Red Ash
Price
$$$
Rating
4.8/5 stars
Red Ash is an upscale Italian restaurant in downtown Austin serving wood-fired dishes and handmade pasta.
Red Ash sits right on Colorado St in the heart of downtown, built around a wood-burning grill that does double duty for both the meats and a lot of the vegetables on the menu. The handmade pasta program is the real draw: the cappelletti, little "bishop's hat" shapes stuffed with spinach and sauced in brown butter, is the dish regulars keep coming back for.
If you're going big, the 50-day dry-aged porterhouse ("la Fiorentina") is built for the table to share and shows off what the wood fire is capable of. It's a special-occasion price point, but the happy hour makes it easy to try Red Ash without committing to the full dinner: $2 off cocktails, beer, and wine by the glass, plus $7 appetizers, salads, and small pastas.
Reservations move fast on weekends. If you want a walk-in shot at a table, arriving right around opening (5 to 5:15pm) gives you the best odds before the wait builds.