For years the Tarrytown weekly routine ran on two anchors: the Casis Village errand loop and a lap around the Laguna Gloria grounds when the weather cooperated. That map has quietly shifted. Two openings inside a two-block radius on Windsor Road and Winsted Lane have given residents a third pole, and it happens to be the one that changes what a summer Thursday looks like around here.
If you already live in 78703, you have probably driven past both. The point of this post is what they do to your calendar once you notice they now stack.
The new Windsor-Winsted block
Community Kitchen and Taproom opened in Tarrytown at 3110 Windsor Rd., serving plant-based versions of fried chicken, surf and turf, and barbecue plates alongside classic Southern sides. Co-owners Marlon Rison and Ericka Dotson first launched their business five years ago as Community Vegan, a food truck operating out of a brightly painted 1973 Winnebago on East 11th Street. The move west is the interesting part. Tarrytown has never really had a plant-based sit-down in walking distance of the shopping center, and the room itself was designed for lingering rather than turnover. The space is designed to feel relaxed and welcoming, with live plants on wood-block tables, low lighting, and gentle jazz.
A couple of practical notes for residents. Current hours are Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 9 pm, Friday and Saturday from noon to 9 pm, and Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm, with brunch from 11 am to 3 pm. The restaurant is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. And if you have been circling the block looking for the sign, the restaurant's website cautions that the address isn't well-represented on Google Maps yet, but it is correct; find Community Kitchen between Pak Mail and Austin Pets Alive, facing Windsor Road.
Three blocks away, the second shift. Bésame recently expanded into the spot at Littlefield's in Tarrytown that used to be occupied by Cookie Rich. It's an adorable space with outdoor tables, a patio shaded and covered in greenery, and lawn space for the kiddos to play. Founder Sheena George described the expansion in her own words: "we're opening our second location at Littlefield's in Tarrytown, and we're expanding into coffee and pastries, coming full circle, back to my baking roots." The address is 2401 Winsted Ln., a short walk from Windsor.
Read those two together and the block reads differently. Dinner at 3110 Windsor, a scoop and an espresso at 2401 Winsted, a stroll home. Before this spring that sequence didn't exist inside the neighborhood; it required a drive to South Lamar or downtown.
Why Thursday quietly became the day
Any Tarrytown resident with a standing weekly art habit already knows Laguna Gloria runs a Thursday rhythm. What changed is that Bésame added one of its own, and the two land on the same evening.
Start with the museum. The Contemporary Austin has two distinct yet complementary locations, the Jones Center downtown and Laguna Gloria, a fourteen-acre site on Lake Austin, which is home to the Driscoll Villa, Gatehouse Gallery, the Art School, and the Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park at Laguna Gloria. Thursdays are free admission days, a significant perk for visitors looking to experience the art without a fee. That same evening, on Thursday evenings from 6 to 8 PM you can experience the Lantern Tour at Laguna Gloria, a free, staff-led tour of the art on display across the grounds. Only 10 tickets are available, so advance ticketing is preferred. Ten spots is the kind of detail that rewards locals who plan ahead and frustrates visitors who show up.
Now add the ice cream. Limited Edition pints drop every Thursday at 7:30 PM, and flavors change regularly based on what's in season, with things like a lavender and blueberry ice cream with Fruity Pebbles or an earl gray ice cream with wildflower honey meringue, and they go fast.
Put together, a Thursday in Tarrytown now has an actual sequence:
- Free grounds admission at Laguna Gloria opens up an unhurried late afternoon at the sculpture park.
- The 6 to 8 PM Lantern Tour, if you booked one of the ten spots, gives it a staff-led shape.
- The 7:30 PM Bésame pint drop at Littlefield's catches you on the way home.
- Community Kitchen is open until 9 PM Thursday if dinner was the point.
None of these are new individually. The point is that they now rhyme. The neighborhood used to spread its interesting evenings across the week; Thursday has quietly pulled them into a stack.
What Casis Village still owns
The Windsor-Winsted shift does not replace the older shopping loop. It reroutes around it.
Tarrytown is anchored by two main shopping centers: Casis Village, built in 1952 by the Bryant family, and Tarrytown Shopping Center, developed by the Crusemann family in 1939 and now owned by Jeanne Crusemann Daniels. In May 2023, Casis Shopping Center was sold to a partnership between Austin-based Ivy Cos. and 35 South Capital, and the new owners plan to make renovations to the Center's facade, landscaping and common areas. That refresh matters because Casis has always carried the daytime end of the neighborhood: Tarrytown Pharmacy for medication, cards, stationery, candles, giftware, and jewelry crafted by local artists; Hearth and Soul for apparel, home decor and gifts; Estilo's separate boutiques for men, women and children; and L Majors Jewelers for fine jewelry.
The older Tarrytown Shopping Center at Exposition and Windsor still operates under its long-established tenant selection rules and reads more as a passthrough than a destination. That is exactly why the new cluster three blocks away registers as a shift rather than a duplication. Daytime errands remain at Casis. Evening plans have moved.
The standing map
The new cluster only works because the rest of the neighborhood's infrastructure has stayed remarkably stable. For anyone building a summer week around family, dogs, or guests visiting from out of town, these are the fixed points to schedule around.
Mayfield Park and Preserve Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Mayfield Park was given to the city of Austin by Mary Mayfield Gutsch, and with its peacocks, koi ponds, water lilies and 21 acres of footpaths and wildlife habitat, it is full of beauty. The peacocks are the reliable draw for out-of-town guests who want a Tarrytown moment without a museum ticket.
Laguna Gloria grounds The historic Driscoll Villa is closed on Mondays and open Tuesday through Sunday 10A to 4P; the grounds, including the Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park, are open Monday through Saturday 9A to 5P and Sunday 10A to 5P. Weekday-morning walks before the Texas afternoon settles in remain the quietest window.
Reed Park and WAYA The West Austin Youth Association has athletics for all ages on its campus at Exposition and Enfield, and West Austinites have enjoyed baseball, kickball, basketball and volleyball there for years. Reed Park still functions as the near-daily outlet for families whose kids have outgrown a backyard sprinkler.
Lions Municipal Golf Course Lions Municipal is a public course that golf legends Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite cut their teeth on; the course is currently owned by the University of Texas and is on the target list to sell, and West Austin has mounted an extensive public campaign to keep the course as it is. Worth knowing while it is still a public tee time.
One summer Saturday, actually mapped
To make the rearrangement concrete, here is what a Saturday can look like now without leaving Tarrytown.
Start with a slow morning at Mayfield around 9 AM before the peacocks retreat into the shade. Cross over to the Sculpture Park before the ticket line forms. Walk Reed Park with the dog, or drop kids at a WAYA game. When lunch pulls at you, Casis Village handles the errand list and a coffee. Late afternoon: a scoop at Bésame's Littlefield's patio. Dinner at Community Kitchen and Taproom on Windsor, since Saturday hours run noon to 9 PM. That sequence used to require crossing MoPac at least twice. It no longer does.
The thesis of this post, if you have read this far, is not that Tarrytown has suddenly changed. It is that two additions inside three blocks have re-centered the week without anyone announcing it. If you already live here, you can feel that shift most clearly on Thursday evenings, and most conveniently on Saturday afternoons.
For residents who eventually think about what this quiet re-centering means for the value of a home a few streets over, or for buyers watching Tarrytown from farther out, the Tarrytown neighborhood page at Mary Anne McMahon is the working reference. When the time comes to move within the neighborhood or into it, schedule a private consultation and we will talk through what your block, and this new center of gravity, actually mean for your next step.