Austin Hole in the Wall gets Restaurant Resurge

Internationally Famous Night Spot Brings Back Some Local Favorites

Feb 3, 2009

When ownership of the legendary Hole in the Wall in Austin, Texas passed from the hands of the original family owners, many unique menu items, went the way of the dodo.

To the world, the Hole in the Wall is an icon. Most regulars won’t disagree, but darn it, it just isn’t the same! When ownership of the legendary bar left “the family” around five years ago, the original kitchen and many of the unique menu items went with it.

Anyone could still enjoy a shot and a beer while watching Jeopardy! or enjoying some live music, but the menu was dictated by the owners of Austin’s Pizza and the kitchen operated under the aegis of Junior’s Hamburgers.

Gone were the Reality sandwich (essentially a chicken fried steak served on a bun burger style), the chalupa-sized nachos and the elfagator (that’s elf-a-gator, not el-fag-a-tor) and its cousins, open-faced vegetarian sandwich piled high with sprouts, cheese, one’s choice of veggies and toasted under a broiler.

Austin Hole in the Wall now under new ownership

When Will Tanner, a bar owner from El Paso, took over the bar in 2008, the menu changed again and the kitchen was eventually shut down due to lagging food sales. But Tanner had no intention of letting it remained closed.

“It was hard to find a good fit,” Tanner says. “I wanted someone who knew what they were doing and could be cooperative by nature. So far, everyone I had talked to either didn’t feel they would fit or I felt they might not.”

Enter Steve Chaney (with an “a”, no relation to our maniacal ex-veep), an old-school Austinite and former owner/chef of Big Mamou’s Cajun restaurant and the late, lamented Nick’s Diner, which was located at MLK and Lavaca streets, where an abandoned looking TCBY yogurt shop now starkly stands.

A veteran restauranteur and no stranger to the bar scene, Chaney hopes to breathe life into what was once one of the busiest lunch rushes on the Drag.

“I think the old stuff will be natural for Chaney,” Tanner says. “The whole thing feels real natural.”

Chaney seems just as excited, not bothered at all by the drudge that accumulates in a greasy kitchen covering him.

“I hadn’t even thought about the Reality,” Chaney says, “but when word got out that I was opening the kitchen, I got flooded by friends on MySpace and Facebook demanding ‘my Reality back!’”

A new twist for the classic Hole in the Wall kitchen

Aside from bar food and the resurrected Reality, Chaney will also be serving his hand-made Cajun food, the kind of food he’s known for.

How soon can UT staff and students and other food-seeking Drag denizens expect to be fed at the Hole in the Wall?

Chaney calls Feb. 3rd the median date. “I’m going to start serving at night and slowly work my way up to lunchtime, but it should be in full swing [in around two weeks].”

But, in the most ambitious move, breakfast tacos and other morning style food will be offered from a stand at the gate located between the club and Creem Vintage, which will also serve as the entrance to the restaurant until the bar section opens at 3 pm.

For a while, one had to walk to one of the many eateries around the club to curb their hunger (and put some food on all that booze).

The copyright of the article Austin Hole in the Wall gets Restaurant Resurge in Cajun Food is owned by Trevor Wallace. Permission to republish Austin Hole in the Wall gets Restaurant Resurge in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.