South by Southwestern

Iconic Southwestern restaurant fires up new location in hot Austin suburb

Z'Tejas is spicing up the 'burbs with a new location planned for Kyle.

Z'Tejas

An iconic Austin restaurant known for its Southwestern fare and intoxicating menu of margaritas is continuing its migration from the heart of the city to the fast-growing Austin suburbs.

Z’Tejas, the Tex-Mex-grill-meets-Southwestern-food eatery that first opened in Austin in 1989 — long before the city was considered a culinary mecca or triumphant taco town — will open a new location in Kyle, the swelling suburb just south of the Capital City.

According to a report from the Austin Business Journal, the move was spurred on by an incentives program the city created to attract more casual dining establishments with table service (as opposed to eateries of the fast-casual variety). That program will give Z’Tejas three years of sales and property-tax rebates.

Set to open in 2022 at the Dry River District, Kyle’s 65-acre mixed-use development off I-35 near Kyle Crossing, Z’Tejas will be the first restaurant to take advantage of the incentive program, the ABJ reports, noting that Z’Tejas co-owner Randy Cohen says the incentives were a “big factor” in the brand’s plans to move into Kyle.

The move to the ’burbs is also seemingly in line with Z’Tejas’ recent approach to growth and downgrades. The company, which also boasts locations in Arizona, recently announced it would open a new 5,280-square-foot location in Avery Ranch in far Northwest Austin — essentially replacing its previous Avery Ranch restaurant, which the brand’s former owner closed in 2017.

And with the shutter earlier this year of its Arboretum restaurant (not long after the location sunk resources into creating its Z’ecret Garden, a 1,100-square-foot outdoor dining area and private-event space), the longtime West Sixth Street eatery remains the only Z’Tejas restaurant in Austin proper.

With the growth of Kyle, it’s no surprise well-known Austin brands are moving southward to the ’burb, along with national entities and a few newcomers. In recent months, P. Terry’s Burger Stand, Costco, Dutch Bros Coffee, and Hawaiian Bros. have opened or announced plans to move into the Kyle area, where, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly doubled between 2010 and 2019.

trends openings tex-mex

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."

bars live music concerts comedy