Lone Star Kolaches

If you are near 38^th and Lamar, and crave a baked good filled with delicious fruit or savory breakfast items, do not be fooled by the competition, and go to Lone Star Kolaches. These suckers are fresh and tasty, and the lady who runs the counter is very nice. I stopped in and she recommended the ranchero style (egg and jalapeño with a few veggies), which hit the spot.

So, what’s a kolache? It’s a Czech pastry brought to Texas. More accurately, it tastes like a good dinner roll either with a fruit filling or maybe breakfast meats inside.
Lone Star Kolaches is a local chain that specializes in these pastrys. Even better, they’re open early for those of us that get to work at 7. I picked up a dozen fruit kolaches and a half dozen kolaches with either bacon or sausage.
Rave reviews from my fellow attorneys and support staff.

Thought I would swing in here on my way to work — prices are good, staff is friendly and helpful — the smell is GREAT!
Only issue that I had was TOO MUCH bread.

I never heard of kolaches until I moved to Austin and was told they are wonderful, with bread like warm pillowy clouds, made from fresh eggs, baby’s breath and mother’s milk, and different fillings, from time-​locked summer jams to crafted sausages, all touched by hands full of Old World wisdom… well, I guess my expectations were too high…
I had several kinds: spinash, poppy, hot sausage, and egg & breakfast sausage.
spinash was the best but I didn’t care about the others and would choose a migas taco over the breakfast one any day. The bread, as others have said, was boring, no pillowy goodness. Also, the place looked less inviting than most fast coffee shops, clearly a buy and run joint.

Nothing compares! *chuh-​chuh* NO-​THING compares! *chuh-​chuh* Nothing compares to yoouuu!!!
*SIGH* Should I compare thee to a summer’s day? NO, summers in Austin are an inferno, and you, kolache are from Paradise itself. Lone Star Kolache, you are sweet, and dense, and as varied as the snowflakes that never fall from the south Texas sky. You are cheaper than a breakfast taco, and better than a chicken biscuit. And I could kiss a chicken biscuit. Lone Star Kolache, will you marry me? (Just kidding, I’m afraid of commitment, but maybe let’s move in together, and we’ll see where this goes)

The famed Czech Stop in West, Texas should be the all-​encompassing gauge for a Texas kolache. The model kolache should be buttery, soft with a touch of flake, moist, fluffy, and hold a good amount of the assorted sweet hodgepodge in the center.
How did Lone Star Kolaches fare? Not well. Neither did the other items. Though the offerings span across all sorts of breakfast fare, none came up to match those items that are well-​crafted at other establishments.
The kolaches here are essentially dinner rolls with a hole poked in the middle and filled with jellies and the like. The blueberry filling was sweet and sticky, as it should be. The poppy seed was grainy, sweet, and unique. Both were good, but I just wish that the actual dough was better.
The muffin boasted moistness and a good amount of blueberry, but it just felt lacking in terms of hand-​crafted goodness. It was a bit too uniform and soft.
Unfortunately, the cinnamon roll was the worst of the bunch. It was dry, not well seasoned, and just… not good.
So, I am not the type of kolache connoisseur that can sit down and pound 10, 12 units of these baked goods, but I know when I have a mediocre one. I found the not so great ones here at Lone Star Kolaches.

Before having ventured into Austin, I had never heard of «kolaches».
They were on my list to try, so thought I’d pop in for a snack.
The only thing that sounded somewhat appealing was the «jalapeño and cheese» at $ 1.79.
I didn’t know what to expect, but I think that their size is co-​relational to what the filling is and how many ingredients they have inside, cuz mine was much smaller than expected!
(i.e. am sure that the sausage/​jalapeño/​cheese is larger than the jalapeño/​cheese just because there’s sausage in it also).
…imagine a dinky dinner roll with all the bread innards scooped out and replaced with filling). They had asked me if I wanted it warm, and I said, YES, so it came back super hot. Nonetheless, it was really good — for a Scooby Snack.
I ordered a coffee also, and went back up to order a cinnamon roll, and also had them warm it up. It came out super hot also, but was dry and dense. I personally didn’t think that the cinnamon roll was worth it.
The kolache was worth it — to try once. Though good, I’m not sure that it’s worth the trip for me again.

Let’s be honest: I inhaled these things in the car before I got home. The reality check is that I just returned to central Texas after living in the northeast, where a kolache cannot be found. I think my eagerness had much more to do with the excitement of a kolache, and was not necessarily excitement about Lone Star Kolaches.
If you’ve grown up in central Texas and north of Austin, you’ve probably had your fair share of kolaches from West, Texas, or another nearby Czech bakery. If so, you’ll know that Lone Star fails to meet expectations when it comes to the trademark soft, pillowy, slightly sweet, and buttery dough that should surround the filling. This is probably the most disappointing part of Lone Star, and in essence, what makes a kolache so freakin’ delicious. Eating at Lone Star Kolaches just made me miss a bakery at home a little bit more, instead of satisfying a Sunday morning craving.
However, there is a plus: they open at 5:30 AM. So for those of us with ungodly work hours, it does make a convenient stop if you want to stay local and avoid Starbucks.

I have been known, I’m simultaneously embarassed and proud to admit, to eat almost a dozen of Lone Star’s kolaches in one sitting. I have no excuses for this behavior outside of sheer determination and delicious kolaches.
Forget the fruit filled traditional varieties — I want the meat filled variants. Jalapeño, sausage and cheese has been my consistent favorite — as Lone Star has been my favorite place for kolaches in Austin since I arrived here not unlike the pilgrims of yore. Except, in my warped imagination, I’m trading semi-​stylish menswear and used DVD’s for kolaches instead of blankets for corn.*
*Please note that Lone Star kolaches does not accept used DVD’s as currency. Unknown about the menswear… still a possibility.
Regardless how you choose to pay — or not pay if you’re lucky enough to have someone buy them for you — you have to eat at least two jalapeño, sausage and cheese in my name so that I can live vicariously through you. Because if I happen to be hit by a bus tomorrow and can no longer enjoy their offerings, you can be sure as hell I’m going to haunt your ass if you don’t at least try.
Czech it out. (Hurr hurr — I didn’t even bother checking how many people have made this joke.)

Lone Star Kolaches is a pretty cool place. Just tried it for the first time this morning. I had the Chorizo, Ranchero, and Omlette kolaches. The first two were phenomenal. The omlette was simply ok. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t the taste I was looking for. I’m sure there are plenty who’d think it was amazing.
The restaurant is pretty small. Pretty much a counter and 4 bar chairs… plus 3 tables outside on the covered sidewalk. This isn’t a place that’s going to wow you. But, the food’s pretty darn good. I’d say it’s one of those places you make a quick stop by to grab some food. It’s not a «go hang out» kind of place, unless you want to sit outside on a sidewalk next to a nail salon.
~ Fabricio

On N. Lamar, near the intersection of 38^th, it is a busy and chaotic scene. But beyond all of that there is a kolache war going on between Lone Star and the Kolache Factory, who are separated by no more than 200 yards.
So I decided to check both of them out for comparison. In the end I think both have their own things going for them, no one really stood out the outright winner. I compared the sausage and cheese, polish hot, and ham and cheese croissants.
Lone Star’s positives:
— you get 50% off after 12pm (as opposed to KF’s 1:30pm) (correction — –they stopped this — — no more discounts!!!)
— The Polish Sausage Hot is a significantly bigger sausage than KF’s
— I think the bread here is slightly better, has a wee-​bit more sweetness.
I found KF’s’s Ham and Cheese Croissant to be slightly better than Lone Star’s, it had more filling and overall tasted better.
So the choice is yours, but that’s my breakdown. Both stores make great kolaches, it just boils down to your preference. IMO, Lone Star takes a slight nod here, 4 stars to 3.85 stars.

This is a great place for breakfast! As a former New Yorker, I had never even heard of kolaches! My boyfriend, an Austinite for 5 years and kolache supporter, insists that Lone Star Kolaches has the best kolaches in the city. And I’d have to agree. They are darn good. Something about the perfect taste of dough with perfect fillings gives me that warm fuzzy feeling inside. Prices are average, service is average, kolaches are excellent.
They do have lots of options to choose from, unless you get there late. Which I often do. So I wish that they would have more out in the late morning for us late bloomers. Still excellent.

Just to set the record straight I am 100% Czech on my Maternal Parent side and grew up eating Kolaches for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dessert.
Since I get my Kolaches fix in my Grandma’s kitchen often enough it never interested me to want to get a Kolache outside my Nanny’s kitchen.
Today, one of my accounts was catering via Lone Star Kolaches and offered me some of their yummy yeasty goodness!
The sweet yeasty buttery bread perfectly compliments the savory fillings!!! I had the sausage? (ground pink meat) and ham and cheese. Both were yummers!

How have I never had a Kolache before? Actually, before this experience I must admit I was a little shaky as to what one even was, but I digress.
I have the unfortunate plight of having to work on Sunday mornings. Yesterday morning’s usual inner-​Nancy-​Kerrigan «WHYYYYYYY» was silenced by a platter of the Sausage and Cheese kolaches. Soft roll goodness outside, delicious sausage and cheese inside. Color me a fan.
I know of no endearments for the Czech, but if I did, this review would be ending with the sentence «Those _​_​_​_​_​_​sure do breakfast right.»

Oh yes, sweet kolache goodness.
I constantly crave kolaches and thus far, I haven’t found a better one in Austin. Sure, Kolache Factory down the streeet has nice outdoor seating but I’d rather support the excellent local business.
I’ve tried a few different varieties here but I always end up going back to the ol’ classic, sausage and cheese. You really can’t go wrong with that. It’s just the perfect combo of flavors and textures. Normally there is nothing I love more than sweets, but when it comes to kolahes this logic just doesn’t hold up. Admittedly, I’ve only tried the lemon (and it was pretty decent) but nothing can really compare to my beloved sausage and cheese.
I don’t know what they put in that dough but whatever it is, it’s working. I could eat these thing every morning and never tire of them!

I figured out what was missing before! Heat!
A coworker needed a good way to make something up to me, so he brought breakfast to work one day. He stopped here and got some sweet and some savory kolaches. The potato, egg and cheese kolache, warm out of the microwave was delicious. The dough had that bit of sour that makes a great kolache. My chorizo and egg kolache was equally as delicious. I can’t say that I am much of a fan of their sweet kolaches though. They don’t seem to put enough filling, whether it be cream cheese or fruit.
At least I have a place in Austin I can go to for a good kolache now!

(Thursday) Just drove 50 minutes over to 38^th and Lamar from Driftwood for a Kolache fix. Two Ranchero and one Sausage/​jalapeño/​cheese and a coke with my son who needed some drive time for a nap.
Ride home:
AAAAHHH cheesy jalapeño sausage
nom nom nom
mmmmm. Time for a ranchero…
nom nom nom
Spicy jalapeño
nom nom nom
ham and cheese
nom nom nom
Freakin Heaven
nom nom nom
AAAHHH slurp slurp mmmmmm.
I’ll save the other one for later…
5 minutes later.
Rooster sleeping
nom nom nom
Kolache Heaven… nom nom… BURP…SSSSSSSHHHHHHHH

Oh
my
goodness
So I had the strawberry and cream cheese.
Things are very hectic right now at work — no it’s chaos.
It was so wonderful to start of my day with a sweet lovely bit o’ yum.
My friend got the sausage cheese and jalepeno kolache and the omelet kolcache and said both were very tasty.
It’s fabulous and I certainly will be taking the kiddos there cause the prices are a-​okay as well!

Delicious!
Their kolaches aren’t the standard pig-​in-​a-​blanket structure, but instead they are rounded, thin-​skinned dough balls stuffed with savory goodness. The result is an orb, much like a breakfast taco: greasy on the outside, warm on the inside.
The fruit ones are extra-​tasty too, but more of a floppy dough puck topped with jam essence.
One of the top kolache shops.

The Good:
: their dough that is the essence of their kolaches. if you have bad dough, your kolaches are ruined. i’ve had bad kolaches where the dough was too hard or too boring. their dough is soft and just sweet enough. mmmm
: their sausage kolaches.
: their polish sausage kolaches.
: their broccoli and cheese kolaches.
: big selection of other types of kolaches, which i haven’t had (like their fruit ones)
: quick service
: clean interior
The Bad:
: they don’t have a deal if you get a dozen. it’d be nice if they did!
The Ugly:
: none.
Would I go back? Definitely. Even if you eat their kolaches 4 days later, which is what I did at work, they taste terrific. All you have to do is microwave them for 40 seconds (assuming they came from the fridge) and voila! Just like new.
This place is IN.