Without the professional checks and balances professional reviewers face, Yelp users are free to go wild. Although that sometimes makes for a chaotic rating system, it makes the platform’s 25 best new restaurants in the South all the more impressive. Austin placed on the list twice — something only a handful of cities achieved.

The two Austin restaurants featured were the gluten-free Yucatecan retreatNômadé (No. 4) and the vegan fine dining pioneerFabrik (No. 10). Besides a shared interest in catering to specific diets, these restaurants share a presentational ethos that offers elevated dining without too much pretension. (We have the Austin dining scene at large to thank for this pattern.)

It’s not a surprise, given those similarities, that the chefs behind both restaurants were really cooking for themselves when they developed the concepts. Chef Chef Jay Huang of Nômadé tells Yelp his food allergies have caused frustration while scouring menus for something safe to eat when dining out; Chef Chef Je Wallerstein of Fabrik says her hard-to-find take on vegan dining comes from 20 years of eating vegan.

Fabrik was No. 10 on the list.Fabrik/Instagram

The list was compiled based on both hard data and opinion. All the restaurants on the list are full-service, and have opened after January 21, 2023, and have a passing health score as of May 1, 2024. Some quantitative factors include total volume and ratings of reviews, while Community Managers provided a human touch by identifying which restaurants users especially gravitate towards.

In addition to quotes from the chefs and reviewers, these listings highlight some of the restaurants’ most talked-about dishes, so diners have somewhere to start when they make a visit.

The Houston area and Dallas were also represented on the list with, two and one mentions, respecitvely. In Houston, the multicultural Baso (No. 22) earned its spot through its commitment to live fire cooking. This spot hits all four trends identified by the report as a whole: open-flame cooking, Southern roots, global thinking, and seasonal menus. In The Houston suburb of the Woodlands, Xalisko Cocina Mexicana (No. 12) features the work of a former cafeteria worker who leveled up after culinary school.

In Dallas, sushi spot Yūjō (No. 9) received praise not just for its high-quality fish, but for its excellent service — a winning combination for an “entry level omakase.”

Unfortunately Austin did not make Yelp’s overall top 100 U.S. restaurants list. However, Gino’s Deli Stop N Buy in San Antonio smoked the competition at No. 9, followed by: Burger-chan, Tacos Doña Lena, and Avesta Persian Grill in Houston at Nos. 27, 38, and 61, respectively; Pappa Gyros in Katy at No. 63; Mr Max, in Irving at No. 72; Mr. A-Ok’s Kitchen in San Antonio again at No. 77; and finally Southern Yankee Crafthouse in Houston again, bringing up the rear at No. 99.

A full list with insight from the chefs and reviewers is available at yelp.com.

Downtown Austin hotel the W has been undergoing renovations for quite some time, and these changes include three new restaurants and bars for the 200 Lavaca Street hotel. There’s the all-day American-French-Texan restaurant Serenade, presumably taking over what was previously the Trace restaurant. It’ll have a patio bar (aka courtyard) and two private dining rooms (one dubbed the Serenade Wine Room); expect beer, wine and cocktails from the Serenade Bar. Then there’s the new Blue Room, a reservations-only cocktail bar, taking over what was previously the hotel’s secret bar. Finally, there will be a cafe with French-ish vibes, 2nd & Roast, with coffee made with beans from Austin roasteries, bites, and pastries, along with espresso-based cocktails in the evenings. Remaining will be the Living Room Lounge, a bar that exists in all W hotels. The revamped Austin one will include an actually gold-colored bar, fireplace, and more. Everything is supposed to be completed and open/reopen in October 2024.

Tracking Austin food and drink events, pop-up edition

Hot dog pop-up Zee’s Wiener System’s got a couple dates this mid-summer on deck. First is a pop-up at Chestnut neighborhood Mexican restaurant Nixta Taqueria starting at 6 p.m on Wednesday, July 31; then it’ll be slinging franks at East Austin bar Kitty Cohen’s from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday, August 2; and it’ll participate in creative space Canopy Austin’s Open Canopy event on Saturday, August 3 from 1 to 4 p.m. And then, it’ll cook up at West Austin cafe Better Half’s Sloppee Sunday event on August 4 starting at 3 p.m. where chef Zak Drummond will make something that is not a hot dog.

Paczki pop-up Custard Prison is hosting its next event on Saturday, August 3 at the downtown location of coffee shop and bakery Manana Dos. It’ll start at 10:30 a.m. The Polish doughnut menu includes strawberries and cream, fig leaf custard, apricot cobbler, and a take on Cinnabons.

Barbecue restaurant vacation

Central East Austin restaurant Franklin Barbecue’s annual summer vacation is happening right now. The 11th Street barbecue restaurant is closed from Monday, July 29 through Thursday, August 8, and it’ll reopen on Friday, August 9.

Chef changes

Brentwood pizza and wine restaurant Bufalina Due’s executive chef Eli Rodriguez is now the head chef of both that location and its East Austin location Bufalina.

Food truck relocations

Jamaican food truck Mr Pimento moved from its East Riverside location into McKinney neighborhood brewery Austin Craft Brewing as of July 28 at 4700 Burleson Road. Its hours are from noon to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.

Nyam Sunshine Cuisine moved from its St. Elmo area location at Vacancy Brewing into nearby volleyball court Wooly’s Beach Volleyball at 514 East St. Elmo Road as of July 30.

Tracking Austin food events, guest chef series edition

Austin pitmaster Aaron Franklin and his restaurant Uptown Sports Club are collaborating with McKinney brewery Meanwhile Brewing for a summer barbecue series on Fridays from 6:30 to 9 p.m. each day rotating between Uptown Sports Club in East Austin or Meanwhile on Promontory Point Drive. August 2 will feature barbecue restaurant LeRoy & Lewis’s Evan LeRoy; August 23 will feature seafood truck Huckleberry’s Davis Turner at Uptown; and September 20 with Italian restaurant L’Oca d’Oro and pizzeria Bambino’s Fiore Tedesco at Uptown. On-site ice cream truck Besame and bakery Tiny Pies will serve desserts. The brewery is also releasing a special lager made for Uptown. All-event tickets are $165, which come with two drinks, dessert, and two dishes at each event; individual date tickets are $39 (though Franklin’s one on September 6th is sold out already). There’s also related merchandise for sale.

AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is in the process of installing more than a dozen bat boxes at the Walnut Creek Bridge on I-35. The goal is to provide habitats for bats that live under bridges being demolished near Howard Lane and Wells Branch Parkway.

The multi-million-dollar Interstate 35 Capital Express North Project will come with the installation of 36 artificial roosts for the bat population in Austin. This summer, TxDOT says it’s installing 18 of those under the Walnut Creek Bridge along interstate 35.

“I am upset about the entire project. It has affected my neighborhood because I live on the east side close to the highway, so I don’t think they have given enough attention and thought and sympathy to humans, but I am glad they are doing something about relocating the bats,” says Austin resident Steve Wilson.

TxDOT plans to demolish a pair of bridges that the bats live in the crevices of during the construction of the project that was created to improve the flow of traffic.

“We have bats on bridges, two bridges, Howard Lane and Wells Branch Parkway,” says TxDOT biologist Tracy White.

According to TxDOT, the bat boxes range from $3,000-4,000 and are capable of providing roosting and maternity colony opportunities for thousands of bats.

“You pop it in, and you wedge it in, so these struts kind of lodge up against the beam so they fly here, land here, and then crawl up in roost. These bat boxes can last anywhere from upwards of 10 years, even 20 years,” says White.

“It looks like a nice system they have figured out for their relocation to get them started, it sounds like some type of artificial colony that would help them maybe jump start a new home here,” says Wilson.

TxDOT says the Walnut Creek Bridge was selected because it is distant from humans and close to natural resources in the area.

“I think it would be a reliable source of water and mosquitos for them and plenty of places to kind of perch and fly around without much hassle and confusing light at night,” says Wilson.

“They eat tons and tons of insects annually. They help farmers, we want a good functioning ecosystem, and we want to take care of our natural resources, which are these bats,” says White.

The latest installations will support the Brazilian free-tailed bats. TxDOT says it may take some time for the bats to find their new accommodations.

Construction for the I-35 Capital Express North project started in March 2023 and is expected to be completed in late 2028.