Downtown Hotel Austin Proper Opens New Elegant Cocktail Bar

Downtown hotel Austin Proper added a new cocktail bar this year. The Quill Room opened on the second floor of the 600 West Second Street building this past May.

The bar is meant to feel like an Old World European salon, with drinks and snacks. The bar’s French-ish cocktail menu includes drinks like the Love Letter, made with elderflower liqueur, prosecco, sparkling water, and edible flowers; the La Vie en Rose with mezcal infused with jalapenos, Lillet Rosé blanc, Del Maguey crema de mezcal, and rose water; and the Bourdeux Sour with bourbon, Bourdeaux wine, lemon, egg whites, and bitters. There’s also from the classic with vodka or gin; the stirred Vesper; to, yes, an espresso martini.

There’s also a nonalcoholic cocktail, the Le Jardin, made with Seedlip’s Garden 108. Beers include two options from Austin brewery Pinthouse Brewing and then some national ones; wines span the typical go-to wine regions. Food-wise, there are snacks and appetizers such as a foie gras custard with radishes and salted lavash (a flatbread); Gulf shrimp cocktails, and a salad.

The Ingalls

The Ingalls

The physical space was designed by Kelly Wearstler, who designed the interiors of the hotel too. It’s meant to have a European-Old World aesthetic with warm woods and metals taking its cues from the 1920s, including a gold wall piece taken from the designer’s archives. Then there is vintage furniture sourced from the 1960s through 1990s. There’s also an upright self-playing piano.

The full hotel is already jam-packed with dining and drinking establishments too: Mediterranean restaurant the Peacock, Mexican rooftop and poolside restaurant and bar La Piscina, and the private bar Goldie’s (which is only available to hotel guests and residents). There had been a casual cafe, the Mockingbird, but that closed at the beginning of the pandemic. Austin restaurant group McGuire Moorman Lambert Hospitality runs all of the restaurants and bars.

Technically the Quill debuted in January 2023 but opened with public seatings in the spring, and the final design details finished this June. A rep notes that a portion of the reservations is saved for hotel guests and residents. Its hours are from 6 p.m. to midnight, Wednesday through Saturday. Reservations can be made online and there are indoor and outdoor dine-in services.