Dearly Departed Dishes, Part Deux: Re-Creating Iconic Austin Meals

The life cycle of an Austin restaurant is contingent upon many factors: its appeal, its culture, its location. There are also external factors: the price of rent, changing demographics, global pandemics. The longer a restaurant's tenure, the more likely it is to render itself an indelible part of Austin's history. These restaurants become part of the city's fabric, attracting tourists and celebrities and amassing stories that enter into local lore, passed along by local old-timers and service industry veterans.

One way to celebrate historic Austin restaurants that are no longer with us is to revisit iconic recipes, as we did in last year's (award-winning!) "Dearly Departed Dishes" feature. Just like last year, Joel Fried of Eldorado Cafe has amassed a handful of recipes from beloved restaurants from Austin's past. This year's entries are Basil's, Mars, and the Night Hawk (last year's list: Threadgill's, Holiday House, Las Manitas, and the Stallion Grill). This time, though, he sat down with folks associated with those restaurants, including Basil's co-founders Alan Lazarus and Marshall Slacter; John Bullington, former executive chef at Mars (and the Alamo Drafthouse and Austin Java); and Hoover Alexander, owner of Hoover's Cooking, who got his start in the hospitality industry at the iconic Night Hawk restaurant. The result is a raucous and touching assemblage of celebrity sightings, innovation, pragmatism, and community building.

The recipes Joel has assembled with the help of his industry peers are both artifacts from these important, erstwhile restaurants and avatars of all those stories waiting to be told to anyone who'll slow down enough to listen.

Find last year’s recipes, including Threadgill’s San Antonio Squash and Las Manitas’ migas con hongos, right here.