Justin Yu, Chris Shepherd, Robert Del Grande and Hugo Ortega
Smoked brisket fritters by Seth Siegel-Gardner and Terrence Gallivan
Il Cuculo at Hotel Lulu
But it’s becoming clear that the quaint community — a unique mix of old-time western and coastal-shabby-chic, with a high-end shellac finish — is worth a visit year-round.
Places to stay nearly outnumber the count of official residents (89, fyi). There’s the Frenchie — a glam getaway for the girls, with a boutique-hotel-style main building and a trio of poolside chalets, all infused with a signature scent.
Hotel Lulu, owned by Houston’s Cinda and Armando Palacios, is a favorite — not only for its crisp Italian linens and Tuscan poolside scene, but also for its lobby bar, Il Cuculo.
And the Cotton Pearl Motel has a main house and several suites, all with access to pickleball courts, fire pits and a private pool.
The town itself, walkable from all of the above arrangements, is just a handful of cafes and shops, ranging from curated and perfectly posed to a tad chaotic — yet infinitely charming — in presentation. (It appears that shopkeepers are either busily hosting the weeks-long Antique Shows, or equally busily “preparing for Show” at any given moment.)
In addition to the classics — Royer’s, and intimate wine bar Prost, which lives in a stone cottage lined with string lights and facing an empty field — there are a number of trendy new restaurants popping up. Merritt Meat Company, previously Round Top Smokehouse, is newly owned and operated by Truth BBQ proprietor Leonard Botello. And Boon is a casual-chic café with an artful gift shop proffering Houston-kissed items like Maidas accessories and cheesecakes made by Tony Vallone’s daughter; its upstairs bar and lounge just opened, and is already a see-and-be scene — not unlike the nearby Ellis Motel, which is, in fact, a lively bar and not a motel. Nightlife abounds in Round Top, again perhaps disproportionately.
A few minutes from town is a hidden gem, not just within the Round Top vicinity, but the entire region. The Round Top Festival Institute is a concert venue, music school and conference center established by pianist James Dick more than 50 years ago. It hosts promising instrumentalists from around the globe each summer, and its current building — stunning and medieval-recalling — was designed by Dick and built out over many decades.
The Festival Institute is one of many surprisingly poignant moments to be enjoyed in Round Top — whether it’s Show time or not.
World-famous Royer’s Cafe
A stylish selection of boots at Junk Gypsy
Pastries at Boon & Co.
Round Top Festival Institute
The pool at the Frenchie
The Bloomsbury’s Coral Room
The structure in the upscale Mayfair district that now houses The Beaumont was, for 90 years, a carpark for the Selfrige’s department store down the street. Although it only opened as a hotel 12 years ago, it’s just gone through a renovation. Gliding past the uniformed doorman into the lobby, over gleaming checkerboard floors and a half-dozen regal oil paintings of stately ladies, you get a vibe of understated Gatsby-era glam, American-edged Art Deco mixed with bold British accents.
It follows in the Colony restaurant, ringed in red leather banquettes, lit by lamps with red shades, with the likes of Count Basie providing background tunes. How could you not have a Manhattan? The menu leans to steak, but buttery Dover sole deboned tableside works well, too. Off the lobby is similarly wood-paneled and crimson-hued Le Magritte bar. Here, the décor’s American fascination leans Old Hollywood, with black-and-whites of the Rat Pack and a young Shirley MacLaine. The Prohibition-era “Attempting the Impossible” cocktail has gin, vodka, tea and lemon; Cuban cigars are on offer.
Guest rooms are quiet, comfy and refined, with unfussy neutral color schemes, lots of dark wood touches, and beautiful books and splashy fashion mags as knickknacks. (Plot twist: You can also book the bare-bones room inside the large-scale sculpture out front that looks a bit like a cartoon robot.)
All the must-hit touristy things — Buckingham Palace, et al — are close. Closer still, just behind the hotel, is charming North Audley Street. There’s a food hall in an old church building. And spiffy locals queue for the fish, chips and mushy peas at the Mayfair Chippy, set in the ground floor of an elaborate brownstone.
Elsewhere in the East End, near the British Museum, there’s a former YWCA behind an old theater — the Bloomsbury. The women’s club where Queen Elizabeth is said to have taken swimming lessons as a girl became a hotel in the 1990s and was recently renovated.
Vintage-y-cool “Studio Suite” guest rooms are carefully quirky and bit daring, with walls of gunmetal blue, red headboards and a hanging lampshade rimmed in long fringe. Bonus spaces throughout the property include a chapel, a fireside sitting room off the check-in, and, in the basement, a dim and cozy jazz club, but the most special is the soaring Coral Room bar.
The former grand lobby of the building has been lacquered to high heaven in peachy-pink. The drinks menu looks like an old children’s book, highlighting sips such as the “Finnegan” with Irish whiskey, Guinness, Cadello and licorice. It’s not unusual to see a frisky couple canoodling for hours in the corner, as international business travelers, on-trend locals and assorted half-casual sophisticates come and go.
A dinner of “Sunday roast” on the adjoining Dalloway Terrace is lovely, its name inspired by Virginia Woolf’s high-society party hostess in yet another literary nod. In warm weather, the terrace is alfresco; when it’s cooler, it’s enclosed and festooned artfully with flowering vines making a canopy overhead.
The bustling, fun neighborhoods of Covent Garden, Chinatown and Soho are an easy walk, as is tons of classic East End theater. Stroll to Cabaret or Phantom, or maybe live a little and do Magic Mike Live instead (there will be lap dances). A bit more afield, but worth it, is afternoon tea at The Bloomsbury’s sister hotel, the stylishly traditional Kensington, carved from what once were a collection of sunny, neighboring 19th-century townhomes in South Kensington. The ritual here is enchanting, with all the little sandwiches and scones with clotted cream presented with a glass of bubbles and a vibrant, almost whimsical air.
And why not have Champagne, enjoying an old city with so much new to toast.
Cocktails and cool at The Beaumont’s Le Magritte bar
The gate of Buckingham Palace
Tea at The Kensington