Downtown Austin office workers, visitors, and residents have a new choice when it comes to grabbing a bite and a beer: Hank’s Garage.
Formerly Sister’s Edge II, a lesbian bar, and before that “The Cockpit,” an aptly-named gay bar, Hank’s instead caters to all people of all sexual orientations with a strong thirst for Belgian beer.
They have a whopping 32 beers on tap, such as Duchesse de Bourgogne, which will give Gingerman loyalists a run for their money, and some premium entrees.
Hank’s also offer something to the brunch crowd with a plate of two eggs — served your way — with potatoes and toast for an Abraham or an omelet for a couple extra Georgies.
The guy behind this, Jeffrey Kuhn, spent about three decades in the service industry, dabbling in finance and real estate as well.
Kuhn represents what is great about Austin and downtown. He’s bootstrapped this whole thing himself and spent about a year gutting Sister’s Edge by himself, in the process unearthing remnants of when the building used to be a legit garage run by a mechanic named “Hank” almost 75 years ago.
Located at 115 San Jacinto (half block north of the Four Seasons), the renovation really dresses up the outside of the building, too. After you stop by, check out these photos of how the place looked as the Cockpit and Sister’s Edge. ¡Ay, caramba!
Their drink selection is awesome… duck fat fries are tasty, calamari is really good as well.
My favorite thing after going there one time is the beef carbonara – highly recommended 🙂
I soooooo miss Gadjo Disko. Best parties ever! I’ve been watching the progress of Hank’s… can’t wait to try it out.
….Also, the wording used to describe the previous bars sounds a little pretentious…and it’s ORIENTATION, not “preference”.
The Cockpit was one of the main locations that hosted the legendary Gadjo Disko parties. It was basically the closest Austin came to having something like New York’s old Limelight club. I might have to stop by this place sometime to get whistful about the glitter, fake eyelashes, and pancake makeup that once filled those walls… (Hopefully they serve some kind of champagne, so I’ll have something to drink while doing so.)
Since I haven’t been a patron of Sister’s Edge or Cockpit, I really have no idea where you are talking about. Would it have killed y’all to tell us where this is? Downtown is kinda big, you know.
Good catch… just updated. Thanks.
Thanks! That corrected one of my pet peeves. 🙂
That’s a knowing answer to a difficult qeustoin