A RETRO BAR STYLED LIKE A ’70S LIVING ROOM FROM NEW YORK IS COMING TO AUSTIN
A New York City bar and restaurant is expanding out of the East Coast state into Texas for the first time this year. The Flower Shop will be opening its new location in Central East Austin at 1300 East Seventh Street — the former Wilder Wood restaurant space — starting sometime in June.
The Flower Shop is a cocktail bar and restaurant that, as it describes on its website, meshes Australian bar sensibilities with Midwestern American diner vibes rounded out with a retro ambiance. The menu leans into comfort food with pub/New American/Australian touches. There are meat pies, shrimp tacos, maitake mushroom rigatoni, disco fries, spinach artichoke dip, and chicken wings.
And then for drinks, per its dive bar inclinations, there is beers in draft, can, and bottle forms; well drinks and shots making use of various spirits, including lots of tequilas, mezcals, whiskeys, and bourbons; and glasses and bottles of wine. The cocktail list is short, including a cold brew martini and the Spanky, a mezcal-lime-passionfruit-cinnamon beverage.
Behind the Flower Shop are co-founders Dylan Hales and Ronnie Flynn, along with co-owners Dave Turner and Will Tisch. Hales and Flynn share with Eater via a rep that the Austin location will be similar to the New York one, but that it will have “ode[s] to local culture.”
Well before this Texas plan, Hales and Flynn had an infinity for Austin, sharing that they’ve been coming here for the past 15 years. They started looking for a location four years ago because they’ve “always loved the people, vibe, and energy of the city,” as they write.
Hales and Flynn had met during high school while living in Australia. After that, Flynn was organizing and promoting nightlife events in New York at places like bistro lounge Acme and nightclub 1 0AK. Meanwhile, Hales came to Washington, D.C. to work as the general manager of clothing brand Ralph Lauren’s Rugby Cafe. Hales then moved to New York to become the general manager of Australian-ish Ruby’s Cafe. The two re-met in Miami in 2014 during Art Basel, and wanted to work together.
Hence, the Flower Shop, which the whole team opened in 2017 in Manhattan, taking over what was the former music venue and bar Fontana’s in the Lower East Side. They expanded with New American bistro Little Ways also in Manhattan in 2020. And then they worked with international nightlife company Tao Hospitality Group to open piano lounge Silver Lining and nightclub Loosie’s in 2022 in New York.
Flower Shop’s Austin location came to be because the team was introduced to the landlord by a New York friend who lives in Austin. They liked its closeness to East and downtown Austin as well as the actual space — “the building itself is what really interested us with its history and layout,” Hales and Flynn write. The structure dates from the 1920s and had been Tony’s Tortilla Factory (which was actually opened by the grandparents of Diana Valera of Tamale House East).
“We believe that the Flower Shop will compliment the neighborhood and offer a unique experience to locals and visitors alike,” Hales and Flynn write. “Plus, Australians and Texans tend to get along very well,” per their backgrounds.
The bar’s Austin renovations include adding midcentury details and decor similar to the New York location, according to Hales and Flynn. Think wood-panel walls, a pool table and fish tank. They’re excited about having two stories to play around with, as well as the rooftop deck.
Before the Flower Shop, the East Seventh Street space was home to gluten-free restaurant Wilder Wood space opened in 2017 by owner Joan Griffith. Before that, she started the bakery Wild Wood on Guadalupe in 2012 but closed that in 2019. The restaurant closed in September 2023 because, “Austin is changing drastically and survival for small restaurants in a quickly gentrifying neighborhood without the backing of a multi-million dollar restaurant group is becoming more impossible,” as she wrote on Instagram. And before Wilder, the address was burger and beer restaurant Silo on 7th.
Along with opening this Flower Shop Austin location, the team is working on reopening their summer rooftop pop-up at the Walker Hotel in 2024.