Elevated Flavors
La Condesa team announces the opening of Sway, modern Thai food on South First
The creative team that brought you La Condesa is almost ready to unveil their latest culinary creation on the taste buds of Austin. And this time they're presenting the flavors of the Far East via the Land Down Under.
Sway (which means "elevated" or "delicious") is a modern Thai restaurant set inside the beautiful Michael Hsu-designed lanna house being built along South First Street at Elizabeth.
Set to open in "late summer," Sway is a joint venture by La Condesa owners Jesse Herman and Delfo Trombetta and award-winning executive chef Rene Ortiz. After both spending time in Australia and learning the unique approaches to Thai cooking that permeate the country, Herman and Ortiz were inspired to showcase those bold flavors in their next restaurant concept.
“[Trombetta] and I developed a passion for Thai food after living there and we came up with the concept during our partnership at La Condesa," explains Herman in Tuesday's press release. "Chef Rene and I had also both spent time separately in Australia—he was cooking and I was going to school—and we were both inspired by the modern Australian style of Thai cooking that we were exposed to while living there."
The nearly completed restaurant design is intended to be community-oriented, encouraging family-style dining of the traditional and updated Thai dishes which are mostly under twenty dollars. Chef Ortiz is currently developing two nightly Chef's Tasting Menu options as well as a Moo Sway menu that features a family feast for 2 - 10 people and must be ordered ahead of time.
If your taste buds aren't already singing, joining Chef Ortiz again in the new theater-style kitchen is Food & Wine's "Best New Pastry Chef" Laura Sawicki, who will be creating Sway's colorful and exotic dessert menu, which includes plenty of lychee, coconut and basil.
Rounding out the superstar roster of La Condesa's heavy hitters is mixologist Nate Wells, who is concocting a global drink menu to easily connect Austin with Southeast Asia. You'll be able to find Thai and Vietnamese iced coffees, kombuchas and sakes just as easily as local beers and wines.
The exact date of open has not yet been announced. But hungry Austin foodies are watching the Sway Facebook page like hawks, fingers poised on speed-dial to make those first set of reservations. There's no doubt this new venture from the tried and true team at La Condesa is going to be sensational.