Meridian 98’s glass-enclosed rooftop lounge unveils its newest menu featuring
exotic tapas and reimagined classics.

Meridian 98, located in Sonesta’s Bee Cave hotel, has created a summer menu filled with locally sourced farm-to-fork dishes, cocktails and specialty plates and is in the process of turning the quaint restaurant into an upscale destination. 

The cozy space inside is filled with cocktail tables and decorated with quartersawn oak interiors and leather furnishings. With an amazing terrace giving expansive views of the Hill Country, Meridian 98 is the place to go to enjoy an international vibe mixed with Texas’ favorite eats.

Executive Chef Patrick Newman creates a sensory experience showcasing seasonal dishes from Texas farmers and fishermen.  Newman has thoughtfully included exotic and tapas-style plates into Meridian 98’s new seasonal menu which features something for everyone, including gluten-free and vegetarian options. 

The latest menu has all-time favorites like Crab Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms and Blackened Redfish Tacos. With a choice of any three tapas, we picked the Spicy Pork Lettuce Wraps with shredded carrots, green onions and sweet soy dipping sauce, Tandoori Chicken Flatbread with ricotta, red peppers, red onions, tikka masala sauce, and a spring cream drizzle, and the Tonga Coconut Shrimp with sweet chili mango sauce. Each dish is perfect for sharing but hearty enough to eat as an entree. Be warned: the lettuce wraps are so good you won’t want to share! 

As if that wasn’t enough to fill our bellies, we shared the Thyme Grilled Airline Chicken Breast with black bean puree, grilled baby carrots complemented with a citrus wine butter sauce. 

We topped off dinner with one of Meridian 98’s decadent desserts—Chocolate Lava Cake! This delicious and gluten-free dessert literally melts with a fountain of fudge as a fork cuts through the center topped with vanilla ice cream and berries.

Sonesta’s Meridian 98 is complete with a full bar and, when combined with the beautiful rolling hills of the Texas Hill Country, this hotel gem will keep you coming back for more. Meridian 98 will have you rethinking hotel restaurants as well as the amount of food you can consume in one hour.

Cover: Meridian 98, courtesy photo

Lisa Davis lives in Austin and is the Editorial Assistant for Texas Lifestyle Magazine and a dual honors graduate of Concordia University Texas with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Public Relations.