Austin Meets France and Italy at New East Austin Wine Bar Opening in July

A hospitality power couple is opening a new casual wine bar and restaurant, Birdie’s, in the Chestnut neighborhood of East Austin. Birdie’s will open at 2944 East 12th Street on Friday, July 16.

Chef Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel plans to change the menu frequently based on seasonal availability. Her husband and co-owner, Arjav Ezekiel, tells Eater the menu will be “American food often inspired by Italy and France,” and told the Statesman that the food will pair well with wine and the Texas heat. The opening menu has items like fried squash blossoms stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy, tilefish in tomato-saffron broth, beef tartare, and daily gelato flavors.

Drinks-wise, Ezekiel is planning a menu of organic and/or biodynamic wines, beer, low-ABV cocktails, and nonalcoholic beverages. The restaurant, which was previously a location of taco shop Taco-Mex, has a large patio.

Malechek-Ezekiel and Ezekiel met while working in a restaurant in New York, where each had worked at big-name restaurants like Gramercy Tavern and Untitled at the Whitney. In Austin, Malechek-Ezekiel, a native Texan, was most recently on the pastry team at Jeffrey’s in Austin, and Ezekiel was a server at Olamaie, as they planned their restaurant.

Though the pair originally planned to open a fine-dining restaurant, they found that Austin had enough options for that. Ezekiel hopes that Birdie’s will be a neighborhood place where people can drop in a few times a week with friends.

Birdie’s will initially open with dinner and weekend brunch, with lunch coming soon.

July 12, 3:21 p.m.: This article, originally published on April 26, has been updated to reflect Birdie’s opening date and details.

• Birdie’s [Official]
• Birdie’s [Instagram]