Alfresco Farm Restaurant Eden East Moves From East Austin

The time has come for East Austin urban farm and restaurant Eden East to move to a new location — dirt and all. The farm will eventually move to Bastrop. The restaurant is changing its name to Eden West and moving the existing food truck to park at Driftwood sotol distillery Desert Door at 211 Darden Hill Road, opening on Saturday, August 15.

This is all happening because the 755 Springdale Road farm and restaurant land, which was purchased in 2018, is being turned into a mixed-use development by local developers StoryBuilt (formerly PSW Real Estate). There are plans to include a micro farm in the new development. (Eden East had been closed temporarily since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

For Eden West, chef and owner Sonya Coté will incorporate sotol byproducts into the food truck’s menu. The initial menu includes items such as a vegan butternut squash-based dip, steak with sotol nectar and green onions, and fried quail with carrot mole and hot sauce.

The truck’s hours during its first weekend will be from noon to 6 p.m. each day. Its normal hours will begin next week: 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, noon to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and then noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Orders can be placed online, and there is to-go and dine-in service available.

As far as the farm, Coté and her husband David Barrow, who oversees farm operations, are current moving the dirt to Bastrop by the truckload. They are considering opening a similar farm-to-table restaurant on the new property, but there are no plans yet.

The Eden East farmers market will stay open through the end of summer. The Storybuilt project is expected to be finalized in 2022.

Coté opened prix fixe restaurant Eden East on Springdale Farm in 2013. She also runs Hillside Farmacy in Central East Austin. In 2018, she and Barrow took over the farm from co-founders Glenn and Paula Foore, who opened the farm in 2009 as Springdale Farm.

Update, August 14, 10:48 a.m.: This article, originally published on May 28. has been updated to reflect the truck’s opening date.

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