clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Smart TV Service Roku Is Recreating Its City Screensaver in Real Life, Complete With a Real Diner, for SXSW

The restaurant’s menu includes lots of purple foods

If you buy something from an Eater link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics policy.

A computer rendering of a purple-and-black diner with the words Roku City Diner.
An animated image of the Roku City Diner.
Roku
Nadia Chaudhury is the editor of Eater Austin covering food and pop culture, as well as a photographer, writer, and frequent panel moderator and podcast guest.

Smart television and streaming service Roku is recreating the iconic purple-hued city depicted in its screensaver for South by Southwest (SXSW), and this includes a whole restaurant. The Roku City Diner at the Roku City SXSW pop-up will be found on the rooftop of the Riley Building at 315 Lavaca Street in downtown Austin from Saturday, March 11 to Sunday, March 12.

The American restaurant will offer a diner menu with references to movies and television shows with lots of purple-colored ingredients. There’s the Just a Big Salad (referring to Seinfeld), a garden salad with purple vegetables and optional chicken or tofu; the French Fry Forest (an Inside Out reference) is made with purple potatoes; and the I’ll Have What She’s Having (obviously a When Harry Met Sally reference) is an apple pie.

Then there will be a cart with coffee from Austin roastery Creature Coffee and cupcakes from the Cupcake Guys’s Austin-based location of Southwest bakery chain Gigi’s Cupcakes. The food menu was developed by Roku and is being prepared by an Austin catering company Crave.

Roku City Diner’s weekend hours will be from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Reservations were available on OpenTable, but it’s been booked out. There’s a waitlist available via email at rokucitydiner@roku.com

In more SXSW pop-up news, there’s a camp pop-up with barbecue for the Showtime series Yellowjackets.

Update, 10:48 a.m.: This article, originally published at 9:35 a.m., has been updated to include the name of the catering company.