaurants

Bib Gourmands in Austin

Lockhart barbecue restaurant Barbs B Q (and one of Eater’s best new restaurants)
Biscuit barbecue truck Briscuits
Food truck Cuantos Tacos
New Texan restaurant Dai Due
African American barbecue truck Distant Relatives (and Eater Award-winning food truck)
New Texan restaurant Emmer & Rye (and Eater Award-winning restaurant)
Barbecue restaurant Franklin Barbecue
Japanese Texan izakaya Kemuri Tatsu-ya (and Eater Award-winning restaurant)
Egyptian Texan barbecue truck KG BBQ (and Eater Award-winning food truck)
Barbacoa food truck La Santa Barbacha
Barbecue food truck (turning into a physical restaurant later this winter) Micklethwait Craft Meats
Mexican restaurant Nixta Taqueria (its second of the evening)
New Texan restaurant Odd Duck (and Eater Award-winning restaurant)
Mexican Japanese restaurant Ramen del Barrio (and Eater Award-winning restaurant)
Mexican restaurant Veracruz Fonda & Bar (from the Veracruz team)