We will be hosting our 2 Year Anniversary Party on Saturday, May 4 from 5:00 to 10:00.  We will be have food and drinks available for purchase, live music, and fun for the whole family.  

EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

LIVE MUSIC from The Austin Steamers & Special Guest TBA

We will host numerous activities.  Including:

Washer Tournament (WASHER TOURNAMENT IS FULL):  16 Teams in a single elimination, winner takes all tourney.  (To enter please send an email with both team members names, email addresses, phone numbers, and date of birth to contigoaustin@gmail.com.  First 16 teams to reply will be entered)

Cow Tongue Eating Contest (COW TONGUE EATING CONTEST IS FULL):  8 entrants accepted - timed event testing your intestinal fortitude.  Winner is decided by the first person to finish consuming the cow tongue, or whoever has consumed the most cow tongue when time has expired.  Automatic disqualification for "discharge".  (To enter please send an email with entrants name, email address, phone number, and date of birth to contigoaustin@gmail.com)

Pickle Guessing Contest:  Who can most accurately count the pickles in a jar

Wine Tasting Competition:  You will taste a selection of wines from our menu.  Whoever can most accurately distinguish the wines will win.  Of course, there might be a few twists along the way! (To enter please send an email with entrants name, email address, phone number, and date of birth to contigoaustin@gmail.com.  We will be accepting 40 pre-registered participants, and we will leave room for a limited amount of walk in contestants.  To guarantee your spot please pre-register)

Moonlighting Bartender Competition (MOONLIGHTHING BARTENDER COMPETITION IS FULL):  Non-Professional bartenders will compete for a place on the Contigo Cocktail Menu (To enter, please send an email with entrants name, email address, phone number, and date of birth to contigoaustin@gmail.com.  Please include a detailed version of the proposed recipe.  5 participants will be selected prior to the event as competitors on the day of the event.  Recipes will be made at Contigo at the party, and judged by a panel of experts on criteria of balance, scalability, presentation, and overall taste.  Homemade ingredients are permitted, given that they can be re-created at Contigo in an ongoing fashion.  All ingredients must be available from Twin Liquors, Austin Wine Merchant, or Specs so that Contigo can source the ingredients moving forward)

Prizes to Include (Must be present to win a prize.  Winners from all 5 competitions will draw a number for order of selection.  Only 1 prize/competitor):

Pig Roast for 50 ppl:  Contigo will cater a party for you and your friends, including rotisserie pig, sides, and beer ($2,000 value)

Happy Hour for 20 ppl at Contigo:  complimentary HH for 20 people, including bar snacks ($640 value)

Overnight trip for 8 to Contigo Ranch:  Andrew and Ben will host a group of 8 people at Contigo Ranch, includes lodging, dinner, breakfast, and beverages ($2,400 Value)

Contigo Beer Garden Picnic Table plus Benches:  Custom built for you by Brian Chilton ($1,500 Value)

Contigo Bar Package:  Liquor, ingredients, and tools to create all of Contigo Austin's cocktails ($300 value)

Vote Now!!!

This winter we were excited to begin working with the talented Steven Robbins as our new Bar Manager.  He worked up some really wonderful drinks for the Hot Toddy menu, and now he has lent his talents to our Spring Menu.  Of course, some of the olf favorites are still around, but you will also find some new cocktails for the warmer weather.  We are excited to introduce our updated Spring Cocktail Menu:

Rancher's Punch.....8

rum blend, spiced citrus fruit punch, soda

El Pepino.....8

tequila, cucumber, mint, lime

5 O'clock Hero.....8

gin, green chartruese, lemon, blueberry

Moscow Mule.....7

vodka, ginger, lime

Vinegaroon.....8

tequila, pineapple sage shrub, lemon, herbsaint

Peat Collins.....9

blended & islay scotch, lemon, honey, orange bitters

Ti Punch.....8

rhum agricole, cane syrup, lime

Old Fashioned.....9

rye whiskey, citrus oil, bitters

At Contigo Austin, we aren't Anti - Valentine's Day.  We just tend to think it is an over commercialized holiday propagated by Hallmark that forces couples to arbitrarily display affections on a set day in the middle of February.

Therefore, instead of breaking out the white linens and raising our prices, we are throwing a dinner party for everyone to enjoy.  This dinner is for groups of friends, couples who want to enjoy the evening with the company of others, or anyone who happens to share our simple opinion of this little holiday.

Here is how it works:

Sunday, February 3 - We will not be serving our regular menu during the Super Bowl.  We will be closed for a private viewing party during Dinner.  We will be open for Brunch that day.

Monday, February 4 - We love the Contigo Family, and twice a year we close the restaurant to celebrate all of them.  This is the day in which we will be closed for the Winter party.  Thank you for understanding.

During the holiday season our hours will be:

12/23 - Open for Brunch (10:30 - 2:30) & Closed for Dinner

12/24 - Closed

12/25 - Closed

12/26 - Closed

12/27 - 12/30 - Regular Business Hours

12/31 - Closed for Private Event

12/1 - Closed

12/2 - Closed for Private Event

12/3 - Resume normal Business Hours

Let us help you with your Christmas Dinner this year.  This package makes for a great start to the dinner preparation, or a perfect gift to present to your Holiday host.  It includes:

-  1/2 lb. House Smoked Bacon

-  1/2 lb. House Cured Breakfast Ham

-  4 oz. Chicken Liver Mousse

-  4 oz. Pork Rillette

-  4 oz. Housemade Jam

-  8 oz. House Pickles

-  Country Style Pate

-  Pork Liver Pate

-  Edmond Fallot Dijon Mustard

** All orders must be submitted by midnight on Tuesday, December 18

** Orders can be picked up from Contigo during our business hours on Friday, Dec. 21, Saturday, Dec. 22, or Sunday, Dec. 23

We are humbled, honored, and excited to be included on a ballot for the "Restaurant of the Year" category on eater.com.  We have an absolutely WONDERFUL staff that works hard every day, and inclusion on this list is recognition of THEIR efforts.  Thank you Contigo Family!

As you can probably imagine, this also brings up a lot of questions.

"What does Restaurant of the Year even mean?"

"Who the hell came up with this list?"

"Are these restaurants even similar enough to compare?"

I can't answer all of these, and I can't even tell you in good faith that I think that it is possible (in an environment like Austin especially) to name a Restaurant of the Year.  However, as a contemplative individual and a perpetual debater I could make a case for EVERY SINGLE restaurant on this list, as well as an abundance of others that aren't on the list where I routinely spend a lot of time and money.

However, that is not the point of this post.  The point of this post is to present a few reasons that you might consider voting for Contigo.  It is what I call the "pound for pound" scenario.

In boxing, you will often hear about the best pound for pound fighters.  Basically, in a sport that pits individuals against each other, this distinguishes fighters regardless of their weight-class (Manny Pacquiao might not have beat Mike Tyson in his prime, but that doesn't make him an inferior boxer).

Well, let's assume that there are a standard set of criteria that any restaurant should be judged on:

1)  Atmosphere

2)  Service & Hospitality

3)  Food offering and execution

4)  Beverage offering and execution

5)  Value (price level vs. what you receive) 

We work very hard to deliver on these criteria on a daily basis.  What if the food tastes great, but you receive terrible service?  What if the service is great and the food is wonderful, but the prices aren't approachable enough for repeat visits?  What if the value is great, but the atmosphere is off?

I love Austin restaurants.  I am proud to be a part of the food community.  There are many, MANY restaurants that do certain things much better than we do.  I am also very proud of my co-workers and the team at Contigo, and I would put this scrappy group of restaurant folks up against anyone in town... pound for pound.

Feel free to vote for whoever you feel is deserving here.

It has been a year and a half since we opened Contigo.  Looking back, it is almost funny to review our original plans, and analyze how incredibly different the restaurant looks from what we had originally envisioned.

One of the most tangible and obvious differences between what I had "planned", and what exists today, is our Bar Program.  At the very beginning of this adventure we were fortunate to link up with a gentleman named Houston Eaves.  We needed a Bar Manager, and he was up to the challenge.

To say that Houston is talented would not be giving the man full credit.  It is not purely talent that makes Houston a great bartender, it is the hard work, dedication to a craft, respect for tradition, and a passion for execution that supplements his talent that makes him so good at what he does.

When we opened Contigo Andrew and I had never run a restaurant.  When Houston became our Bar Manager he had never managed a bar.  Somehow, we were able to team up and keep this place going.  The bar program at Contigo is something that has Houston's fingerprints all over it, and I hope you have had a chance to experience that.

Starting next week Houston will be moving into a role as the Bar Manager at the Esquire Tavern in San Antonio.  While we hate to see him go, we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors, and we are extremely proud to say that we got to work with him for the past 18 Months.

Thank you Houston for all that you have done for us.  You are welcome at Contigo any time!

As Austinites, we are very fortunate to have a wealth of local farms that are growing some wonderful produce.  We work with as many local farms as we can.  Hopefully this video communicates just how fresh your food is when you dine at restaurants that partner with growers in the community.