Cafe at Central Market Westgate

Cafe at Central Market Westgate

Sun-Thu, 7am-10pm; Fri-Sat, 7am-11pm

Did South Austinites eat lunch prior to the opening of the second Austin location of Central Market in the Westgate Shopping Center one year ago? From the steady stream of customers that regularly flock to the cafe it seems not. Or maybe they did, and the superior yet familiar cuisine has won them over from their previous haunts.

The fare at the Central Market Cafe isn't adventurous. It looks like the menu at any TGI Friday's you might find at any upscale strip mall. Soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers, pizza, pasta. Yeah, you've seen this menu before. It's even printed on laminated paper that is easy to wipe. So what's new?

For starters, these pedestrian offerings are prepared from the freshest source in Austin. They don't come from the home office in labeled bags and cans with recipes that are set in the same stone that Moses brought down from the mountain. These burgers? Fresh ground beef. Pizza? Central Market crust, snapping-fresh veggies. Pasta? Topped with charred red tomato sauce and Market-made sausage. Getting the picture?

This food is hearty. On a recent visit, I sampled from the extensive daily specials and had the Pork Loin Roast with Cabernet Sauce ($6.95). It must have been a full half-pound of sliced pork layered on fanned, sautéed slices of French bread topped with the winey, rich sauce. The side was a mini-mountain of fries. I ate at 1pm and at 10pm that night, I still couldn't muster any interest in popcorn. My companion sampled the burger ($5.50). Another half-pound of meat, this one served on a sturdy sesame-seed bun from the Central Market bakery and also served with the Mt. Fries. While both of the entrées were beautifully seasoned, they both would have benefited from being removed from the grill a few minutes earlier. The burger, although requested at medium rare, was decidedly medium without a touch of pink and with some of the juiciness compromised. The pork, too, was a touch tough due to slight overcooking. Still, the choice ingredients made for a delicious lunchtime and dinnertime repast.

The soup special was a spinach soup that contrasted with the meat in its delicacy. Utterly smooth, barely creamy, the purée let the subtle, rich flavor of the deeply green vegetable shine.

The kids menu has smaller (although still quite substantial) burgers, hot dogs (Hebrew National all-beef) and sublime macaroni and cheese, all at a very reasonable $2.50. You can get the tot's dinner for free on Wednesday nights after 5pm, which makes it a great midweek, cooking-free option.

The ambience of the room is somewhat industrial chic with concrete floors that can bring the noise level up easily. It's not a place to linger under hanging plants, but still, it's a big improvement over the faux-pub-with-wood-paneling re-creations of many chain grills.

The cafe makes a wonderful way to wean yourself or your friends from the highway-grill rut you may be in. And once the wonders of the superlative ingredients work their magic on you, stroll into the store and pick up the makings of a memorable meal that you create yourself in your own home.