The team behind Hank’s opened Big Al’s in October, with a menu of oversized pizzas, salads, and red and white wines. (Courtesy Big Al’s)
Chistā brings regional Iranian cooking to Rainey Street with its Nov. 11 opening, leading this week’s dining news across the metro.
Elsewhere, Hank’s owner opens a pizza spot next door, a seafood restaurant debuts inside downtown’s Hotel Trinity, a Michelin-starred chef’s restaurant opens in Canyon Ranch, Talisman Coffee pours in an East Sixth Street bar and Chick-fil-A reopens in Bee Cave.
Plus, in this week’s feature, a Round Rock baker keeps a high school promise.
Overnight guests and property owners in Canyon Ranch can now dine at this seasonal, Mexican-inspired restaurant led by chef Val M. Cantú. Cantú is the resort’s culinary director and owns Californios, the first Mexican restaurant to earn two Michelin stars. The menu highlights local ingredients, and the resort also offers a spa, fitness barn and on-site wellness providers.
After closing in August for renovations, the chicken chain’s Lake Travis restaurant is back with an expanded drive-through, with canopies over both lanes. The work also added new flooring, updated seating and kitchen upgrades. Drive-through and counter service are both open.
Andy Means, owner of Hank’s—the all-day cafe in Windsor Park—has opened a New York-style pizza spot next door. Named for his grandfather Al, the pizzeria menu features slices and 20-inch pies, including The Sting, topped with soppressata, ‘nduja and chili crisp honey. Cocktails are on tap, happy hour runs 3-5 p.m. daily, and Wednesdays bring 15% off for 78723 residents.
Siblings Johanna Barker and Fernando Alvarado have added a coffee bar at La Holly, the East Sixth Street cocktail bar owned by Simon Madera. They chose to partner because of shared Texas roots and family-run operations. Many drinks use house-made syrups, and the coffee shop is open 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. daily. Talisman also runs a trailer in South Austin.
Inside the new Hotel Trinity, this fine-dining seafood restaurant serves oysters, caviar and a daily catch at dinner. For diners who skip seafood, other entrees include glazed duck breast and bone-in ribeye. Breakfast, brunch and lunch menus offer crab and corn bisque and a lobster roll. A raw bar and a center bar with an octopus mural anchor the moody space.
Executive chef and partner Mojdeh Eghbal draws on regional Iranian cuisine and family recipes at Chistā, a Persian restaurant which took over the former Tómalo Grill space. Dishes include a koobideh kebab hand roll on house-made lavash and fesenjoon chicken, with entrees from $23 to $85. Managing partner Omid Kalantari and consulting chef Michael Santoro round out the team.
For nearly two decades, a downtown Round Rock bakery has made the cakes for its hometown’s baby showers, graduations and weddings, along with BabyCakes, cookies and coffee for everyday visits.
The bakery sells a variety of decorated cookies.(Brooke Sjoberg/Community Impact)
How it started
As a student at Round Rock High School, Paige Morgan Perry promised to bake her classmates’ wedding cakes. After culinary school and jobs in Denver and Alaska, she came home and opened a bakery downtown, where she has kept that promise several times over.
In the nearly two decades since, Perry has appeared on Food Network’s “Sugar Rush” and “Cake Hunters.” She said her goal is to bring kindness to the community through her baked goods.
On the menu
The bakery’s signature BabyCakes sit in the case next to smash cakes, cake pops and decorated cookies for birthdays, gender reveals and holidays.
A full coffee bar serves morning customers, and vegan and gluten-free options are available. With enough notice, customers can special-order almost anything, from custom birthday cakes to nontraditional wedding cakes.
