Austin is heading into February with the kind of restaurant and nightlife calendar that makes the shortest month of the year feel anything but short. New restaurants are opening across the city, major food-and-drink projects are finally becoming reality, and several highly anticipated concepts are giving locals plenty of reasons to explore neighborhoods they may not normally visit. With spring festival season getting closer, February is also the month when Austin starts feeling like the city is warming up for a much bigger year.

One of the biggest new additions to the city’s food-and-entertainment scene is The Pitch, a new restaurant and entertainment complex in North Austin located next to Austin FC’s training facility. The project opened February 11 and combines several restaurants, bars, outdoor space and a soccer-focused atmosphere into one destination.

The Pitch is exactly the kind of project that fits Austin’s increasingly popular restaurant-park model. Instead of opening one restaurant in a traditional storefront, the development brings several concepts together so groups can eat, drink and hang out in the same place. There is Ranger Burger, serving burgers and fried chicken; Ga Tori, specializing in Vietnamese rotisserie chicken; and Taco Flats, bringing tacos, quesadillas and queso to the complex. There are also two bars, San Bar and Corner Kick Bar, along with Coffee Club for coffee and bakery items.

For Austin FC fans, The Pitch gives the north side of town another place to gather around soccer. For everyone else, it is a new food-and-drink destination worth checking out simply because there are so many different options in one location. The project also features extensive outdoor seating and televisions for watching games, making it particularly suited for groups that want to turn lunch, dinner or drinks into an afternoon event.

February is also bringing something much more intimate to Austin’s food scene.

Toshokan, a new sushi omakase restaurant, is opening in East Austin, giving diners a dramatically different experience from the large restaurant parks and casual food halls popping up around town. The restaurant is being led by restaurateur C.K. Chin and chef Saine Wong and is located inside the Native Hostel.

Omakase restaurants are becoming increasingly popular in Austin, and Toshokan is part of a growing interest in highly curated Japanese dining. Instead of simply ordering a menu item, diners are essentially putting their meal in the chef’s hands, allowing the experience to develop course by course.

That makes Toshokan one of the more interesting new restaurants to keep on the radar this month.

But February isn’t just about restaurants opening their doors. Austin’s bar scene continues to evolve as well.

One of the city’s most anticipated new destinations is Wax Myrtle’s, the rooftop restaurant and bar at the Thompson Austin. The new space is designed as a major downtown destination, with a poolside setting, cocktails, food and views of the city. The restaurant is scheduled to open around Valentine’s Day, making it an especially timely option for anyone looking for something more memorable than the typical February dinner.

The arrival of Wax Myrtle’s adds another rooftop option to a downtown scene that increasingly revolves around destination bars rather than traditional neighborhood watering holes. Austin’s nightlife has become much more focused on atmosphere and experience, and rooftop spaces are particularly popular because they combine drinks, food, views and the feeling of being somewhere special.

That trend is continuing throughout the city.

Austin is becoming a place where going out for drinks can mean anything from sitting at a neighborhood dive to spending several hours at a rooftop pool, cocktail lounge, brewery or food hall. February’s new openings are reinforcing that range.

The month is also bringing a new generation of Asian dining options.

Two all-you-can-eat hot-pot restaurants are in development, with K Pot Korean BBQ & Hot Pot planned for Sunset Valley and Soupleaf Hot Pot planned for Highland. Both projects reflect the growing popularity of interactive dining experiences in Austin.

Hot pot is particularly well suited to Austin’s social dining culture because the meal itself becomes part of the activity. Rather than simply receiving a finished plate, diners cook ingredients at the table, making the meal something that groups can experience together.

That is becoming an increasingly important part of Austin’s food scene.

Restaurants aren’t simply selling food.

They’re selling experiences.

That helps explain the popularity of food halls, restaurant parks, omakase counters, rooftop bars and interactive dining concepts.

February also brings an important piece of Austin food history to a close.

La Mexicana Bakery, the longtime South First Street Mexican bakery, closed February 16 after 32 years in business when founder and owner Jesus Martinez Becerra Sr. retired. The bakery had been known for tortillas, pastries, tres leches cakes, tacos and tortas and had operated around the clock before reducing its hours in recent years.

The closure is a reminder that Austin’s restaurant transformation isn’t only about new places.

Some of the businesses that helped define the city are disappearing.

For longtime residents, places like La Mexicana aren’t just restaurants. They are pieces of Austin history. Generations of customers grew up buying bread, tortillas and Mexican pastries there, and the business had survived for more than three decades.

That makes the arrival of new restaurants feel even more significant.

Austin’s food culture is constantly replacing one generation with another.

One business closes after decades.

Another opens for the first time.

A taco truck becomes a restaurant.

A restaurant becomes a food hall.

A traditional bar becomes a cocktail lounge.

The city keeps changing.

And February provides plenty of examples of that transition.

Another major development worth watching is the growing list of restaurants expected to open later in 2022. The year’s anticipated opening list includes Este, the coastal Mexican restaurant from the team behind Suerte; Maie Day, the steakhouse associated with Olamaie and South Congress Hotel; and several other ambitious restaurant and bar projects.

That means February is also a month for looking ahead.

If you are the type of Austin diner who likes trying a restaurant before everyone else discovers it, now is the time to start paying attention to opening announcements.

Some of the biggest restaurants of the year haven’t opened yet.

They are still under construction.

Menus are still being developed.

Chefs are still hiring.

Spaces are still being renovated.

But by the end of 2022, some of those projects could become the restaurants everyone in town is talking about.

The bar scene is headed in the same direction.

Austin’s hospitality industry is increasingly interested in creating spaces where food, cocktails, music and socializing overlap. That’s particularly visible in East Austin, downtown and along the city’s growing entertainment corridors.

The result is a nightlife scene that is becoming harder to define.

There is no single “Austin bar scene.”

There are dozens of them.

You can spend Friday night drinking cheap beer at a neighborhood dive.

You can visit a cocktail bar downtown.

You can listen to live music on Red River.

You can spend an afternoon at a brewery.

You can eat tacos at a restaurant park.

You can watch soccer while drinking a cocktail at The Pitch.

You can have an elaborate sushi dinner.

You can finish the night at a late-night food truck.

That’s the Austin experience.

And February is a particularly good month to explore it because the city isn’t yet overwhelmed by the giant spring festival crowds.

March is coming.

Everybody knows it.

SXSW will bring musicians, filmmakers, technology companies, visitors and parties from around the world into Austin. Restaurants will be packed. Bars will be busy. Hotels will fill. New pop-ups will appear. Venues will host special events.

But February offers a quieter opportunity to discover the places that will be competing for everyone’s attention once the spring crowds arrive.

It’s the perfect time to try The Pitch before it becomes packed with soccer fans.

It’s a good time to check out new restaurants before word-of-mouth takes over.

It’s a good month to explore Austin’s cocktail bars.

And it’s a good time to make reservations for some of the city’s more anticipated upcoming openings.

February is also Valentine’s season, which gives restaurants and bars another reason to create special menus and events.

For couples, Austin offers everything from upscale dinners to casual taco dates, rooftop cocktails, wine bars and live music. For everyone else, there is no shortage of excuses to ignore the holiday entirely and simply go out for a good meal.

Either way, the city’s restaurant scene is giving people plenty of choices.

And if February’s openings are any indication, 2022 is going to be a major year for Austin food and nightlife.

The city is continuing to attract ambitious chefs.

Local restaurant groups are expanding.

Food trucks are becoming permanent restaurants.

New food halls and restaurant parks are appearing.

Bars are becoming more experiential.

And neighborhoods outside downtown are becoming major food destinations.

That is perhaps the biggest story of Austin’s February.

The city isn’t just getting more restaurants.

It’s getting more places where people can spend an entire afternoon or evening.

Eat.

Drink.

Watch a game.

Listen to music.

Meet friends.

Try something new.

Stay longer.

That’s the direction Austin’s entertainment scene is heading.

And with spring just around the corner, February is only the beginning.

If you want to know what Austin is going to be talking about later this year, keep an eye on the new restaurants, bars and entertainment projects opening right now.

Some of them will be gone in a year.

Some will become Austin institutions.

And a few may become the next places everyone tells visitors they absolutely have to try.

For now, though, the best thing to do is get out and see what is new.

Austin has plenty waiting.