A downtown Austin wine bar has traded its self-pour taps for shag carpeting, palm-print bedspreads, and cheesecake on the menu. Wanderlust Wine Co.'s location on North Interstate Highway 35 opened as The Golden Girls Kitchen on Thursday, transforming into a fully immersive restaurant built around the beloved 1980s sitcom, with tickets already on sale for the run through November 8.
The pop-up is the latest project from Bucket Listers, the experiential dining company behind a growing string of nostalgia-driven bar takeovers, and it arrives in partnership with Disney Entertainment as part of a nationwide tour, according to KXAN Austin. Derek Berry, president of experiences for Bucket Listers, said the company was honored to bring the concept to Austin following several sold-out runs in other cities, per the outlet's report. The tour previously stopped in cities including New York, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, and Atlanta after debuting in Beverly Hills, California, on July 30, 2022 — a date organizers dubbed Golden Girls Day — as detailed by WABE.
What's on the Menu and Set Inside the Lanai
Bucket Listers describes the concept as a fast-casual spot with an emphasis on desserts, and the KXAN report notes the experience includes a merchandise store and photo opportunities throughout the space. Community Impact reports the menu leans hard into the show's running gags, with Sophia's Lasagna Al Forno available in meat or vegan versions, a Miami-style Cuban sandwich called The Lanai, a Bacon Lettuce Potato Sandwich, Blanche's Georgia-Style Cookie, and Shady Pines Spritz mocktails.
Every ticket includes a reserved seat within a guaranteed experience time window, an entree choice, a cocktail or mocktail, and a slice of cheesecake for dessert, per the same account. The set design carries the theme past the plate: interior recreations built for the pop-up include Blanche's Boudoir, complete with shag carpeting and a palm-print bedspread, along with the house lanai, the Rusty Anchor Bar, and an interactive yellow kitchen wall phone for photos, according to details reported by WABE.
Drag Brunches, Trivia and Sing-Alongs on the Weekend Calendar
Beyond dining, the pop-up hosts sing-along events, trivia nights, and regularly scheduled drag brunches featuring local performers, according to KXAN's reporting. Community Impact reports the boozy drag brunches are limited to guests 21 and over, while standard dining reservations remain open to all ages. General admission tickets start at $19.92 per person, with boozy drag brunch passes starting at $34.43, according to pricing listed by Bucket Listers.
This isn't Wanderlust Wine Co.'s first turn as a themed pop-up host. Bucket Listers previously transformed the same downtown space into a Malibu Barbie Café and, in March 2025, into the Whataburger Museum of Art, which displayed a collection of fan art paying tribute to the fast-food chain. The venue has also hosted a Broadway sing-along bar featuring nightly karaoke, KXAN notes, part of a rotating series of takeovers that Hoodline first covered last year.
A Growing National Playbook for Themed Takeovers
Berry's résumé includes other high-profile nostalgic bar concepts, such as Saved by the Max, Good Burger, The Peach Pit, and earlier runs of the Malibu Barbie Cafe, establishing a track record that predates the Golden Girls tour, according to reporting from the Miami New Times. Bucket Listers operates as a broader experiential platform reaching a community network of more than 20 million local users across major metropolitan markets, Hoodline has reported, underscoring how media-themed bar takeovers have become a fixture of urban nightlife programming.
Wanderlust Wine Co. opened its downtown Austin tasting room in early 2020 with 56 self-pour wines on tap and now operates three locations across the city, a footprint CultureMap Austin traces to founder Sammy Lam's winemaking studies and travels across 27 countries. The company also runs a 13,000-square-foot East Austin location on Shady Lane that hosts community-focused events, including the annual Grapes for Good sommelier fundraiser benefitting Good Work Austin, which Hoodline has reported provides living wages, healthcare, and workforce support for local restaurant workers.
