The Tiny Grocer concept continues to evolve as owner Steph Steele shifts the dinner-focused restaurant at her Hyde Park location into a more casual, all-day café. She's also beginning work on an East Austin outpost at 2411 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. With help from chef Damien Brockway of Distant Relatives Barbecue, the new space will have a full in-house butcher shop and barbecue program — a nod to the site’s history as the former Longhorn Meat Market.
Steele, who moved to Austin to run Whole Foods’ flagship store on Fifth Street, opened her first Tiny Grocer on South Congress in 2021 and expanded to Hyde Park in 2023, converting a former post office on Speedway. The Hyde Park location included the French-inspired restaurant named Bureau de Poste, a playful homage to the building’s origins.
Now, with a better understanding of the neighborhood, Steele is shifting the dinner restaurant at her Hyde Park store into Tiny Grocer Café, an all-day concept alongside the grocery. The menu will carry over French favorites from Bureau de Poste alongside all-day brunch offerings such as omelettes, brioche French toast, avocado tartine, and croque madame, as well as a variety of sandwiches for lunch and dinner dishes like duck leg deconstructed cassoulet, chicken paillard, and pommes dauphine.
Breakfast offerings at Tiny Grocer Café include brioche French toast, omelettes, egg dishes, and other all-day favorites.photo by Luisa Pineda, courtesy of Tiny Grocer
Pierce Haver, who started as a sous chef at Bureau de Poste, will lead the kitchen at Tiny Grocer Café. Haver and Steele envision the café as a welcoming neighborhood space with dishes that are both creative and affordable. Breakfast and lunch orders will be placed at the counter, while dinner and weekend brunch will feature full table service.
Steele has refreshed and expanded the Hyde Park space, adding wooden booths for additional seating, a play area for children, and an outdoor bar with walk-up ordering. The updated beverage menu includes classic cocktails and house specialties such as the Last Word (gin, herbal liqueur, maraschino liqueur, lime, Luxardo cherry) and the Speedway Sunset (mezcal, blood orange, lime, hibiscus).
Tiny Grocer Café will be open daily from 8 am to 9 pm, with breakfast served from 9 am to 2 pm.
Tiny Grocer Café’s updated Hyde Park patio includes a play area for children and shaded outdoor seating.Courtesy of Tiny Grocer / photo by Luisa Pineda
Looking ahead, Tiny Grocer is preparing to expand with a third location in East Austin. The new menu developed by Damien Brockway will include new items such as barbecue sandwiches, tacos, house-made deli meats, and rotisserie chicken with hot side dishes. The 3,500-square-foot space will include indoor and outdoor seating, along with the store’s signature grocery offerings.
Longhorn Meat Market, one of the oldest butchers in the city, has relocated to far South Menchaca Road. The market, now run by the fifth generation of the Leach family, has both a wholesale and a retail business.
