Sour Duck Market — Restaurant in Austin

I was excited to try this place because I had seen about their happy hour special in a food influencers video, which is a burger special.

We got a double cheeseburger and beer special ($13), a single cheeseburger and beer special ($10), a “soft pretzel and cheese” ($7.50), hand punched fries ($4), and a garlic bread also.

The cheeseburger (and beer) special is a daily happy hour special from 3-6 pm. A single is $6 and a double $9, you can add a lager for $4 more.

We started with the fries and house made ketchup, as well as the “soft pretzel and queso”. What’s so ironic about the name “soft pretzel” is that was literally the hardest pretzel I’ve had in my life, I could barely rip it apart and chewing it was a jaw workout. The fries were good and the house made ketchup had a different kind of zesty taste, was very good.

Next we got a cheesy garlic hasselback baguette, it was very hot (not a complaint) but was also extremely hard; we didn’t eat much of it, flavor was good but just too hard. I know baguettes are a harder bread but this was very hard.

Now to the main item we went for, the cheeseburgers. According to the menu this is what it consists of: two wagyu smash burger patties, american & pimento cheese, pickle, secret sauce, challah bun. The burger was okay, definitely a good deal especially for a smash burger in Austin. I will say the taste was not really there though, the burger was completely carried by the cheese and sauce. I could barely taste the meat, 5/10 on the cheeseburger. My gf got a single cheeseburger and said “that’s a burger you need to be a double because as a single the proportion of bread and sauce was off, so needs two patties”.

With all of that being said I will probably be back because I liked the outside environment and seems like they have good deals. They have a lengthier food menu with some items that caught my eye.

Came on Friday around 5ish, was very busy. A significant amount of people had children and a couple dogs; so I assume it’s kid and...

We stopped by Sour Duck Market on a Friday for lunch. I was disappointed that their brunch menu was available but their regular food and pastry option are still great.

We ordered the fried chicken sandwich, marinated beets, Tx farm salad with fried chicken, and the fresh squeezed orange juice.

For pastries we ordered the buckwheat financier and the star anise snickerdoodle.

The fresh OJ was amazing and reminded me instantly of the fresh squeezed OJ I would make with my mom. It was a glass of nostalgia and a must have.

The fried chicken sandwich was tasty but I did not agree with the sandwich accoutrements as they got a bit tiring after just half of the sandwich. The fries were amazing and had an extra Cajun/old bay style seasoning.

The salad was extremely filling and full of a variety of ingredients like turnips and strawberries. Definitely a substantial salad. The accompanying fried chicken was also tender and fried with a satisfying chewy yet crispy batter.

The marinated beets came with potato chips and a sour cream sauce. If you’ve been to Odd Duck this combination of chips is reminiscent of their ceviche and to me reminded me of a play on steak tartare with beets instead of steak. The beets were tasty but I found there was way too much sauce on the bottom. Towards the end I found myself trying to scrape the sauce off the beets due to how overpowering and almost sickening the sauce became.

The pastries were both amazing. The buckwheat financier was the moistest pastry I’ve had in a long time. The flavor was subtly sweet and had a great buckwheat flavor which I personally liked. The star anise snickerdoodle was also tasty and an interesting combination that I personally enjoyed.

Sour Duck market is a great place to try some interesting food while enjoying the outdoor energy that Austin is known for. I would recommend trying their pastries and a select number of the main entrees, and could see myself coming back...

Picture this, it’s a Saturday night and after a long week you just want to cut loose with that old familiar American staple. The burger. But it’s the weekend time to go big, go fancy, PTerrys and whataburger won’t cut the mustard for this hankering. So you go to a nicer establishment expecting a quality hunk of beef and bread with the traditional fixings and a side of fried potatoes.

So you can imagine my disappointment when the folks at sour duck decided to get cute and “reinvent” the most simple yet comforting pillar of American cuisine.

I’ll start with the fries. Thick cut and crispy. Should have left it there, but no. Instead they decided to cover them in some sort of overly salted season all with a strong cumin aftertaste. Oh well, I can drown it out with ketchup right? Wrong! Ketchup, the most neutral and universal sauce was also debased by our friends at the duck. Instead of the trusty red bottle of heinz you get some sort of tomatoy blend of spices that reminds you more of a bad marinara sauce.

OK, sides are a wash, but what about the burger? Well as you can probably guess by the 2 stars, the situation didn’t get better from there. The buns were good, but the patties were thin and overly crisped (Burt). On top of this it was covered in some sort of special sauce that was essentially spicy mustard mixed with thousand island. When we asked for pickles to try to mask the taste, they charged us for the pickles!

I’ll also add, my wife got the kids burger meal ($10) and I got the adult burger meal ($16). When our food came out it was the exact same! So if you’re some sort of avangarde LA transplant foodie and this appeals to you and you want to save some money just get the kids burger. Also you have to order with QR codes, which usually isn’t a big deal, but after the subpar food I found it mildly annoying.

Overall it ruined my Saturday, weekend and possibly entire month. I won’t...