Co-owners Ben Edgerton and Chef Andrew Wiseheart are proud to announce the official opening of their new restaurant, Chicon (1914 East Sixth Street) on Monday, March 28. Chicon, a sister restaurant to Edgerton and Wiseheart’s Contigo, will serve ranch-inspired wood-fired dishes, cocktails, beer and wine seven nights a week beginning at 5:00 p.m.
“I am excited to make the food my family, team, and friends and I love to eat,” says Chef Wiseheart. “We’re using simple, quality ingredients from places like Dewberry Hill Farms, Johnson’s Backyard Garden, Windy Bar Ranch, Black Hill Ranch, Springdale Farm, and more. Chicon, like Contigo, has been designed to allow for what we hope will be a fun and inviting experience, think of it like your neighborhood dining room.”
The menu is comprised of sharable bar snacks, small plates, charcuterie, entrées, and desserts. The bar snacks, which are available all evening, include a pork roll with beer cheese ($3); a beer-battered fish with smoked beef fat butter, Tobiko roe, shaved cabbage, and house-made camp bread ($6); and whipped feta with pickled green tomato, dill, and mint on house-made toasted sourdough ($7). The small plates selection features highlights including a goat and gnocchi dish with parmesan, black pepper and tomato broth ($13); littleneck clams with cabbage, ham hock, smoked pork, and potato broth ($12); and a grilled octopus dish with lima beans, caper berries, chili aioli, chimichuri, radish, and mint ($11).
For main entrées, Chef Wiseheart’s menu includes a stripped bass with grilled turnips with Aleppo pepper and almond salsa verde ($17) and his famous hamburger on a challah bun served with fries ($12). Diners are invited to share the large format entrée options of a grilled half chicken with daily changing grilled vegetable selection, romaine hearts, camp bread, buttermilk ranch, chile de arbol, and chile guajillo (serves multiple, $31) or the 36oz T-bone steak with fried onions, potato soubise sauce, chimichurri, burnt onion crème fraîche, red wine butter, and escarole with toasted garlic (serves multiple, $72). Classic desserts such as a chocolate brownie ($6), chocolate chip cookie served with milk ($3), and coconut cake with lemon curd and strawberries ($6) round out the dessert selection.
“Andrew and I approached this restaurant in the same way we did when opening Contigo, and we worked alongside a lot of our friends and family to get the restaurant open,” says co-owner Ben Edgerton. “Our goal throughout the process has been to serve the community, and we worked to create a comfortable space where people can have fun with their friends and family.”
The drink menu at Chicon includes local drafts, can and bottled beers, ciders, and sparkling, red, white, and rosé wines by the glass and bottle. The cocktail list includes selections such as the New Delhi Mule made with vodka, grapefruit, ginger beer, honey, and cardamom ($8) and the Concombre made with tequila, cucumber, lime, and jalapeño ($9). Named for the neighboring street, which serves as a thoroughfare for East Austin, the restaurant is a comfortable, welcoming space with design features similar to the Texas Ranch-style elements that Edgerton and Wiseheart created with Contigo.
For more information, please visit contigotexas.com/chicon/ and follow on Facebook @ChiconAustin and on Instagram @chicon_austin.