glou glou · Play

First written down in 1666

It starts with a sound

Glou glou is French. It is the glug of wine leaving a bottle a little too quickly, the sound of a generous pour. Somewhere along the way it stopped describing the sound and started describing the wine: the kind you can drink without ceremony and enjoy without explanation.

We took that out of the bottle and built a place around it. Even the logo is a sound wave. Hold the button and pour one.

The terrace

Almost entirely outside

Nearly all of the seating is outdoors and all of it is covered. Plenty of places to sit, and room to stand and mingle. Mediterranean in feel, East Austin in temperament.

Order at the counter, find a seat, stay as long as you like. Bring the kids. Nobody will look at you.

95%outdoors, all of it covered

175+seats and standing room

0reasons to dress up

The list

Priced so you open a second bottle

Beer and wine only. No spirits, no cocktails. The list is weighted toward the approachable end on purpose: low intervention where it earns its place, familiar where it does not, and priced so that a second bottle is an easy decision rather than a considered one.

Not sure what you want? Tell us roughly what you like and somebody will hand you something. Non alcoholic options are on the list properly, not as an afterthought.

The kitchen

Sefra at Glou Glou

Silky hummus, stuffed pitas, bright salads, pickles, and plates made for sharing. Eastern Mediterranean by way of East Austin, generous rather than precious, and priced like the wine.

Sefra is Chef Gilbert St. Peter's Eastern Mediterranean kitchen, built on the flavors of the Levant and his Sephardic roots. Tap the sizzle to hear the kitchen.

How the menu is built Sample

Hummus bowls, stuffed pitas, salads and pickles from Sefra

A pita stuffed with eggplant, egg, herbs and tahini

On the terrace

Pétanque, with a glass in the other hand

A gravel court, a set of steel boules, and a game that takes thirty seconds to learn and a lifetime to get good at. Throw closest to the little wooden cochonnet and you win the end.

We expect leagues. We expect grudge matches. We fully expect kids to beat their parents. Warm up here: drag back from the circle, let go to throw.

Three boules. Get close.

Mornings

Mornings are a different place

Before the wine comes out, the same terrace runs as a coffee and coworking space. Wifi, shade, power at the tables, and a flat white. Quiet enough to take a call. Bring a laptop and stay, or take a coffee and go.

No minimum, no time limit. Morning hours TBC

The people

Who is pouring, and who is cooking

KFPortrait to come

General Manager

Kayleigh Fair

Kayleigh grew up in restaurants. Her mother was a waitress, and some of her earliest memories are of days spent at work alongside her. She took her first industry job at 16 and moved to Austin in 2018, where she found her passion for hospitality.

Since then she has worked in an upscale diner, a great seafood restaurant and a full French style wine bar, and has helped open three concepts. The first, in 2022, introduced her to a deep, carefully built wine program and set her on the path into wine. She went on to run a small, niche wine bar concept and make it a success.

She brings that range to Glou Glou: wine knowledge, a head for operations, and real care for the people on both sides of the table.

Wine
Operations
Three openings
Austin since 2018

GSPortrait to come

Chef · Sefra at Glou Glou

Gilbert St. Peter

Gilbert grew up in a community centered around home cooked meals, so cooking was always part of his life. It began to feel like a career as he worked his way from line cook in Indian restaurants and brewery food trucks to sous chef in fine dining.

His formative years were spent with Emmer & Rye Hospitality Group. He rose from Sous Chef to Chef de Cuisine at TLV, supported the teams at Canje and Emmer & Rye, and helped open Ezov as Executive Sous Chef. After four years with the group he cofounded Knuckle Sandwich, a chef driven food truck playing with East and West Coast deli sandwiches.

There he found himself wanting to return to the food he grew up eating and bring more of it to Austin. That became Sefra Mediterranean, an Eastern Mediterranean concept built around the core ingredients and flavors of the Levant, with a distinct influence from his Sephardic roots.

Levant
Sephardic roots
Emmer & Rye
Knuckle Sandwich

POPortrait to come

Wine Director

Patrick Olds

Patrick came to Austin to join MML Hospitality as assistant wine director and worked his way to the top job. By the time he left, he was running the wine programs for 30 restaurants across three states. He went on to found Sidecar Beverage Consulting, helping independent restaurants build drink programs worth talking about.

Few people care about what is in the glass as much as Patrick does. At Glou Glou he leads the wine list, and the training and education the whole team is built on.

Wine lists
Training
Sidecar Beverage

Private events

The whole terrace, or part of it

The terrace takes a crowd, and it does it without feeling like a function room. A covered terrace with room for a real crowd, Sefra in the kitchen, and beer and wine at the counter.

Birthdays, rehearsal dinners, team nights, whatever you are celebrating. Tell us the plan and we will make it happen. We reply to every inquiry, usually within a couple of days.

Visit

640 Allen St

East Austin, TX 78702

Tue to Sun: 4 to 10 PM
Mornings: Coffee and coworking TBC
Monday: Closed

Get directions

It is outdoors

Nearly all of the seating is outside and all of it is covered. Shade is not a problem, light rain is not either. Austin being Austin, dress for the weather.

Order at the counter

No table service and no reservations. Walk in, order, sit down.

Beer and wine only

No spirits and no cocktails. The list makes up for it.

Bring your kids

Genuinely. Dogs and parking TBC

Wine that does not take itself too seriously