News you can eat

6 things to know in Austin food right now: East side coffee shop revived after closure

Revival Coffee has been revived.

Editor's note: We get it. It can be difficult to keep up with the fast pace of Austin's restaurant and bar scene. We have you covered with our regular roundup of essential food news.

Openings and closings

East Austin cafe Revival Coffee announced last week that it is closing its doors, saying that the business has been unable to break even since March. The news comes a week after the company’s Instagram posted that Revival would be “closed until further notice” after being locked out of their building due to unpaid rent. Then, on October 19, the shop announced it had been saved. Gabby Bucio, owner of nearby Gabriela's Downtown (and longtime Revival customer), has purchased the shop, which is now (re)open daily from 8 am to 2 pm.

It was a big weekend for South Austin beer nerds. Alongside the opening of Meanwhile Brewing Co.’s new 4-acre beer garden, the long-awaited South Austin location of Easy Tiger officially opened on October 16 to seemingly unceasing crowds of eager fans. Like its North Austin location at The Linc, Easy Tiger South offers a variety of artisan baked bread, locally roasted coffees, cured meats, and a full bar of 30-plus boutique draft beers. While the location offers ample amounts of outdoor seating, the beer garden’s opening weekend prompted the company to encourage walking, biking, or ride-sharing to alleviate issues with Easy Tiger's limited parking options on South Lamar Boulevard. Easy Tiger is currently open at 3508 S. Lamar Blvd. Ste. 200, with the operating hours of 7 am-9 pm, Sunday through Thursday, .and 7 am-midnight, Friday through Saturday.

A little over a month after the shuttering of downtown Chinese restaurant Veggie Heaven, another iconic vegetarian restaurant is closing. Mother’s Café and Garden announced the closure of its Hyde Park cafe on October 15. Opened in the late '70s, the health-focused operation came under the ownership of current owners John Silberg, Anne Daniels, and Cameron Alexander in 1985. While Austin 360 reports the operation will shutter permanently on Saturday, October 24, the restaurant has since received an outpouring of support for its takeout operation, regularly selling out according to its social media pages. Ahead of its closing, Mother’s remains open for take-out from 4- 7:30 pm most days, the details of which can be found on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

Local carb-centric brew-pub Batch Craft Beer & Kolaches has announced a new food truck concept. Batch PM is set to open at the end of the month, and will feature homemade, global street food inspired bratwurst creations from chef Patrick Hinojosa, formerly of such local operations as Lenoir, LaV, and Vixen’s Wedding. The brats will be made with Batch brand beer and will come served on housemade buns with toppings like kimchi, sauerkraut, hoisin mayo, and mojo-braised pork. Like its original location, Batch PM will be open for outdoor dine-in service with to-go options available as well. The new truck will be located in the Batch brewpub’s outdoor beer garden at 3220 Manor Rd.

Other news and notes

A new produce operation is creating pathways for both food justice and expanding wealth in Black communities. Founded in June by former Baylor football star Larry Franklin with help from Resolutions Gardens owner, Randy Jewart, Black Lives Veggies (or simply BLV) is currently experimenting with a model of urban farming that produces vegetables like broccoli, kale, lettuce, and swiss chard with limited space and equipment. Based out of an East Austin farmland/greenhouse space, BLV hopes to share its experience, assets, and training resources with four additional U.S. cities by as early as this winter, with Jewart telling the Austin Chronicle that outreach will likely start with a BLV setup in Durango, Colorado. Additionally, the company has begun hosting plant pop-ups at Dia’s Market and is currently accepting drop-offs of supplies, such as plastic plant pots, at 7204 Shelton Rd. Interested parties can stay up to date on available produce, pop-ups, and donation opportunities at Black Lives Veggies Facebook page.

On Monday, east side coffee roaster Greater Goods Coffee Co. was named "2021 Micro Roaster of the Year "by coffee-centric publication Roast magazine, the first time a Texas-based operation has earned the recognition. Roast’s writeup, which is set to be published in the magazine’s forthcoming November/December edition, singled out the company’s educational programs, commitment to quality, and focus on community engagement as reasons for its choice. In addition to hosting both virtual and in-person classes from its flagship East Austin location, Greater Goods also donates to a local charity with every 12-ounce retail bag of coffee it sells.

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Belles of the Ballroom

9 Austin bar and venue experts take over popular Old Austin space near UT

29th Street Ballroom/Facebook

Changes are coming at the 29th Street Ballroom, but the goal is to preserve what already makes it special.

The evolution continues at the 29th Street Ballroom, the music venue formerly attached to Spider House Café. It's no secret, Resound Presents CEO and co-founder Graham Williams says, that he and a large team of other industry pros are taking over the space; but now they're ready to talk about what comes next for the venue and adjoining bar.

Although Spider House Café closed in 2020, the Ballroom stayed open, and has continued serving University of Texas students and anyone else who wants to see a show outside of the ordinary: punk shows, burlesque revues, fundraisers, and more. It'll stay open through most of the renovations, scheduled through January of 2025, and is expected to hold a grand opening in March.

Now Resound — one of Austin's top live music organizers, which was itself born from the ashes of another Austin institution — is lending two of its co-founders to managing the space going forward: Williams and Ian Orth. They're joining seven other team members from venues around town, many of them overlapping: Amy Mullins, Brian Tweedy, Jason McNeely, John Yaklin, and Shannon LeBoeuf of Hotel Vegas, Chess Club, Kinda Tropical, Tweedy’s, and Yellow Jacket Social Club, in varying capacities; and Brian Buscemi and Mike Sanchez of the Little Darlin’.

Williams emphasizes that although things will be changing at the Ballroom, the goal isn't to change anything people already love.

"Over the next few months as we kind of ease into the spring, we're using this downtime to revitalize things, decorate, revamp some of the stuff in the venue and the bar, and just kind of get things moving in the right direction," Williams says, "taking what's already popular about the venue and just adding to it, really."

Bar updates
The biggest shift will be turning the bar from an accessory to live shows into its own entity that's open even when there's nothing else going on. Amy Mullins, best known as a co-owner of Yellow Jacket Social Club, is overseeing that transition. She's never operated a venue that is primarily focused on music, and has been enjoying learning more about how to do it; she even worked the door recently when a staff member called out sick.

Mullins echoes Williams in assuring that the change is more about logistics than tone. It'll still feel like Old Austin, but she does express a hope to run more than the "typical venue bar," handing out simple drinks as quickly as possible. She's working on a new menu that includes wine, beer, craft cocktails, and non-alcoholic options like tea, kombucha, or mocktails. Regardless of what's on the schedule on any given night, Mullins says the menu will stay the same.

"There's no drink too complicated for us to make, however busy we are," she says.

Food options
Another goal for the team will be making sure the space works when there's not someone onstage to crowd around. They'll expand the front and side patios and create a food truck food court that features the same trucks that are there now, plus one newcomer. All in all, that includes Yalla Burger & Wings, Gyro Center, Li’l Nonna’s Vegan Pizzeria, Guppy’s Indian Fried Chicken, Waylon J’s BBQ, and Ay Chihuahua Tacos.

The expanded patio will connect to Tweedy's Bar next door, which also has its own food trucks. The idea is to create a space to hang out after shows that feels fit for the purpose. It's possible to stick around after events now, but the layout does create a vague feeling of loitering.

Artist and fan-friendly tweaks
On the entertainment side, Williams says some of the renovations include putting in a new sound system, redoing the green room, updating the facade, and repainting signs. Since the winter is a slower time for live music, they'll be taking advantage of the extra time to work on things before packing the calendar with more events than before. Resound will handle most of the bookings in live music, comedy, and DJ sets, welcoming both national and local talent.

Whatever the details end up being, this team has proved to Austinites that they know how to run venues worth visiting. And since they're all friends and business partners on multiple levels, it sounds like having this many cooks in the kitchen just isn't an issue.

"Some of us have been roommates and known each other since we were young," says Williams. "It's a good mix of people who are all very like minded, so a lot is being brought to the table per decision. So yeah, it's it's really exciting. Sometimes that's not the case. .... But with this project, it's a lot of really great, creative people that are good at what they do [and] they trust each other."

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