Texas on the Sound: Austin Cantina

In just under a couple weeks I'll visit Austin, Texas, for the first time. Naturally, I'll spend my time exploring the city's bars and restaurants – sampling the migas at Magnolia Café, slamming back shots and Shiners at Beerland and dining on chicken-fried everything at Threadgills. I will feast. I will carouse. I will rock out with my something-that-rhymes-with-sock out. And upon my return, I will revisit Austin Cantina and judge the authenticity of its Austin experience.

I suspect the new Ballard café will more than hold its own. Better than a third of Austin Cantina is dominated by cooking space, with an abbreviated bar surrounding the open kitchen and a few tables lining the south wall. For all intents and purposes, you're sitting in the kitchen of Cantina owner and chef Jefe Birkner, a genuine Texan from Texas.

When someone invites you into his kitchen, you expect him to know what he's doing, and Birkner does. He and his crew serve up a proper Tex-Mex feast, from the chunky salsa that accompanies the premeal tortilla chips to the meringue-topped banana pudding that you must save room to enjoy. Everything is freaking superlative: The chili is some of the leanest and meatiest I've enjoyed, and the chicken-fried steak, with its grass-fed beef, thick gravy and sides of chipotle mashed potatoes and grilled corn, is probably going to make the Cantina's name.

The kitchen prides itself on its variety, and the Cantina's beans-and-rice selection changes daily – I've sampled the tangy barbeque beans and the beer-cooked "borracho" beans, and enjoyed both. The tacos and enchiladas come with your choice of fillings, including "Texas Pot Roast," a spicy, stewed beef, and the mildly savory mole chicken. Both are good enough to eat even without the fresh, piping-hot corn tortillas you're given to wrap your tacos with. Pair virtually anything on the menu with a cold Shiner Bock and you've got a winner.

The service isn't quite equal to the food yet. My server forgot part of my order and had to come back to the table for clarification. And my pollo a la plancha – a grilled, chipotle-glazed chicken breast – was a bit pink in the middle. However, Chef Birkner was quick to strike the undercooked item from the check, and gave me a dish of that delicious mole chicken on the house. "You shouldn't walk away hungry," he said with a grin.

If the kitchens of Austin prove half as skilled as that of Austin Cantina, and the chefs half as hospitable as Jefe Birkner, I may end up eating enough in a week to sate me for a month.

Austin Cantina is at 5809 24th Ave N.W.; 206-789-1277. Visit the restaurant online at http://austincantina.typepad.com/austin_cantina.