It was August when a bat signal shaped like a fried fish square appeared in Austin’s sky. Luby’s Cafeteria, once at risk of shuttering for good, had opened a mini location near the Texas Capitol, offering a pared down menu and limited seating.
A Texan knows many things from birth – don’t pick bluebonnets, never put beans in your chili, and a LuAnn Platter from Luby’s Cafeteria is the best meal you can have. How does one explain an entire state’s devotion and love for a cafeteria restaurant? Let me try.
The mini Luby’s, called Luby’s Café - Granger, is located at 314 W. 11th St. near the Travis County Courthouse, the restaurant is small enough to be easily missed. But we would never do that.
Inside, it’s business as usual. Customers can line up for a LuAnn Platter, which comes with an entrée and two sides of your choosing for $9.49. Plastic containers of salad, fruit, and pies are available to grab and drink options range from soda to iced tea. Don’t forget a roll!
Two LuAnn Platters with fried fish. (Kelsey Bradshaw/City Cast Austin)
The seating area does not have your usual Luby’s carpet floors, but that’s OK and perhaps even a welcome change! Red chairs line plain tables in a dining room that can seat about two dozen or so. The decor and the atmosphere are mundane, but no one is visiting for either.
Once I arrived at the little Luby’s on a gray afternoon, it felt like I had entered an amusement park. No, there were no rides or cotton candy to speak of, but oh my goodness I was at Luby’s! This was the best idea I’d ever had!
I got my half slice of fried fish, macaroni and cheese, green beans, roll, and a Dr. Pepper and felt like I was floating on air. I am so not joking. It helps that I had brought along Austin’s foremost Luby’s expert and City Cast Austin contributor Eric Webb.
Two minutes into our lunch, I realized I had set up an actual reporting outing, not just lunch with my best friend under the guise of doing work, because Webb really does know everything about the cafeteria restaurant.
He grew up going to the Luby’s Cafeteria that used to be on Brodie Lane, usually with his grandma after church, and said the mashed potatoes, chocolate pie, and fried fish all taste the same as they always have.
“If you grew up in Texas, there’s just something about Luby’s,” Webb says. “If you grew up in some kind of evangelical church in Texas, you probably went to Luby's for lunch afterward. It was the 11th Commandment.”
A childhood trip to Luby’s was an experience unlike any other, Webb says – it had the green carpet, the brightly colored Jell-O cubes, and the carrot and raisin salad that exists nowhere else.
The mashed potatoes are actually a bite to write home about. They’re soft, nostalgic, and just savory enough.
“The mashed potatoes — with white gravy — took me right back in time,” Webb said.
You should maybe get two slices of chocolate pie – one for lunch and one for later. The chocolate is so rich and creamy and the chocolate crust is an inspired choice.
Fried fish from a fast-casual restaurant in a city nowhere near an ocean may instill fear in you. I’m here to calm those qualms. Despite being fried, the crispy fish tastes fresh and luxurious with a tartar sauce topping. And, hello! All this for $9.49.
The dining space is small. (Kelsey Bradshaw/City Cast Austin)
In Austin, just three Luby’s Cafeterias are left: One on Anderson Lane, another on Slaughter Lane, and the mini downtown. Speaking as someone who has only been to the downtown Luby’s while living in Austin, it’s the only one worth visiting. It’s cute, it’s downtown, and it’s easy.
At lunchtime on a Monday, the restaurant, which is open during the week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., was busy with people dining in and picking up to-go orders. Oh yeah, you can take your platter to go. More than one person was wearing business casual attire, which made me suddenly sad that I did not work in a downtown office. I could pop into Luby’s every …. day?
If I have somehow not made it clear that I’m giving the downtown Luby’s a 10/10 for experience and food, let me spell it out for ya: It’s a 10 out 10. Five stars! Worth your 10 bucks! Give it the Nobel!
Webb even spent his 30th birthday at a now-closed Austin Luby’s after his friends surprised him with a trip there for fried fish and pie.
“It was one of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received,” he said.
Luby’s is as important as Willie Nelson, Texas sunsets, and Friday night football. So, if you see me outside the mini Luby’s doing the Texas Pledge, mind your business.
