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ELM Restaurant Group, the company behind Easy Tiger, 24 Diner, and Irene's, is set to open a new cafe within the impending Austin Central Library, as reported by Statesman. Called Cookbook Cafe, the menu will derive from various cookbooks available at the library.
The downtown library space will offer table service and a coffee counter. There are plans for a wine bar and potential picnic baskets to-go to take advantage of nearby green spaces on East Cesar Chavez, according to Austin Real Estate Services officer Lauraine Rizer. The lease will be signed tomorrow. This also means ELM will oversee catering for library events.
Interestingly enough, ELM’s plans were the only proposals the city received for the space, though it had been seeking bids since summer of 2015. After much delays, the library is pegged to open sometime in 2017.
ELM is also in charge of curating the highly anticipated downtown food hall Fareground, which will include one of two Easy Tiger expansions, debuting in the spring. The group is also expanding Easy Tiger to the Linc next spring and 24 Diner is coming to Rock Rose later in 2017.
