The smoke gets you before the building does. Turn onto Springdale Road in East Austin on a weekend morning and it’s already in the air, oak and rendered fat drifting out over the parking lot before the line even comes into view. That smell has hung over this part of the city since 2012, first out of a trailer parked in a lot on Rosewood Avenue, now out of a building that used to be a church.
Continue readingFiled under Steven Doyle
Austin-based Verdadero Tequila is entering a new chapter. The brand, founded in Austin in 2020, has been under new ownership since August 2025, when Kentucky native Chase Deppen acquired the company. Now Deppen and the Verdadero team are rolling out a full relaunch: new visual identity, updated packaging, a campaign called “Made for More,” and an expanded distribution deal with Reyes Beverage Group, one of the largest beverage alcohol distributors in the country.
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The Oasis on Lake Travis started as a hamburger stand. In 1982, Houston entrepreneur Beau Theriot bought 500 acres of ranch land perched above the lake with no grander plan than a small burger joint to serve the view. More than four decades later, that idea has grown into what’s billed as the largest outdoor restaurant in the country, a sprawling, Tuscan-inspired village of terraced decks built into a cliff 450 feet above the water, with a capacity to seat as many as 2,500 people across more than 40 separate patios and dining levels.
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Somewhere along the way, H-E-B stopped thinking like a grocery store. The clearest evidence sits inside the company’s Mueller location in Austin, where shoppers can finish the weekly run, order duck fat fried chicken from a Top Chef alum, and settle in at a full bar with a Texas whiskey cocktail before heading home.
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The Lone Star Dinner Series has been running for two years. Austin’s Hestia launched it as a way to bring acclaimed Texas kitchens into its live-fire dining room for one-night collaborative dinners — a chef swap concept that sounds simple and is actually quite difficult to execute well. In two years of doing it, the series had never included a Dallas restaurant. That changes on July 21, when Mamani chef Christophe De Lellis takes his kitchen to Austin for an evening that most serious Texas food people have already marked on their calendar.
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Dallas has been waiting for Clark’s Oyster Bar longer than it should have had to. The Austin institution opened in 2012, became one of the most copied seafood concepts in Texas, expanded to Aspen, Houston, and Montecito — and somehow Dallas kept getting skipped. That changes this fall.
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There’s something electric in the air in Austin, Texas—part Southern charm, part renegade spirit, and entirely addictive. Whether you’re here for the live music, the smoky brisket, or the river-fed cool of Lady Bird Lake, Austin is a city that welcomes wanderers with open arms and a devil-may-care grin. To help you make the most of your trip, we’ve rounded up the top hotels, restaurants, bars, music venues, and can’t-miss sights that show off the capital city’s one-of-a-kind vibe.
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For travelers weary of cramped flights and unpredictable airport delays, Vonlane has carved out a niche that feels less like transportation and more like an executive lounge on wheels. The Dallas-based luxury motorcoach service operates routes between major Texas cities, with its flagship route connecting Dallas and Houston in high comfort and quiet style. It’s not mass transit—it’s business-class without the runway.
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