Clarksville Bakery Is Being Taken Over by Austin Hospitality Group

Clarksville bakery Sweetish Hill is closing next month because Austin restaurant group McGuire Moorman Hospitality is transforming the 1120 West 6th Street space into Swedish Hill Bakery Cafe & Deli. Sweetish’s last day will be on Saturday, September 8, and the new Swedish Hill is set to open by late December.

Swedish Hill is meant to feel like Los Angeles small plates restaurant Gjelina and New York bagel and deli spot Russ & Daughters, as co-founder of the hospitality group Larry McGuire, told Austin 360.

On deck will be baked goods, sandwiches, prepared foods, bagels, smoked fish, and more, as well as a wine bar from beverage director and master sommelier June Rodil. The bakery will also expand, taking over the next-door shop Pause & Imagine.

Swedish Hill will also serve as McGuire Moorman’s bakery for all of its restaurants under pastry chefs Alex Manley and Jennifer Tucker. This includes fine dining spot Jeffrey’s, stylish cafe Josephine House, sit-down barbecue restaurant Lamberts, seafood spots Perla’s and Clark’s (including a location in Aspen, Colorado), Vietnamese restaurant and French bakery Elizabeth Street Cafe, wine bar and cafe June’s, and tiki bar/burger spot Pool Burger.

The concept is similar to Bryce Gilmore’s latest restaurant, Sour Duck Market, which serves as its go-to bakery for all three of the restaurants, while also serving baked goods and sandwiches in a counter- and bar-service-style setting.

Sweetish first opened on 14th and Waller streets in 1975 under Patricia Bauer-Slate and Tom Neuhaus. The bakery moved over to the current West 6th location, where then-bakery Jim Murphy took over in 1990. Murphy will help transition Sweetish into Swedish.

McGuire Moorman Hospitalty’s got a lot of irons in the fire: there’s the new Tex-Mex-influenced restaurant in the Austin Motel, Joann’s, opening in the fall with Bunkhouse Group; and the dining and beverage programs at the upcoming downtown hotel/apartment complex Austin Proper, opening in 2019.

• Familiar Austin faces buy Sweetish Hill, announce plans for bakery’s future [Austin 360]
• All Coverage of Sweetish Hill [EATX]
• All Coverage of McGuire Moorman Hospitality [EATX]