South Congress Lost Its Sushi This Fall. Both Counters Landed Elsewhere In South Austin.

"We'll see you soon, back on South Congress under the old oak tree." MML Hospitality posted that after a kitchen fire closed Perla's on Sept. 6, as Community Impact reported. The fire was quickly contained and no guests or staff were hurt. As of the Sept. 14 report, the company had not given a reopening date.

Perla's was the first of four South Congress closures between early September and mid-October. A seafood patio, an Ethiopian dining room and two sushi counters all left the avenue within about five weeks. Most of that food stayed in South Austin, though. Two of the four moved a few miles over, one says it plans to come back, and the fourth is looking for a new Austin home. The new South Austin openings this fall landed on South Lamar, South First, Josephine Street and the Menchaca corridor, and none of them on South Congress.

Four exits from South Congress, and where each one went

Taste of Ethiopia is the only one of the four that gave a cost reason. Owners Woinee Mariam and Solomon Hailu chose not to renew their lease because the cost of running a business in the area kept rising. "South Congress has become very expensive," Hailu told KVUE. Their original Pflugerville restaurant is still open, and the couple is looking for another location in Austin.

Both sushi counters stayed south of the river

Neighborhood Sushi is McGuire Moorman Lambert's only sushi restaurant in Austin. It moved from South Congress to 1417 S. First St., and the Austin American-Statesman reports the new space adds seating, a bigger bar and outdoor space. Executive Chef Jorge Garcia still runs the kitchen. The menu keeps its nigiri, sashimi, rolls and hand rolls and adds more yakitori, including Wagyu, grilled king trumpet mushrooms, asparagus and chicken oysters. The same hospitality group owns Perla's, so both of its South Congress restaurants were off the avenue by October for different reasons.

Little Nishi went farther. Founder Joel Taylor started the hand-roll business downtown in fall 2023. He closed the South Congress trailer on Oct. 1 to consolidate into Nishi, the brand's first brick-and-mortar restaurant, at 2000 Southern Oaks Drive. Community Impact listed it as opened Oct. 15, serving sashimi, hand rolls, miso soup and roasted chili edamame. The East Austin outpost inside Teddy's Bar on Manor Road is still open. The team also offered the old trailer for sale at $25,000.

The trailers already served more than a dozen hand rolls. Combinations like grilled salmon with peach miso and cucumber, or unagi with smoked brie and citrus soy glaze, were on the trailer menus before the move, the Statesman noted. Southern Oaks sits just off Menchaca Road, which is where much of this fall's other new activity is. Regular hours had not been posted in the week before opening, so checking the restaurant's Instagram before driving over is the safe move.

South Lamar picked up the all-day coffee

While South Congress lost dining rooms, South Lamar added places to linger from morning into the evening. The clearest example is The Code at 2323 S. Lamar Blvd., a hotel and residential building that opened March 9 with 178 residences for short or extended stays.

Cuvée Coffee opened in The Code's lobby on Aug. 3. Mike and Rashelle McKim's Austin roaster has been roasting in Texas since 1998, and according to Community Impact the café runs all day. Mornings start with espresso and cold brew. By evening the menu turns to wine, local beer, espresso martinis, frozen cocktails, a Twisted Old Fashioned and the Paperwork, Cuvée's version of a Paper Plane.

The building's ground floor is filling in after the café. Manhattan Cowgirl, Kyleigh Nethery's flagship, was announced for this fall. It will sell boutique fashion and offer a three-hour cowboy hat session where guests shape, steam and design their own hats. Pure Sweat + Float Studio, with infrared saunas, cold plunges and float therapy, and ISI Elite Training are slated for winter, per Community Impact.

A few blocks away, Second Wind Coffee opened at 2706 S. Lamar inside Alloy Autohaus, behind Roadrunner Relics, the Statesman reported. It serves coffee, espresso drinks, matcha, chai and tea in a space built around car culture. Farther north, Mendocino Farms opened Sept. 22 at 1100 S. Lamar Blvd., Ste. 1125, with sandwiches, salads, wraps and soups, according to Community Impact's South Central roundup.

Near Zilker, a tapas bar in a familiar room

The most ambitious dinner opening of the fall is on a side street. Casa Fina, a Spanish tapas bar, took over the former House Wine space at 408 Josephine St. near Zilker Park. It comes from Il Brutto chef Erind Halilaj and operating partner Charity Sadoy. The menu has seafood tapas, paella, Spanish wines and cocktails, served indoors and on a new patio.

The opening was announced in late April for early summer, then moved to early September. Reservations finally opened Oct. 8, Community Impact reported, and diner reviews on OpenTable show tables being served by Oct. 10. Its slow, quiet arrival fits the fall's pattern. Even when a South Austin opening skips the major corridors, it still lands off South Congress.

Down Menchaca, prices drop and patios widen

The far south end added the most casual places to spend an evening. At 10700 Menchaca Rd., the team behind South Austin Beer Garden turned that space into Clara's Day Dive. The Infatuation describes a cocktail-focused menu with spiked blueberry lemonade, seltzer margaritas and vodka-and-elderflower spritzes, most priced around $10. An Indian fried chicken trailer is also on site.

Puente Coffee runs out of a shipping container on Clara's patio. Its team roasts single-origin beans in-house and serves ube cold foam and brown sugar lattes alongside the usual espresso drinks. So the same address now covers both morning coffee and an evening cocktail, much like Cuvée at The Code, in a much more casual setting.

Closer to the center of 78745, Casa Moreno's 2 Go soft-opened Oct. 1 at 7811 S. 1st St., Ste. 104. It serves breakfast tacos, migas, huevos rancheros, birria tacos, agua fresca and horchata. Add Nishi on Southern Oaks, and the stretch from South First to Menchaca has gained a sushi room, a cocktail patio, a coffee roaster and a taco counter in the same few weeks South Congress lost its tables.

Still unsettled as the season turns

• Perla's reopening. MML Hospitality had not set a date as of its September update and pointed regulars to Perla's Instagram for news.
• Taste of Ethiopia's next Austin address. The owners are looking for another Austin location.
• Manhattan Cowgirl at The Code. It was announced for fall 2026, with the wellness and fitness tenants following in winter.
• Nishi's regular hours. They were not yet posted ahead of the Oct. 15 opening.

A sushi counter moving to South First and a café opening in The Code's lobby both change what sits a short walk from the homes on those blocks. Darsh Parikh follows these openings in South Austin alongside the homes and new construction near them, and is glad to talk through what a new neighbor on your corridor might mean for your block. Let's Connect.