Austin 'Off Menu Week' 2019: What To Know

AUSTIN, TX — Your favorite restaurant might be going off-menu next week with culinary experimentation undertaken with wild abandon. But this is a good thing, and highly anticipated by foodies throughout the city.

Off Menu Week, Resy's new-for-2019 dining program, kicks off Monday in Austin. Bloomberg Pursuits described Off Menu Week as a "newer, better, restaurant week" that "leans on unique experiences instead of a value meal."

Austin restaurateurs won't be left behind during this unique culinary event. From Dec 9-15, diners will see 11 of Austin's best restaurants (Suerte, Kemuri Tatsu-ya, Odd Duck, and more) go off script for a week of experimentation, R&D, and out-of-the box ideas. Resy officials launched the dining program sure to yield insights into some of the city's most popular restaurants.

Courtesy image.

Here's what adventurous diners can expect during Off Menu Week in the Austin area:

• Suerte // The modern Mexican stunner producing some of the city’s favorite corn tacos is doing a complete 180 this Off Menu Week, crafting flour tortillas for the first time ever. The tortillas de harina are here to scoop up alambre, a popular Mexican dish of juicy grilled meat mixed with peppers and oozing with cheese. But Suerte will also be unveiling other delights, like a porchetta taco, tacos sudados (a simple but groundbreaking “steamed” taco), and a reimagined capirotada, or Mexican bread pudding.
• Kemuri Tatsu-ya // This trailblazing “Texas meets Japan” eatery is digging deep into its roots for Off Menu Week, with dishes reflecting Kemuri Tatsu-ya’s core principles. That means local ingredients accented with Japanese flair. Expect seasonal smoked kabocha squash (topped with sherry teriyaki and roasted pecans), local oyster shooters with string kelp and bonito, pear salad with burnt miso-marinated cream cheese, and the Krispy Cream (tempura cod milt, agedashi, bamboo heart, and watercress) gracing their special December menu.
• Lenoir // Fine-dining gem LENOIR is letting Central Texas’ seasonal goods shine this Off Menu Week, throwing in a dose of nostalgia for good measure. The kitchen is bringing back favorite dishes from years past, including a knockout duo of seared Texas foie gras with apple pie, yakitori antelope heart atop beet dosa, confit duck toast with liver mousse and tonnato sauce, and cookies (made with owner Jess’ great-grandmother’s rosetta irons) served with chocolate pot de crème and calamondin marmalade.
• Carpenters Hall // Though Grae Nonas shows no culinary allegiance, the lauded chef does stick to a “new eyes on old Texas” ethos. As such, Carpenters Hall will be cooking the sort of food the cooks enjoy eating, and making the most of the cold-weather season: pappardelle slick with mushrooms, Parmigiano, and thyme; oxtail with beans and salsa macha; prawns à la plancha with black olive salsa; and a dash of decadence, Hackleback caviar with crème fraîche and chives.
• Barley Swine // Come Off Menu Week, this essential Austin restaurant will be honoring the local farmers and ranchers that provide the foundation for its hyper-seasonal menu. Start with a new cocktail, a mixture of vodka and sake with green tea and brown rice, before moving onto the plates: smoked goat and winter greens, masa tostada with chorizo, and Akaushi beef tartare paired with beef fat ranch cracker, to name a few.
• Odd Duck // Bryce Gilmore’s cherished South Lamar stalwart is unleashing a roster of new items for this special week. The community-driven space, with a farm-to-fork ethos, will be whipping up red fish ceviche, pork chops, and bread pudding with “last-minute” sides– inspired by whatever the greenmarkets bring in that day. Be sure to sample Odd Duck’s new Odd Fashion, a tequila-based take on an Old Fashioned.
• Vixen’s Wedding // From the same dream team behind LENOIR, comes this Texan-accented Goan newcomer. And for Off Menu Week, Vixen’s Wedding will debut fresh new dishes on the menu. Expect local produce lending itself to the intense flavors of Goa and Portugal, with quail cafreal (a hot-and-spicy preparation) paired with chaat masala yoghurt, nilgai tartare with cashew butter and shishito curry, and white Gulf prawns and sour sausage spiced with Kashmiri chili.
• Old Thousand // Staff family meals are a chance for a restaurant’s kitchen to come together before the impending chaos of service, cook, and share some food. And this December, Old Thousand is extending this long-held hospitality tradition to the dining room, inviting guests to partake in what the cooks usually whip up for each other (spoiler: it’s also where many cult favorites are born!). Delight in the whimsical Pew! Pew! Prawn (fried shrimp with chilies, nuts, and sweet chili aioli), fried black pepper tofu, crispy pig ear, and fried sunflower sesame chicken.
• She's Not Here // The technicolor and ever-playful She’s Not Here will be doing good on its Pacific Asian theme this Off Menu Week. There’ll be sake kama– or grilled salmon collar, often considered to be the fish’s tastiest cut, with a side of som tum (green papaya salad); muru kai– or homestyle Thai-style mussels in herby coconut red curry; ahiru– glazed duck confit wrapped up in scallion pancakes, and a staple of Chinese street food; and malasadas– Hawaiian-style donuts, dusted in cinnamon sugar with grilled pineapple.
• Pitchfork Pretty // The restaurant pushing the confines of Hill Country cuisine is inspired by the simplest things: thoughtful cooking, the local bounty, artful plating. And so it’ll come as no surprise that Pitchfork Pretty’s Off Menu offerings are refined yet comfortingly familiar—think farro porridge topped with blue crab, grilled beets with candied ginger, potato gnocchi glazed with bitter greens, and rue toast slathered with Neufchâtel cheese and trout roe.
• Salt & Time Butcher Shop // For Off Menu Week, this revered butcher shop is flipping the script, and diving head first into the Gulf of Mexico. Salt & Time will feature sustainably-sourced seafood for its special menu, like salmon crudo with smoked trout roe, grilled oysters with house hot sauce, crab fried rice laced with Gulf fish, and to pay tribute to their bread-and-butter, a decadent surf and turf featuring Texas Wagyu.