A top Texas deli is one step closer to reopening the doors of its original location. New details this week reveal when Katz’s could be reviving its flagship restaurant in Austin.

The 24-hour diner-style chain has officially filed a permit to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for a $2.5 million renovation of the ground floor space of 601 Rio Grande St. and neighboring 620 W 6th St. to become a full-service restaurant with a full commercial kitchen. According to the submitted project details, construction will begin in September and take six months to be completed. Information in TDLR filings aren’t final, however, and are subject to change.

Katz’s’ move back to the capital is a plan years in the making, and it’s a full circle moment for Barry Katz, whose father ran the original restaurant that opened in Austin in 1979. Having worked there starting at 8 years old, Katz has said he knew from a very young age that he wanted to be a restaurateur. As an adult, he brought a taste of the family business to Houston with several Katz’s locations. In 2024, he got to plan Katz’s return back to where it all started once he purchased the OG Austin location at auction in bankruptcy court.

“To go back to our original location, with 45 years of history, it just feels too good to be true. It’s the luckiest thing in the world that it came up for sale,” Katz told the Austin-American Statesman in 2024. “I feel like I’ve won the Oscars, I have so many people to thank.”

Katz’s first Houston location opened in 2000 on Westheimer Road in Montrose. Then came a Woodlands location in 2006, a spot in the Heights in 2020, and launches in the Galleria area and Memorial City in 2022 and ’25, respectively. 

An official opening date for the new Austin location has yet to be announced, but the restaurant’s website states it is expected to reopen in 2027 or later.