New Eastern Mediterranean Restaurant and Sunken Cocktail Bar Are Now Open in Downtown Austin

Downtown high-rise hotel and condo building Austin Proper Hotel is opening the first two of its four restaurants and bars from local restaurant group McGuire Moorman Hospitality — The Peacock Mediterranean Grill & Bar and Goldie’s — are now open at 600 West 2nd Street, after debuting under limited serve earlier this week.

As the hotel’s flagship restaurant, The Peacock will focus on family-style Eastern Mediterranean fare, drawing inspiration from regions and countries such as North Africa, Greece, Israel, and Lebanon. During a recent preview dinner, this included hummus with ground lamb, tzatziki, grains, and kebabs, plus wines from Lebanon.

The ground-floor restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a late-night menu. It will also provide room-service to hotel rooms. The physical space features indoor and outdoor seating.

Then, Goldie’s is an actual sunken cocktail bar made of stone. The 30-seat space is found next to the hotel’s lobby. The menu focuses on cocktails, spirits, wine, and beer. For now, it’s only open to hotel guests and residents of the building.

To come later at the Austin Proper are two more restaurants: The Mockingbird Cafe, a Greek-leaning casual coffee shop counterpart to Peacock, boasting falafels, shawarma, pastries, Greek yogurt, and take-out, set to open in January 2020; and then La Piscina, the coastal Mexican poolside restaurant focusing on fajitas made on wood-burning grills, raw bar ceviches, and tequila/mezcal, opening in early 2020. Unfortunately, the hotel isn’t hosting its New Year’s Eve party which would’ve previewed La Piscina’s menu anymore.

When it does open, Peacock’s daily hours will be from 7 to 10:30 a.m. (breakfast); 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (lunch), 3 to 5 p.m. (what is being described as “snack” time); and 5 to 10:30 p.m. (dinner). The restaurant’s bar will serve late-night menus from 10:30 p.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday, and then from 10:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Then Goldie’s hours will be from 6 p.m. to midnight Monday through Wednesday; 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday and Friday; noon to 2 a.m. Saturday; and then from noon to midnight Sunday.

Around the block from the Austin Proper is likewise live-fire-focused modern grill restaurant Hestia from the Emmer & Rye team, which opened earlier this month.

McGuire Moorman’s next projects are turning West Sixth restaurant Hut’s Hamburgers into an Italian restaurant, converting its next-door store Favorite Liquor & Wine into a take-out pizza joint, opening a sushi restaurant on South Congress in the former Little Brown & Barrel space, all in 2020; opening its Vietnamese restaurant Elizabeth Street Cafe in New Orleans at some point, and opening a “Northern Italian-Swiss chalet food” restaurant in Aspen in 2021.

December 17, 1:49 p.m.: This article has been updated to reflect the current opening statuses of Peacock and Goldie’s.

December 20, 11:01 a.m.: This article has been updated to reflect that both Peacock and Goldie’s are fully open.

December 23, 2:53 p.m.: This article has been updated to reflect that Austin Proper isn’t hosting its New Year’s Eve party anymore.

• Downtown Hotel Austin Proper Reveals Its Four New Restaurants and Bars [EATX]
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