Swedish Hill Cafe Opens On The Aspen Art Museum’s Rooftop
The Re-Imagined Café Offers MML Hospitality Signature Items and Coincides with Museum Exhibition In the House of the Trembling Eye, staged by artist Allison Katz
Photos courtesy of Justin Cook and Aspen Art Museum
Aspen Art Museum’s newly imagined rooftop café has re-opened as Swedish Hill Café, managed by MML Hospitality and is the first Swedish Hill Café to open outside of Austin. Located on the top floor of the museum, the café features indoor seating as well as an expansive open-air rooftop patio with sweeping views of Ajax Mountain. Open Tuesday through Sunday, 8am to 5pm, Swedish Hill Aspen serves the signature coffee, pastries, salads, and sandwiches that it’s known for, as well as soups, pastas and other specials that are ideal for a visit to a museum or a destination-worthy breakfast and lunch spot. An expanded menu of cocktails, wine, and beer are offered as well. Museums members receive a ten percent discount at the café. MML’s flair for contemporary hospitality provides the perfect complement to the museum’s picturesque views, unique architectural setting, and innovative programming.
The relaunch of the café coincides with the start of the exhibition In the House of the Trembling Eye, an expansive group exhibition staged by the London-based artist Allison Katz across the entirety of the Aspen Art Museum and organized in collaboration with the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. This exhibition will be the first in North America to unite contemporary art with the ancient fresco fragments that it features, many of which have never previously been exhibited in the United States. Marking the Aspen Art Museum’s 45thanniversary and the 10th anniversary of the opening of its Shigeru Ban-designed building, the show brings to the fore unexpected affinities among over one hundred artworks and objects in varied styles from different epochs, celebrating the inexhaustible capacity of painting to generate new conversations across time.
In addition, the museum is thrilled to participate in a range of exciting events to take place this summer during Aspen ArtWeek. The ArtCrush summer gala, which will be the culminating event of Aspen ArtWeek, will celebrate three visionaries in their fields: architect Shigeru Ban, artist Jacqueline Humphries, and composer and artist Jason Moran. Featuring a live auction, drinks, dinner, music, and dancing, the ArtCrush summer gala is one of the most anticipated events of the summer in Aspen, and the 2024 gala will mark the first time that multiple leaders working across creative disciplines will receive the Aspen Award for Art.
ABOUT THE ASPEN ART MUSEUM
Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums in 1979, the Aspen Art Museum is a globally engaged non-collecting contemporary art museum. Following the 2014 opening of the museum’s facility designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Shigeru Ban, the AAM enjoys increased attendance, renewed civic interaction, and international media attention. In July 2017, the AAM was one of ten institutions to receive the United States’ National Medal for Museum and Library Services for its educational outreach to rural communities in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley and its learning partnerships with civic and cultural partners within a 100-mile radius of the museum’s Aspen location. It is the only accredited museum on the Colorado Western Slope.
MUSEUM HOURS
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 AM–6 PM
Closed Mondays
AAM ADMISSION IS FREE courtesy of Amy and John Phelan
AAM exhibitions are made possible by the Marx Exhibition Fund. General exhibition support is provided by the Toby Devan Lewis Visiting Artist Fund. Additional support is provided by the AAM National Council.
Visit the AAM online: www.aspenartmuseum.org
SWEDISH HILL CAFE AT THE ASPEN ART MUSEUM
637 East Hyman Avenue Aspen, CO 81611
Open Tuesday to Sunday from 8am to 5pm Cafe Menu from 8am to 3pm, Happy Hour Menu from 3pm to 5pm)
Closed on Mondays
www.swedishhillaspen.com
MENU HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
- House-baked pastries and breads including croissants, kouign amann, nutella morning bun, seasonal muffins, and bagels
- Breakfast tacos and breakfast sandwiches, avocado toast, bagel & lox
- Deli salads including seasonal vegetables and salads
- Signature sandwiches like mortadella & burrata and chicken pesto crunch plus build-your-own options
- Big salads and pastas including kale crunch salad and Swedish caesar salad, housemade cavatelli with pesto, and Ajax rice bowl
With Swedish Hill Cafe at the Aspen Art Museum, MML Hospitality now operates four restaurants in Aspen including Clark’s, Las Montanas, and Louis Swiss Bakery. In 2026, the Aspen Chalet will debut in the former Aspen Mountain Chalet.
Sweetish Hill Bakery was born in 1975 high up on “Swede Hill” on Austin’s East Side. It moved to West 6th Street in the 1980s and for over 40 years, Sweetish Hill was an Austin institution, known for its traditional cakes and pastries. In 2019, MML re-envisioned, redesigned, and relaunched the brand and space as “Swedish Hill Bakery, Cafe & Deli,” adding a deli, rotisserie, grocery and coffee bar featuring house-baked breads, pastries and desserts.
MCGUIRE MOORMAN LAMBERT HOSPITALITY
Based in Austin, TX, McGuire Moorman Lambert Hospitality is a partnership between restaurateurs Larry McGuire and Tom Moorman and hotelier Liz Lambert. Together they develop and manage projects spanning restaurants, hotels, and retail, in Texas and beyond. With a reputation for highly considered interiors, award-winning food and beverage programs, best-in-class service, and an exacting attention to detail, MML Hospitality’s portfolio includes 20-plus restaurants in Austin, Aspen and Houston. In 2021 the group expanded into hotels with the opening of Hotel Saint Vincent in New Orleans, including two full-service restaurants, bars, in-room-dining and banquets. MML Hospitality partners are joined by an industry-leading team of hospitality professionals spanning creative, culinary, beverage, human resources, marketing and accounting.
