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A very lively East Austin French restaurant is expanding into the campus area with a new art museum cafe. The to-be-named restaurant — its placeholder name is Justine’s x Blanton — will be found within the the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin at 200 East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard sometime in the spring of 2025.
The new Justine’s museum cafe serve food, wines, and cocktails (presumably French). Plans also include a bakery counter, daytime breakfast and lunch services, evening dinner hours on Saturdays, and grab-and-go options such as picnic boxes. Every so often, there will be themed dishes correlating to the museum’s seasonal collections and pieces.
The new restaurant will found next to the Blanton’s lobby. It’s taking over what had been the previous Blanton Museum Cafe space, which opened 2008 and closed in 2020. There will be indoor seating and a shaded patio. It’s being designed by noted restaurant designer Joel Mozersky.
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The cafe is part of the Blanton’s renovation project, which started in 2021, with a first major portion completed in 2023. This restaurant is part of a second phase, with its finalized name, along with food and space details, to be revealed later this summer.
Justine’s co-owners and wife-husband team Justine Gilcrease and Pierre Pelegrin opened the French restaurant in 2009. Since then, it’s become a convivial hub for French fare, drinks, and vibes. Of the Blanton space, Gilcrease described their approach: “It will be a creative hub like the great unrushed Parisian cafés, only its magic will be enhanced by the Texas sunshine, distinct Austin energy, and location at one of the city’s most dynamic cultural institutions.”
Austin art museums tagging local restaurants for their on-site cafes isn’t a new thing either. The Contemporary Austin’s outdoor sculpture park Laguna Gloria currently has an outpost of cheese and sandwich shop Spread & Co. (Previously, it was French-Louisianan restaurant Epicerie’s second location.)
