Closed Austin Chinese Restaurant New Fortune Is Going to Reopen

Shuttered Chinese restaurant New Fortune — known particularly for its dim sum — is going to come back to Austin, as reported by Statesman. Co-owner William Wong is going to reopen the restaurant, dubbed New Fortune 2, at 12300 Farm-to-Market Road 620, taking over what had been the Jenna’s Asian Kitchen space near the Anderson Mill neighborhood. There is no projected opening timeline yet.

New Fortune opened in the North Lamar neighborhood in 2014, and closed in April 2021 citing struggles due to the pandemic, causing the business to “no longer be able to sustain our operations and continue with our lease.” There had been plans to eventually reopen somewhere too. Wong also runs Chinese and dim sum restaurant Jade.

Fundraising for a Texas pitmaster’s medical bills

There’s a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for the medical bills of Pflugerville barbecue restaurant owner John Brotherton of Brotherton’s Black Iron Barbecue, who is currently in the hospital in a medically-induced coma. The fundraiser page explains that he had a “medical event” in early January, after which he was placed in the hospital. The restaurant remains open for service too. There’s also an event being held at the restaurant on Saturday, January 13 where people are encouraged to patronize the business from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Russell Roegels, the owner and pitmaster of Katy barbecue restaurant Roegels Barbecue Co. launched the campaign to help Brotherton and his family.

LGBTQ bar starts Patreon service

Red River LGBTQ club/venue/bar Cheer Up Charlies launched a Patreon subscription-based service to help keep the business afloat. Co-owners Tamara Hoover and Maggie Lea posted on Instagram in late December that the bar was struggling. They noticed that its 15th anniversary would be in March 2024, but “we really don’t know what our future will hold,” adding that “financially, we need a lot more support to make it past March.”

They followed that by creating the Patreon in late December with three membership levels. The $10 level comes with access to videos and blogs from the team and other people; the $25 includes free entry to events, and $75 adds all of that plus quarterly merchandise.

The bar is also going to be adding daytime hours with coffee at some point, and will become a site for food truck the Vegan Nom.

New poke restaurant in Lockhart

Lockhart bar and shop Best Little Wine & Books added a poke shop to its space courtesy of a Key West, Florida-based business. Poke in the Rear is found at the back of the bar at 210 West San Antonio Street as of January 5.

The menu includes various poke bowls, including the Texas King with brisket from Kreuz Market and a mango-habanero sauce, and the Best Little with yellowfin tuna and a ponzu sauce. There are also plans to have events with hand rolls and sake and wine paired dinners. Chef Casey Wilcox of the nearby restaurant Little Trouble is going to be co-operating Poke in the Rear’s kitchen too.

Best Little Wine owner Kaye Askins frequented the poke shop during visits to the Florida island, and she had been wanting to add a fuller-on food menu to her business. Poke in the Rear founder Grant Portier opened the restaurant with his wife bars 22& Co. in Key West in 2020.

The poke shop’s hours are from noon to 10 p.m. daily. Orders are placed at the wine bar’s counter.

Tracking Austin food truck news

Heritage neighborhood bar Back Lot has a new food truck as of early January. Last Call Tacos opened on January 5. The South Texas-styled menu includes tacos with corn and flour tortillas filled with barbacoa, carnitas, al pastor, chicken fajita, and vegetables (potatoes, mushrooms, and black beans). Then there are chips, queso, nachos, quesadillas, and more. Its hours are from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and then from 10 p.m to 2 a.m. Sunday and Monday.

Gluten-free Puerto Rican fusion food truck Plantain Bar is going to be closing its location within the Thicket Food Park in far south Austin at the end of January. The Instagram post notes that this shutter is “due to circumstances beyond our control” and that co-owners Lenny Hernandez Aparcero and Jojo Koster aren’t sure if they will reopen the truck elsewhere or just close permanently.

Rainey Street food truck Bummer Burrito has temporarily relocated into the MLK neighborhood because its host site Little Brother is still temporarily closed. The burrito truck is now parked at kolache and beer spot Batch at 3220 Manor Road. Its hours are from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and then from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Portland food truck ​​Stretch the Noodle relocated from the Oregon city into Georgetown, Texas in late December 2023. The menu focuses on house-made hand-stretched Chinese noodle bowls and dumplings. It’s parked at 3309 West State Highway 29.

Tracking Austin restaurant openings

National chain Dave & Buster’s opened a new location in Austin’s Southpark Meadows neighborhood in December, as reported by Community Impact. The arcade-slash-bar-slash-restaurant is found at 9500 South I-35 Frontage Road, Building F.