Gina’s on Congress Opens the Next Chapter for an Enduring Congress Avenue Address

The interior of Gina’s on Congress (photo by Jody Horton / courtesy of Gina’s on Congress)

There’s a lot Austin’s known for – live music, bountiful green space, an abiding tendency to lament the days of yore – but let’s be real. We aren’t considered a particularly historic city, especially in the wake of what feels to be an interminable string of closures and conversions.

Yes, quite a bit of our paradise is now pavement (or, like, a Sweetgreen, not the kind of green space we were talking about). But local history buffs and haunted tour guides everywhere can rest easy: Some buildings are just old enough to skirt the intrigues of even the most predatory redevelopment efforts.

Local restaurateur Cameron Lockley started eyeing one of these spots back in 2021, an unassuming, beige-toned centenarian situated at 314 Congress Avenue, which press materials describe as having past lives as a jail, brothel, office, saloon, and restaurant. Then home to La Traviata, the beloved trattoria roosted for two decades before pressing pause in the early throes of the pandemic. After three years in limbo, it announced a long-awaited return at the start of 2023 – to a new location.

Lockley saw his opening and jumped. “I was excited about this space being available given that an Italian restaurant had been successful here for 20-ish years,” he tells the Chronicle. “Then shortly thereafter, with Chez Nous deciding to not renew their lease and continue on, I thought that [it] would be a fun opportunity to combine French with Italian.” Tapping former colleague Jason Tallent in as executive chef, the concept quickly became reality as the two sailed through a surprisingly seamless permitting process and flip.

Cameron Lockley and Jason Tallent (photo by Jody Horton / courtesy of Gina’s on Congress)

“We turned it so fast because it was basically a folder on a computer,” says Tallent. “We had the layout, we had the logo, we had the menu – we had everything ready to go.”

They also had a name: Gina’s on Congress, in homage to Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida. Lockley’s fourth act in a long career spent around the Austin culinary scene, its inspiration came from a painting hung in his first restaurant. “We have a custom piece of artwork at Gusto Italian Kitchen [of] Sophia Loren that a local artist made, and Gina and Sophia sort of competed for roles,” explains Lockley. “So, we thought it'd be fun to play off of that.”

Right up what Lockley terms Tallent’s “wheelhouse,” Gina’s French-Italian offerings were a collaboration between the two. “One of my first ideas for the menu was the salmon dip,” says Tallent. “I thought, if I was a model in the Fifties and Sixties, and I wanted to blow my diet and be extravagant, I would eat some salmon dip with some caviar and potato chips.”

Not one to snub extravagance, the fishy first bite also began my late November dive into a friends and family preview at Gina’s. Crisscrossed by fresh chives and served – per Tallent’s vision – with a stack of regular ole potato chips, the dish forgoes Philly for France, swapping cream cheese for crème fraiche. An acolyte of what Lockley terms “elevated simplicity,” much of Gina’s menu follows suit, recreating iconic dishes using, well, fancier means.

“Italian food is more [the] concept of using really good ingredients and just letting them shine, which is sort of my style,” says Tallent. Sourcing from local vendors like Farm to Table and Longhorn Meat Market, he focuses on staying fresh and in season, with limited accoutrements. Ankle-deep into winter’s citrus harvest, quite a few of the menu’s dishes bore the unmistakable tang of lemon, from the steak tartare to the Caesar salad – comme il faut takes on classic dishes.

From the smaller plates menu: Steak Tartare, Shrimp & Prosciutto, Bone Marrow & Sourdough (photo by Jody Horton / courtesy of Gina’s on Congress)

The beverage menu is prolific, ranging from coffee drinks to dessert cocktails to cordials and liqueurs and an ambitious wine list (they’re understandably scrawny on beer, though). The place also boasts no shortage of ambiance. Sardined, low tables are far from secluded, creating an intimacy that makes it way less weird to turn and ask your neighbor for dessert recommendations. I say this because ours did – we both agreed on the cannoli, hands down.

Between the quiet din and comfortable closeness, there’s a certain feeling that Gina’s Italian predecessor never left the building. A friendly ghost, La Traviata is memorialized in the near-total preservation of what it left behind. “We didn't even make any changes to the space, we've kept the brick walls, we didn't do anything to the facade other than the landlord putting a fresh coat of paint on it,” says Lockley. “Architecturally, we kept the same layout of the space as well.”

Most Austin legacies haven’t come to quite as dignified a close, and if not for the fact that this building is pretty damn old, its story might have ended with La Traviata’s move. A coveted stretch along what Austin calls its “spine” (making the Capitol… our head??), attempts to encroach on the Congress Avenue area’s historic properties are ongoing but not new, having been around since the city filed to implement protections in 1978.

The bar at Gina’s on Congress (photo by Jody Horton / courtesy of Gina’s on Congress)

“Today, Congress Avenue is a mixture of development, preservation, and neglect,” reads its application. “But it retains cohesiveness and strength through a long-standing force of character.” A little over 45 years later, Lockley hopes that the latter continues to draw locals in.

“We really want to be just a very familiar, easy-to-walk-into place,” he says.