Located in a small strip mall on Burnet Road is Bufalina Due. As its name suggests its the second iteration of Bufalina. The now shuttered first restaurant opened its doors in 2013 on Ceaser Chavez. Since the opening of its original outpost, owner Steven Dilley and his team have been firing some the best Neapolitan pizza in Austin and have kept one of the cities best wine lists too.

Birdie’s is a small, counter service restaurant and wine bar on the corner of 12th and Harvey in Austins east side. The building that Birdie’s occupies has long been a hub of this historic neighborhood and has gone through many restaurant and business iterations. Although Birdie’s is a smaller, simply decorated and low key space, the owners come with a serious pedigree.

The popularity of natural wine has skyrocketed over the last 5 years. You may have noticed whole sections of your favorite wine shop or grocery stores wine section dedicated to this particular kind of gem hued juice. Natural wine is a broad term for wine that is produced without the traditional additives and sulfites that you’ll find in most large scale wines. Other terms you might hear for the stuff are “biodynamic” and “low-intervention”. In 2020 Austin opened its first natural wine bar and shop, Lolo.

South Congress has an overwhelming number of restaurants and bars on the mile and a half stretch south of the Colorado River. The Meteor is an all day cafe, bottle shop, and bike shop (pedals, not engines) that’s located in an amazing mid century building that sits just past the noise and commotion of the tourist heavy South Congress strip.

Central Texas is home to a variety of wineries, but Austinites don’t have to go to places like Fredericksburg to drink wine grown with local grapes. Located down an industrial stretch of St. Elmo Rd is the mixed use development The Yard which is home to several home grown businesses (more on some of those later) including The Austin Winery.