ATXReview
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Stepping into Barley Swine feels like entering some secret supper club in an old ski town lodge. Maybe it’s the heavy wood accents across the dining room, or the long stack of logs lining the entryway. Or maybe it’s the open kitchen with a giant fire that we like to pretend is a fireplace in our cold city fantasy. Wherever you find yourself mentally, you can rest assured that you’re actually in a very cozy dining room in Brentwood, enjoying a tasting menu of Texas-inspired bites at one of Austin’s original trailer-turned-restaurant success stories.
You’re probably not here for a long history lesson, so we’ll keep the backstory brief. Back in 2009, Odd Duck became one of the most popular trailers in Austin, serving upscale, seasonal bites on South Lamar. After a successful trailer run, they eventually opened up Barley Swine down the street—a grown-up version of their original trailer. Since then, they’ve moved around a bit, and they’ve opened another restaurant (also called Odd Duck), but what’s important to know is that Barley Swine has been a cornerstone of the fine dining scene in Austin for a long time now.
photo credit: Richard Casteel
The service is friendly and attentive—don’t be surprised if you find yourself wanting to exchange Instagram handles with your server at the end (don’t do this, they’re just professionals). But as much as we love the dining room, our favorite seat in the house might be at the bar, where you can enjoy the full tasting menu with a close-up view of the kitchen and your own semi-personal bartender guiding you through the meal and your (optional) wine pairing.
They’ve experimented with a few different menu formats over the years, but at the time of writing, Barley Swine is a tasting menu-only restaurant. Most of the plates changes every month or so, but in general you can expect to start off with a few small bites—like a funky dry-aged tartare inside of a bite-sized puff pastry, and an excellent cheese-stuffed shishito “tamale”—followed by four or five slightly larger plates and a couple dessert courses. And while there’s no way of knowing exactly what they’re going to pull out of a hat on any given night, the themes are largely Texan, and the ingredients, local. Ask anyone at the restaurant where an ingredient came from, and they can probably tell you a whole story about their close personal relationship with the farmer.
photo credit: Richard Casteel
A meal here isn’t short, but somehow manages to feel even longer than it is. And maybe that’s because you don’t want to leave. The dining room is warm and inviting, like a cozy lodge in a much colder city. It’s a place where you can look into the open kitchen and see exactly what the team is working on at any point. This is where you come when you want to celebrate something big—anniversaries, promotions, birthdays, or maybe just hitting the daily move goal on your Apple Watch for three consecutive days. Even though Barley Swine has come a long, long way from their trailer origins, it’s not difficult to see why people fell in love with it all those years ago.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Richard Casteel
Starters
photo credit: Richard Casteel
Shiitake Dumplings
photo credit: Richard Casteel
Duck
photo credit: Richard Casteel
Ribeye
photo credit: Richard Casteel