The to-go cups here are this big, so you can get a big styrofoam cup of tea to go.
That's a big draw.
I'm going to get one before I leave.
Eight or nine weeks into session, about a dozen or more to go.
Bill filing deadline is coming up on March 8th.
It feels like we're in a lull, but there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work.
A lot of the lawmaking happens outside the Capitol at venues within walking distance,
not under the dome.
With 181 members; there's generation gaps, gender differences, all the lawmakers
aren't going to do business the same way.
And so, we wanted to explore those venues and see
what makes them so attractive for lawmakers,
and why they do business there and not at the Capitol.
The Cloak Room is underground; it's dark and so people can maybe have a
quiet meeting in a corner.
The Austin Club is very much ... goes back decades; long history; networking opportunity there.
There was a place that no longer exists called the Quorum Club that held such prominence
in the '80s with the legislature.
And then the Chili Parlor; very casual; you would stop in for a meeting, just a lunch.
The culture of that place is very much Austin.
The Austin Club I believe is the political club of Texas.
It's hard to meet in the Capitol.
It's just full of people, particularly during the session.
Over here, you can come down and sit down at a table, have a cup of coffee, a couple
of beers, and just have a discussion.
And the Austin Club is the oldest city club, founded in May of 1949.
We moved into this building in 1980, and prior to that we were directly across the street.
It's been a phenomenal location.
It's one of the 10 oldest buildings in the City of Austin.
From 1878 to 1898, if it happened in Austin, Texas, it happened in this building here.
The Governor's Balls were held in this building.
It's always had a very, very strong tie to the state Capitol.
The legislative session was held here in 1887 when the existing chambers had burnt,
so the Governor authorized funds to rent this building.
Kind of neat to have a building that physically served as the state Capitol of Texas.
We're comfortable with the legislators being in here.
Back in the early '70s, there was The Deck Club, The 40 Acres Club,
The Quorum was a very popular place for a number of years.
All those places are gone now and we've managed to hang on.
Governor Perry said, "You know, Ken, I grew up in The Austin Club.
I spent my whole political career in The Austin Club."
Legislation was discussed here with great frequency.
I had a couple of meetings with folks who were not on board with my concealed handgun law here.
Over a drink or two, they began to understand that the bill was likely to pass and that
they should get on board.
We weren't getting him drunk so he'd come around on our side because we knew the next
day he'd be sober when it was time to vote.
It's somewhat like a “Cheers” environment.
By the time your butt hits the seat, they have your drink down for you, you know?
They know you by your name.
[music]
My name is Nick Kralj, and I've been in the lobby business, and the bar and restaurant business
for many years.
Initially, we all hung out at a place called The 40 Acres Club,
and a lot of the legislators would go there.
And that was sold in 1972, so we didn't have a place to go.
So in 1973, I opened a place called The Quorum right as the session opened and it became
a very popular place.
The place.
Well, you could come in and, you know, the Governor might be there, the Lieutenant Governor
might be there, the Speaker.
You could interact with them in a comfortable situation, and we looked after everybody,
made sure that their privacy was protected.
Most of the business is not done at the Capitol.
It is done in places like I had.
People, when they're comfortable, with somebody to talk about and explore ways to get passed
legislation or kill legislation.
You don't do that in the Capitol if you're smart.
I think in the times when I had it, it wasn't as conflicted, the legislature.
And people would come to one place and they'd get to know one another, and become friends
regardless of whether they were conservative, Democrat or Republican or liberal.
Everybody was there.
And you needed to be there because you had an opportunity to find out a lot of information
from your fellow lawmakers and from lobbyists.
It was an educational place, plus you had good food and plenty of whiskey.
Three levels of chili, right?
There's 1-X, 2-X, and 3-X. 2-X is pretty hot.
We opened 43 years ago.
About a year after this place opened, the Legislature proclaimed chili the state dish
of Texas.
It's just a real friendly, laid back place.
Everybody knows us.
We get a lot of tourists from around the nation, around the world, because Quentin Tarantino
filmed the movie here, "Death Proof."
This place definitely has an Austin feel.
I was elected in 2002, so this is one of the first places we started eating when we got here.
We do a lot of business here.
A lot of meetings take place here.
We'll talk about bills; we'll talk about issues back home.
Our lunches are increased probably 20, 25 percent during session.
The closeness to the Capitol is obviously a draw.
And of course, we got to know the people here very quickly, and the good food and the good prices.
It's just the fact that they can get away from the Capitol or get away from their offices.
It's loud, so they can talk without being heard.
The advantage of doing business in here is probably people let their guard down a little bit;
they're a little easier to talk to.
Something social about having a meal together, right?
It's a bonding experience.
Republicans and Democrats are going to differ, and usually we can listen to each other and
work it out, and get to the right place.
It is lot easier to get business done and to get things worked out when you're having
some good queso.
I mean location, location, location, right?
This is the closest bar to the Capitol.
To me, the coolest thing though about The Cloak Room is lots of people go by this without
realizing there's actually a bar here.
There's really no place in Austin that's anything like this.
It's like a sunken double-wide trailer, you know?
You open the door, and if they know who you are everybody goes, "Hey, Root..." or whatever,
and then you can't see anything for like a minute and a half, and you're just kind of
like feeling yourself around in there.
This is the neighborhood bar for the Capitol community.
It's a bipartisan crowd.
In this day and age when there's so much divisiveness in politics, it's a good place to get a drink
where party labels are not important.
Well you know, like in the corporate world, people say there's more work that gets done
on a golf course.
For here, it's places like The Cloak Room, The Chili Parlor; over a drink you might discuss
what's in your bill or whatever.
There's definitely some of that that goes on.
My introduction to The Cloak Room really came when I realized that it was a great place
to pick up political intelligence.
More recently, there was a conservative group that was filming lawmakers and attempting
to catch lawmakers doing bad things.
I think that put a chill on the scene at The Cloak Room for a little while.
These other bars have come and gone, when The Cloak Room has been a real survivor.
It's a great bar.