A LOFTY RESTAURANT IS DETERMINED TO BECOME A FINE DINING DESTINATION IN AUSTIN

A notable fine dining chef is opening a bar and restaurant promising high-caliber meals and service in Austin this year. Chef Mathew Peters’s new cocktail bar Prélude — opening on Thursday, May 2 — and tasting menu dining restaurant Maven — opening in late 2025 — will be found in the West End neighborhood of downtown Austin at 707 West 10th Street.

Prélude will work as a reservations-only cocktail bar and lounge, where Peters will serve canapes and cocktails. Statesman shared a menu, which includes bites like toast chawanmushi (a Japanese egg custard), uni, compressed apple with ginger, and scallions; a take on tacos with hamachi, charred shishito peppers, and avocado puree; panisse (a fried polenta bite) with pistachio dukkah; and chicken Kiev with hot sauce. The bar will be open for reservations only (no walk-ins), as well as for private events.

The bar’s name alludes to the fact that it serves as the introduction to the full restaurant, Maven. That will function as the fine dining room with a tasting menu at the beginning. Peters tells Eater that he wants to be flexible with the structure of the meals: “I do love to be playful with the menus and see what my diners enjoy most, so I could see myself changing the structure over time with new ideas,” he writes to Eater over email via a representative.

Statesman also reports that Austin chef Sterling Ridings is joining the restaurant/bar’s kitchens. He formerly worked at New American restaurant Parkside, Japanese restaurant Uchiko, and seafood restaurant Guild (which has since closed).

Peters, who is from Pennsylvania, has a very thorough fine dining background. He started out working at the Ritz Carlton in Naples, Florida, and then moved to New York City where he worked at St. Regis New York hotel restaurant Adour under chef Alain Ducasse and three-Michelin-starred restaurant Per Se under chef Thomas Keller. He also worked at Keller’s Napa Valley restaurant French Laundry, where he met his wife Lorin Peters. It was during his tenure at Per Se when he competed as part of the American team that ended up winning massive French culinary competition Bocuse d’Or in 2017.

The couple moved to Austin in 2017, where Mathew had his goal of opening his own restaurant and Lorin opened her bakery Cookie Rich and later on, daytime food truck Goldy’s. (They’re also involved with a group that is looking to bring the Michelin Guide to Texas.)

While Mathew Peters was looking for the perfect space for his restaurant vision, he came upon the West 10th Street space — a house dating from the late 1800s. He connected with the owner, CEO David Kanne of real estate development and investment firm LV Collective CEO (which has a bunch of developments throughout Austin — including downtown restaurant Estelle’s — and elsewhere). The specific neighborhood is full of former lawyer offices that are being redeveloped into taller residential buildings, per Towers.

Reservations for Prélude will be available starting on Sunday, April 28 through OpenTable. Its hours will be from 5 to 11 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, and then from 5 to 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Leading up to Maven’s opening in late 2024, general renovations for the West 10th address will begin in early 2025. Prélude will remain open during that period too.

Update, April 26: This article, originally published on March 11, has been updated to include Prélude’s opening date, reservation details, and hours of operation.

2024-04-26T16:34:35Z dg43tfdfdgfd