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With cooler weather, comfort food—that you don't have to cook—is just what the doctor ordered. Whether you're craving some classic southern comfort or asian cuisine, Austin restaurants make staying home fun.
Here are 17 restaurants offering cozy takeout food.
Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill, multiple locations
There is nothing more comforting than a plate of chickens and waffles or shrimp and grits to keep you warm on a cold afternoon. Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill might be the best bet for takeout if you're looking for upscale southern comfort food. With large delicious portions that can feed the whole family and reasonable prices, count us in for a Moonshine dinner. And did we mention cocktails are available to go?
You can order takeout from Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill here or order through a third-party app, such as Grubhub, Doordash, Postmates and more.
Bao'd Up, multiple locations
Something about getting Chinese takeout on a cold day screams comfort. If you're trying to branch out in your takeout game, try ordering from Bao'd Up.The restaurant switches authentic Chinese cuisine up by adding Texas-inspired ingredients to give Austin the ultimate comfort food experience from home. Offering signature baozi, noodles, boba teas and more, the steamed buns stuffed with savory or sweet fillings will help all your cravings.
You can order through Bao'd Up's app for takeout or delivery,
Carabao Express, 2309 W. Parmer Lane
Adding to the long list of amazing Asian cuisine in Austin, Carabao Express offers Fillipino inspired dishes. From bowls filled with delicious flavors, to chicken adobo, rice and noodles, the restaurant has it all for any food lover looking for a mouthwatering takeout dinner.
You can order takeout or delivery from Carabao Express here.
Austin Daily Press, multiple locations
Two dollar tacos? It sounds too good to be true, but takeout from Austin Daily Press makes it possible. Besides a great deal, Austin Daily Press offers uniquely filled tortas with classic and contemporary flavors.
You can order takeout from Austin Daily Press here.
Austin Rotisserie, 8504 S. Congress Ave.
Austin is known for adding unique flavors and touches to so many different cuisines, and French dining is no different. Austin Rotisserie offers French-inspired dishes, featuring rotisserie chicken, baguette sandwiches and sides. The menu is a delicious french dream you'll want to order everything from.
You can order takeout from Austin Rotisserie here.Golden Tiger, 1816 E. 6th St.
There is nothing quite as comforting after a long day than eating fried chicken, burgers and fries. Lucky enough for you, Golden Tiger offers all three. The small menu is filled with carefully curated dishes with the perfect flavors you're craving.
You can order takeout from Golden Tiger here and order delivery here.
Phantasma Kitchen, 3403 S. Lamar Blvd.
Switch up your usual pizza fixings by trying out the Roman-style pizzas from Phantasma Kitchen. With their signature thin and crispy crust and fresh ingredients, Phantasma Kitchen pizzas will change the way you eat pizza. If you're looking to add to your dining experience, the restaurant also offers wings and sandwiches.
You can order takeout from Phantasma Kitchen here or get delivery from a third-party app, such as Doordash and UberEats.
Cocky Teriyaki, 200 Buttercup Creek Blvd. #117
Cedar Park has a new restaurant and it's irresistibly delicious. Cocky Teriyaki brings the comfort food of Seattle-style Teriyaki to the Austin area for all food lovers looking for a new place to try. The Japanese inspired cuisine offers appetizers, soups and Teriyaki dishes to fill your stomach and keep you warm.
You can order takeout and delivery from Cocky Teriyaki here.
Eldorado Cafe, 3300 W. Anderson Lane
Start off your day with hearty, Mexican inspired comfort food at Eldorado Cafe. The menu offers a little bit of everything with fresh ingredients, including breakfast tacos, salads, enchiladas, cocktails and full portion plates such as carne guisada short rib salpicon and much more, to give you options on what to eat at home
You can order takeout from Eldorado Cafe here.
The Little Darlin, 6507 Circle S. Road
This bar and grill offers comfort food that guarantees comfort and deliciousness. Burgers, french toast, chicken and much more, The Little Darlin' has a menu that will satisfy all food cravings. Along with your meal, order cocktails to go to enjoy a delicious dinner from the comfort of your own home.
You can call (512) 814-0999 to order from The Little Darlin, or place your takeout order straight from the bar inside the restaurant.
Tony’s Jamaican Food, 1200 E. 11th St.
If you've never tried Jamaican food, you're missing out. Tony's Jamaican Food is offering authentic Jamaican food for a comfort food experience you've never had before. Try something new for your dinner by ordering the jerk chicken or oxtail, and you'll be going back for seconds.
You can order takeout from Tony's Jamaican Food here.
Bird Bird Biscuit, 2701 Manor Road
There are two things we know: chicken and biscuits together form the comfort dish of our dreams. Bird Bird Biscuit knocks it out of the park with chicken biscuit sandwiches that are large enough to enjoy for every meal of the day. The small menu offers irresistible dishes that will take you away from all other dining experiences.
You can order takeout from Bird Bird Biscuit here.
Colleen's Kitchen, 1911 Aldrich St. Suite 100
Looking for something a little bit sophisticated yet reasonably priced for dinner? Try ordering takeout from Colleen's Kitchen to have a full southern food experience from your home, without having to clean anything up from cooking. With biscuits, fried chicken, shrimp and grits, chicken pot pie and more on the menu, Colleen's Kitchen has it all.
You can order takeout from Colleen's Kitchen here.Asiana Indian Cuisine, 801 E. William Cannon Dr. Suite 205
A delicious bowl of chicken tikka masala on a cold day seems like the perfect way to warm up. Asiana Indian Cuisine brings traditional Indian food to south Austin to provide authentic, mouthwatering dishes straight to your home. With so many dishes to choose from, the restaurant has everything you'd ever need for a comfort food dinner at home.
You can order takeout from Asiana Indian Cuisine by calling (512) 445-3435.
The Soup Peddler, multiple locations
For a lighter yet still comforting dinner option, try ordering takeout from The Soup Peddler. The restaurant offers fresh juices and smoothies, soups, salads, sandwiches for a lighter, yet yummy, meal.
You can order takeout from The Soup Peddler here.
House of Three Gorges, 8557 Research Blvd. Suite 144
For authentic Chinese Sichuan cuisine, try ordering takeout from House of Three Gorges. With a large menu enough to satisfy any customer, the restaurant offers dishes that are guaranteed to warm you up on a cold afternoon. You can choose spicy levels and types of protein for most dishes, so try switching up your dinner plans by trying something new.
You can order takeout from House of Three Gorges here.Taste of Ethiopia, multiple locations
If you've never tried Ethiopian food, now may be your time to branch out and order Taste of Ethiopia for dinner. Filled with mouthwatering dishes and intense flavors, this restaurant offers it all for anyone looking to try something new. These comfort dishes are filling and will remind you of homemade cooking, with flavors you've never had before.
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Popular
When Facebook first came to Austin in 2010, it had just over a handful of employees based here.
Now, after a surge in the Austin employee headcount, the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp and a name change by its parent company to Meta, preparations are being made for its most striking local office yet.
A drone video taken by Austonia shows the building Meta will occupy, Sixth and Guadalupe, is well into the process of rising up to its full form as a contender for the tallest building in Austin if a 74-story project at 98 Red River St. doesn’t beat them out. Once it's completed in 2023, it’ll have 589,112 square feet of office space and nearly 350 units of residential space.
(Gensler)
Ed Muth, Gensler principal-in-charge of the project, says it’s one of those buildings that only comes along every so often.
“However, it seems like in Austin, we have more and more of them that continue to happen,” Muth said. “But this one is very special for us. It’s a combination of three or four building types together with the parking garage, the office and the residential piece all with a ground-level that has retail in it and everything else that makes the building function.”
All these pieces coming together are captured in real-time with a camera documenting the building’s ascent.
A fan cam for the construction process is fitting for a tower poised to be 66 floors. But Sixth and Guadalupe is more than just its height.
“At the end, you get great views out of the residences and the office space is just incredible because of the floor plate size and just the convenience in downtown,” Muth said. “I don't know that there's anything like it or there will be like it for a while in the marketplace. This is gonna set the standard.”
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(Shutterstock)
PORT ARANSAS–This is not Hilton Head or Palm Beach, with white tennis shorts and BMWs at the CVS. It’s quintessentially Texas, a beach where F-350s line up at the town’s three stop lights, and kids from Amarillo stare slack-jawed at “the ocean” for the first time.
Now Father’s Day and the 4th of July approach, and a string of 100-degree days lurk ahead in Austin. Here’s our survival guide to Port A.
Weather
The average July high in Austin is 95 and in Port Aransas 90.3.
Cars lined up on the beach during Memorial Day weekend. (Rich Oppel)
Getting there
Driving from Austin, the trip is 200 miles or more. That can take four to five and a half hours, depending on time of day and route. Three strategies:
- Our favorite: Take toll road SH 130 south to Lockhart and take U.S. 183 to Refugio, left on Texas 774 and follow your navigation to Aransas Pass, then left on Texas 361 to the ferry to Port A. Tips: Leave early. Avoid late Thursday or Fridays. Check the Texas DOT website for ferry wait times, which vary from 15 minutes to an hour.
- Second strategy: If the ferry line is long, detour from Bayside south of Refugio to Corpus Christi and come up Mustang Island on highway 361. This adds about 30 miles.
- A no-toll route: Southwest on I-35 to San Antonio, then south-southeast on I-37 into Corpus, north on 361. I-35 can be nerve-racking getting out of Austin and going through San Antonio. I-37 is blissfully boring. About 250 miles.
Money-saving tip
On the way in, refill your tank at the H-E-B in Aransas Pass, cheaper by a quarter a gallon than any fuel you’ll find on Mustang Island.
(Rich Oppel)
Sights and sounds
As you drive through South Texas you will see fields of pump jacks and wind turbines as well as fields of corn and soybean and red brangus ranches. Near the Port A ferry, huge turbine blades made in Europe are stacked high. This is a working port, but it is fast-changing.
Lodging
- Check VRBO for a condo. The big condos lining the beach (Aransas Princess, The Dunes, Sandpiper, Sea Gull, Mayan Princess and more) have a few pricey rentals left, with a 2-bedroom typically going for $250 to $700 a night.
- Camp on the beach. Buy a $12 annual permit at the IGA or any convenience store, and park between markers 0 and 62. Bring a sturdy tent; it can be windy. A trailer or RV are even better.
- Rent a cottage off the beach. Scores of new stilt houses and multi-family dwellings were built after Hurricane Harvey laid waste to Port A in 2017. Factoid: The average elevation of Port A is 7 feet. Even cheaper than a Port A back-island rental: Find a place off-island in Rockport or Corpus Christi.
(Rich Oppel)
Food
Our favorites are the Venetian Hot Plate, Roosevelt’s, Tortuga and Fins. For a cheeseburger, fries and a beer with a Gulf view, the Beach Lodge. There are 60 restaurants on Mustang Island, and the lines are long in the summer. Get there early or late, or order takeout–which is available at many places. Make reservations at the high-end places. Dress is casual. Anyone with shoelaces is way overdressed.
Fun things to do
- Rent a beach cart. They’ll run you up to $150 a day. Port A is one of the few places in Texas where they can be operated by unlicensed drivers 16 and older. Cart rental places outnumber seagulls.
- Cast a fishing line off the South Jetty, and then watch petroleum tankers and cargo ships glide through Aransas Pass, coming from or going to Corpus Christi docks.
- See hundreds of species of birds at the Turnbull Birding Center.
- Eat seafood at Snoopy’s Pier, overlooking Laguna Madre, on South Padre Island Drive 20 miles south of Port A. Afterward, take the kids to Scoopy’s next door for ice cream.
- Ride slowly along the beach and people-watch, or park and stroll or run along the wide strand. Watch the sunrise at Horace Caldwell Pier.
- It’s red snapper season. Take a head boat out of Deep Sea Headquarters for a $125, eight-hour trip 20 to 30 miles out. Limit out with two 16-inch or larger snapper. Great eating.
Hard truth
Port A has gotten expensive since huricane Harvey. Labor costs are skyrocketing because waiters, cleaning people and store attendants can’t find affordable housing on the island. If you haven’t been there in a few years, expect sticker shock.