An Austin Tex-Mex Chain Closes One of Two Remaining Restaurants

Tacos from Trudy’s.

Trudy’s Tex-Mex closed its South Austin restaurant this month. The last day of service of Trudy’s South Star at 901 Little Texas Lane in the Sweetbriar neighborhood was on Monday, May 6. New CEO Scott Taylor, who joined the company in April, explained that the location had to close because “the economics and changes in the immediate shopping area unfortunately do not work,” per a press release.

The company, which is nearly 47 years old, has had a tumultuous period in recent years.

It filed for bankruptcy in 2019, was up for auction in 2020, and closed a bunch of its locations The only remaining location of Trudy’s is its North Star restaurant in the North Shoal Creek neighborhood. At the same time, the company is still looking to open additional Austin locations and expand into San Antonio and Houston.

Pop-up restaurant switcheroo

North Loop pop-up restaurant East Meets Wings set its final day in the North Loop neighborhood. The pan-Asian chicken wing spot’s last day will be on Sunday, May 26.

East Meets Wings was always meant to be a temporary restaurant, found within pop-up host Playground ATX. Co-owners Kevin Truong and Rosie Mina-Truong — who had run Vietnamese Filipino food truck Fil N’ Viet— were its first tenants starting in mid-November 2023.

The idea is that Playground’s parent company Tykhe Group would offer its space and operations help to each pop-up (while also earning a percentage of its profits and a salary) and ultimately, it would decide whether it’ll go into business with the businesses.

The next Playground pop-up hasn’t been named yet, but its newsletter teases that it’ll be something from a “popular food truck” in Austin that will serve Italian American food.

Austin airport restaurant workers want more money

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport service workers who work under concession management company Delaware North picketed earlier this week for minimum wage increases, as reported by KVUE. The workers are asking for a minimum of $25 per hour in light of increasing costs everywhere.

Texas winery tasting room opening

Central Texas winery C.L. Butaud moved from the Hill Country into Austin proper this month. It’s now found in the East Congress neighborhood at 415 East St. Elmo Road, Suite 4F as of Saturday, May 4.

C.L.’s last day at its previous tasting room location was sometime in March. It had created the space as a shared venture with another Texas winery, Wine for the People, in December 2020. Since then, Wine for the People moved out in November 2022.

C.L.’s new tasting room hours are from 1 to 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and then 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Talking queso fundido with an Austin restaurant

The New York Times digs into queso fundido — melted cheese with spicy chorizo — and talked to Miguel Cobos, the co-owner of Austin Mexican restaurant Vaquero Taquero about the dish. He shared that he grew up with family parties that featured queso fundido in Edinburg, Texas

Austin taco truck expansion

Austin truck El Borracho Tacos is now parked at East Austin bar Sunny’s Backyard at 3526 East 7th Street in Govalle as of April 20. The truck makes use of non-seed oils for cooking its tacos, which include barbacoa, chicken with mole, and carne asada. There’s another location at East Austin venue and bar Hotel Vegas. Sunny’s opened as a vegan bar in March 2021, but then nixed the vegan focus in February as a way of staying financially viable.

Austin restaurant shutter

Anderson Mill Mexican restaurant Conmaye Mexican Bar & Grill closed earlier this month, as reported by Community Impact. Its last day of service at 10700 Anderson Mill Road, Suite 109 was on Sunday, May 5. This location had opened June 2023.

Austin whiskey award

Austin distillery Still Austin Whiskey Co. won an award in a national spirits competition this month. Its cask-strength rye whiskey won a double-gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition on May 1.

Tracking Austin restaurant events

Bouldin Creek Korean American wine restaurant Underdog is celebrating its first birthday with a two-night special dinner this month, with South Korean chef Jin Roh. The meals will be six coursed-affairs for $95, with wine pairings available. Roh had worked at several Seoul restaurants, including Mingles, Olh Eum, and Guemnam Vin. It takes place on Friday and Saturday, May 10 and 11; book reservations online.

The Loren hotel’s next cafe pop-up is Austin bakery Love & Cookies. On deck will be its CharlieCash cookies (chocolate chip with buttercream, chocolate ganache, and sprinkles), brownie cakes, brownie-cookie hybrids, and more. There are varying menus available from Thursday, May 9 through Tuesday, May 28.