Katie Koran plans to open Sloan + Parker wine bar in Steiner Ranch in November. Husband, Peyton, and children Aiden Parker and Brooklyn Sloan have been very supportive.
By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News
Steiner Ranch resident Katie Koran is opening a local wine bar called Sloan + Parker in the Quinlan Crossing shopping center in the weeks ahead.
“The community needed something like this,” Koran said, adding that she and her husband, Peyton, both have a passion for wine. “This was the right time to take the leap.”
The name Sloan + Parker is inspired by the middle names of their two youngest children: 5-year-old Aiden Parker and 2-year-old Brooklyn Sloan. Their oldest daughter Erin, 20, attends Blinn College in Bryan, Tex.
“In Steiner, there is no where to go to get a glass of wine and relax, and hang out with friends and take the family or work,” Koran said. “We couldn’t find it and so we decided to open it.”
Renovations are underway in the former Kawa Asian Kitchen space at 2900 N. Quinlan Park Rd. Koran is incorporating a home-like feel in the 2000-square-foot space, which will have a pantry, dining room and living room. There will be outside seating as well.
Sloan + Parker plans to stock more than 100 bottles of wine and offer 10 to 15 options at a time. There will also be a variety of beers.
Koran is working with small craft producers from around the world and plans to serve unique wines, like biodynamic and organic varieties.
The bar will also serve a limited menu for small plates.
Wines will be available for retail sale along with imported goods from Spain, Italy and France including pastas, mustards, fig jam, olive oils, chocolates, honey and candies.
Koran believes the timing is right to open Sloan + Parker in Austin, a place she keeps coming back to.
In 2006, her family first moved to Austin. Jobs and opportunities took them away and she got her MBA in California prior to their second move to Austin in 2013. This time they moved to Steiner after Aiden was born. But Peyton’s work took them away again. They knew they wanted to come back so they rented out their house, and then moved back last year.
Koran, who is also a food blogger, has a background in construction. She worked for homebuilder Ryland Homes, and then worked on the marketing side for a commercial builder with a local office.
“I loved it and loved the people but wanted to get back into wine,” Koran said. Raised in California, she said that wine has always been part of her life.
Her vision for Sloan + Parker includes starting a Grapes & Hops Club into 2019 and offering educational dinners, cocktail hours and other events.
Koran is open to community input too.
“The goal is to do what we can to give (the community) something they want and have been asking for,” Koran said. “We want to incorporate what people want.”