On East Austin's Food Corridors This Fall, the Lease Is the Story

There's a sign at the corner of East Cesar Chavez and Anthony streets offering 2101 E. Cesar Chavez St. for lease as a second-generation restaurant. For 29 years the space belonged to Taqueria Chapala, known for its barbacoa and breakfast tacos. It closed on Sept. 27.

Between late August and late September, three new restaurants opened on East 6th and East Cesar Chavez. All three are small rooms with a well-known chef or creator behind them. In the same weeks, two long-running East Austin operators changed address or format, and in both cases the reason was a lease or the cost of a storefront. If your sense of the neighborhood comes from the restaurants you walk past, this fall changed that picture more than one season usually does.

Twenty-Nine Years at 2101 East Cesar Chavez

Manuel Lopez and his brother opened Taqueria Chapala on July 1, 1997. Over the years it became a fixture for breakfast tacos, barbacoa and its Chapala Especial, a Jalisco-style barbacoa plate. The menu also ran to caldo de res, menudo, whole fried tilapia and all-day breakfast.

Community Impact reported that the landlords declined to renew the lease. According to the same report, Lopez learned in June that the space would go to another tenant.

Chapala isn't closing for good. It plans to reopen Oct. 29 at 2448 S. First St. That date was announced in late September and hadn't been confirmed when this was written. East Cesar Chavez is losing a 1997 original, and South Austin is gaining one. Two dates in early reports need correcting. A mid-September business roundup listed the closing as Sept. 30 and said no new location had been named. The later Community Impact follow-up gives Sept. 27 and the South First address.

What Opened on the Same Streets

The newcomers are different businesses from Chapala in nearly every way. They are smaller rooms, each tied to a chef or creator people already know, and each has a tightly focused menu. Here is everything that changed in roughly six weeks, listed by address:

Big Slick is a 22-seat live-fire steakhouse from husband-and-wife chefs Phillip Frankland Lee and Margarita Kallas-Lee. The beef comes from Lobel's of New York and is dry-aged in-house. With so few seats, a table takes some planning.

Hermanas opened one block east. Silvino Sanchez, born and raised in Austin, cooks food rooted in his Mexican heritage and summers in Guadalajara, using Southeast Asian techniques. The Panang Curry Mole shows what that means on the plate. The restaurant is named for his father's hometown, Ejido Primero de Mayo in Coahuila. Locals call the town Hermanas after its train station, which links the region to Mexico City. Hermanas has a Mexican menu like Chapala's, but the two restaurants are built very differently.

Ben & Lynn's, from cooking YouTuber Joshua Weissman, opened at 2600 E. Cesar Chavez St. It serves chicken nuggets, sandwiches, fries and seasonal soft serve. It opened on the same corridor about two weeks before Chapala closed.

Further north, Counter Culture founder Susan Davis reopened her vegan restaurant on Sept. 8 at 5812 Berkman Drive, Community Impact reported.

One nearby closing is often grouped with East 6th news but sits on the other side of the highway. Marlow, a bar at 700 E. 6th St. overlooking Waller Creek, closed Aug. 29 after nearly three years. That's west of I-35, at the edge of downtown, and no reason was reported.

The Vegan Yacht Is Moving to Springdale

If rising costs are pushing a long-running taqueria off East Cesar Chavez, The Vegan Yacht shows what costs can do to a business heading the other direction. Mike and Danielle Wood closed their storefront at 2000 Southern Oaks Drive in South Austin on Aug. 2 after eight years. They said rising storefront and supply costs drove the decision.

The plan is to relaunch in a 1967 Airstream, the same trailer format the business started with in 2010, at 900 Springdale Road. The menu centers on tempeh and soy curl burritos and bowls. The owners were aiming for mid-to-late October, but in late September they still needed to schedule an inspection and had no firm date.

So the two long-running operators in this story both ended up moving for the same reason. Chapala lost its lease and is crossing the river to South First. The Vegan Yacht found its storefront too expensive and is coming to the east side as a trailer. In both cases the menu stayed and the location gave way.

Eastside Kings Is This Weekend

The 14th annual Eastside Kings Festival runs Oct. 17 and 18 in Historic East Austin, with more than a dozen bands each day. The festival's stated mission is to preserve and promote the cultural heritage of African American blues, jazz and gospel. According to EASTside ATX's October and November calendar, it runs 3:30 to 8:30 p.m., is based at 1204 Salina St. with venues around 12th and Chicon, and tickets start at about $34.

The rest of the season, in date order:

1. Oct. 17–18: Eastside Kings Festival, 12th and Chicon area.
2. Oct. 26, 7 p.m.: EASTside ATX book club at Radio Rosewood, 1115 E. 11th St.
3. Oct. 29, 7 p.m.: Arte y Vida at The Cathedral, 2403 E. 16th St. Taqueria Chapala's planned South First reopening is the same day.
4. Nov. 6–8: Africa to Austin Fest at the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, 1165 Angelina St.
5. Nov. 30, 7 p.m.: EASTside ATX book club at Love Supreme, 2805 Manor Road.

Next Year's Opening

The next big name is still a year away and sits west of the highway. Emmer & Rye Hospitality Group, the team behind Canje, Hestia and Kalimotxo, is opening a restaurant in Old 6th, a 200,000-square-foot development in the Sixth Street Historic District at 520 E. 6th St. It's targeted for fall 2027. Until then, the 1000 and 1100 blocks of East 6th have the newest openings close to I-35. For now, 2101 E. Cesar Chavez St. sits empty with a for-lease sign at the corner.

Soud Twal watches those changes street by street across East and Central Austin. To talk about what this fall's changes mean for the block you live on or the one you're watching, Book a Consultation.