McGuire Moorman Lambert Expands Clarksville Domain With Three New Restaurants

Austin hospitality giant McGuire Moorman Lambert Hospitality (MML) is opening three new Clarksville spots: restaurant Pecan Square Cafe, Howard’s, and Rosie’s. Howard’s and Rosie’s will be located at 1130 West Sixth Street, taking over the former Wiggy’s liquor shop, and Pecan Square Cafe took over the old Cafe Josie space at 1200 West Sixth Street.

Pecan Square Cafe serves a rotating menu of seasonal dishes for lunch, brunch, and dinner daily. It offers cocktails and wine as well. The executive chef is Chelsea Fadda, who formerly worked at seasonal butcher shop Dai Due and still-closed French restaurant Le Politique. It opened on Monday, April 11, as reported by Austin 360.

Howard’s and Rosie’s are located in between other MML restaurants Swedish Hill and Clark’s Oyster Bar. A recent Instagram post announcing weekly job fairs starting Wednesday, August 24 for both bars describes Howard’s as a “welcoming bar” with snacks, and Rosie’s as a “relaxed, intimate wine bar” with food. Both businesses appear on the same liquor license request under the name “Howard’s Bar LLC.” MML has created multiple Instagram accounts for Howard’s and Rosie’s, although there are no posts yet. There are no opening dates yet, but it’s safe to expect that it will open sometime this fall or winter, since the last job fair is being held on September 16.

The Pecan space’s previous tenant was longtime restaurant Cafe Josie, which closed in 2020 due to the landlord (Larry McGuire of MML) doubling the rent. Wiggy’s moved out of its original West Sixth location in August 2019, and MML bought the address later that year.

That West Sixth block of 1100 and 1200 will potentially turn into a huge mixed-use development by real estate investment firm Riverside Resources. The plan involves keeping Pecan, Howard’s, and Rosie’s as is. It also would demolish the building housing Swedish Hill Bakery (another MML business that had previously been longtime bakery Sweetish Hill) and Z’Tejas (which is pegged to close in March 2023, and is also owned by an LLC involving McGuire). It was approved by the Austin Historic Landmark Commission in early August.

Locally based hospitality and restaurant group MML owns over a dozen aesthetic-heavy restaurants in Austin, Aspen, New Orleans, and eventually Houston. Its current holdings in Clarksville include steakhouse Jeffrey’s, brunchy spot Josephine House, Swedish, and Clark’s Oyster Bar. Elsewhere in the city, the hospitality group revamped casual lake restaurant Ski Shores Cafe, as well as turned the Barton Springs location of Ski Shores into a second location of Lou’s, both of which opened in June and May respectively.

Update, August 24, 1:10 p.m.: This article, originally published on February 24, has been updated to reflect Pecan Square Cafe’s opening date, as well as further details about Howard’s and Rosie’s.

• Pecan Square Cafe [Official]
• Pecan Square Cafe [Instagram]
• All Coverage of McGuire Moorman Lambert [Eater Austin]