We knew the questions they were facing- How am I going to feed my family?-were scary and real. What adjustments did you make to weather the pandemic?ĮW: When the news first hit, we shuttered all of our other restaurants, brought every employee to El Arroyo, and raised our front-of-house people’s pay to account for missing tips. Then, all the Texas people came to our defense with five-star ratings and posting pictures of the animals they’d gotten on their last hunt. PW: “Last queso stop before a bunch of yoga studios” and “Unless you fell on the treadmill, nobody wants to hear about your workout.”ĮW: We ran two signs about vegans, including, “If you’re a vegan who does CrossFit, which one do you talk about first?” This militant vegan organization rallied followers from around the world to give us one-star ratings on Facebook. You wouldn’t believe how many times we’ve come up with quips on a text chain where we’re just spit balling and bulls***ting and, 30 minutes later, it’s up. These days, we have more than 660,000 followers across all our platforms.ĮW: Unless it’s a public figure who really asks for it, we want it to be a beacon of genuine love for the spirit of Austin. So, we tried to do two things: Harness a voice that toes the line between uplifting, snarky, and of-the-moment, and lean into the social media side of things. Pissed-off people were calling regularly about its messaging back then. PW: The sign had a lot of issues when we first arrived. What’s the story behind the famous El Arroyo sign? Someone else got married there the same weekend we did.
There were a ton of booking requests for events before the space was completed. The bank, which technically owned the empty building at the time, told us it was in disrepair and needed new ownership, so Ellis called me with a proposal…ĮW: I said, “We can get married there, but we’re going to have to open a restaurant first.” We outfitted that whole second level of Abel’s on the Lake with our wedding in mind. In fact, Abel’s on the Lake exists because we wanted to rent that waterfront space as a wedding venue. Sounds like your marriage and your businesses are inseparable. Sometimes he’ll come up with an idea, and I’ll be like Backpedal, backpedal.
#WEATHER UP RESTAURANT AUSTIN FULL#
PW: Ellis is a dreamer and is full of bold ideas. Luckily, we got it turned around quickly and ended up using the profit to purchase Cain & Abel’s after. It was clear that I was going to either succeed or fail and ruin myself financially. The place was beloved, but it was struggling. How did you own a bar at such a young age, Ellis?ĮW: After saving up for a few years, I bought Star Seeds Cafe in September 2001. We didn’t start dating for a while, but when we did, that forged our partnership. By then, Ellis, who’s three years older than me, had become the owner there.
During my junior year at UT, I started waitressing at Cain & Abel’s. Paige Winstanley: My path is actually tied directly to Ellis. He’d fall asleep at the register, so we’d just stop charg-ing people covers to get in. It was like the Wild West: The operating partner there used to put on a raggedy Easter Bunny costume when he’d drink too much. How did you first get involved in the restaurant business?Įllis Winstanley: When I was 18, I’d walk down Sixth Street in a shirt and tie looking for bartender gigs. Here, they reflect on pandemic-driven innovations (to-go ’ritas, anyone?) and stories from decades in the hospitality industry. The duo behind it all? Ellis and Paige Winstanley, who have owned, operated, and enhanced the Austin institution since 2012. Texas: Hold my beer,” the Fifth Street marquee has taken on a life of its own. With daily musings like “Mother Nature: You can’t have all the seasons in one week. Since 1975, El Arroyo has enticed Tex-Mex lovers with its gargantuan proportions, ice-cold margaritas, and, of course, that world-famous sign out front.
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