RIP V

[amykragan]

Drove by Olivia on South Lamar last night and it was dark and closed with all the furniture stacked up on top of the tables. Have they shut down?

[sqwertz]

I'm sad to report that the dumpy Chinese buffet at Lamar and Peyton/Payton Gin that I had been meaning to try for 13 years has finally bit the dust. I was JUST getting ready to try it, too! ;-)

In it's place stands yet another TitleMax - they seem to take over a lot of odd buildings including restaurants. Hopefully they'll die off quick as flies - they must really be ripping people off big time.

[ssnclrk]

It's been gone for about a year now.

[sqwertz]

I didn't know that. Still worth a mention. It was an Austin Institution! <cough>.

I wonder when they're going to try and gentrify North Lamar like they're doing to South Lamar.

-sw

[Homero]

Isn't the Mandarin House in the Strip Mall on the north side of Oltorf just east of South Congress still there. I think its still open. Same family I thought?

[popvulture]

That place is epically gross! And yes, I believe it's still there.

[sqwertz]

That place is called New Mandarin. Terrible food and they'll ring up your credit card for 20% over the advertised cost of the food and tell you "price go up" (yet they didn't change any menus). Evil place.

[topodrinko]

yeah, Mandarin House has been gone for a while now. i never went to their buffet, but would get take out or delivery. head-on salt & pepper shrimp was pretty good, batter was very light.

[lodermulch]

Maharaja Cafe at Spicewood and 183 is closed.

[dinaofdoom]

oh no! i liked that place and kept meaning to try the weekend buffet. the people were always so nice when i went in.

[TroyTempest]

Don't the the same people own the Indian Grocery APNA Bazaar in the same strip center?

[PappyAustin]

Yes they do.

A good Indian place is badly needed in that area or further out near Lakeline Mall.

[TroyTempest]

I like the store and the people that work there are very patient with non-indians like me. Sadly, the one time i tried the buffet at the Maharaja at lunch it was not as good as other Buffets that i had. Bombay Bistro and Sarovar come to mind.

[topodrinko]

Texadelphia location on Guadalupe (the drag) is closing on May 10. I think it was the original before the business sold and expanded. The place was kind of a dump.

I prefer Delaware Subs for cheesesteaks and try to frequent the last remaining stores when i get a hankerin

[ieathereforeiam]

wow. agree on del. subs, but i have many many undergrad memories from that joint on the drag.

[popvulture]

Might be old news by now, but I just heard on the radio today that Haddington's closed and is being overhauled/reopened by the Easy Tiger people. A related article I found:

http://blog.zagat.com/2013/03/hadding...

[popvulture]

(And a search showed nothing on here, so... figured I'd throw that in the thread)

[slowcoooked]

Broken Egg Cafe near campus on Guadalupe - drove by today and it was gone. There must be a GOD.

[amysuehere]

That place was awful with a capital A and expensive.

[addlepated]

The Meat Shop in Westlake has a closed sign - apparently for not paying rent.

[Rptrane]

That weird Greek place downtown along I-35 that looked like a strip club closed. They were working on the space for like 3 years. Someone lost a ton of money.

[ftf]

Lion and Rose Westlake looks to have closed. Drove by tonight and it was pitch black at 8 pm. Anyone know the story? Austin location is no longer listed on their webpage.

[addlepated]

There's a sign that says they're closed for remodeling.

[amykragan]

Pretty sure everyone knows by now, but Mizu out in Lakeway has closed its doors for the 2nd and final time.

[texasgirly]

Mesa Grill (near Mesa & Steck) has closed. Not a gourmet food mecca by any means, but it was decent for a neighborhood joint and a solid meal on busy weeknights.

[High_Boost]

that Voodoo bbq place in RR shut down.. I never got to try it

[tim irvine]

Sagra lost their lease. I liked it and hope they find new digs.

[TAF]

Jorge's on Hancock is, sadly, closing on Dec 22. The land and building have been sold. Rumors abound that (a) they will re-open somewhere on Burnet Rd, and that (b) another Mex place will open in the same spot, but I don't hold out much hope for either. That land is ripe for condos.

[TroyTempest]

you know all these folks in condos are going to have to eat somewhere, and if all the restaurants are gone because they sold to condos , well...

[danny_w]

That's too bad, I hadn't heard that. I'll have to eat there a lot before they close!

[tom in austin]

La Reyna falls. http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/i...

[Rptrane]

I've been advised that 11th Street Station is now closed. I don't know any details.

[topeater]

Suzi's on Lamar closed. So did Casita Taco on S. Lamar. So sad to see both of them go. Casiita Taco had some killer hot sauce 7 cooked their eggs as they were ordered. Suzi's was OK, but very handy for the neighborhood.

[popvulture]

I imagine Suzi's closed because that shopping center is about to be demolished. They're probably moving somewhere, no? I think they had a pretty steady business...

[amykragan]

Sobani out in Lakeway is closed to remodel and revamp the menu.

[sasebastian]

Joe's Italian on Burnet is closed. According to the various notes on the door: evicted and utilities unpaid. Wasn't the best Italian food, but it was a decent NJ pizzeria that made good calzones.

[rudeboy]

That was a sad one for us - we liked to go there for a basic, old-school strip joint Italian meal. I likes their chicken marsala. We dropped by a couple of weeks ago and saw their sign. We were commenting, though (the last time that we were there eating), that they should ditch the TV and lame music and hang up those fake grapes and play Italian Opera. The space was a bit stark and sometimes the kitsch works.

[ampeg66]

Looks like Antonio's Tex-Mex is open at I-35 and Howard.

I knew the location at I-35 and 183 had closed a couple years ago. But I only recently realized that both the Round Rock and 183 (formerly Jollyville) locations have also closed.

[nypb]

It appears that Flying Falafel and Po Boys on the drag is gone. That's too bad, I liked their food and thought they were nice folks. It was a little pricey, though. I will miss their fried chicken.

[sighmesigh]

Their web site says that they lost their lease, but hope to re-locate soon.

[rudeboy]

Maybe they can find a place on Burnet Rd!

[KevinCooks]

Po Boys moved to the new park in Round Rock. As did Curly's Perfect Pig that was on Rio Grande

[brentwood]

Fer cryin' out loud, y'all can complain about the land of the bland all you want, but you just stole 2 of the only worthwhile lunch spots in the whole campus area.

[sweet100s]

any order recommendations?

[TroyTempest]

Evidently they removed all the "land of the bland" posts on this thread?

[tdombrow]

Went to Po Boys over in Round Rock, not worth the money. Husband had the lamb burger at the trailer next door to po boys. Dried out and over priced.

[TAF]

Simplicity Wine and Eats on Burnet is good and shuttered. Meanwhile, Pinthouse Pizza rises next door.

[addlepated]

Aww, that's a shame. We liked Simplicity.

[slowcoooked]

Afin - gone. For rent sign out front. That area is a toughy. Thank God Stiles Switch seems to keep busy enough.

[jwynne2000]

Bummer. I like chef Choo and his dishes. Wonder if he'll go back to Osaka Mansun?

Afin was good, but the lighting was a little dungeon-y, and there was a faint industrial cleaner odor I couldn't get over.

[dinaofdoom]

and there was that whole stolen website design thing...

[sweet100s]

Agree - The lighting in that place was completely awful. I recall thinking it would make for a good interrogation room...

Chef Choo is a peach. Hopefully he will go back to Osaka Mansun.

[addlepated]

Hang Town Grill. http://westlakepicayune.com/2012/07/2...

I liked their Caesar burger, with the garlicky mushrooms.

[LakeLBJ]

Hog island Deli up on Lavaca is gone.

[ieathereforeiam]

It's going to be a brick oven italian lunch and HH joint from Rob of Peche.

[SlickTheCat]

That's too bad, I really liked that place, but was guilty of never really going because of the awful location.

[amysuehere]

I went once and really couldn't figure out why it had such rabid fans...

[cstrombe]

Wow, that's surprising. Liked their cheesesteak.

[amysuehere]

I hear Phatso's is supposed to be good, but it's just too hot for that kind of thing now.

[popvulture]

Ah yeah, just passed that place the other day and made the same mental note. They apparently ship their bread in from Philly; I'll definitely have to check it out when it doesn't feel like a gym locker outside.

[Rptrane]

I read the write up in the Chronicle. Anybody who's lived in Philly or the area knows Geno's and Pats suck. Absolutely awful tourist traps. In addition to their bad food they have horrible service. Why anyone would try to "copy" that part of their business is beyond me.

[ericthered]

It's the hype, I mean c'mon you can't swing a deat cat (sorry PETA) in the Penn,Jersey NY area and not hit a cheese steak joint. Hell some genius even brought Jersey Mike's to Austin along with just another mediocre cheese steak. Then there's Texadelphia, gimme a break.

[amysuehere]

It's certainly not authentic, but I rather like the one at Manga

[TroyTempest]

I had a pretty good one at the Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek about a week ago. Supposedly they import the bread from Philly as well. I don't know how authentic it was, but it was pretty tasty.
BTW, no cheese whiz, so maybe not authentic, but that's ok.

[richardd_x]

Agreed - Geno's and Pat's were the worst of it, total tourist traps. Reminded me of The Salt Lick when I moved here. Good until you realize there are a million other places doing the same thing, only better. I lived out west near Phoenixville and there was this place in Frazer (Johns, I think) that made this amazing Chicken-pepperoni steak with oregeno and some other magic that was in-credi-ble.... :)

[verily]

I like the cheesesteak at Hoody's up in RR. Definitely get it with the hot and sweet peppers...

[LakeLBJ]

Agreed, Hoody's is where its at. Been there forever, too, but I will miss Hog Island.

I do want to check out Phatsos.

[cashhh]

Elsi's on Burnet was completely empty when I tried to go last week. So sad, i need my al pastor :(

[jwynne2000]

NO! I loved their breakfasts. Simple, delicious, easy in-easy out. Killer machacado.

:(

[ieathereforeiam]

amayas has pretty great machacado. its a few min further but well worth it. i quit going to elsi's for a variety of reasons a couple years ago despite it being around the corner.

[agoodbite]

H and I tapered off our visits to Elsi's over time too and started going to Arandas across the street. Although their menus are pretty different (Elsi's has some Tex-Mex and specializes in central American dishes while Arandas is Jalisco style), they serve the same purpose for us. The food is better at Arandas and it's much cheaper.

[addlepated]

Cat Mountain Grill, we hardly knew ye. http://www.catmountaingrill.com/
*sheds a tear*

[amysuehere]

Last two times I went, it was hor-ri-ble...waiter said they lost their head cook. Here's hoping something good fills its place (but knowing it will be more "land of the bland")

[addlepated]

Any word on where the head cook went? I neeeeeeeeeed those burgers!

[verily]

Roasters Coffee Haven at 620 and Lake Creek has closed. They were a notch above Starbucks, so I'm sad to see them go. Looks like Taco Shack is taking over the building.

[richardd_x]

Any one know what happened to the Cafe Mundi coffee truck on the east side? I just saw on Yelp that the were closed...?

[heyzeus212]

The owner is undergoing surgery and chemotherapy to treat breast cancer. There's a link in this thread to make donations, as she does not have health insurance.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/food/2...

[sqwertz]

Ace Mart Restaurant Supply - North Lamar at Rundberg. I guess that makes the newish Oltorf store the only one left.

[slowcoooked]

That just sucks it's a mile from me and I was just there buying foil trays last week. I had no idea.

[rudeboy]

I wonder if that's a teardown for a new building?

[popvulture]

Oof, that sucks! I live right by the Oltorf store, but s**t... how can a restaurant supply go out of business in Austin when there's a new restaurant opening seemingly every day? There must be some explanation. Hopefully just relocation or something.

[sqwertz]

It's been closed for at least a month. Or I thought it was. I went by twice in about a week's time and one whole side of the store was cleaned out and there was big dumpster in front of the main entrance. Quite closed mid-day.

Website still says it's open, so if you were there a week ago... maybe it's back open. I see no other mention that it's closed so maybe I'm FOS <shrug>.

[AceMart]

Hi! My name is Meredith, and I'm a representative for Ace Mart. I just wanted to let everyone know our location IS OPEN and was never closed! I'm sorry if you thought we were, no worries, we're not going anywhere! If you need to know business hours, directions and the latest about our stores, please check out http://www.acemart.com for up-to-date information.

[sqwertz]

OK, sorry for the misinformation. It looked like the place being cleaned out 4-6 weeks ago. Perhaps an adjacent space..

[slowcoooked]

whew !!!!!

[Sweet_Cheeks]

Agreed!

[LakeLBJ]

Gumbos in Round Rock is closed. Website says lease issues, but will reopen in new location in future. I just wanted to stop in and grab some chocolate custard tonight.

Had to settle for salted chocolate toffee cookie from the steeping room at domain.

[minatalks]

Manny Hatten's, or Uptown Deli, or whatever they were calling themselves, seems to be gone. Not the best deli, but better than Katz!

[MattC02]

Yeah...my first clue they wouldn't make it as a deli was when I asked if they could make a Rachel instead of a Rueben and they had no idea what I was talking about (for those don't know the deli-lingo, that's basically a rueben made with turkey instead of corned beef or pastrami and cole slaw instead of saurkraut - any deli has it on the menu). They went ahead and made it for me, and then someone from the kitchen came out to tell me "what a great idea...maybe we should put it on the menu." LOL

At least the sandwich was pretty good tho...but then when they changed to Manny's Kitchen and added things like pot stickers and tuna tataki to the deli menu I knew they were likely done for...

[Rptrane]

add Kick Butt Coffee inthe triangle to the list. Got an email about it. Here's the interesting part.

"CLOSING Kick Butt Coffee in the Triangle
I know. This is the part you really want to hear about. Needless to say Kick Butt Coffee in the Triangle never had a profitable month. BUT as long it was improving I was willing to keep having my DOJO pay for it. At a monthly loss of 8k - 12k since opening (85k loss for 2011) there were many times I considered closing. The first time was back at the end of 2009. I was shocked that we were not doing better and I took 100% of the blame and responsibility.

I had understood that Flipnotics had closed in our spot with daily average sales of $800. I estimated when first moving in that if we could do $800 a day we would be breaking even. (I was wrong) I was told that their service was bad and product was so-so. I thought surely we could do better. We did, but it was still not enough. We finally got to their $800 average which brings a total of 24k ... this happened only once (in october 2011) and once again last month, in February 2012. Still not enough. The amount of additional time, energy, effort and money it takes to get to 24k actually created record monthly losses.

I now estimate that it would take average daily sales of $1200 to break even and with an average purchase of less than $5 we would need 240 customers a day. This is about 100 more than we had. I now learned the lesson of why Flipnotics couldn't do it and now, neither could we. Oh, and that number I just quoted is to just break even... no profit... no compensation for the owner... just to pay the bills. Why not? Customers and friends say "There is just not enough parking to support a coffee shop in the Triangle."

[topeater]

Artz Rib House has been closed for 2 days. Anyone know what's going on?

[Rptrane]

They've almost closed before.

[sqwertz]

Maybe it's a Post-SXSW holiday break. The BBQ restaurants get slammed during SXSW.

[Rptrane]

Apparently it's really closed. Farewell messages on their facebook and the bar is cleaned out. I only went there once and wasn't impressed.

[popvulture]

Yeah I'm not surprised... the food was ok, but as mentioned before, they've had several scares over the years. I think a couple years ago, they even had some kind of "Save Artz" benefit fundraiser kind of thing. That's a pretty strong sign you're not running a good business...

[popvulture]

Nonetheless a bummer... it always makes me sad to see a long-standing, local institution go under.

[Rptrane]

I'm sad people are out of work but there are so many good places to eat in ATX, I barely get to go back to the good ones. The mediocre ones have almost no shot unless they are in a great location.

[sqwertz]

I got pissed off at them for two reasons:

They consistently served pork butt shoulder "ribs" instead of pork loin country ribs. When I took photos and them to them to them, they admitted - "Yes, out supplier sometimes throws those in when they are short loin ribs.". They said they'd make it up to me, which they didn't - they served more more pork shoulder and charged me full price.

Two: The resulting gift certificate from above was given to friend and they wouldn't' honor it saying it had already been used. It hadn't.

Screw Artz. Good riddance. Pfft.

-sw

[achtungpv]

They haven't been able to negotiate a new lease.

[TroyTempest]

In the statesman today it said they filed for bankruptcy. They owed about 300K in back taxes. That's a lot of ribs to sell.

[dinaofdoom]

...and a lot of years of not paying taxes. wow.

[Rptrane]

Apparently the guy's wife got cancer. Medical bills can clean out anybody. Throw in some early withdrawals of retirement money and you have tax problems.

[TroyTempest]

yeah that's true. I'll miss them. Yeah, i know there's better BBQ in town, but I really liked the beef ribs and the vegetarians in my family liked the sides.

[sqwertz]

They had owned taxes and were in the hole even before the wife (Chernoble? That was the named used in email) was diagnosed with cancer.

-sw

[sqwertz]

And they'll still have 300K to make up since bankruptcy doesn't protect you from paying back taxes.

[rudeboy]

The AAS said "back wages," not taxes.

[TroyTempest]

Actually it says both:

"The bankruptcy filing indicates that the business owes $303,000 in back wages and taxes and has assets of $23,400."
this is from
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/a...

I'd think if you owed that much in back wages alone that eventually it would be hard to get people to work for you

[rudeboy]

Funny, in my hast to correct, I didn't see that part! Owing taxes is one thing, but if people lost wages.....that's another.

[sqwertz]

That was pretty much the same story about 3 years ago when they shut down. Taxes and wages. I thought the employees took part ownership of the restaurant back then IIRC. It's all sort of fuzzy. I know I stopped going there a few months earlier then the first closing, which is a shame because I did just discover they had decent beef ribs.

[TheBadWolf]

Steve, head to JMueller BBQ for your beef rib fix. I have no doubt he has the best beef ribs in the city right now.

[slowcoooked]

Stiles Switch is a close second or even tie when they bring their A game.

[sqwertz]

I get ribs from John every so often - he knows of my short rib fetish. Was there a week or two ago and picked up 3 short ribs for [drum roll] $35. Ouch. I don't think John sells the wimpy back ribs (I call them soup bones).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sqwertz/6949439997/in/photostream/lightbox/
(Taken with lousy cell phone cam

)

I also smoke short ribs at home. I get bulk untrimmed short ribs from HEB pretty cheap in 4racks x 4rib slabs.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sqwertz/...

-sw

[TroyTempest]

So, just to clarify, that was $35 for what was in the picture?

[sqwertz]

With pickles and sauce, yep. It was $32 when John weighed them and called out the price, then when the cashier didn't hear what he said she weighed them again and it came out to $38-something. We split the difference. Includes tax. I'll be doing my own short ribs from now on at $2.38/lb - waste/shrinkage + lump charcoal. I can't see paying $14/lb for short ribs - any more when I'm pretty capable myself. Sorry John. He'll have no trouble selling what I don't buy, so no loss for him.

[TroyTempest]

yep, that's pretty steep when you figure that about half that weight is bone

[sqwertz]

Bones are pretty light - not very dense. I'll weigh the finished product tomorrow with and without meat just out of curiosity. By weight proportion beef back ribs have the largest bone:meat ratio. Then comes baby back ribs, pork spare ribs, and then short ribs (best edible yield).

-sw

[The Tres Leches]

Stiles Switch charges $13 a pound for beef ribs. Pok-E-Joes charges $13 a pound for pork ribs. Franklin charges $14 a pound for pork ribs. John's prices are in line for Austin.

[rudeboy]

I tend to not order ribs in BBQ restaurants specifically because of the price. The sad part is that ribs are what I want mostly!

[TroyTempest]

Right,
I never said these prices were out of line. Brisket is just a lot better deal, and even pork ribs, i'd think are less bone weight per amount of meat you get.

[BigLeonard]

Sqwertz,

Where are you finding untrimmed beef short ribs for $2.38? I've called two HEBs and they've each quoted me $4.18 lb.

BL

[The Tres Leches]

Looks like Estancia Churrascaria in Sunset Valley is closed. Sign is gone and a temporary banner said something like "Royal Indian Cuisine Coming Soon".

[addlepated]

It's moved to the Arboretum.

[dinaofdoom]

when i was first reading about it, two locations at opposite ends of town seemed to be the goal. maybe they are scaling back due to the economy, or something.

[ampeg66]

Rob Balon said they couldn't agree on lease terms for the south location.

[amykragan]

I guess it's possible but it 6pm on Fat Tuesday. Thanks for checking.

[Andrew Zachary]

One quick phone call verifies that Olivia is alive and well. Do you suppose they were cleaning?

[Rptrane]

Haven't heard. Maybe Lucy's is making too much dough. That was a tough location for that kinda restaurant. There's chatter that Romeo's might be shut down too. Conflicting messages on Facebook.