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Walton’s holiday menu includes maple bourbon-glazed ham, mac and cheese, balsamic brussels sprouts, prosciutto, rosemary carrots and of course, pies. (Waltons)
The holidays are a time to relax, kick back and eat to your heart’s content. Whether you want to keep your kitchen clean, hate cooking for the in-laws or just want to enjoy your time off, some Austin restaurants are opening their hearts and doors to locals for Christmas.
Stay out of the kitchen for your holiday dinner this year by trying out some of these carefully-curated holiday meals.
Aba, 1011 S. Congress Ave.
The grilled chicken kebab includes a side of basmati rice. (Aba Austin)
Music Lane’s Mediterranean restaurant, Aba, is including some of its menu favorites for its carryout feast: wild mushroom hummus, whipped feta with persimmon, thyme roasted carrots with labneh, braised short rib, grilled chicken kebab, brussels sprouts and honey pie to finish. For vino lovers, you can add on a specialty sommelier-selected bottle of wine to pair with the feast.
Place your order for two, four or six people by Dec. 21 at 9 a.m., at $56.95 per person. Pickup will be available on Christmas Eve from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The dinner will be picked up cold with reheating instructions.
Aviary Wine & Kitchen, 2110 S. Lamar Blvd.
(Aviary Wine & Kitchen)
There’s no reason to pace the grocery store’s spirits aisle picking out the perfect wine when you could have it curated for you. This holiday season, Aviary is offering a six-pack of wine bottles for $156 so you’ll never show up to a party empty-handed again. Each pack will contain two of the following bottles: Redolent Wine Co. ‘Brother from Another Mother’ Pinot Noir & Nebbiolo Blend, Cave des Vignerons de Mancey Crémant de Bourgogne Brut, and Rouge-Bleu 'Méditerranée Dentelle' Blanc Magnum. If wine is a year-round indulgence for you, Aviary also offers its “Steady Sippers” subscription program.
Buenos Aires Cafe, 1201 E. 6th St.
(Buenos Aires Cafe)
Beef wellington, mashed potatoes and empanadas, oh my! Grab an Argentinian Christmas treat this year from Buenos Aires Cafe, which is offering some bougie options. Grab your choice of prime beef wellington with sides of organic spinach salad and maple panna cotta for dessert from $150-270; lamb and butternut squash empanadas from $28-55, pan dulce for $25, a holiday mesa dulce with a variety of sweets for $52 or the holiday wine box for $145, with your choice of six wines to keep the party going all night long.
Place your orders by Dec. 21.
Chicken Salad Shoppe, 12901 N. Interstate Hwy 35 Building 3
(Chicken Salad Shoppe)
Though chicken salad is the primary focus of the aptly-named shop, this holiday season the restaurant is offering The Sixer: six of its half-pound stuffed cookies fit for Saint Nick for $43. Choose any six cookies for the bundle, from the limited edition “Almond Joy” with cranberry sauce filling to “The Nutty Professor” with Nutella filling to “The Tortoise,” which is filled with salted caramel. The cookies come in a clear box with twinkle lights and a bow for gifting. You can also order the whole menu for delivery or takeout!
Dai Due, 2406 Manor Road
The stuffed quail is a new menu addition for the holidays. (Dai Due)
Bringing the native foods of our region to the table since 2006, Dai Due’s holiday menu is guaranteed to be fresh. Choose from a variety of proteins: smoked wild boar ham starting at $95, brined cotechino sausage-stuffed quail starting at $14, and charcuterie boards starting from $5-15. As far as sides and desserts, you can grab some mashed potatoes with wild game dirty rice, breakfast casseroles, basque cakes and pie dough to make your own treats.
Pick up your dinners, which come with at-home heating instructions, between Dec. 22-23 from noon to 4:20 p.m.
Intero, 2612 E. Cesar Chavez Street
(Intero)
The holidays are here in the form of a lavish gluten-free banquet at Intero. Starting with the main course, customers have a choice of the whole roasted cauliflower feast with pine nut relish for $150.00, the braised pork osso buco feast with marinated fennel for $200, or the smoked wagyu beef shoulder feast with horseradish gremolata for $200. Each meal serves four-to-six people and comes with sides of scalloped potatoes, kale salad and mushroom soup.
As the sweetest time of year, Intero is commemorating the holidays with chocolates and truffles. Pick your favorite from the salted toffee bark, winter box with warm flavors or the Texas choco boots.
Intero will be open for dinner and order pickup from Dec. 22- Dec. 24. Intero will be closed from Christmas Day until Dec. 28.
Lou’s, 1900 E. Cesar Chavez St.
(Lou's Austin)
Local watering hole Lou’s is dealing Christmas dinner for pickup this year. Pick your choice of porchetta for $60, rotisserie prime rib for $90 or chicken for $22 for protein; for sides, which range from $21-28, try the cheesy cauliflower gratin, rotisserie potatoes, brown butter roasted carrots, brussels sprouts or a crunchy kale salad. Desserts are classic: pumpkin pie or chocolate bourbon pecan pie for $40-45 for a 10-inch pie. For a little extra spice, add on Lou’s special spiced sangria for an extra $34.
Place your orders by Dec. 21 at the latest.
Old Thousand, 4805 Burnet Rd. and 1000 E. 11th St.
(Old Thousand)
Open on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Old Thousand is here to make sure everyone is well-fed during the holiday season. The 11th Street location will be open for dine-in on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, you can pick up a holiday-inspired Ho-Ho-Hotpot Old Thousand’s Burnet location. Made with your choice of Mala beef tallow broth or smoked veggie umami broth, the hotpot comes with noodles, meats, veggies, sides and a dessert to top it off.
Reserve your Christmas Eve dinner and hotpot by calling 737-222-6637. Each hotpot will cost $110, with the option to add a hotpot kit for $40, and will be ready to pick up between 4-8 p.m. on Christmas Day. The restaurant is holding different specials at each location, so double check before you head out!
Sala & Betty, 5201 Airport Blvd.
(Sala & Betty)
Not the biggest fan of the traditional American Christmas dinner? Sala & Betty has you covered with the classics and the not-so-classics on the holiday takeout menu this year. Try the Mexican meal, which will get you tamales, chicken pozole, braised pork shoulder, cilantro rice and hot chocolate mix for $225. Or you can get a turkey, small or full-size, with garlic green beans, roasted brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes and rice from $240-$340. If you’re spending the holidays alone this year, the restaurant has individual plates so you can still eat well.
Place your orders by Dec. 21 and pick them up on Dec. 24 from 10 a.m.- 3 p.m.
TLC Austin, 1100 S. Lamar Blvd.
(The Velox Standard)
Feeding the entire family this holiday season, seafood restaurant TLC Austin’s Christmas dinner will have you covered from supper to dessert to cookies with Santa. For dinner, the package includes a 6-7 lb Nueske’s applewood smoked bone-in ham, rosemary fingerling potatoes, green beans and honey glazed carrots. For dessert, nosh on some chocolate pecan pie and whtie chocolate peppermint bark. When it is time to gather around the tree, the package includes a hot cocoa kit, a cookie decorating kit and carrots for Santa’s reindeer.
You can preorder the holiday kit online for $299. Pickup is on Dec. 23 at noon.
Walton's Fancy and Staple, 609 W. 6th St.
(Dani Parsons)
Enjoy the classic holiday smorgasbord courtesy of Walton’s Fancy and Staple, starting the holiday menu with maple bourbon-glazed ham for $90, balsamic brussel sprouts and prosciutto, white cheddar and gruyere mac and cheese, brown butter rosemary carrots and brown gravy to top it all off. Sides range from $18-48. The dessert options, $25-30, are vast with apple streusel, pecan pie, buttermilk pie and vanilla cherry cheesecake. Each item is available in individual and family-sized portions.
Order by calling 512-391-9966 or emailing catering@waltonsfancyandstaple.com. The restaurant is accepting orders until Dec. 20 and will be available for pickup between Dec. 23-24.Have a joyous holiday season!
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Popular
(Eric Lee/The Texas Tribune)
By Eleanor Klibanoff
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional protection for abortion and allowing states to set their own laws regulating the procedure. This represents one of the most significant judicial reversals in a generation and is expected to have far-reaching consequences for all Texans.
Texas will ban all abortions from the moment of fertilization, starting 30 days after the ruling, with narrow exceptions only to save the life of a pregnant patient or prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function.”
The law that will go into effect in 30 days criminalizes the person who performs the abortion, not the person who undergoes the procedure.
This ruling will radically change the reproductive health care landscape in Texas and the entire nation, where more than half of all states are expected to essentially ban abortion in the coming months.
Most of Texas’ neighboring states are also expected to outlaw abortion as a result of this ruling, with one exception: New Mexico. As the sole outlier in the region, New Mexico is expected to become a haven for Texans seeking abortions. The state currently has no significant restrictions and no plans to limit access to the procedure.
Friday’s ruling represents a victory nearly five decades in the making for Texas’ anti-abortion advocates, who have played an outsized role in the national effort to overturn Roe v. Wade.
It also represents a crushing blow to the state’s abortion providers, who have fought to maintain abortion access in Texas amid a nearly endless parade of restrictions, limitations and political attacks.
Roe v. Wade’s Texas roots
Before it became one of the most well-known Supreme Court cases in the country, Roe v. Wade was just a Texas lawsuit.
More than five decades ago, a woman identified in the legal filings as Jane Roe, later revealed to be Norma McCorvey, wanted an abortion. But under Texas’ laws at the time, it was a crime to perform or “furnish the means for procuring” an abortion.
Two young female lawyers, Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, saw an opportunity to use McCorvey’s case to challenge Texas’ abortion law more broadly. They filed a suit against Dallas County prosecutor Henry Wade, who would be the one responsible for bringing charges against anyone who violated the abortion law.
The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where in 1973 Justice Harry Blackmun shocked the nation with a ruling that blocked not just Texas’ abortion laws from being enforced, but all state laws that banned abortion early in pregnancy.
Blackmun agreed with Coffee and Weddington’s argument that the right to privacy in the U.S. Constitution extended to a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion. That right to privacy must be balanced with the state’s interest in the “potentiality of human life,” a balance that shifted in the state’s favor the further along a woman was into her pregnancy.
This ruling did little to settle the abortion debate in the United States, instead kicking off nearly five decades of anti-abortion activism and legal challenges seeking to overturn the decision.
Texas, the birthplace of Roe v. Wade, has led many of those legal challenges, including a landmark 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld Roe v. Wade and the 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
But the Supreme Court has become much more conservative in recent years, thanks to three appointments by former President Donald J. Trump.
In late 2021, the court declined to block a Texas law that banned abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy through a novel enforcement mechanism that empowers private citizens to sue anyone who “aids or abets” in an abortion.
That law remains in effect and will not be immediately impacted by Friday’s ruling.
In December, the court heard arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson, a challenge to Mississippi’s law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Rather than considering just the law itself, the court agreed to consider the question of whether Roe v. Wade should be overturned — and today’s ruling gave the answer.
Ongoing legal questions
But if Roe v. Wade did little to end the debate about abortion in the United States, Dobbs v. Jackson is not expected to settle the question either.
Health care providers are worrying about how these laws will impact their ability to provide care for high-risk pregnancies or people experiencing miscarriages. Some local district attorneys have said that they won’t prosecute abortion cases in their jurisdictions.
Republican lawmakers have made it clear that they plan to use every tool in their arsenal to ensure that the state’s laws are being enforced, likely sparking legal challenges as they do so.
One such challenge is already looming, as state Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Republican from Deer Park, has made it clear he intends to target nonprofit advocacy groups that help pregnant patients pay for abortions.
Under the current law banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, these abortion funds have helped hundreds of pregnant people leave the state to get an abortion. They’ve paid for travel, lodging, child care and the procedure itself, and they’re preparing for a surge in demand now that abortion is further restricted.
But Cain, an anti-abortion legislator, has issued cease-and-desist letters to these groups, warning that their work may be criminalized under the state laws that were on the books before 1973.
That argument didn’t carry much weight when Roe v. Wade was in effect. Now, legal experts say this may represent the first of many legal questions that will need to be sorted out by the courts as the state begins to navigate an entirely new reproductive health care landscape.
Peyton and Eli Manning's nephew Arch Manning has committed to the University of Texas. (Arch Manning/Twitter)
Arch Manning, the latest prospect in the Manning football family and No. 1 recruit in the class of 2023, has committed to the University of Texas.
Manning is the nephew of Eli and Peyton Manning and the son of Cooper Manning, a former wide receiver for Ole Miss. The Manning football legacy began with Archie Manning, Arch Manning's grandfather and namesake who played for the New Orleans Saints throughout the 1970s.
Committed to the University of Texas. #HookEmpic.twitter.com/jHYbjBaF5K
— Arch Manning (@ArchManning) June 23, 2022
Manning joins head Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian's program after a disappointing 5-7 first season. Manning, who has been the starting quarterback at New Orlean's Newman High School since he was a freshman, was the No. 1 recruit in the 2023 class, according to 247sports.
Manning had plenty of SEC suitors, including Georgia, Alabama and LSU, but committed to Texas after a recent visit to Austin.
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