Local news and fun, every day 6am.
Featured
austonia newsletter
Most viewed

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!
- 10 Texas wines perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas and all year 'round ›
- Where to order your Christmas dinner in Austin - austonia ›
- Tacodeli shakes up menu with dinner and alcohol options - austonia ›
- 11 Austin restaurants to buy to-go Valentine's Day meals - austonia ›
- Austin drag queen delivery service Extragrams spreads holiday cheer - austonia ›
Popular
(Pixabay)
This Gemini season, starting today, is appropriately paradoxical, twisting and blending simple concerns with life’s bigger, faster and more fiery quests.
Shortcuts: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces
On Sunday, May 29, we’ll experience one of the year’s biggest calls to adventure in the Mars/Jupiter conjunction—a potent duo whose combined force will start to be especially strongly felt when Mars moves into Aries on May 24. Contrastingly, Mercury, the ruler of Gemini, will keep our mental temperament grounded and steady as they move slowly through the sensual, materially-oriented sign of Taurus for most of the month. These contrasting forces might be tricky to weave together—read ahead for tips on how your sign can find the right approach this month!
Gemini: May 21-June 20
Welcome to the season of your Solar Return, Gemini! This month will set the stage for your whole coming year, so it will be great to start it off on the right foot. The most important bit of cosmic context is Mercury moving slowly till the end of the month in the grounded sign of Taurus. This is an encouragement to savor your questions and conversations with the world, without needing to rush to answers and to mull over the elemental, fundamental aspects of your life. It would be great to give yourself perspective, especially by experiencing new environments and by moving through the world in a new manner. Allow yourself to be surprised! You might loosen some of your hardened beliefs, but don’t discount the trustworthiness or substance of the new ideas you may stumble upon.
Cancer: June 21-July 22
For you, Cancer, the paradoxes of Gemini season have to do with inwardness and outwardness. On the one hand, you can expect your inner world to be as active as ever, swirling with meaningful thoughts and experiences needing to be digested. On the other, this month features a strong call to get out of your shell, open up to the world at large, and bravely share yourself—perhaps even in an unprecedented way! In transitioning between these extremes, the Moon can be as good a guide as ever—heading into and out of the New Moon on the 30th, you might focus on articulating and envisioning this burgeoning impulse and nourishing the terrain for its growth. As we ramp up to the full moon on the 14th, you might find small ways to embody, communicate and make real this developing dream.
Leo: July 23-Aug 22
This Gemini Season is particularly intense for you, Leo, as it calls forth both a fiery, hungry spirit and a more serious, dedicated energy, aware of life’s hardships and limitations. These impulses herald a summer of growth and maturation, which would be great to get a good jump on. Just don’t let this process make you too heavyhearted or self-involved! Your friends, community, and experience of the broader social world at large can help soften and clarify this strong, fiery self that’s metamorphosing. You might rely upon this bigger, human perspective to help you progress smoothly and gracefully. Although it might require some extra humility, taking yourself less seriously can be a superpower. A lighthearted approach can be extraordinarily efficient and effective. It might be paradoxical, but consider that relying on a bigger, greater power than your own is your path to individual fullness.
Virgo: Aug. 23-Sept. 21
This Gemini season brings a charge for you to expand into more substantive and serious subjects, Virgo. Especially if you feel you’ve been playing small, this will provide an opportunity for you to grow into more meaningful and demanding work in the world. At times, this will feel hectic and harsh—there will be no shortage of fire this month. You, as much as anyone, though, can help find the right place and time for that fire, directing it where there’s a need for more energy and oomph. Lightheartedness can be really helpful in navigating and dancing with this heat—with a bit of humor and perspective, you can respond and adapt quickly and gracefully. By the end of the month, you should be able to feel like your view of and faith in the bigger picture has expanded.
Libra: Sept. 22-Oct. 23
This Gemini season will provide ample opportunities for you to learn and grow through your relationships, Libra. We’re really looking at the full spectrum of potential experiences here—on the one hand, Mars’ entry into Aries can ignite flammable subjects, and people are generally likely to be on edge, assertive and protective. On the other, Venus’ conjunction with Uranus toward the end of the month can bring unexpected encounters and new forms of relationship into play. Throughout all of this, there’s a theme for the next year of growth through fiery, direct relationships. This is a step beyond just keeping the peace which may be discomforting, but consider that it may take your relationships to incredibly satisfying and enduring places.
Scorpio: Oct. 24-Nov. 21
This Gemini season brings opportunities for sharpening both your wits and tools, Scorpio, although this may feel like a trial by fire. Although they may feel particularly urgent and exciting this month, many of these challenges and opportunities will last throughout the summer, so take your time to get your focus clear and settle into a groove. The real challenge and potential this month have to do with navigating subtle, intricate dynamics so that you aren’t flustered and know exactly where to put your effort. In order to develop this discernment, you can definitely rely on trusted allies, who can act as mirrors, triangulation points and simple safe havens amid the storm. This is a strategic necessity, but be sure to give thanks and enjoy the simple goodness of companionship, too!
Sagittarius: Nov. 22-Dec. 21
The sharp, powerful impulses and stimulation of this Gemini season are pushing you to the development of your free will, Sagittarius—a spirit of playful, proud independence and spontaneity. There are a couple of ways that you might think about this. First, that courage is necessary to truly live out your convictions and ideals, as well as a way to ultimately best serve the world. Truth isn’t always soft or easy. On the other hand, this isn’t too complex and is keyed to cutting through stagnation. There’s a sort of simplicity and instinctive wisdom that you can draw upon and develop into this month, letting things happen. If you need to, you can think of this as an act of trust, or faith in a basic goodness and natural, flowing order of things.
Capricorn: Dec. 22-Jan. 19
The motion and activity of this Gemini season can quickly develop your values and taste, Capricorn, as you strip back ordinary and inherited ways of thinking and open your eyes to life’s beauty. This simple and vibrant beauty will stimulate your desire to savor life’s goodness and strive for the highest quality experience possible. Along the way, your fixed, limited ideas about what is possible can fall away, even as the new and extraordinary may require incredible strength and devotion from you. Although these are lofty ideals, they’ll have a lot to do with your tangible, everyday experience of your body and sense of home—this is a primal, almost wild energy being rekindled. Alongside this intense fire comes a certain risk, so make sure to enter into this new adventure step by step, without injuring yourself or anyone else.
Aquarius: Jan. 20-Feb. 18
This Gemini season can help you learn how to feel more rooted and alive in life’s simple aspects, Aquarius. Although this can certainly take place in tandem with new teachers, these don’t have to be big gurus—rather, your curiosity, delight, and common sense might be the best guides. In this regard, your quality of perception, thought and the well-being of your inner child can all make great strides. Through the first part of the month, this will likely feel exciting and overwhelming. As we approach our new moon, though, you can get a better sense of where you need to be settling into more focus and definition in your life. This back and forth between a growing sense of clarity and inner authority and a stronger capacity to be firm and to the point will continue to deepen throughout the summer.
Pisces: Feb. 19-March 20
This Gemini season is focused on helping you develop a stronger sense of connection to the world around you, Pisces. Although this can take place by rearranging and bringing more life into your body and environment, an initial spirit of fresh possibility and willingness to release what is stale and outgrown is a necessity. In doing so, you can land upon a greater sense of capability and being resourced for life’s adaptations and evolutions. This will certainly be a month of growth in your material world and relationship with your body, but the serious litmus test is how settled you feel internally—the quality and clarity of your thoughts and inner world. Ideally, though this summer you’ll develop a stronger trust in yourself and an easier interface between your inner riches and outer quality of experience.
Aries: March 21-April 19
The Mars/Jupiter conjunction is especially important for you, Aries, as it happens in your home sign. This signifies a spark of expansion that will play out over the coming year. Here, Jupiter is calling you into new ventures and adventures, to level up and act on the big dreams and desires brewing inside of you. Thus, this month is a great time to initiate some bigger change, to take some jump, leap or healthy risk. Although you don’t want to let this moment slip away, please don’t get impulsive or headstrong—make sure you’ve got at least a bit of a plan. Ideally, whatever you’re aiming at will require a good bit of care, and you can expect that much of this opportune, fertile energy will continue and develop throughout the next year.
Taurus: April 20-May 20
The start of the coming month will challenge you to keep up the pace, Taurus, so that it can consolidate into a healthy rhythm. Finding the right stride, you can find yourself breathing more easily, and maybe let yourself loosen your grip or take your hands off the handlebars, trusting your sense of balance and the strength in your legs. This can set the stage for an opportune spell at the end of Gemini Season, as your ruler Venus makes a conjunction with Uranus—you might keep an eye out for spontaneous side adventures, ways to create space for synchronicity, or simple moments where life is calling you into new ways of being. Ideally, these will feel like clear upgrades, but if you need to think of them as experiments or trial runs, that’s totally okay, too.
(Moriah Wilson/Instagram)
Austin police have charged Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, a local cyclist, for the murder of Moriah "Mo" Wilson.
Wilson, a rising star in the gravel and mountain bike community, was found dead with gunshot wounds inside an East Austin home on the night of May 11 when she was in town for the weekend Gravel Locos race in Hico, Texas.
Police believe Wilson was having a relationship with a man Armstrong was also in a relationship with. The man, another gravel cyclist, Colin Strickland, has since issued a statement on the murder.
In his statement, he said he had a brief romantic relationship with Wilson in October 2021 before he resumed his relationship with Armstrong, but that he remained friends with Wilson. "There is no way to adequately express the regret and torture I feel about my proximity to this horrible crime. I am sorry, and I simply cannot make sense of this unfathomable tragedy.
NEW: Austin professional cyclist Colin Strickland has just released a statement about the murder of cyclist Moriah Wilson, clarifying his relationship with her and expressing “torture about my proximity to this horrible crime.” pic.twitter.com/KnIna3mWrE
— Tony Plohetski (@tplohetski) May 20, 2022
Wilson, a 25-year-old Vermont native living in Colorado, had won a slew of races becoming a fan favorite. She had just become a full-time racer this year.
Anyone with information on this crime can contact Austin police at 512-974-TIPS or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 512-472-8477.
- Star biker Moriah Wilson found dead in Austin home - austonia ›
- Man killed in north Austin shooting - austonia ›
- 1996 Californian cold case: Murder suspect arrested in Austin ... ›