Downtown dining

Downtown Austin park carves up plans for first-ever restaurant

The new cafe should open later this year.

Rendering courtesy of Republic Square Park

East Austin butcher shop and restaurant Salt & Time is carving up space for the first restaurant to ever be located in downtown Austin’s Republic Square.

Salt & Time Café is scheduled to open late this summer or early this fall at Republic Square, a park at Fourth and Guadalupe streets. The Downtown Austin Alliance, which operates and maintains Republic Square, and Salt & Time founder Ben Runkle are collaborating on the new eatery.

Runkle tells CultureMap the restaurant will occupy just 400 square feet of an existing building and finish-out of the space is underway. Indoor seating won’t be provided; rather, diners will chow down at outdoor spots around Republic Square.

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with Salt & Time to bring high-quality food and beverage options to those visiting Republic Square and to those passing through on their commute into and out of downtown,” Dewitt Peart, president and CEO of the Downtown Austin Alliance, said in a release. “It was important to us that this first-of-its-kind vendor be locally based and a strong representation of Austin’s thriving culinary community.”

Runkle and friend Bryan Butler launched the Salt & Time Butcher Shop and Salumeria on East Seventh Street in East Austin in 2013, three years after Runkle started selling dry-cured artisan meats from Texas to farmers markets in Austin and other customers around the state.

The new restaurant will operate seven days a week, and serve sandwiches, salads, breakfast bowls, and pastries, as well as Salt & Time’s highly praised charcuterie. Gluten-free and vegetarian options will also be available, along with coffee, juices, kombucha, and soda. And Salt & Time will be the first vendor to be permitted to sell beer and wine in Republic Square, which hosts the SFC Farmers' Market Downtown every Saturday.

The cafe will extend its hours on weekends and during special events.

Rent paid by Salt & Time Café will be reinvested in the park. Eric DeJernett of CBRE, who handled the restaurant lease, also donated his broker’s fees to Republic Square.

As for Runkle’s other buzzed about restaurant project at St. Elmo Public Market in South Austin, that's still in the works, with an expected opening in late 2019. “St. Elmo is plugging along, but there have been some slight delays with construction on the developer’s end,” Runkle says.

SoCo Shopping

Inside the long-awaited South Congress H-E-B, open now

Photo courtesy of H-E-B

The South Congress H-E-B is finally ready for customers.

After two years of construction and more than five years of planning, Austin's beloved South Congress and Oltorf H-E-B location finally reopens on December 4.

Photo courtesy of H-E-B

The South Congress H-E-B is finally ready for customers.

The store opened its doors at 6 am, and you can bet there will be lines today at this behemoth of a store, which features more than 145,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor dining options, a huge selection of groceries, an H-E-B Flower Bar, a stage for live music, a drive-thru pharmacy, and more than 600 parking spots.

South Congress HEB The flower bar is filled with natural light and mix-and-match flowers.Photo courtesy of H-E-B

This new multi-level store also offers fresh Sushiya sushi, H-E-B Meal Simple options, True Texas BBQ, live cooking demonstrations, and more beer and wine options than before.

"The brand new SoCo H-E-B was designed to reflect the vibrant and iconic spirit of the community," says H-E-B Public Affairs Manager, Johnny Mojica. He adds that the new store should feel "welcoming and inspiring" for the growing South Congress community.

South Congress HEB This big cheese selection (which keeps going off-camera) reflects the size of the store.Photo courtesy of H-E-B

This giant store has humble beginnings. In 1957 when it was built, it was just 25,000 square feet. Over the years, the store saw renovations and expansions, and for decades, the South Austin H-E-B we knew was about 69,000 square feet. But as Austin, and particularly South Austin grew, H-E-B decided it needed to grow with it.

So in early 2022, Austin's oldest H-E-B had a date with a wrecking ball.

South Congress HEB This scrappy cowboy outside is a nice metaphor for the store's journey.Photo courtesy of H-E-B

Since the main store's demolition, a temporary H-E-B was opened across the street at the Twin Oaks Shopping Center. This even-smaller store, which was previously a CVS Pharmacy, consisted of just 21 aisles of basics. The temporary H-E-B closes as the new one opens.

"While our temporary H-E-B store served its purpose, this new location delivers the full experience our loyal customers have been eagerly anticipating," says Mojica.

South Congress HEB This store really was customized for its neighborhood.Photo courtesy of H-E-B

Aside from this new H-E-B's exciting remodel, a lot of the anticipation is due to the project's long and somewhat winding trajectory.

Originally, H-E-B announced the plan for the South Austin store in 2019 — construction was to begin in 2020 and doors would open in 2022 — but the chain had to postpone development due to Covid and construction issues.

Back in March of 2020, H-E-B believed construction would be delayed for "weeks or even months," according to a KVUE story. But those were the early days of the pandemic, when estimates were unreliable. This, plus a need for more time to work on the design, meant that the project was delayed for about two years.

However, as of December 2024, construction is finally finished, the shelves are stocked, and H-E-B on South Congress and Oltorf is ready to take your order.

South Congress HEB This store's more niche sections are really able to spread out.Photo courtesy of H-E-B

Mojica says, "We’re thrilled to open this state-of-the-art store and look forward to celebrating this exciting milestone with everyone!"

grocery openings south congress h-e-b