Growing Omakase Chain Opens New Downtown Austin Restaurant

Growing omakase chain Sushi by Scratch from co-owners chefs Phillip Frankland Lee and Margarita Kallas-Lee is opening its next location in downtown Austin next month. It’ll be at 603 Brazos Street starting Friday, December 6. Expect its usual omakase service with multi-coursed nigiri and small plates. There are seatings at 5 p.m., 7:15 p.m., and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, with room for ten people each time. Reservations can be booked online. The Lees’ other Austin-area restaurants include Sushi by Scratch in Cedar Creek inside the Lost Pines Resort, Pasta|Bar in East Austin, and burger restaurant and truck NADC.

Austin hot dog pop-up seeks investments

Austin hot dog pop-up Zee’s Wiener System launched a crowdfunding investment campaign to help owner and chef Zak Drummond expand his business. He decided to go the investment route through Honeycomb Credit rather than the GoFundMe path because of the directness of people being connected to Zee’s. “It makes me feel good to engage with the folks who have supported my business up to this point and ask them to be a part of the next phase of The System.” He’s seeking at least $50,000 to grow Zee’s through expanding its events capabilities, hiring staffers, and getting better products. Ideally and eventually, he’d like to “give folks a place where they can reliably find me and the System,” he writes, “whether that’s a trailer or a truck or a kiosk or a brick-and-mortar, I’m not entirely sure.” Drummond started the pop-up in 2021.

East Austin shutter

East Austin cocktail bar Bosses Office-slash-daytime cafe the Break Room closed sometime this fall. Parent company Jacoby Restaurant Group co-owners Adam Jacoby and Kris Swift shared that the leases expired and weren’t renewed so they had to close. They’re looking to relocate the bar-cafe elsewhere. They opened the bar in 2022 (taking over their previous pizza restaurant Swift).

Tracking Austin-area food and drink events

Mexican seafood restaurant Este is offering a holiday-themed dessert menu. Executive pastry chef Derrick Flynn leads the Feast of Sweets. After eating main courses, diners will get a bunch of cakes and pies like the carrot cake with a pineapple-passionfruit reduction and brown butter-cream cheese frosting; cheesecake with an Oaxacan crema custard, graham cracker crust, raspberry-guava jelly, and candied pepitas; and the apple pie with an apple compote, masa streusel, and dulce de leche. It started on November 25 and runs through Sunday, December 1 (but also the restaurant is closed on Thursday, November 28). Reservations can be made online.

Patrick Wasetis

North Loop cocktail bar the Tigress Pub is hosting a Friendsgiving event with half-off wine, free nonalcoholic hot toddies, and a potluck on Wednesday, November 27 from 6 to 10 p.m.

East Austin dive bar the Liberty is turning into a Pabst Blue Ribbon bar for a day next month. The menu will feature PBR “beer cocktails,” like the Milwaukee Squeeze where a pint of the beer is garnished with an orange slice; the Lana del Rey where the beer is served on ice, or the Full Service with a 24-ounce pint of the beer poured tableside. The bar is also previewing its new speakeasy event space, the Bell Club. It takes place on Wednesday, December 4 from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Caribbean restaurant Canje is hosting a party honoring the country of Jamaica next month. The aptly named Jamaica Party will feature food and drinks, a DJ, and a dance floor. It’s free to attend, but online RSVPs are necessary. It’s only open to people 21 years and older. It takes place on Sunday, December 8 from 5 p.m. to midnight.

The next Texas Hill Country Wineries’ passport is here, now with a Christmas theme. People who buy the passports can get free wine tastings and discounts on three-or-more bottles at participating wineries. It runs through Friday, December 20. Tickets are $65.

New Holly bakery Rockman Coffee and Bakeshop is starting a guest chef residency program in December through pop-ups. Each participating chef will offer their own dishes, bakery owner Amanda Rockman will offer a special collaboration dessert, and there will be related drinks available. Each pop-up takes place from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

First, there’s taco truck Veracruz All Natural and Mexican restaurant Veracruz Fonda & Bar’s Reyna Vazquez on Tuesdays, December 3, 10, and 17. She’ll be serving little carnitas tacos and chicken garnachas (fried tortillas with potatoes, chicken, shredded cabbage, and onions), each three to an order. The dessert is a cafe de olla popsicle affogato, and there will be an agua fresca spritz.

Then there’s Justin Huffman of pop-up Le Beef, who will be previewing his new pop-up Fish Shop on Thursdays, December 5 and 12. There will be seafood and raw bar options like eat-and-peel shrimp, scallop crudo tostadas, marinated squid tartines, and crab rolls on croissants. The dessert is a raspberry rose popsicle, and there will be beers and wines.

And then finally, it’s Zee’s Wiener System’s Zak Drummond, who will be offering Chicago-ish hot dogs on poppy seed rolls in honor of Rockman’s time in the city on Wednesdays, December 4, 11, and 18. He’ll have the Classic (beef wiener, mustard, neon relish, onions, tomato, dill spear, celery salt, and sport pepper), the Maxwell Street (Vienna beef Polish sausage, mustard, grilled onions, and sport pepper), and the New School (beef wiener, Chicago cream cheese, hot giardiniera, crispy onions, and celery salt). There will be beer cocktails and hot chocolate affogato.