Bar Toti

If you’ve ever had a shed or a spare bedroom, you’ll know how this story goes. It starts with a plan to turn the space into something fun, maybe a lounge or a small entertainment area. After a couple drinks, the plan becomes more involved—food and drink get thrown into the mix, and before you know it, your little storage unit has a future as a small, secret restaurant. It never goes anywhere, of course, unless you’re Bar Toti, a small, stylish tapas bar in the parking lot of Este—a coastal Mexican seafood restaurant that we really like—that packs a lot of fun ideas into a space barely bigger than a small studio apartment.  

Bar Toti in East Austin is a lot of things. It’s a bar, it’s a restaurant, it’s snacks, it’s drinks. It can be a place to sip on carajillos while you wait for your table at Este next door because you forgot to make a reservation, or it can be a place to dress up a little and have it be your destination for the night. The building looks a little bit like a Scandinavian cabin, but instead of feeling like a DIY bedroom from Ikea, you’ll find a stylish interior with tall glass windows that cast plenty of light into a single room built around one long, communal table, plus a few smaller ones if you prefer something a little more intimate. There’s also a small outdoor seating area where you can smell corn tortillas and grilled seafood hitting tables next door, while diners on Este’s patio stare longingly at your smashburgers and steak frites in mutual admiration. 

photo credit: Team Infatuation

The menu leans heavy into classic Spanish tapas, but there are also influences from French, Italian, and Mexican cuisine, most notably in the form of a smashburgesa—topped with griddled ham, american cheese, chipotle mayo, and spicy escabeche relish—that’s undeniably one of the best burgers in town. You get to decide how classic and how big you want a meal to be here—it’s just as easy to snack on french fries with boquerones relish while you wait for a table next door, as it is to lean into the experience with Spanish tortillas and grilled bavette steaks with bordelaise. Just try not to get too attached to any single menu item, because the menu changes often. Wines are served by the glass, by the bottle, or by the porron—if you feel confident in a steady hand—and cocktails traverse a scale from tamer classics like mojitos and palomas to punchy cynar daiquiris and amaro shakaratos. 

photo credit: Team Infatuation

photo credit: Nicolai McCrary

photo credit: Nicolai McCrary

photo credit: Nicolai McCrary

Maybe Bar Toti is where you kick-start your weekend, maybe it’s the inspiration you need to finally start that shed remodel you’ve been talking about. Or maybe it’s just a spot you pop into on a Thursday evening for a burger and a glass of wine. Bar Toti is as little or as much as you want it to be. And on any given night when we’re not working on our own Backyard Bar Rescue, there’s a good chance it’s exactly where you’ll find us. 

Food Rundown

photo credit: Team Infatuation

Hongos A La Plancha

One of our favorite items on the menu in which long, thin slices of king trumpet mushroom get scored and crisped up on a plancha, before being served with an intact egg yolk and topped with fried sage. Go ahead and ask for more bread now, because you’re going to want it to soak up everything that’s left on the plate.

photo credit: Nicolai McCrary

Shrimp Al Ajillo

Bar Toti’s shrimp al ajillo is one of the more classic-leaning Spanish tapas dishes on the menu, consisting of a few large, diced up shrimp cooked in clarified butter with a bit of lemon and smoked paprika. It’s simple, allowing the shrimp to be the star of the show, and a great addition to any order.

photo credit: Nicolai McCrary

La Smashburgesa

Outback has the bloomin’ onion, and Bar Toti has the smashburgesa. It’s served as a double, and topped with griddled ham, american cheese, chipotle mayo, and escabeche relish. There’s a great balance of textures, and a bit of much-needed punchy acidity from the relish. Get one of these for the table to share (they’ll cut it in half for you if you ask).