It looks like tonight is the last night for Ballard’s Austin Cantina. Times have been tough for Austin, and Jefe, the owner, is shutting down.

I loved Austin Cantina when they opened. The space was warm, the staff some of the friendliest I’ve encountered and they used a lot of local ingredients, including grass-fed beef. Jefe actually taught me how to dice an onion while I was sitting at the counter having dessert one night. That’s the type of place Austin was.

Unfortunately Austin Cantina had some problems too. At one point, Jefe lost all of his kitchen staff due to turnover. After that, Austin was never the same. The quality of the food went downhill and traffic, which hadn’t been great to begin with, really tapered off. Add in the condo development that’s going on right next door and it was all just a little too much.

Austin Cantina had some great recipes, even when the quality of the preparation wasn’t what it used to be. I’ll miss the Austin Cantina of old and hopefully Jefe will land on his feet.