The 10 best dishes you must try from this year's new Austin restaurants

I ate hundreds of dishes at dozens of new restaurants in Central Texas this year. While you might think that those meals all blur together into one gluttonous feast in my mind by year’s end, there are some dishes that left a distinct mark in my brain.

They are the dishes that, in aggregate, form a collage of my year in dining and capture where the area’s restaurant scene is at this place in time. When I think back about new openings and developments, these are the dishes I will remember. Think of it as a culinary yearbook without the regrettable haircuts and ill-fitting tuxedos.

(For more on my favorite meals of the year, check out the 20 Best New Restaurants in Austin in this year's Austin360 Dining Guide.)

Sampler pizza at Allday Pizza

I have trouble choosing one specific pie as my favorite at the city’s best new pizzeria. Luckily for all of us, there is the sampler pie, featuring one of each slice served from the window at Flo’s Wine Bar & Bottle Shop at the northern edge of Tarrytown. That way, you snag a classic pepperoni slice, dive into the creamy clouds of stracciatella or pause in appreciation of the razor-thin slices of zucchini on a summer special. Nobody’s making New York-style pizza in Austin right now better than Townsend Smith and Daniel Sorg. (3111 W. 35th St.; allday.pizza)

Beef rib at Barbs B Q

I've never been a huge fan of the gargantuan beef rib (all apologies to the Mueller family). It's just too much of a muchness for me. And it's not a great value proposition (if you're into that whole thing). The ladies at Barbs in Lockhart made me a believer. Yes, there's the Instagram-ready axe handle of a bone and the cognitive dissonance of the gentle giant hunk of beef being as soft as warm butter, but it's the flavor profile of the rib that really did it for me: ground guajillo and chile de arbol peppers blending their mild fruitiness and earthiness into the traditional salt and black pepper rub. The ladies are changing the Lockhart smoked meat game in more ways than one. (102 E. Market St., Lockhart; barbsbq.com)

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Lox and bagel at Casper Fermentables

Kimchi, bagels and kombucha. May sound like a curious trio until you know a little about the backstory of Korean-American Jew and science-lover Ben Hollander, the chef who owns Casper Fermentables with his wife, Phoebe Raileanu. The Montreal-inspired bagels are at the heart of the bakery, and their size (not too tall), texture (a toasty snap with and feathery center) and flavor (the spice riot of the everything, with faint three-day-fermented sourdough notes) make them the best in town. (4715 S. Lamar Blvd., #101A; (512) 330-4935, casperfermentables.com)

Related: Austin's best bagel is actually in Sunset Valley (and that ain't all)

Chicken wings at Daiboku Ramen

Adding the words "and chicken wings" to Daiboku's name may make things a little clunky, but the fried bird is so good, it almost deserves the signage space. And that's even considering the ramen is top three in town, as well. The best wings I ate this year are crunchy, savory and juicy, with the twice-cooked shell coated in a spice blend that gets an umami rush from housemade tomato powder. (609 W. 29th St.; (512) 350-2789, daibokuramen.com)

Camarones "El Ricas" at Este

Clean lines, muted natural tones and understated casual elegance define the aesthetic at the Mexican seafood restaurant from owner Sam Hellman-Mass and executive chef Fermín Núñez. But that doesn't mean you still shouldn't get a little messy. And I don't mean the mezcal cocktails. The shell-on shrimp bathed in chile costeño butter is my favorite seafood dish in town. Between snapping up those slippery shells and swiping at all that chile butter with every last bite of sweet shrimp, you're gonna need an extra napkin. (2113 Manor Road; (512) 522-4047, esteatx.com)

Restaurant review: Este's bold flavors make it one of Austin's best seafood and Mexican restaurants

Smashed cucumbers at Ezov

When a restaurant opens with the kind of intense flavor profiles of Ezov and the dish that left the most lasting impression is a seemingly simple serving of cucumbers, you know those have to be some damn good cucumbers. Indeed. The brilliant green smashed cucumbers are laced with herbs and piqued with a bright pickling sauce and aromatic nigella seeds, all set atop the smoothest labneh you’ve ever tasted. (2708 E. Cesar Chavez St.; (51) 305-1118, ezovatx.com)

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Breakfast burrito at Golden Hour

If every taco truck in town could make burritos like the one at Barclay Stratton’s much-more-than-a-coffee-shop coffee shop in far South Austin, breakfast tacos might not be long for this world.  A butter toasted tortilla wraps a tumble of soft scrambled eggs, diced chives and crispy, cooked down potatoes, all held together with a homemade habanero aioli and heavy-handed swirl of melted queso Chihuahua. I don’t know a breakfast taco that can hang with it. (7731 Menchaca Road; goldenhouratx.com)

Related: Golden Hour cafe elevates dining scene in far South Austin

Pasta at Holiday on 7th

I dream of one day visiting a restaurant in Austin that does a small roster of fresh pasta dishes with one or two daily small plates or salads. Simple, direct culinary craftsmanship focused on one thing done well. As I sit and imagine such a place, I will be content to savor executive chef Peter Klein's rotating pasta dishes at this hybrid bar-restaurant. Whether it’s a ricotta cavatelli singing of summer with bursting cherry tomatoes in a Parmesan broth or one layered in the grounded richness of roasted mushrooms, the veteran of L'Oca d'Oro has proven with his pasta prowess that if I just need a plate of pasta and a glass of wine, Holiday's got me covered. (5020 E. Seventh St.; holidayon7th.com)

Corned beef sandwich at Mum Foods Smokehouse & Delicatessen

Geoffrey Ellis’s business has been drawing lines at farmers markets for more than a decade thanks to its exceptional brisket and perfumed pastrami. But late last year, the Austin-raised chef opened a full-size restaurant that serves, yes, the brisket and pastrami, but something maybe even better: corned beef. Stacked high, draped with the appropriate amount of Swiss cheese and served on a slightly malty and sweet housemade sourdough rye swiped with bright yellow mustard, the steamed, aromatic beef makes for the perfect sandwich. (5811 Manor Road; mumfoodsatx.com)

Shrimp po boy at Uptown Sports Club

When Aaron Franklin says he considers the gumbo he’s tinkered with for years to be his “liquid brisket,” you come to attention. And while the gumbo is great, and the debris po boy made with drippings from Franklin Barbecue is softer than a pillow after a night of drinking in the French Quarter, the shrimp po boy is what I go back to every time at Uptown Sports Club. The kitchen dips the plump Gulf shrimp in a quick bath of Rambler sparkling water before a second dredge of corn starch and baking soda. The mixture adds a touch of minerality and makes the shrimp fizz up and fry to a tempura-like shell. Stuff those big boys in a fully dressed Leidenheimer roll and let the good times roll.

Photos: First look: Aaron Franklin's Uptown Sports Club

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: The 10 best Austin meals from new restaurants in 2023