Restaurant and wellness hub Casa de Luz expanding to East Austin with Casa de Luz Este

Matthew Odam, Austin American-Statesman
Casa de Luz has been serving healthful, plant-based meals in a wholistic wellness space for more than 30 years.
Casa de Luz has been serving healthful, plant-based meals in a wholistic wellness space for more than 30 years.

A unique hub for community with a history of feeding healthy meals to Austinites in an intentional setting is branching out after decades.

Casa de Luz, which first opened just south of Lady Bird Lake on Toomey Road in 1991, will open Casa de Luz Este Friday at 1915 East Martin Luther King Blvd., between Bennu Coffee and JuiceLand.

The new location is a partnership between Casa de Luz self-described “steward” and co-founder Eduardo Longoria and Casa regulars Blake Thompson and Robert McKee of commercial real estate firm State Street Properties, who own the property where Casa de Luz Este sits.

Blake Thompson (left) of State Street Properties is an avid cyclist who has been visiting the original Casa de Luz, co-founded by Wayo Longoria (right), for more than 15 years.
Blake Thompson (left) of State Street Properties is an avid cyclist who has been visiting the original Casa de Luz, co-founded by Wayo Longoria (right), for more than 15 years.

Casa de Luz Este, which will serve macrobiotic, plant-based cuisine, will be open daily for lunch and dinner, breakfast by late summer. Grab-and-go items will also be available, including take-out and ready-made meals to prepare at home.

Adriana Martinez-Eliaz, a seven-year veteran of Casa de Luz whose mother worked in the kitchen on Toomey for decades, will serve as the manager of Casa de Luz Este, and her cousin, Edwin Gomez, will be the restaurant’s chef. Gomez, a native of Guatemala who has been learning the Casa de Luz recipes and style for the last six months at the original location, will live on site at Casa de Luz Este with his wife and two children.

Casa de Luz Este on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard will serve lunch and dinner daily, with plans to add breakfast.
Casa de Luz Este on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard will serve lunch and dinner daily, with plans to add breakfast.

“Much like our original village on Toomey, Casa Este offers a thoughtful and unique aesthetic while remaining true to our original Austin roots," Longoria said. "East Austin will finally get to experience the joy of Casa de Luz, a truly peaceful and welcoming space to share a meal and genuinely know one another."

From 2017: Casa de Luz co-founder built community around food and wellness

Longoria met the late Maryann Rose in 1984 at the macrobiotic East West Center in South Austin. A couple of years after that building was destroyed by fire, Longoria and Rose founded Casa de Luz in January 1991. Rose died in 2017.

State Street Properties is also partners in Flo’s Wine Bar & Bottle Shop, Zed’s Ice Cream, and the mixed-use space at the old Hyde Park U.S. Post Office that is home to First Light Books, Moogie Pilates, Bureau de Poste and Tiny Grocer.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Casa de Luz expanding restaurant and wellness hub to East Austin

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