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"I learned that the Archer will expand its hotel bar mini-chain AKB into Austin starting on Wednesday, January 25. The New American food menu includes glazed pork ribs with a pickled cherry hoisin glaze; a NOLA barbecue shrimp dish; ahi tuna taquitos; thin-crust pizza pies; branzino with potatoes and mushrooms; and steaks. Drinks include cocktails such as the Citrine Sands, a chile-tequila drink with a mango-tamarind puree; an Old Fashioned made with a brown butter–infused rye whiskey; and the Violet Sky made with a butterfly blue–infused gin. The walls will include a new mural created by Show Goat Mural Works, depicting the city’s purple sunset. Overseeing the bar/restaurant will be executive chef Kendal Duque (formerly the executive chef of the South Congress Hotel and with experience at Chicago restaurants including Sepia, Everest, City Tavern, and American Junkie) and chef de cuisine Mario Medina (formerly executive chef of the Domain restaurant Mia Italian Tapas & Bar, of closed Austin restaurant Malaga, and chef de cuisine of the closed hotel restaurant Dine, among other Austin positions). AKB’s Austin hours are 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday–Thursday, 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, and there are AKBs within almost every Archer Hotel in the country (including New York, Virginia, and Washington state, but not Napa)." - Nadia Chaudhury