Four Austin Closures to Know About: A Taiwanese Food Truck, Mexican Restaurant, NOLA-ish Spot, and All-Day Cafe

Four Austin food spots announced closures this month: Taiwanese food truck Song La in South Austin, Southern Californian-Mexican restaurant R19 in Lakeway, New Orleans-ish spot Wicky’s Walkup in East Austin, and coffee shop Thrive Craft House in Central Austin.

First, Taiwanese food truck Song La announced that it would hold its final week of service for the year earlier this month before temporarily closing. Co-owners Aleksandr Karpets and Sun-Yun Yang shared on Instagram that they “don’t know when/if we will be able to reopen, as we’re trying to figure out a way to stay in Austin.”

Song La’s last day was on December 9 because it already ran out of food. They originally opened the truck in 2015. They relocated from campus into south Austin last fall.

Then, Southern Californian-Mexican restaurant R19 Taqueria is closing this month. Its last day of service at 2422 Ranch Road 620 South in Lakeway will be either Friday or Saturday, December 23 or 23, as reported by Community Impact.

R19 owner Christopher Haydostian posted that he’s closing the restaurant because: “we aren’t receiving the traffic and sales needed to offset the rising prices of commodities and high labor expenses.” He opened the restaurant’s original spot Reunión 19 with Los Angeles chef Esdras Ochoa in East Austin in 2020. They expanded with a food truck iteration of R19 in 2021. The original restaurant closed in October 2021, and Haydostian turned the food truck into a physical restaurant that same month.

Alison Narro

And then, East Austin bar and restaurant the Cavalier closed up its next-door more-casual window spot Wicky’s Walkup on 2400 Webberville Road. Its last day was sometime in early December.

Co-owner Rachelle Fox writes to Eater that the shutter is because of “a combination of personal family issues and a lack of staff [that] has us editing our priorities.” So she and co-owner Chadwick (“Wicky”) Leger decided to refocus on offering lunch service at Cavalier instead, which will include some Wicky’s dishes, as of December 5. Those hours are from noon to 3 p.m. on weekdays. Dishes include po’ boys, burgers, and salads. They opened the Cavalier in 2018, followed up by Wicky’s in March 2021.

And then, finally, Central Austin all-day restaurant and cafe Thrive Craft House closed this fall. Its last day on 519 West 37th Street was sometime in late November.

Co-owner Matthew Kellams confirmed the shutter to Eater, sharing that they sold the company and that “it was fun while it lasted.” He also shared that the address will be turned into something new. This appears to be a new beer bar called Axis, which touts lots of draft beers and wines. Thrive opened in 2020.