Modern-rustic dining patio at Texas French Bread

December 04, 2019

All you really need for a garden, as Phoenix landscape architect Steve Martino says, are a tree, a chair, a wall, and a little water. The rustic-modern patio at Texas French Bread reminded me of this when I stopped by for lunch yesterday. Designed by Christy Ten Eyck, the patio’s clean-lined, semi-industrial design — rusty steel pipe and board-formed concrete predominate — shows the power of a shade structure (there are trees also), simple seating, low defining walls, and a bubbling trough fountain to create an inviting outdoor space.

McNICHOLS wire mesh, a signature design element for Ten Eyck, filters Austin’s intense sunlight atop a large pergola of rusty steel pipe. String lights hang in straight lines beneath the pergola and across the patio, allowing nighttime use. Planted in raised beds of board-formed concrete, billowing native grasses, leafy small trees, and Mickey Mouse-eared spineless prickly pear screen the patio from the street. If only the seating had been a little more inviting. There was a bar-height table and a regular table with a couple of hard stools. I got the feeling much of the seating had been moved elsewhere.

Another of Ten Eyck’s signature elements, a trough-style, board-formed concrete fountain sits alongside the main walk into the patio from the restaurant across the parking lot. The metal grate on the walk bridges a sunken rain garden, abloom with native Gulf muhly, including a white cultivar of the normally pink-flowering grass.

The other end of the patio contains three long beer-garden-style picnic tables. A tall wall along the back provides enclosure, and the low wall at left retains and separates the patio from the rain garden, where fruit trees offer additional screening amid the muhly grasses. A massive, gnarled live oak shades the tables.

At the door, a vertical strip of metal displays welded-on succulent planter boxes zigzagging up the side. Drainage holes in each box allow water to drip directly into the box below.

But back to the dining patio, where fruit trees and a fluffy swath of pink and white Gulf muhly greet you from the sunken rain garden as you park your car.

The outer edge of the garden along the public sidewalk is equally appealing, with grasses and spineless prickly pear planted block-style beneath a screen of trees.

Kudos to Texas French Bread for investing in a beautiful and sustainable design for their dining patio.

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Digging Deeper

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10 responses to “Modern-rustic dining patio at Texas French Bread”

  1. Great place; my only visit was mid-afternoon in July ’18, and the food was yummy / service friendly without pretense. I recall taking my coffee out onto the patio while snapping pics all over…empty, but very appealing to me for times of less muggy weather. Maybe thefts of stools, or just keeping them inside unless there are larger groups?

    You hit all the fine points well, including the Ten Eyck signature features of native grasses vs. hardscape, rectilinear water feature, and positive / negative space!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Ten Eyck does it so well, creating spaces of interest and beauty that are never overdone. Yes, maybe the stools/tables walked off (hope not), or maybe they had an event and just hadn’t put everything back. I was with my dad on this day, and he didn’t fancy a hard picnic table seat, so we ate inside, alas. It was all I could do not to take my sandwich out to the patio. Another time!

  2. Katharina says:

    I am jealous of the beautiful pink Gulf muhly. Mine are not blooming this year. Any idea why?

  3. Lisa at Greenbow says:

    It looks very inviting. Love the cover and trough. I could see someone riding up on their horse and letting it have a drink while having dinner. 🙂

  4. Nell Lancaster says:

    You’re right, it’s such an inviting space that it tempts you to put up with a hard seat. Maybe one of the several logistical burdens of aging is having to carry a cushion around with you…

  5. Jacqueline Lee says:

    What kind & variety of fruit trees are planted there & how far apart? What year did they plant? Do they have plans to epalier them or to let them grow full natural size? Thank you! Trying to learn.