Where to Eat in Austin in 2025
By Gavin CleaverYou’re never more than five minutes from a taco in downtown Austin, and that taco is very likely to be absolutely excellent. Like any major city’s restaurant scene, what is and isn’t worth your money gets picked apart to death online but I think these restaurants are genuinely worth your time — in a city with a very high bar for good food, all of the following stood out during a recent visit.
LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue
Yep it’s pretty far from downtown, the queue can be less than ideal, and they’ve got one person slicing meat, so the pace of service here is absolutely glacial. But is it worth it? Oh God yes. Across a couple of visits, everything on the menu was superb but what a couple of things in particular took this to another level.
First, the beef cheeks are so well smoked (and by that I mean, not dried out, not texturally falling apart, but uniformly toothsome and with the fat retained and perfectly melted throughout the cut) that it almost feels like they’re made with butter; the skill required to take such a fatty cut and retain the moisture is no small feat. They were one of the best things I had during the course of this visit to Texas. The smoked tri-tip steak is also a real surprise. L&L isn’t just doing brisket well but the smoking across the board is clearly thoughtful and designed around each cut.
It would also be journalistic malpractice not to mention the German chocolate cobbler, which Daniel Vaughn described to me as the best barbecue dessert in Texas. It’s the best parts of pure chocolate, the best crispy and gooey parts of a brownie traybake, perfectly toasted pecans, and a tangy buttermilk ice cream that sends the entire dessert into the stratosphere. A true hall of fame performance.
5621 Emerald Forest Dr
Con Vista al Mar
We were already pretty full from tacos at stand-out taco truck Granny’s next door to this place but couldn’t resist the thoughtful and quirky menu at this newly opened Mexican seafood spot on 7th. The first US opening of a mini-chain from Mexico City, Con Vista offers a huge menu based around beautifully ceviched seafood, zingy and spicy salads, all balanced on a tostada.
La tostadona, the restaurant’s one-tostada combo of their best sellers, is a real highlight, with Mazatlan fresh mackerel ceviche and marinated raw shrimp combined into a beautiful salad in a mountainous portion size. I also really enjoyed its chilango, a homemade shrimp longanzina on a thick corn tortilla with chicharron salsa and pork rinds, a bit like the most elevated bar snack you’ve ever had. Oh, and the frozen margaritas are extremely reasonably priced and have such a kick that you’ll forget you’re not on a Mexican beach by the second. Thoroughly recommended.
1209 E 7th
Sour Duck Market
For me Texas is all about a good patio in the blazing sunshine with an iced drink. While my most recent time in Austin was -11C the first week and +26C the second week, I hit Sour Duck Market just as the weather corrected itself. It was almost a spiritually good time because of it. Austin is not short of a decent patio but Sour Duck Market over in East Austin is perfect because it has a sandlot, outside-the-city feel while at the same time serving excellent food and drink. Running the full gamut from egg-based brunch in the morning to bar in the evening, I feel certain I could spend a full day here eating through the menu.
What I did have was the smoked red chile goat memela, an ultimate brunch dish that takes perfectly smoked shredded goat (SDM has its own smokehouse, like any self-respecting Austin restaurant), mixes it with some chile, puts it on a firm fried masa cake, and then tops it with a fried egg, naturally. It’s a truly wonderful (and very Texan) brunch dish of thoughtful textures and flavours. The stand-out though is the smoked half chicken, coming out blackened with an intensely salty crust giving way to moist, perfectly smoked chicken, which works outrageously well with the sweet potato gravy and goat cheese cornbread. A patio this good looking didn’t need food this good! But I’m glad it got it.
1814 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Licha’s Cantina
If you get to Licha’s just after it opens at 4pm, you’ll be able to get a seat at the very comfortable bar and work your way through the menu. My advice, despite the view of the many developing bottles of special cocktail ingredients by the window, is not to start with the mezcal cocktails, because they are delicious and they will knock you onto your arse in about three minutes flat.
Instead get a nice cold Corona, order the suadero, a little confit brisket number that haunts my dreams, and do a deep sigh. Because the vibe in Licha’s is really perfect for spending a few hours, and everything here is good. The suadero, however, is juicy, crispy, sweet, salty, and goes all the way from charred through to beautifully tender. If you wrap it up in the provided tortillas you’re going to have a good time.
1306 E 6th St
Suerte
We fled to Suerte’s after a disappointing meal at Canje’s next door. It was a perfect call. Head chef Fermín Núñez is helming an effortlessly cool space and is extremely serious about corn. Your waiter will be able to go into great detail about corn provenance and processing techniques, but none of that is just spiel – the corn on this menu is exceptional, and the rest of the cooking painted across the canvas the corn provides is no slouch. The huitlacoche quesadilla, made with fungus that grows on corn (I told you they were serious about corn) is a perfect example, with a rare depth and flavour.
What also stood out and really saved the evening was the desserts — the single finest tres leches cake I have eaten, balanced into the dessert stratosphere by a sweet pineapple syrup, and Suerte’s own version of the chocotaco, made with a chocolate masa shell and a roasted peanut caramel. Absolutely sensational.
1800 E 6th St
Gavin Cleaver is a food and drinks writer based in London. For many years, somewhat implausibly, he lived in Texas, where he wrote professionally about barbecue.
Header photograph: Brunch at Sour Duck Market, by Gavin Cleaver.