India, East

Pioneering Austin Indian restaurant reopening after year-long closure

G'Raj Mahal Austin restaurant Indian Rainey Street

G'raj Mahal is reopening on Manor Road with a Texas twist on its menu of 14 years.

More than a year after announcing its closure, Rainey Street’s impeccably draped Indian restaurant G’raj Mahal has risen. Led by Ben Runkle — founder of high-end butcher shop Salt & Time — under the umbrella of the Present Tense Hospitality brand, a new G’raj Mahal will open in East Austin in late 2022.

The restaurant’s chef and founder Sidney Roberts is involved as a partner in the new location, after its 14 years on Rainey. “Bringing G’Raj Mahal back to Austin means a lot to me,” Roberts said in a release. “I am so grateful for Present Tense Hospitality in helping to make this happen and am looking forward to a great partnership.”

There will be some tweaks to the restaurant, but it’s no stranger to change. G’raj Mahal was established as a food trailer in 2009, making it one of the original members of Austin’s growing food truck scene. It moved to its brick-and-mortar in 2014, becoming known for organic ingredients and options friendly to many diets, where it stayed until it closed last summer.

In its new incarnation on Manor Road, G'raj Mahal joins such staples as Hoover's and Dai Due, and will add a Texas twist to its Indian roots. It doesn’t have the same ring as Tex-Mex, but this Tex-In joint will be serving brisket tikka masala, smoked tandoor-style chicken, and “Bombay burritos.”

“G’Raj Mahal is a beloved Austin institution that’s been missed this past year,” said Present Tense creative director Natalie Davis. “We’re proud to partner with Sidney on growing the brand and bringing the fun, energetic, and laid back experience of G’Raj to East Austin.”

The revamped G'Raj Mahal doesn’t have a website yet, but it does have a mailing list, which you can subscribe to here.

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Back to the Plow

Homey Austin jam and bake shop closing and returning to farmers market

Confituras/Instagram

Confituras Little Kitchen is closing its brick-and-mortar store, but feeling optimistic about the future.

A famers market find is returning to its natural environment after six years in a brick-and-mortar location. Confituras Little Kitchen, which specializes in locally sourced preserves, is closing its jam and biscuit shop after service on Sunday, December 22. However, it will continue selling goods at the Barton Creek Farmers Market and via retailers.

Confituras announced the change in a newsletter to its customers in December. The letter called the news "bittersweet."

"Although the brick and mortar will no longer be, the good news is that this will be a fresh new start for us – we are bursting with energy and creativity at the thought of being back out in the community where it all started for confituras," it said.

The kitchen is closing because the lease is up, and the team has decided to "give up the chase." The newsletter emphasized the ups-and-downs of business over the past several years — ones that were chaotic for just about any business, let alone a small, fairly niche food operation.

"So much has happened since we decided to open a brick + mortar – a wonderful kickstarter fundraiser, THE PANDEMIC, the AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC, and an ever growing city," the letter says. "We tried so very hard but never really got our footing. We know we are not alone, many small business are in the same boat. We renewed our lease during the pandemic because we were hopeful we could make it work - the changing times had other ideas."

Finally, it shared how customers could keep enjoying Confituras creations:

The Barton Creek Farmers Market is open at 2901 S. Capital of Texas Hwy. every Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm.
A list on confituras.net compiles retailers including Royal Blue Grocery, Farmhouse Delivery, and Antonelli's Cheese Shop.
Jam share and Table22 subscription customers will have more instructions coming soon about picking up their goods in January at the same space, 2129 Goodrich Ave.
Customers may also reach out to inquire about continuing to order meals directly.

The kitchen also hosted frequent events and workshops, but the letter did not address this aspect of the business.

A shorter message shared on Instagram has inspired 63 comments so far, five days later. Customers eulogized the shop for its community feel and providing a sense of regularity during the height of the pandemic thanks to weekend pick-ups.