⭐ Know someone who’d love this? Invite them to: https://localeats.news
🌐Check out our WEBSITE FOR MUCH MORE ! www.LocalEats.news
🔝 TOP 3 IN 10 SECONDS
🆕 The Pulao Company (Leander) — South Indian cooking built around the classic one-pot rice dish is now open on Ronald Reagan Blvd.
🆕 La Tequila Jalisco (Liberty Hill) — After four years of delays, the Highway 29 Mexican restaurant is finally breaking ground this month.
🍔 Hopdoddy Burger Bar (Leander) — Construction on the Gateway 29 location is finished, putting the Austin burger favorite on the doorstep of opening.
🆕 = new this week.
|
🏗️ COMING SOON & RUMORED
🍔 Hopdoddy Burger Bar (Leander) — The Austin-born burger chain brings its sit-down experience and full bar to the Gateway 29 development, its first location serving the Leander–Georgetown corridor.
⏰ ETA: Summer 2026 (construction wrapped in late June)
📍 Address: 19389 Ronald Reagan Blvd., Ste. 100, Leander
🌐 Website: hopdoddy.com
📞 Phone: TBD
🆕 La Tequila Jalisco (Liberty Hill) — A full-service Mexican restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, with dishes like huevos divorciados, aguachile shrimp and fajitas norteñas. First announced in 2022, the project is finally moving into construction.
⏰ ETA: Spring 2027 (construction runs July 2026–March 2027)
📍 Address: W. Highway 29, Liberty Hill (exact address pending)
🌐 Website: None found — verify
📞 Phone: TBD
🆕 Waffle House (Liberty Hill) — The Southern icon is building on Highway 29, bringing its all-hours griddle, hash browns and famous ordering lingo to town.
⏰ ETA: Late 2026 / early 2027
📍 Address: 11730 W. Highway 29, Liberty Hill
🌐 Website: wafflehouse.com
📞 Phone: TBD
🆕 Panda Express (Liberty Hill) — The American-Chinese chain is coming to the Heritage Ridge retail development, the first Panda Express in Liberty Hill.
⏰ ETA: Summer 2026
📍 Address: Heritage Ridge development, Highway 29, Liberty Hill
🌐 Website: pandaexpress.com
📞 Phone: TBD
🆕 Foxtail Coffee Co. (Leander) — An all-day hangout concept pairing craft coffee and matcha with a gelato bar, local bites, and beer & wine for evenings.
⏰ ETA: Fall 2026 (construction July–October 2026)
📍 Address: Bryson Ridge Crossing, 149 Bulbine Drive, Ste. 160, Leander
🌐 Website: foxtailcoffee.com
📞 Phone: TBD
🆕 Chuy's (Leander) — The Austin-born Tex-Mex favorite — enchiladas, tacos, burritos and those house margaritas — is building near the Bar W Marketplace shopping center.
⏰ ETA: 2026
📍 Address: 19348 Ronald Reagan Blvd., Leander
🌐 Website: chuys.com
📞 Phone: TBD
✅ NOW OPEN (Last 60 Days)
🆕 The Pulao Company (Leander) — South Indian cooking named for the classic one-pot rice dish, with vegetarian and meat pulaos alongside soups, naans and biryanis.
📅 Opened: July 8
📍 Address: 13920 Ronald Reagan Blvd., Ste. 100, Leander
🌐 Website: thepulaocompany.com
📞 Phone: TBD
🔭 ON THE RADAR — NEW FILINGS & PERMITS
Early signals from state filings, permits, sightings and city sources — spotted before the official announcements.
🆕 Gateway 29's full food lineup revealed (Leander) — Beyond Hopdoddy, the Highway 29 center has announced a deep bench of food tenants: Einstein Bros. Bagels, Tumble 22 Hot Chicken, Gyro Republic, Crave Cookies, Handel's Homemade Ice Cream and Black Rock Coffee Bar. Openings roll out through 2026.
📍 Address: Gateway 29, Ronald Reagan Blvd. at Highway 29, Leander
🆕 Shake Shack (Leander) — The burger-and-shake chain is planning its first Leander location, targeted for 2027.
🌐 Website: shakeshack.com
🆕 Mackey's Pizza (Liberty Hill) — A compact, counter-style pizza spot is filed for Hill Country Square Plaza on US 183, stepping into the gap left by a longtime local pizzeria.
📍 Address: Hill Country Square Plaza, US 183, Liberty Hill
🌐 Website: None found
🆕 Northline Bar and Grill (Leander) — Signage is up on Hero Way near the Northline district for a new bar and grill, with an opening that looks close. Details on the concept and menu haven't been announced yet — we'll have more as we get it. If you know something please share.
📍 Address: Hero Way, Leander (near Northline)
🆕 Tim Hortons (Leander) — The Canadian coffee-and-doughnut giant is filed for a Ronald Reagan Blvd. location, with construction set to wrap by the end of the year. However, we see the actual construction next to Northline Bar and Grill on Hero Way.
📍 Address: 15513 Ronald Reagan Blvd., Ste. 110, Leander
🌐 Website: timhortons.com
⭐ FEATURED SPOT
The Pulao Company (Leander) — Leander's newest restaurant bets on a dish most Texans haven't met yet, and it's the kind of addition that quietly makes a food scene more interesting.
The Vibe: Named for the pulao — the one-pot rice dish at the heart of South Indian home cooking — this is a focused concept rather than a sprawling menu. It's the group's second location after Frisco, sitting in the Ronald Reagan Blvd. corridor that's quickly becoming Leander's most active restaurant stretch.
Must-Order Items: Start with the namesake. Pulaos come both vegetarian and with a range of meats, and the kitchen backs them with biryanis, soups and fresh naan — a good spread if you're bringing someone who wants a familiar entry point.
Pro Tip: It's only been open a few weeks, so call ahead to confirm hours before you make the drive. New spots are usually still settling their schedule in month one.
📍 Address: 13920 Ronald Reagan Blvd., Ste. 100, Leander
🌐 Website: thepulaocompany.com
📞 Phone: TBD
🗣️ COMMUNITY
🌐 Visit our website for more local favorites, Top 10 lists and soon to come: Subscriber Offers, Experiences (reviews), Recipes, Videos and more.
📬 Submit a tip: Reply to this email with:
• Restaurant name
• Address (if you have it)
• What’s happening (opening/closing/coming soon)
• Any link/photo
💬 What do you want to see more of? Reply with:
• Restaurants you're most excited about
• Deals you want (happy hour, lunch, weekends?)
• Neighborhoods we should cover more
🍽️ Restaurants
📬 Want to be featured in Local Eats? It’s FREE. Let’s talk. 💬 What’s the best thing we can do for local restaurants?
📧 Forward this: Know someone who’d love this?
Send them to: https://localeats.news
✌️ Until next Friday,
Eric S.
P.S. Corrections welcome. If I got something wrong, email me at [email protected] — I try to double-check everything, but I’m human.