I have this fantasy where I’m really wealthy...

...nothing ostentatious, just some old family money and maybe an ancestral home or two. In my head it’s sort of Scarlett O’Hara without all the drama. Sadly, this has never actually panned out for me, but I did get to pretend for a few hours at the 1900 Bar located in the Goodall Wooten Mansion, which is also home to the Mansion at Judges’ Hill restaurant.

The mansion originally opened in 1900 as the private home of Dr. Goodall and Ella Wooten, and has gone through several incarnations, including time as a UT dorm and a stretch as the Faulkner Center, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center - an irony not lost on the patrons of the bar who remember it as such. However, the Faulkner Center rehabilitated the house as well as the clients it served, and for that we should all be thankful.

“Beautiful” is an understatement when describing the mansion. You are greeted by lush gardens and a sweeping porch with soaring white columns. Inside there are high, stamped tin ceilings, crystal chandeliers, and inlaid wood floors. Much of the wainscoting and intricate trim work are original to the house or have been restored to match the beauty and craftsmanship of the original designs.

The bar feels elegant, but welcoming. Like much of Austin, it’s the kind of place where you can sit in your jeans and relax in a gorgeous setting without feeling underdressed or out of place. Starting in August, the 1900 Bar is introducing an international tasting menu featuring small portions of high quality cuisine for lower prices. Options include tuna tartare, beef tenderloin, giant seared sea scallops, and duck quesadillas, which are amazingly good. It’s similar to tapas, but with a fine dining twist. The smaller options make it the perfect place to stop for a drink and a light meal before the theatre or for an after-work happy hour.

In October, The Mansion at Judges’ Hill will open a new addition to house Austin Cabaret Theatre, and the 1900 Bar will feature autograph sessions and cocktail parties to celebrate the performers, as well as pre- and post-show drinks and appetizers for theatregoers.

Happy hour runs daily from 4 to 7 with a variety of drink specials, and on Tuesdays some of the drinks are as inexpensive as $2. The 1900 Bar also boasts an extensive, though not outrageously priced, wine list and specialty drinks include the Mexican martini, which is well worth the trip, as is the pomegranate mojito, a refreshing twist on an old Cuban favorite. I can also personally recommend the raspberry lemonade cocktail, which made my happy hour on the porch especially sweet. It wasn’t quite my old fantasy of owning the house and enjoying mint juleps on the verandah, but it was close… and the best part is, I can always go back for seconds.