Round Rock is getting a new restaurant, and this one didn’t come out of a corporate test kitchen. Grey Orchard is set to open in July 2026 along the IH-35 corridor at 2700 North IH-35, and it’s the kind of independently owned project that makes you want to actually pay attention to a strip of highway you’ve been driving past for years without stopping.
The restaurant comes from owner James Sun, a name that already has some equity in Austin’s dining scene, and Chef Partner Cole Fitzgerald, whose resume reads like he’s been quietly collecting Michelin mentions and whole-animal butchery skills while the rest of us were figuring out how to make rice. Together they’re building a modern American menu shaped by subtle Asian influence, which is a phrase that could mean almost anything until you look at who’s actually cooking.
Sun’s path here is not the usual Austin restaurateur origin story. He studied hotel management at Cesar Ritz College in Switzerland, then went to Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island, then cut his teeth at Eleven Madison Park and Jean Georges before ever opening a restaurant of his own. Since 2014, he’s built a small but steady portfolio in Austin, starting with Cedro Scratch Italian & Bar, followed two years later by Mia Italian Tapas & Bar, and most recently Fig Italian Kitchen & Bar on South Lamar in 2024. Grey Orchard marks his move into a different lane, one built around seasonality rather than a single cuisine’s playbook.
Fitzgerald’s story starts earlier and hits harder. He began cooking at 13 in a family friend’s restaurant, reportedly because his father told him there was value in doing the jobs nobody wants. That kind of advice either breaks a kid or builds a chef, and in this case it clearly built a chef. He came up steeped in French and European technique, studied business on the side while working full-time, and picked up a hospitality management degree and a restaurant award along the way, proof that the kitchen and the classroom weren’t competing for his attention so much as compounding it. Along the way he learned fermentation and whole-animal butchery working with local farmers, and by 24 he’d already earned a Michelin Guide mention. Now he’s in Austin looking to push the food scene forward and build up the kind of chef community that doesn’t just compete, but actually talks to each other.
The space itself looks built for more than a quick bite before hitting the highway. There’s a main dining room designed to flex between an intimate two-top and a full group dinner, bar-top seating for anyone who wants cocktails and conversation without the full sit-down commitment, and a semi-private room set slightly apart from the main floor for smaller celebrations. For bigger gatherings, Grey Orchard is also positioning itself as a private event space, with everything from cocktail receptions to full seated dinners on the table for groups looking to book the room outright.
Round Rock has been quietly building its own dining identity for a few years now, mostly outside the spotlight Austin proper tends to hog. Grey Orchard opening along IH-35 this July is a pretty clear signal that the city isn’t just accumulating chain restaurants near the highway exits anymore. Someone with real credentials decided this stretch of road was worth betting on, and that’s usually how the good stuff starts.
Grey Orchard opens July 2026 at 2700 North IH-35, Round Rock, TX 78681. Follow along on Instagram at @greyorchard and on Facebook for updates as the opening date gets closer.