Very Fun and Cheeky Austin Burger Pop-Up Bad Larry’s Opening a Restaurant
Founder Matthew Bolick describes the new spot as "Waffle House run through the Larry filter," with smash burgers, coffee, and cocktails Austin's popular pop-up restaurant, Bad Larry's, is set to open a full-on restaurant in the Holly neighborhood in early 2025. The restaurant will be named Bad Larry’s by founder and owner Matthew Bolick and will serve the iconic smash burger and other dishes like the Breakfast Larry. It will also feature a full bar serving cocktails, wine, and beers, and a full espresso bar using roasts from Brooklyn-based Sey Coffee. The new restaurant will host regular events like concerts, DJ sets, and parties, with plans to host its multi-day music/food festival Weekend at Larry's at the new address. The team includes business partner Lauren Dickens, interior design studio KKDW, and bar owner Nathan Hill.
Pubblicato : 3 settimane fa di Nadia Chaudhury in
One of Austin’s best and most fun pop-ups is opening a full-on restaurant. Bad Larry Burger Club is going to be opening Bad Larry’s in the Holly neighborhood at 2027 East Cesar Chavez Street starting sometime in early 2025.
Bad Larry founder and owner Matthew Bolick describes the new restaurant as “Waffle House run through the Larry filter,” as he tells Eater, with some “cheffy touches.” It’ll serve the pop-up’s iconic smash burger, plus other dishes like the Breakfast Larry, an egg sandwich with a patty served on an English muffin. There are plans to make house bread for Texas toasts and the such. There will be a to-be-announced chef team.
Bad Larry the restaurant will also have a full bar serving cocktails, wine, and beers. Per Bolick’s interests (he is the co-owner of Brew & Brew, Better Half, and Little Brother too), there will be coffee and a full espresso bar making use of roasts from Brooklyn-based roastery Sey Coffee. It’ll serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with daytime into midnight hours.
Much like the Eater Award-winning pop-up, Bad Larry the restaurant will host regular events like concerts, DJ sets, and parties. There are already plans to host its multi-day music/food festival Weekend at Larry’s at the new address eventually.
Bad Larry is taking over the entire East Cesar Chavez address that had been now-closed convenience store Upscale Market, which was also previously a location of Quickie Pickie During the building’s time as Upscale Market, it housed the physical location of food truck JNL Barbecue, which operated from late 2022 into early 2024 (the truck is now open at Buzz Mill Coffee on Riverside). And during its Quickie Pickie days, it had been a physical location of La Barbecue from 2017 through 2021 (it now operates its own standalone space further east on East Cesar Chavez).
Bolick is opening Bad Larry’s with Austin-based Open Road Hospitality, which is run by Nathan Hill (also behind East Austin honky tonk the White Horse, retro bar High Noon, East Riverside bar Frazier’s) and Jeremy Murray (East Austin bar Kitty Cohen’s). The company also runs East Austin cocktail bar Daydreamer, newer neighborhood bar Busty’s Bar and Jukebox, and a forthcoming San Antonio bar, Jackie’s Desert Rose. The three are friends and had been wanting to open something together for a while.
Rounding out the Bad Larry’s team are business partner partner Lauren Dickens, interior design studio KKDW (run by Kelly Dewitt; which has designed places like Little Brother’s garage door, High Noon, Daydreamer, wine restaurant Birdie’s, and coffee shop Civil Goat), and Busty’s general manager Heather Muir. The team signed the East Cesar Chavez lease a week ago.
Bolick started Bad Larry in 2019, based on his monthly burger and beer parties he hosted before, named for his home street at the time. A couple of months after Bad Larry Burger Club started officially, the pandemic began in March 2020 and he turned the event into a socially distanced pop-up that grew in popularity.
The pop-up won an Eater Award in 2021 in the one-time-ever category of Best Fun, Aggressive, and Socially Conscious Burger Pop-Up, for its very on-point messaging and delicious burgers. See: the brilliant Fuck Abbott shirt featuring a photograph of Ted Cruz, of which sales benefited homeless people’s support network Stop The Sweeps ATX’s fund.
Until the physical space opens, Bolick plans on still hosting Bad Larry pop-ups through the end of this year and into next. He’s also open to cooking at events. And then also, he’s working on opening a cheeseburger restaurant out in Marfa.