Hotel Group Bunkhouse Focuses on Live-Fire Cooking for First Austin Restaurant

Bunkhouse Group — the local hospitality company that includes Hotel San Jose and the celeb magnet Hotel St. Cecilia — has opened its first full-service restaurant in Austin, Summer House on Music Lane (its full name) as of November 6. The restaurant is in the group’s newest project, Hotel Magdalena, at 1101 Music Lane, just off South Congress, for dine-in service only.

Inspired by “the casual sophistication that defines a lake house weekend” per a press release, Summer House is open for breakfast, lunch, weekend brunch, and dinner. The dinner menu focuses on live-fire cooking, with items like a wood-grilled whole fish, caramelized scallops, and steaks, while brunch has more eggy dishes (breakfast sandwich, steak and eggs), as well as ricotta pancakes and pozole. Executive Chef Jeffrey Hundelt was previously at Launderette and casual spot Fresa’s Chicken al Carbon.

Summer House features both indoor and outdoor seating, as well as a full bar with a focus on sparkling wines. For now, the restaurant is not serving food to-go, but it will offer takeout at some point.

Bunkhouse Group was founded by Liz Lambert in 2006, after she transformed Hotel San Jose in the mid-1990s. Bunkhouse has been majority-owned by hotel brand Standard International since 2015 (Lambert is no longer actively involved with the company). Bunkhouse now has four hotels in Austin, and owns Jo’s Coffee (which has several locations in Austin). Bunkhouse was involved in the opening of East Austin all-day cafe Lou’s Bodega with McGuire Moorman, which now operates the restaurant.

Summer House is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Nick Simonite

Nick Simonite

Note: Summer House is only open for dine-in service, and there are still safety concerns surrounding indoor dining in Austin. Please visit the City of Austin website for more details on the novel coronavirus pandemic. Studies indicate that there is a lower exposure risk when dining outdoors, but the level of risk involved with patio dining is contingent on restaurants following strict social distancing and other safety guidelines

Update, November 11, 6 p.m. - This article has been updated to clarify that Liz Lambert is no longer actively involved with Bunkhouse and the restaurants that Bunkhouse is involved with.

• Summer House on Music Lane [Official]
• Prolific Austin Hotel Group Is Opening a Live-Fire Restaurant Off South Congress [EATX]
• All Coverage of Hotel Magdalena [EATX]