Fogo de Chão Reopens This Weekend, Ember Kitchen Is Opening Soon, Ezov Is Opening Later, Batch Is Open Now, and Would You Believe We Have a Sweet Array of NYE Recommendations for You, O Holiday-Harried Citizen?

Here's some of what's happening in Austin's culinary scene, as wrangled from numerous PR releases, words on the digital street, and even the occasional (verified) IRL eavesdroppings.

Yes, it’s your “Food News Buffet” for this last week of December 2022 – a week that’s perhaps somewhat ch-ch-ch-chilly right about now, wouldn’t you say?

In warmer days, when those ’ronas first blew into town and 86’d public gatherings right before the summer of 2020, we signed with Austin culinary startup inKind for grab-it-and-go credit at the Salt & Time sandwich counter in Republic Square. ’Course, that particular S&T has since been replaced by a Rosen’s Bagels outpost; but 1) that Rosen’s uses Salt & Time meats, and 2) our whole plaguetime experience with the inKind app, after they worked out a few kinks, was convenient and pleasant and seemed to be one of those synergistic win/win/win situations for all involved. This bodes well for the new Ember Kitchen & Subterra Agave Bar (800 W. Cesar Chavez) coming to the Seaholm Power Plant in early January, as the venue – a kitchen on the main floor, a bar downstairs, and eventually an additional rooftop bar – is operated by the inKind people. It’ll be “a live-fire experience with Latin flare, created by James Beard nominee executive chef María Mercedes Grubb,” and anchored by a Spanish Josper oven and grill that burns a blend of charcoal and wood. InKind plans to have this Ember “become the model for demonstrating its operational services for future restaurant partners to learn and emulate.” Reckon we’ll be watching – and eating …

Before that happens, though, we’ve learned the opening date for the Brazilian steakhouse that savvy mortals know as Fogo de Chão: The newly relocated restaurant will be dishing up feasts of bodacious live-fire beefery at 200 Congress (yes, in the base of the Austonian) starting on Fri., Dec. 23 – and, in the holiday spirit, donating a portion of first-week sales to Keep Austin Fed …

But, wait – there’s more! Sometime after Fogo de Chão reopens and Ember & Subterra have debuted, sometime in the spring of 2023, the Emmer & Rye hospitality group will reveal their eighth dining concept: Ezov, a “fun and lighthearted” eatery helmed by chef Berty Richter and featuring seasonal Israeli cuisine. Now, Israeli cuisine, haven’t we seen something like – oh! Right! Emmer & Rye is also behind the “Israeli street food” kitchen TLV in Fareground; and that TLV is sure ’nuff a bastion of mouthwatering, healthy food; so it stands to reason that, when Ezov finally opens at 2708 E. Cesar Chavez, it’ll be an equally compelling destination from the team that also brought us Hestia, Kalimotxo, Canje, and Henbit …

Right now, though, we’re still digesting the excellent ham-and-swiss-and-cheddar kolache we had for breakfast at Batch Craft Beer & Kolaches (3220 Manor Rd). Stopped in there to chat with author Bill Cotter about his wild and heartrending new novel The Splendid Ticket, chose that kolache from the joint’s fresh-baked array of flavors, washed it down with a decadently rich hot chocolate and, sighing happily, made a little note: Have breakfast at Batch more often in 2023, you fool, it’s not just about the beer …

And by the time you’re reading this, you most likely 1) already have reservations set up for your Christmas dinner, or 2) will be dining at home, maybe on a ridiculously ambitious meal you thought couldn’t possibly be all that hard to pull off, or 3) are basically S.O.L., right? Which is why we’re leapfrogging this weekend and have wrangled a bunch of recommended New Year’s Eve dining options for you. So you can be ahead-of-the-curve this time, like. Personally, we’re partial to what L'Oca d'Oro’s got planned, and that Réveillon feast at Swoop House, but – yeah, there’s plenty more …

Oh! You know that the Four Seasons Hotel’s got an ice rink set up between their posh accommodations and Lady Bird Lake, as part of their Downtown Ice Rodeo that's replete with a special Winter Carnival menu? And that those popular South Pole Igloos are back at Geraldine's inside Hotel Van Zandt, yeah? Ah, when things get cold, the cold gets enjoyable …

And, let’s see – what else, what else? Your current reporter was pretty much blown away by some of what brightened the local culinary scene this year … that suds-lovin’ Eric Puga taps into the best things that happened in Austin beer … Rod Machen and Clara Wang reveal Austin’s Top 10 Barbacoa Joints … Chronicle Food editor Melanie Haupt covers 10 Places to Take Your Visitors With Special Diet Needs … and everybody’s all thumbs-up about the daily happy hour (5-6pm) specials at Fermín Núñez & Sam Hellman-Mass’s seafood-centered Este (2113 Manor Rd.) …

WUXTRY! Our Music department is understandably stoked about the upcoming Free Music Week (Jan. 5-7), and we’re glad to report that Hoboken Pie, Stubbs Bar-B-Q, Vaquero Taquero, Shawarma Point, Pelon's, and Central District Brewing will be among the festival’s foodmongers this year. Although, we mean, they're all right there on Red River – how could they not?

Now eat as well as you can, tip like it’s going out of style, and have a great time but, c’mon, don’t drink too fucking much, mmmkay?