Restaurants in Austin

Chef Jam Sanitchat’s cooking career began at 5 years old, when she began following her grandmother around their kitchen in Thailand. After journeying to Austin for graduate school, she opened Thai Fresh delicatessen, where she began teaching classes and cooking. Thrice Cafe is her newest culinary undertaking—an expansion of Thai Fresh that pairs coffee drinks with innovative Thai-inspired dishes, all cooked fresh when customers order.

Sanitchat and her crew cobble together local meats, eggs, and vegetables into light and healthful breakfasts, sandwiches, and salads. They also concoct vegan and gluten-free baked goods, which pair with specialty beverages brewed from Casa Brasil coffee or selections from the lengthy wine and beer list.

Cushy couches and tables populate the interior, and umbrellas shade a verdant outdoor patio. Throughout the week, the café hosts live music and open-mic nights, where guests can showcase their talents to a receptive audience instead of a collection of unresponsive sock monkeys.

Although a part of Judges' Hill hotel, the restaurant is its own affair, featuring Chef Rob Snow's knockout tasting menu of four delectable courses. Amuse your bouche with course number one, the chef's daily selection of local cheeses from Brazos Valley. The second course invites diners to aim their appetite at fried gulf shrimp with a chipotle cocktail sauce, savory hot smoked-gouda-and-poblano soup, or the house salad with champagne-poached apples and blue cheese. Wind away from appetizer fare and into the nexus of the meal with the third course, peppered with selections from land and sea. Pecan-crusted trout basks in a sunny sweet-corn purée and poblano texas caviar atop wild rice and sautéed spinach, and tangy antelope ranges over its territory of green-chili gravy, tortilla mash, and spinach. For dessert, a trio of miniatures allows sweet teeth to enjoy a sampling of confectionaries more dulcet than Édith Piaf's answering machine. Fully restored and reopened in 2003, Judges' Hill Restaurant & Bar is beautifully appointed with heavy chandeliers and warm drapes that hang over ceiling-high windows.

Under the direction of Chef Morris Buck, diners are treated to culinary delights every night such as crispy Statler chicken, served with green chili mashed potatoes, or pan roasted duck with a blueberry demi-glaze. Servers then transport this hearty, seasonal cuisine across hardwood floors, stepping to the swinging notes of live jazz bands.

Though sunset is the perfect time to drink in the patio’s glorious views with a glass of wine in hand, the staff doesn’t neglect its earlier visitors. Brunch serves up both sweets such as maple-drizzled, toasted challah and savories such as Texas skillets with potatoes o'brien, sausages, biscuits, gravy and eggs.