Austin Bar Armadillo Den Opens a New Bar and Restaurant on East Cesar Chavez

The nitro carajillo at Chalmers’ older sibling bar Armadillo Den.

The team behind far south Austin alfresco bar Armadillo Den and newer East Austin bar Dainty Dilly is opening its third new bar this summer. Chalmers is found at 1700 East Cesar Chavez Street in the East Cesar Chavez neighborhood starting on Thursday, July 4.

Chalmers is pegged as a casual Texas ice house, per Armadillo co-owner Brett Berry, who described its vibe as “West Texas and Marfa meets Luckenbach,” during an interview earlier For food, this means a Southwestern approach. There are fry bread tacos, where the Navajo deep-fried bread is used as a base for toppings such as spiced ground beef, strip steak, or mushrooms. Sandwiches include burgers, patty melts, BLTs, and the Roadrunner (made with blackened chicken, roasted mushrooms, smoked bacon, pepper jack cheese, guacamole, etc.). Then there are appetizers like crispy fried onion strings (which it calls “Tumbleweed”), country-fried steak tenders, and arancini made with Spanish rice; plus salads.

Similiar to Armadillo Den, Chalmers will have two on-site trucks. There’s desserts truck, Sweet Nothings, serving snow cones and soft serve. And then, later on, barbecue truck Rollin Smoke BBQ will open a location there.

Drinks-wise, expect draft cocktails and beers. There will be a frozen Mexican martini made with an okra brine; the Desert Zombie with tequila and mezcal; and a nitro carajillo with the option to add tequila. Guests will order drinks at the bar and food through either the QR codes on the tables or directly at the food trucks.

Physically, Chalmers took over what was a Shell gas station, with indoor and outdoor areas — there’s an alfresco bar that makes use of a defunct gas pump. Elsewhere, there are fire pits, televisions, live music stages and areas, and a fenced-in off-leash dog park. It was designed by design agency Canales & Co. There are plans to host live music shows on Wednesdays and weekends.

Chalmers is opening in two stages. For its first day of service, the bar will serve out of its physical building and front patio. Then, on a date that is to be determined a couple weeks later, the bar will open its backyard. And originally, Chalmers was supposed to open on June 28, but that was delayed to the new July date.

Chalmers is a collaboration between Armadillo Den and the Excelsior Hospitality group (chef Nicholas Yanes and Michael Covey). The bar’s general manager is Aaron Amtower, who has worked for Armadillo Den for a while.

Chalmers’ hours will be from 4 p.m. to midnight Monday through Wednesday; noon to midnight Thursday, Friday, and Sunday; and noon to 1 a.m. Saturday. The bar is kid- and family-friendly until 6 p.m. each day.

The Armadillo team — co-owners Berry, Skylar Reeves, Josh ‘Biggie’ Hazzard, and Cade Archer — opened the original bar on Menchaca Road in late 2020. They expanded with Dainty Dillo — taking over what was restaurant/bar Tillery Kitchen — in February. There’s also a plan to expand into Gruene, Texas. And finally, they also run Granbury, Texas venue and bar Warren’s Backyard.