downtown austin

G’Raj Mahal Cafe (Not Garaj Mahal) – MENU, HOURS, and REVIEW: Indian Restaurant Now Open in Downtown Austin

AG | December 13, 2009 |

9/25/2012: Breaking news….G’raj Mahal announces through their Facebook page that they are expanding! 2nd Location will be at 73 Rainey Street, and it looks like they will have live music. Check out our story on the details of G’raj Mahal’s expansion here.

7/3/2012: Updated menu below! Large groups should note that G’raj Mahal now only takes a maximum of 3 credit cards per order – no matter how many people are in the group. I was told by a server that this policy has been around for years, but I’ve been with several large groups there and June 2012 was the first time this happened, so I think it’s actually relatively new. This policy seems particularly odd to me personally because the minimum credit card order there is $10 (last time I checked, unless they’ve changed that, too), so logic would tell me so long as the total bill for each card is larger than $10, there shouldn’t really be an issue from a fees perspective. I guess maybe it has to do with the servers not wanting to take the time to run multiple cards? I’ve asked Sidney Roberts, the owner – but she has yet to give me a response or reason on the issue….will keep you updated!

Incidentally, it’s also worth noting that the gratuity for parties of 5 or more is now 20% (it used to 18%, per their older menu).

7/2/2010: G’Raj Mahal is currently open from 5pm-12am on Weekdays, 5pm-3am Fri-Sat. CLOSED Mondays. Also looks like all delivery will now be going through Longhorn Delivery (contact info on menu). G’Raj Mahal is BYOB!!!

Sidney, the owner also wanted me to let everyone know that the lamb is halal, blessed, and grassfed – for those following strict diets.

REVIEW:

If somebody asked me what I thought about eating Indian food made in a truck, my *go-to* response would be – “less good choice.” At least, that was until I tried G’Raj Mahal Cafe (no website yet, but you can find them on Facebook), located at 91 Red River Street in Downtown Austin. Ummmmm…super yummy!

This gem opened a couple of weeks ago, and when I had the opportunity to try it out the other day, I was very pleasantly surprised. I had the Vegetable Goan Coconut Currie with the Classic Vegetable Samosa, which was all washed down with a Mexican Coke:

Looking at the menu, I initially thought the pricing seemed way super high. After all, this is food made from a trailer. However, the food was made to order, tasted fresh and high-quality, and the portions were generous. While I still think it’s a bit on the pricey side, I also believe that it’s worth it.

**UPDATE 12/14/2009: The owner (Sidney aka Ms. GM) just contacted me to tell me: “FYI…We reduced our prices this week slightly for the entrees as much as we could. However, we use such high grade ingredients, we are somewhat restricted to obey our food costs. We will soon have a late night menu with $5-8 items like naan wraps, lamb burgers, Indian “taco” salad, and spicy goan sausages.” Once I’ve received the updated menu, I will post it.

G’Raj Mahal Cafe does table service and take-out. The table service I experienced was friendly (even deferential) and the overall vibe was good. I would note that there is no indoor seating, but the outdoor seating is covered, and what I would describe as breezy, surrounded by peacefully flowing pieces of gauzy white fabric. Here’s a shot of the typical table:

Overall, I think it’s a good, unique addition to the downtown Austin restaurant landscape, gives the east side of Congress a quality casual dining option, and is a small business that I will support. It’s just a few steps from our residence at The Shore Condos. My only real complaint so far is that it’s only open for dinner (from 5pm-3am everyday). I think a Saturday/Sunday lunch (business permitting) would be awesome.

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Shoal Creek Walk Concept

Jude Galligan | December 11, 2009 |

Schlosser Development is proposing a new mixed-use complex in the parking lot to the east of the downtown Austin Whole Foods. The following renderings and description were recently submitted to the City of Austin Design Commission and will be presented on Monday, December 14th. The status is currently conceptual.

The Shoal Creek Walk, a proposed development project from Schlosser Development, will be a true mixed-use building complex located at the corner of West Sixth and Bowie Streets in downtown Austin, Texas. The project will closely conform to the constraints of the site which include a capital view corridor over approximately one half of the property and the Shoal Creek floodplain elevation.

These site limitations create a specific and very limited area where building improvements can be made on the site, by restricting both the building height and the overall footprint of any buildings on the site. Within those limitations, two buildings will be situated along Bowie Street, as the eastern portion of the site is within the floodplain. The high-rise building, at 350′ tall, will be located on the north portion of the property with a total of approximately 490,000 sq. ft. of office, retail and residential uses. The low-rise building will be situated at the corner of West Fifth and Bowie Streets, with primarily offices above the first level retail component for a total of about 100,000 sq. ft.

The two buildings together will provide more than 450,000 sq. ft. of office space, which is of a size able to attract a major employer and will likely be built in phases, to allow accommodation of a variety of tenant sizes. This flexibility will greatly enhance the feasibility of the project moving forward. The larger building will also have a residential component of about 90 units located above the office in what will be a narrower, residential footprint. The residential component adds to the feasibility of the larger building and is consistent with the downtown plan preference for vertically integrated structures.

The parking will be entirely within structured parking garages, both above and below grade, possibly with several surface ADA and drop-off parking adjacent to the building. Materials for the building will be of durable quality and wi ll be consistent with the architecture represented in the Market District.

A Simplified Argument In Favor Of The Density Bonus

Jude Galligan | December 9, 2009 |

The debate surrounding downtown Austin density is postured as affordable housing vs. height. Height being a proxy for density, and if you want more of it you’ll have to pay for it. If you believe in pro-density new-urbanist principles (like I do), then you might see the underlying debate as affordable housing vs. the environment.

If you are shifting your society away from sprawl, then you increasingly need to house people vertically. As long there is available virgin hill country to pave over, that land will be cheaper than downtown Austin land, and there will be economics favoring construction of affordable housing on that land outside of downtown. Until the region can coordinate an urban growth boundary, integration of socio-economic classes will not happen naturally without regulation. The density bonus seems to be that regulation.

Many intelligent people believe that the the bonus is really a tax. “Why should we tax density?” or “This makes development downtown more expensive” are reasonable concerns to anyone that wants to see more vertical development. Sprawl occurs when it is convincingly more affordable to live outside urban core. But, for every person that lives in the urban core, less pavement is needed outside of it. Every person counts. It’s far from a comprehensive solution, but I’m considering a new perspective that the density bonus is a positive for curbing sprawl.

Is it worth allocating affordable housing funds to 1 person in downtown, for the same cost to house 3 people in east Austin, or 7 people south of Ben White? The answer might be yes.

Waller Creek Meeting Notes

Jude Galligan | December 4, 2009 |

waller-creek-district-master-plan-draft-land-use-09-10-09 — Waller Creek District Master Plan - Land Use

At last night’s WCCAC meeting:

Downtown Austin’s Waller Creek District and tunnel project continues to get more interesting. At last night’s meeting of the Waller Creek Citizens Advisory Committee we covered a lot of ground.

1) 21c developer, Poe Companies, updated us on the status of the project. They’re actively pursuing stakeholder input, so I’m comfortable saying that this the only new residential project in downtown Austin that still has legs. The site plan calls for three structures: 1) apartments 2) hotel 3) future site tbd. The condos are out, for now, but could be built on the future site. The current focus is a 31 story, 350 unit apartment tower at the southwest corner of Red River and Cesar Chavez. The tower would provide 400,000 inhabitable square feet with target lease rates from $1.50-2.50 per foot. Steve Poe anticipated a unit mix of 70% 1bd/1ba. They are volunteering 10% of the units to meet affordable housing standards (80% MFI), although they are not required to provide any. There will also be ~10 artist studios facing the creek. It’s unknown how these units will be priced. When asked about quality of construction, we were guided to look at AMLI on 2nd as a comparison. This proposed downtown Austin apartment tower is fully entitled (needs no variances), and the only hurdle is locking in the funding, which they are seeking a substantial portion of through the HUD 211(s)(4) loan program for multi-family development.

The hotel concept would be located closer to the corner of Davis St and Red River. It would have have 200-250 keys spread across 12 stories and 225,000 inhabitable feet. In the near term, the hotel is less certain to be built than the apartment tower, as it is more challenging to find financing for a hotel – I find this ironic given that Austin has a shortage of hotels and [some would argue] a surplus of apartments. Such is the state of the financial markets.

After several years of tunnel planning work, this is the first project to come before the WCCAC. The development team seems to be very progressive and in tune with the Waller Creek District Master Plan. They understand the importance of public space and improving public connections from Red River into Waller Creek trails. The earliest the project could begin is mid-2010, and I’m optimistic they will obtain their funding.

One of the most important questions you’ll see asked of every project that comes before the WCCAC is the estimated contribution to the TIF. The $120MM bond that pays for the tunnel improvements is paid back through the incremental increase in ad-valorem taxes along the creek. 21c estimated that it would generate $1MM per year ($20MM over twenty years), to repayment of the bond.

2) A summary of the Waller Creek District Draft Development Standards were presented by city staff. This is a set of guidelines to reinforce the vision for Waller Creek as identified in the master plan. Sub-districts are defined which spell out appropriate design for each sub-district. These rules could be codified into law within the next 6-9 months. It’s good that we’re establishing these guidelines now. City council could potentially allow development to begin along the creek on a case-by-case basis by providing variances from building in the floodplain prior to completion of the tunnel. Depending on the timing of adopting these development standards, the 21c project may/may not be subject to them.

3) The WCCAC has been trying to find a way to assure world-class design standards along the creek while working within the legal constraints of the city’s procurement processes. Currently, the city will hire a firm capable of delivering a product. THEN they seek input to design the product. The city hires the firm before knowing what the final design looks like. This process precludes “design competitions”, but the WCCAC has a much better understanding of how and to deliver aesthetic design input. With enough lead time, a private sector “design competition” could occur such that the winner’s concept is delivered to the firm hired by the City, via the WCCAC.

-Jude

21c Museum/hotel
Waller Creek District

2nd Street Holiday Celebration TONIGHT – 6-9 pm

AG | December 3, 2009 |

From the website (under Events):

Come downtown for holiday shopping in the true spirit of the season.

Trunk shows
Special Holiday discounts
Music
Bites and bevs

Plan your night, and shop all six blocks:

Begin your evening as early as 4pm. That’s when Soco Designs begins serving up the fun, including 20 percent off all non-sale rugs purchased off the floor.
Then moved on to gallery d and Finch for 15 percent off storewide, trunk shows by Studio 3 and Stephanie Nance Studio PLUS live music from Austin’s own OHN.
Enjoy wine and hors d’oeuvres at Minx during the Jodi Arnold trunk show and get 25 percent off all purchases.
Sip & save at Wee with 20 percent off all in-store merchandise, plus wine and snacks.
Don’t miss the Branch jewelry trunk show & cocktail party at Eliza Page.
Celebrate some of our favorite Austin designers at Beyond Tradition. Meet the designers in-store and let them help you select the perfect gift for anyone on you list while you enjoy hors d’oeuvres from III Forks and cocktails by Paula’s Texas Spirits.
From 9 to 11 pm celebrate the opening of “Directions in Light,” a series of contemporary shadow boxes with sculptural interiors lit from within, created by artist Brooke Gassiot at milk + honey Spa.

And if you’re near Blu Cafe, Bar and Lounge catch the Peyton’s Place fashion show at 7 pm. See fabulous new holiday arrivals and give-away gift bags and certificates.