East Austin restaurateur Hoover Alexander announced March 19 that he will close Hoover’s Cooking on May 31, bringing a 27-year run at one of the best-known comfort food restaurants in Austin to an end.
Located at 2002 Manor Rd., Hoover’s Cooking opened in 1998, blocks from the East Austin neighborhood where Alexander grew up. In a Facebook post on Thursday morning announcing his decision to close the restaurant, Alexander reflected on the decades of community built around its tables.
“Twenty-seven years. A lot of meals. A lot of memories. A lot of love,” the post read. “But this isn’t the end of Hoover’s. The brand, spirit, and community live on."
Hoover also teased, "More on what’s next, soon."
A meatloaf plate with classic Southern sides including mac and cheese, black-eyed peas, greens, and cornbread at Hoover’s Cooking.Photo courtesy of Hoover’s Cooking
“After much praying and pondering, I know the time for me to transition is now,” Alexander added in a press release. “I’m grateful for the love and support of the Greater Austin community for Hoover’s on Manor Road over 27 years.”
The announcement quickly drew dozens of responses from longtime customers and former employees remembering meals, celebrations, and first jobs at the restaurant. Some commenters said they planned final trips to Austin just to eat there again, while others shared fond memories of working at the restaurant or celebrating holidays with family meals.
The restaurant became known for Texas comfort food blending Southern, Tex-Mex, Cajun, and barbecue traditions. Over the years, diners came for longtime favorites such as chicken-fried steak, fried catfish, biscuits and gravy, smothered pork chops, and banana pudding cheesecake, dishes that reflected Alexander’s mix of Southern, Gulf Coast, and Texas influences.
Smoked ribs, sausage, and chicken served with homestyle sides at Hoover’s Cooking in East Austin.Photo courtesy of Hoover’s Cooking
The restaurant opened in the former Roy Lee Food Store at a time when Manor Road’s dining scene looked very different. Neighborhood spots like East Side Café and Mi Madre’s anchored the corridor in those early years before a newer wave of pricier restaurants — including Dai Due, Este, and Salty Sow — helped transform the street into one of Austin’s busier dining strips.
Hoover's Cooking will remain open through the end of May, with a final community celebration planned for June 15 as a lead-in to Juneteenth week. After closing, the restaurant plans to operate in a limited capacity for part of the summer with a smaller menu and private events.
Alexander, a fifth-generation Texan born in East Austin, traces his love of food to childhood trips to his family’s farm in Utley, Texas. There he picked vegetables and watched farm-raised meats be prepared, experiences that later shaped the farm-fresh down-home philosophy behind his cooking.
His restaurant career began in 1973 while attending the University of Texas, when he took a job at the historic Night Hawk restaurant chain. Founded in the early 1930s by restaurateur Harry Akin, Night Hawk became known as one of Austin’s pioneering diners and among the first restaurants in the city to integrate both its dining room and service staff.
Alexander started rolling pie dough and making gumbo before learning nearly every job in the restaurant business — bussing tables, washing dishes, bartending, working the line, and managing operations. According to a 2015 interview with Eater Austin, he later became the first male server in the Night Hawk chain’s history.
After working at Austin restaurants including Toulouse, Chez Fred, and Good Eats Café, Alexander opened Hoover’s Cooking in 1998. He told Eater Austin the restaurant launched with the help of a friend’s credit cards after years of trying to secure financing.
Hoover’s Cooking later expanded to a second location in North Austin on Research Boulevard near Anderson Mill Road. Alexander closed that restaurant during a downsizing period in the early 2010s, which he described in an interview with Edible Austin as a “deconstruction year” while refocusing on the original East Austin location.
Alexander and general manager Alvin “Skip” Walker were named Restaurateurs of the Year by the Greater Austin chapter of the Texas Restaurant Association in 2015. In 2021, Hoover’s Cooking was inducted into the Austin360 Restaurant Hall of Fame.
