Restaurant is couples 10th in 30-year career
When Kirby and Kathy Walker opened Nik's Kitchen + Bar in the Four Points area almost two years ago, they already knew a thing or two about the restaurant business. Nik's is actually their 10th restaurant in a 30-year career that has included hamburgers, Mexican food, Italian food and American cuisine.
So who is Nik?
"There isn't actually a Nik," Kirby said. "Nik" is actually an acronym for the Walkers' award-winning Fayetteville, Arkansas, restaurant, Noodles Italian Kitchen.
The Walkers spend time in both Fayetteville and Austin, and their primary residence is just minutes from the Four Points restaurant. The veteran restaurateurs said they set their sights on Austin when their youngest child, now 21, enrolled at The University of Texas. They said all five of their children have grown up in the business, most getting their start standing on milk crates while rolling silverware.
The Walkers said their family also includes their staff. General Manager Keith Williamson and Assistant General Manager Mikey Sutton moved from Fayetteville to help start the Austin restaurant.
The establishment's customers come primarily from the surrounding neighborhoods—River Place, Steiner Ranch, Canyon Creek and nearby apartment complexes, Kirby said.
"We're kind of like 'Cheers,'" Kirby said. "We have a great bunch of customers."
A worldly menu
Though Nik's began as an Italian restaurant, the Walkers have rounded out the menu by adding such non-Italian items as burgers ($4.99–$7.79), ribeye steaks ($19.99), grilled salmon ($12.99) and baby back ribs ($12.99–$19.99). Kirby said the menu additions were made in response to the local customer base and their close-to-home habits.
"We've figured out that when people get home [at the end of the day], they don't want to go far. So instead of creating a neighborhood place where customers go when they want Italian food, we've created a neighborhood place where people go when they're hungry," he said.
When he talks about the many dishes served at Nik's, Kirby doesn't play favorites.
"If it's on the menu, I like it," he said.
The appetizer list includes some traditional favorites—chips and queso ($4.99), fried mozzarella sticks ($5.99) and fried calamari ($7.99)—as well as a couple of unusual offerings: fried ravioli ($5.99) and pot roast nachos ($6.99–$12.99).
The Pot Roast Nachos, inspired by nachos the Walkers tasted in Chicago, combine pulled pot roast, cheddar and Jack cheese, jalapenos and tomatoes topped with jalapeno lime cream sauce.
"I guess we were doing fusion before there was such a thing," Kirby said.
The basic bones of a great burger, he explained, include hand-pattied beef with a high enough fat content and a "home run" bun.
One customer now refers to Nik's burgers as "Jesus burgers," Kirby said, " . . . because they change lives."
Kirby said Nik's prides itself on its sauces—a basic white sauce and a basic red sauce, both made daily at the restaurant—which are then tweaked to create more layered sauces such as the jalapeno lime cream sauce.
As with any of the restaurant's sauces, the jalapeno lime cream sauce can be ordered on top of just about anything—pasta, grilled chicken or sauted vegetables.
"We can't find much that the jalapeno sauce isn't good on," Kirby said.
On the menu at Nik's
Along with classic Italian entrees including meatless lasagna, hand-breaded chicken parmesan, and spaghetti and meatballs, the restaurant offers:
- Meat lovers flatbread ($9.99)—Pepperoni, Italian sausage and beef with red sauce, mozzarella and Asiago cheese
- Toasted ravioli ($5.99)—Cheese ravioli that is breaded in-house and fried and served with marinara
- Chicken and mushroom rigatoni ($13.99)—Mushrooms, onions and chicken tossed with rigatoni noodles in a basil marsala cream sauce
- Florentine burger ($6.79)—Topped with sauted spinach, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese and served with a side of ranch dressing
Nik's Kitchen + Bar, 7900 N. RR 620, Austin, 512-487-5999, www.niks620.com
