Moody Fun New York Dive-Meets-Cocktail Bar Is Making Its Way Into Austin

A New York City neighborhood bar is making its way to East Austin this fall. Mother’s Ruin will open in mixed-use development Centro at 1401 East Sixth Street, Building A, Suite 204 in the East Cesar Chavez neighborhood starting sometime in the fall of 2024.

Mother’s Ruin is known for its dive bar-slash-cocktail bar approaches and aesthetics. The drinks include a frozen slushie with bourbon; house cocktails, pickleback shots, beers, Austin Eastciders, and wines. It’s fair to expect cocktails inspired by East Sixth/Austin/Texas. (The name refers to a British nickname for gin.)

Food-wise, the menu spans American and New American. Think waffle fries seasoned with Old Bay seasoning, cheeseburgers, hot sauce-honey chicken wings, breakfast burritos, and more. Then there’s daily brunch with dishes like spicy chicken and waffles, bacon-egg-cheese sandwiches, and French toast sticks.

Co-founders Richard Knapp (who confirmed the expansion to Eater) and TJ Lynch opened the original Mother’s Ruin in Manhattan in 2011. The team expanded into Nashville in late 2019, followed by Chicago in 2022.

Also found in the Centro development including New York-based automat restaurant Brooklyn Dumpling Shop

This isn’t the only New York-based cocktail bar making its way into Austin. Retro-styled bar the Flower Shop is going to be opening on East Seventh — the former Wilder Wood space — sometime in the summer of 2024.

Garrett Sweet/Eater Chicago