The Top 11 Tasting Menus Near Root Cellar Cafe
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Rank 1. Nicōsi
Creative Dessert
A velvet-curtained counter in a darkened corner of Pullman Market hosts an entirely dessert-focused tasting menu, each course built around acidic, umami, bitter, or sweet. The theatrical plating—tomme cheese mille-feuille with caviar and gold leaf, short rib crowned in house-spun cotton candy—rewards the surrender of phones and photographs alike.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Tavel Bristol-Joseph
- Eater The Best Restaurants in San Antonio
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- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · John Ramos and Jonathan Reyes
- Eater The Best Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News 2025 · #41 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
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Rank 3. Mixtli
Mexican
Galicia and Torres build tasting menus around Mexico's fractured geography and deep past—one night Oaxaca, the next pre-Columbian, the next the hot lands. Their fine-dining technique animates regional traditions with cerebral precision, each plate a small argument about flavor and history, plated with care that matches the cook's obvious reverence for the source material.
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Rank 5. Hestia
Live-Fire New American
Wood smoke fills the dining room at this downtown fine-dining kitchen centered on a 20-foot live-fire hearth that chars everything from scallops to cantaloupe. Texas ingredients emerge from the flames transformed—elegant, sometimes unsettling, always marked by intentional char and smoke.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · United States' Best Restaurant
- Esquire 2021 · #4 · The Best New Restaurants in America
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Rank 6. Olamaie
Contemporary Southern
A white-shuttered cottage north of downtown serves Southern food with contemporary edges and a cocktail list that swings from daily punch to inventive martinis spiked with basil eau de vie. The buttermilk biscuit arrives warm with whipped honey butter, and the roasted chicken, stuffed with spicy Cajun rice, settles the question of whether restraint is ever the point.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Austin Right Now
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Austin
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Rank 7. Birdie’s
Regional European Mediterranean
Chef Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel's East Austin counter service spot rotates its focus monthly through regional European cuisines, with France and Italy as recurring returns. Homemade pasta and soft-serve ice cream anchor a menu of unfussy, precisely executed cooking; the shaded patio fills early and often.
- Food & Wine 2023 · Restaurant of the Year
- Wine Enthusiast 2023 · Forward 50 Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Winner · Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service · Arjav Ezekiel
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Rank 8. Toshokan
Omakase Sushi
Behind a bookshelf inside a mini-golf bar, Chef Saine Wong's soundproof omakase counter seats just a few guests at a time. The nigiri here leans playful—hamachi dressed like a spicy margarita, wagyu arranged to evoke steak and eggs—irreverent enough to match its unlikely home.
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Rank 9. Uchi
Elevated Japanese
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Rank 10. Uroko
Sushi
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Rank 11. Otoko
Omakase Sushi