Richard Clark has worked in the restaurant/catering business for the last twenty years. This is his first restaurant dedicated strictly to classic barbecue and home-style meals. It was the natural next step for Clark after the successful 1987 spin-off of Absolute Barbecue Company from Catering by Dana, where Clark was the operations and marketing manager. “There seems to be a new trend out there toward quality food and value,” says Clark. “Austin’s was born from that concept.”

According to Clark, he fell in love with barbecue about ten years ago. “It is the one true American cuisine and at Austin’s, we do the classic Texas-style, smokehouse, ‘hose-me-down-after’ barbecue,” he says. After spending some considerable time in the southwest, and ultimately ending his sojourn in Austin, Texas, Clark feels this to be the origin from which all other barbecue has been developed. No imitations for this newly-styled country boy.

Arturo Topete, Executive Chef

As a young man, Austin’s chef Arturo Topete discovered his love for food while learning barbecue skills on his father’s ranch in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Wanting to broaden his experience in the Culinary Arts and with his family’s blessings, Arturo came to the Bay Area in 1978. After spending time under the tutelage of well known San Francisco based Stars’ owner and chef Jeremiah Tower, Arturo expanded his experience to include stints at the Stanford Park Hotel and San Mateo’s Capellini Ristorante before landing at Austin’s in Mountain View, as chef de cuisine. This now 44-year old chef’s love for food preparation can be felt in the energy with which he serenades the staff daily from his repertoire of Puerto Vallartan folk songs.