3 Best Restaurants in Austin, Texas

Local chef and native east Austinite Hoover Alexander has created one of the city’s best comfort-food oases, blending Mama's home cooking, diner short-order specials, Tex-Mex favorites, and Cajun influences in one Southern comfort mecca. The self-styled "Smoke, Fire & Ice House" is known for its large portions and flavorful recipes, like a Jamaican jerk chicken and a chicken-fried steak that puts most others to shame. "Side mates” like mac 'n' cheese, fried okra, and creamed jalapeño spinach round out any home-style cravings. A full bar serves popular staples like beet margaritas. It’s hard to save room for dessert, but the homemade pies are excellent—and their New Orleans–influenced breakfasts are worth a try.

Pronounced “oh-la-may,” this upscale twist on traditional Southern cuisine has been turning heads and receiving critical acclaim since 2014. Occupying a renovated cottage on downtown's northern edge, Olamaie offers a blend of classic dishes that evoke a sense of tradition—like creamed broccoli greens and skillet cornbread—and innovative options including blue crab topped with corn pudding mousse and popped sorghum grains. Seasonal offerings change frequently, but a beloved mainstay is the house-made biscuits, a signature accoutrement made even sweeter with honey butter and pimento cheese spreads.

The “ranch-to-table” cuisine of this far-east restaurant speaks to the Southern comfort cravings of Austinites, with savory classics like stuffed Salisbury steak, pickled fried green tomatoes, and shrimp-and-grits. The shabby-chic interiors, boasting natural hardwoods and salvaged materials from the Jacoby family ranch, provide an ideally casual place to kick back and relax with cocktails like mezcal margaritas and West Texas shandies; the scenic back patio overlooks the Colorado River. Jacoby-brand beef is featured in the house burger and chicken-fried steak, both of which are diner favorites. The expansive patio gets crowded during happy hour and weekend brunch service.