Monument Cafe, the Georgetown diner that has anchored South Austin Avenue since the mid-1990s, has brought back a beer garden it closed more than a decade ago, pairing the outdoor space with a new grab-and-go market for quick meals and pickup orders. The beer garden officially opened on October 8, following a soft opening celebrated on October 5, and now offers outdoor seating alongside craft beers on tap just steps from Georgetown's historic downtown square.
The revival is also, in a sense, a homecoming. According to Community Impact Newspaper, co-owner Cristy Schuler said Monument Cafe actually had a beer garden when it moved to its current location at 500 S. Austin Ave. in 2008, but she closed it in 2012. Schuler told the outlet she had worked over the previous two years to reestablish the beer garden, a project that finally came to fruition with this month's reopening.
A Market Built for Grab-and-Go Georgetown
Alongside the beer garden, Monument Cafe opened a new market offering grab-and-go options and pickup orders pulled from the full menu, giving time-pressed customers a faster alternative to sitting down for a meal. The addition echoes an earlier chapter in the restaurant's history: co-founders Rusty Winkstern and Clark Lyda launched a similarly named Monument Market next to the cafe back in May 2011, selling locally grown produce and Texas artisan food products, according to Community Impact Newspaper's earlier reporting at the time.
That farm-to-table identity has long defined Monument Cafe, which sources most of its ingredients from within 250 miles of Georgetown. Monument Cafe relocated to its current address in 2008, as documented by the Austin Chronicle.
Monument Group's Shifting Restaurant Portfolio
KVUE has identified David Schuler as Monument Cafe's general manager. The broader Monument Group has reshaped its holdings in recent years. Founder Rusty Winkstern opened his interior Mexican restaurant El Monumento in 2012; Alex and Cherie Weber later became its owners.
The group has also expanded regionally, partnering with the historic Stagecoach Inn in Salado to manage and reopen its restaurant following a two-year renovation completed in spring 2025, as reported by CultureMap San Antonio. That expansion suggests the Georgetown flagship's new beer garden and market fit into a wider pattern of the ownership group refreshing its properties while taking on new ones elsewhere in Central Texas.
Georgetown's dining scene has gained new competition, including the April 2026 opening of European steakhouse Sovian in the Summit at Rivery Park. For a 31-year-old institution facing new restaurant competition, bringing back an outdoor beer garden and adding a faster, grab-and-go option looks like a deliberate bid to stay competitive without abandoning the farm-to-table identity that built its name. More information on the cafe, including its menu and hours, is available at www.themonumentcafe.com.
