Stone Cold South Austin Puts Smackdown on Fancy Diner

Just minutes ago, South Congress Cafe was again cited by Austin's city code enforcement office, after repeated negotiations with Bouldin Creek residents and businesses went unresolved.

As you might recall, the chic SoCo eatery (yeah, we said it) built an enormous deck where their back parking lot used to be, despite several stop-work orders from the city. Given the scarcity of nearby lots, this enraged nearby residents, as diners took to parking on the small side streets flanking the South Congress Avenue -- much like everyone else who frequents the area. True to South Austin form, some staged a "sing-in" protest during a First Thursday last August.

We're not sure where the matter now stands, but we'll keep you posted should any awesome fist fights arise.

Photo from BouldinCreek.org

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By Allen Y Chen in Food, News on March 8, 2007 2:31 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Sudo

Doesn't the owner's son, Mike Martinez, have a job with the City? You know, like City Councilman or something?

Lori

Instead of being able simply to enforce the law, the city now has to go through a lawsuit to have the law enforced. How weird is that? All of us Austinites are paying with our tax dollars to have the law enforced.

I will never ever spend a dime in South Congress Cafe or its sister restaurant Trudy's again. What happened to equal treatment under the law--why should South Congress Cafe think themselves above it--at a cost to me the taxpayer?

ol'pappy

They're rich and they can buy what they want.

That's always the case.

rob

I'm usually the devil's advocate but I can't think of any situation where the restaurant thinks they have a case. They didn't get permits, they built over public right-of-way, they eliminated parking without approval. What exactly is their case?

I don't see a reason why we need parking in a supposedly urban area but that doesn't give the restaurant the right to break the law. You'd think they would want to get the deck open for additional revenue and would comply with code. Am I missing something here?

ol'pappy

Should any awesome fist fights arise, I wanna video of that.

I love that sign. How very tres chic so-co diy. I bet they got it from Factory People for like, $500.