"Austin Land & Cattle (or ALC) feels like a classic steakhouse you’d expect to find in small-town Texas, complete with guitars hanging from the walls and carved wooden cowboys and horses scattered about the dining room. You won’t need a sports coat or a fancy dress for dinner here—it’s more of a cowboy hat and nice jeans kind of place—but the tablecloths are in fact technically white. Unstuffy and unpretentious, ALC makes an excellent (and surprisingly affordable) steak that you’ll likely be talking about for days to come. The menu here leans classic steakhouse, but with Southern twists. That means that right next to those garlic, butter, and madeira escargots, you’ll also find dishes like buffalo grilled lamb chops, or crispy fried gulf oysters with pico. There’s a pretty standard menu of steaks—ranging in size, cut, and time spent dry-aging—that seem to always come out with picture-perfect grill marks and a beautiful char. And they all come with a side, which means no more paying double digits for a couple stalks of asparagus. Much like the food, the wine list here leans classic—with a mix of old and new world wines available by the glass or bottle—which is probably better suited for a meal here than some funky 30-day skin-contact orange wine grown in volcanic soil. Just like with the pricing for the steaks and entrees, wines are very reasonable, with glasses starting around $10. And the whole list arrives on an iPad, which feels a bit jarring after the otherwise old-school experience. Kind of like when you visit an older relative and they bust out a shiny new tablet full of old family photo scans. But despite the occasional modern touch, nothing about a meal at ALC feels trend-chasing. It’s old-school and relaxed. And with a central location at 12th and Lamar, you don’t even have to leave Austin for the small-town experience. Sometimes, you just want a giant steak and a martini for dinner. And sometimes you want to do that without planning a reservation three months in advance, or without taking out a small loan to do it. " - Nicolai McCrary
