From seafood to mariscos

Austin restaurant group behind Roya trades one coastal concept for another

Keepers Coastal Kitchen will close this month to make room for a new Mexican restaurant.

The hospitality group behind buzzy Persian concept Roya is replacing one of its South Austin restaurants with a new coastal Mexican concept. Keepers Coastal Kitchen will close October 24, and renovations will start for Mi Vecino soon after. The new restaurant is expected to open in late 2026 or early 2027, a press release says.

Keepers opened in 2021 at 5701 W. Slaughter Ln. and served a seafood menu that didn't settle in any one geography. Guests could order sushi rolls alongside oysters, tuna tostadas, mussels Catalan, and more.

Mi Vecino ("My Neighbor") keeps the seafood theme going while narrowing the scope to Mexican cuisine. The name nods to the neighborhood restaurant feel the group is aiming for. They'll start to redecorate the family-friendly space with bright colors and casual Mexican decor.

“We’ve always wanted this space to be a place where the neighborhood comes together,” said Chef Amir Hajimaleki, who leads of Roya Hospitality Group with his brother Ali Hajimaleki. “Mi Vecino gives us an opportunity to create something fresh and exciting while still staying true to our original vision.”

According to the release, though Amir Hajimaleki will oversee the culinary program, it will be executed by Chef Jose Alajandro Sanchez. Some of the Mi Vecino's signature flavor will come from live-fire cooking, and fresh tortillas and housemade salsas will add more character.

Guests will also find other classic Mexican seafood dishes on the menu, like ceviches, fajitas, and tacos, plus more specific offerings like chocolate clams — a large clam species named for its shell color and widely associated with Baja, California — and shrimp enchiladas with white mole.

Roya Hospitality concepts often offer up creative cocktails. In this case, the margaritas will be the stars of the show, and guests can also sip ranch waters, palomas, daiquiris, and more, with a happy hour lowering prices on drinks and small bites like tacos.

This year Roya, the restaurant that gives the hospitality group its name, graduated from pop-ups to a brick-and-mortar space. The group's Persian concepts, Roya and Daisy Lounge, are more formal than its others, Keepers, Oasthouse Kitchen + Bar, and Disrtict Kitchen + Cocktails. Roya has received great reviews and lots of attention in the eight months that it's been open so far and may end up elevating the entire restaurant group.

seafood mexican cuisine tacos margaritas closings openings

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First Light Books to open second Austin shop in former church

Facebook/St. Luke

St. Luke UMC, which served Clarksville for 60 years, is being converted to a First Light Books.

First Light Books is working its adaptive-reuse magic once again. The beloved Hyde Park bookstore, which famously moved into a former post office, has confirmed plans to open a second location in fall 2027 inside Clarksville's former St. Luke United Methodist Church (1306 W. Lynn St.).

St. Luke UMC has served a number of purposes in the community. Not only was it a church, it also was a polling place, a childcare center, a meeting spot for Alcoholics Anonymous, and a partner to the Hope Food Pantry and local arts groups. The congregation closed at the end of 2024.

First Light will add a few more purposes to the building, converting the sanctuary into a bookstore and a cafe serving coffee, light fare, beer, and wine. The space will also host the shop’s signature lineup of author events, book clubs, and kids’ programming.

The bookstore's first location in Hyde Park, in a converted post office on Speedway that earned a 2025 Community Impact Award from the American Institute of Architects, has grown into a hub of neighborhood activity since opening in August 2023. The bookstore hosts more than 300 author events and community programs a year, from author signings and four monthly book clubs to children’s story time, a Wednesday chess club, and weekday happy hours.

“We’ve watched kids grow up here, seen new friendships and surprise engagements, and truly come to know and love our regulars,” co-owner Robin Bruce said in announcing the St. Luke location.

This fall’s calendar alone ranges from artist William Matthews in conversation with Lyle Lovett to cookbook release parties and poetry talks. The chess nights will expand to Clarksville, plus culinary events, daily story time, reading clubs, and creative-writing meetups for kids.

First Light Hyde Park Stained glass in First Light Books in Hyde Park was created by local glassworks Blue Moon Glassworks.Photo Courtesy of First Light Books

Other Austin churches have found second lives. Architect Michael Hsu converted a 1930s church into the flagship studio of product design firm Argodesign, and Rhode Partners turned a Mission Revival–style church in Bouldin Creek into four loft-style homes. Not every church has been so lucky, though: Prince of Peace Lutheran on Oltorf, a similar A-frame considered for landmark status, was demolished in 2019 and replaced by a car wash.

The proposal from First Light owners Taylor and Robin Bruce to rework St. Luke was the only one of 18 proposals for the property to offer preservation, their representative Graham Brown told the Planning Commission in March, according to Austin Current. Neighbors, including the Old West Austin Neighborhood Association, rallied behind the plan.

The new zoning on the property, approved by Austin City Council in April, allows a bookstore, cafe, gallery, and offices while keeping the 1958 sanctuary, with its steeply pitched roof and towering wall of stained glass, intact.

“At its core, First Light is about bringing vitality to a neighborhood,” Taylor Bruce said in the St. Luke conversion announcement. “In our three plus years in Hyde Park, we’ve found that books, coffee and wine, a shady courtyard and a beautiful shop, can open real connections between people.”

Design details, broadly outlined in state filings, are still under wraps. General manager Breezy Mayo tells CultureMap that First Light expects to share plans and renderings in early 2027.

The Bruces founded First Light with Mayo, who came from Austin’s hospitality world, including Bunkhouse. Taylor Bruce created the travel brand Wildsam, and Robin Bruce leads the Dovetail Impact Foundation. The shop partners with the Texas Book Festival, the Harry Ransom Center, the Michener Center for Writers, and the LBJ Presidential Library.

First Light’s membership program ($99 a year for free daily drip coffee, 20 percent off books and members-only events, or $250 for a patron tier with extra invitations) is available at the shop.

“We are excited to bring the same neighborhood-first approach to Clarksville and build a bookstore that feels rooted in the particular character and community of this part of Austin,” Robin Bruce said.