Lauded Austin Chef Returns to Open a New Restaurant

Chef Grae Nonas, formerly the co-founding chef of Southern restaurant Olamaie, is opening his own restaurant in Austin. Carpenters Hall, which will be found within upcoming boutique hotel the Carpenter Hotel, is opening sometime in November, along with coffee shop and cafe the Hot L Coffee, all at 400 Josephine Street just off South Lamar Boulevard.

Carpenters Hall’s menu will pull in dishes and influences from Austin and Central Texas, which means breakfast tacos, pozoles, burgers, turkey club sandwiches, desserts, breads, pastas, and more. Nonas will oversee the hotel’s room service as well.

Nonas opened Southern restaurant Olamaie with co-owner and co-executive chef Michael Fojtasek in 2014 to many accolades (Nonas was a finalist for James Beard Awards’ Rising Star of the Year category in 2015 and 2016). Nonas left the restaurant in 2016 with the goal of opening his own restaurant in Austin, but then moved to Minneapolis to open the Hewing Hotel’s Nordic restaurant Tullibee. He came back to Austin the following year.

Overseeing the hotel is the hospitality and management company Mighty Union, which includes Jack Barron who is a co-founding partner of the Ace Hotel in Portland. They took over what had been the Austin Carpenters Local 1266 building for the new hotel.

• New Boutique Hotel and Restaurant Will Open Off South Lamar [EATX]
• All Coverage of Carpenter Hotel [EATX]