Over 80-Year-Old Austin Barbecue Restaurant Reopens After Fire-Related Closure

After being closed for four years due to fire damage, the very old Clarksville barbecue restaurant House Park Bar-B-Que is back open at 900 West 12th Street as of November 11.

The 81-year-old barbecue restaurant caught on fire in December 2020 because of grease. The building underwent major damage, but no one was hurt. Since then, owner Matt Sullivan has been working on rebuilding the restaurant, dealing with permitting and the such.

House Park opened in 1943; Sullivan bought the restaurant from his father Joe Suillvan in 1981.

H-E-B South Austin’s opening date

Hell yeah — H-E-B’s new flagship South Congress store is going to be opening at 2400 South Congress Avenue in the Dawson neighborhood on Wednesday, December 4. The rebuilt and revamped store includes a location of its barbecue restaurant True Texas BBQ.

Austin restaurants and chefs in other publications

Back in October, New York Times highlighted South Asian desserts and mithai for Diwali, and included Austin chef Deepa Shridhar. She talked about her pop-up dinner series Thali Omakase and her pumpkin pie inspired by Mysore pak made with jaggery.

Austin Chronicle’s standalone Best of Austin Restaurants issue was published in late October. Winners included categories like best new restaurant for Craft Omakase, established restaurant for Odd Duck, pastry chef for Mariela Camach of Comadre Panadería, and missed restaurant for Salt & Time, among many others.

Also in late October, Texas Monthly rounded up the best tacos of the state. The highest-ranking Austin restaurant is Nixta Taqueria at number 10, and the rest of the unranked list’s city places include Con Todo, Cuantos Tacos, El Paso Flauta, and others.

And November was the month for best restaurants of the year lists. Statesman’s Matthew Odam released his 2024 dining guide, which featured a three-way tie for the number one restaurant in the city. Those were New American wine restaurant Birdie’s, Mexican restaurant Nixta Taqueria, and omakase Tsuke Edomae.

Finally, Austin Monthly’s best new restaurants issue includes Italian hotel restaurant Poeta, barbecue truck’s restaurant glow-up LeRoy & Lewis, Uchi spin-off Uchiba, and others.

Tracking Austin restaurant events

Ramen pop-up Monty Paitan is hosting its last Austin pop-up this week because chef Devin Mysyk is moving to Chicago. It takes place on Monday and Tuesday, November 18 and 19 at Cedar Park restaurant Ramen 512 from 5 to 9 p.m. each day. The menu includes the Duck and Shroom (a duck paitan ramen with mushrooms, duck breast, and confit duck leg), the Garlic 4 Ways (also with that duck paitan and garlic roasted, chipped, and raw), and ajitama deviled eggs. Tickets should be purchased online ahead of time.

Exquisite dinner pop-up Midnight in the Garden is hosting Con Todo chef Joseph Gomez later this month. It’s the continuation of the chef’s series Sabor Sin Fronteras inspired by science fiction, the northern Mexico-southern Texas border, and more. The seven-course menu is $190 with beverage pairings. It takes place on Saturday and Sunday, November 23 and 24 with seatings at 5 and 8:30 p.m.

Zilker modern Chinese restaurant Zoé Tong’s barbecue truck Si Baby-Q is hosting its next guest burger pop-up this week. This time, it’s New York City Korean Southern restaurant C as in Charlie, which will make a galbi burger with a char-grilled pickled green tomato, crispy fried gruyere grits, and a galbi jus. It takes place on Wednesday, November 20 from 4 to 7 p.m.

East Cesar Chavez bar Chalmers is hosting a Thanksgiving cooking competition and food drive on Wednesday, November 20. People can enter a raffle benefiting the Hope Food Pantry by bringing canned food for every ticket. Also, people can bring their own Thanksgiving foods to compete in the cook-off.

Zilker hotel the Loren’s next cafe pop-up/guest residency is Charleston bakery Annie Mae’s, which started at the beginning of the month and will run through the end of November. On deck’s baked goods like banana caramel sticky buns, Earl Grey biscotti, and jasmine tea shortbread cookies, along with teas.