The Infatuation Austin

photo credit: Richard Casteel If you’ve been in Austin for any amount of time, you’ve heard of Tacodeli. You probably even have a favorite order. For visitors, it’s often the first stop on a busy weekend agenda. For locals, it might be your default breakfast when you’re at the airport at 6am and need something fast, familiar, and cheap. Tacodeli is an Austin institution that now has more than 15 locations around Texas. Any of them will generally get the job done, even without much of a wow factor.

Despite being sold all over town—in grocery stores, coffee shops, and bars—there are only a couple of physical locations for Cuvée Coffee. The latest is at The Code Hotel on South Lamar. In addition to coffee, you’ll find cocktails, wine, and beer. We haven’t been here yet, but want you to know this spot exists.

360 Nueces St., Austin, TX 78701 Now we know which Royal Blue Grocery outpost is superior: the one where you can get a burger sitting in a pool of mole sauce. Former pop-up Joe’s Burgers has set up shop inside the store’s Nueces Street location, and is successfully facilitating the midday coma everyone deserves.

photo credit: Richard Casteel If you tried to keep track of every new restaurant and bar in Austin, your head would spin. So just read this list instead. These are the openings that seem like they have the most potential. Although, keep in mind, we make no promises about the places we haven't visited yet. Go forth and be a pioneer—or just keep up with our Hit List to see which new restaurants we checked out and loved.

4119 Guadalupe St, Austin, TX 78751 Mongers lives a double life as a seafood counter and a restaurant—there’s a tiny stall right inside the Hyde Park storefront that's both a market and a preview of what's coming out of the kitchen that night. If you’re stopping by for oysters to bring to your next dinner party, you’ll probably leave happy (if a little lighter in the wallet). But somewhere along the journey from the fish counter to the dining-room plate, things get hairy.

301 E 5th St., Austin, TX 78701 If you’ve been to any city with a skyline taller than 15 feet, you’ve probably heard of Eddie V’s. This steakhouse chain has over 30 locations across the country, all specializing in high-end seafood and large cuts of beef. But it started on 5th Street back in 2000. It comes from the same team that would later open Downtown hot spots like Red Ash, Restaurant François, and J Carver’s, though by then the place had been sold to a national restaurant group.

Most of what you need to know about Meat & Bread is right there in the name. What it doesn’t tell you is how airy the bread is, or how juicy nearly every protein tucked inside it turns out to be. Porchetta is the specialty at this Downtown counter-service place, and it’s probably the best you’ll find in a 100-mile radius (who knows what’s going on in Waco). The skin is crispy, the meat falls apart with a gentle tug, and a dollop of sambal on the side adds some welcome heat.

Precious is a fast-casual Cantonese BBQ restaurant in North Austin (near Interstellar, at the border of Cedar Park). The specialties are Hong Kong-style roast duck, char siu, and crispy pork, along with a host of rice and noodle dishes. We haven’t been here yet, but want you to know this spot exists.

photo credit: Richard Casteel Starters, appetizers, tempting little snacks. Sometimes, they’re the best part of a meal. That first chew of a plump oyster, that inhaled slice of buttered focaccia. Nothing beats it. They’re a trailer for the meal ahead and, in fact, sometimes a starter is the main event. These seductive appetizers prove that Austin’s most memorable courses aren’t always main ones. Though you may need to reorder some of them on the spot.

photo credit: RICHARD CASTEEL At Infatuation, we have a lot of opinions about restaurants. Mostly, that we want you to eat at the hottest tables in town. Chase Sapphire Reserve is helping make that possible with access to exclusive reservations on OpenTable and up to $300 in annual statement credits at some of our favorite restaurants in Austin.