Kevin Williamson is a cheerful, charming and stylish chef. He founded Ranch 616 restaurant and created a modern classic tequila and Topo Chico cocktail, called "Ranch Water", on November 26 Day died of cancer in Smithville, with relatives around him. He was 59 years old.

Williamson is as colorful and sophisticated as the restaurant he opened in 1999, and the chef’s personality, advocacy, and love of good times are as big as his Ranch 616 iconic snake logo, created by a well-known Texas artist Bob "Dad-O" creation. Wade.  

The chef combines South Texas ranch cuisine with pop art ice library aesthetics to create a theme and narrative-driven restaurant. The restaurant’s menu is inspired by the chef’s young hunting trip, including fried oysters, frog legs, quail and game from Lone Star State, but the most enduring heritage of Ranch 616 comes from the drinks section of the menu. 

Williamson, his old friend Caleb Campaigne said that he used to secretly drink iced tequila in his kettle while hunting with his father. He created the iconic drink of Ranch 616, reposado of tequila and orange. The liqueur is mixed on ice cubes in a Collins glass and mixed with lime and a bottle of Topo Chico. Mexican mineral water provides salinity, intense carbonation, and user-selected dilution, and is used in simple cocktails that echo margaritas.

The restaurant’s eponymous cocktail helped popularize the sparkling mineral water that was once little known in the United States, so much so that in the early days of the restaurant, Williamson often drove to the carnival grocery store in town and filled his suburbs with present signs Sexual glass bottle. 

Topo Chico was acquired by Coca-Cola North America in 2017. After the death of the restaurant owner, the company posted a post on social media to pay tribute to Williamson, which was the first time for the brand. 

"Kevin and his restaurant lead the trend and are very influential. He was the first person to ask for a Topo Chico mural on his wall," Topo Chico general manager Gerardo Galvan told the American politician via email. "Kevin has such an incredible influence on us, he is a true friend."

Williamson is a native of Herb Springs, Arkansas. He grew up in Austin, graduated from Austin High School in 1981, and then entered Southern Methodist University. This born salesman worked in the real estate industry in Texas and California and the financial industry in New York City before finding a career that would determine his life.

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In the mid-1990s, he worked at the famous Ajax Tavern in Aspen and was promoted to sous chef. It was at the ski resort that Williamson met the director of public relations, Pam Brandon, who later worked with Williamson and became his best friend after the chef persuaded her to move to Austin. 

"I think he may be one of the most attractive and marketing talents I have ever seen in my life," Brandon said. "But more importantly, he is the funniest and smartest person I have ever met."

After returning to Austin in 1996 and working as a chef in the new Central Market, Williamson opened his first restaurant, Ella's, in Jefferson Square in 1998. The short-lived Ella's is a sneak peek at the Williamson brand of Texas gourmet food and will cook at the restaurant that made him one of Austin's early well-known chefs. 

"I'm tired of going to the same type of restaurant where you have five dishes and everything is typical. It really feels like I am going back to my home in San Diego, Texas and entering an iconic ice bank," Brandon talked about the appeal of Ranch 616. "The staff feels like family, almost like the old'cheers' atmosphere."

The restaurant at 616 Nueces St. echoes Williamson’s vibrant personality with its quirky art and bold Texas cuisine. This place quickly became "welcome to everyone from art freaks to barristers." "The destination, the chef is also fascinated by Hello Kitty as a customized Western-style shirt, acting as a chef, bartender, host and master of etiquette. 

"He is a magician. He is really interested in everyone. You can say that. He asks all the questions, and he looks directly into people's eyes and listens to their voices," said Connecticut, an old friend of Williamson . 

Legendary Houston lawyer Dick DeGuerin met Williamson through artist Wade and first visited a restaurant just a few blocks from the county courthouse shortly after opening. Not only did he become a frequent visitor during his travels to Austin, the lawyer was known for representing David Koresh to Billy Joe Shaver, but also his wife Janie and Williamson (Williamson) established a close friendship, this kind of friendship throughout Williamson's life. 

DeGuerins are two of about 100 people each year who will go to Williamson's beloved Marfa outpost to celebrate the chef's birthday. Celebrations usually include music, art tours and parades along the main streets of the town. 

"I think it's just his spirit and his personality," De Gelin said of Williamson's ability, his ability to be the orbital center of a group of different friends. "He is just someone who everyone likes to be with him. I don't know what enemies he has. People love him, and he loves others. He is just a life force. He is always funny."

Williamson's influence extends far beyond his business district near West Sixth Street (he also co-owned the Star Bar and the late Rattle Inn). In the early days, the chef served as the chairman of Saveur Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival and became the unofficial ambassador for everything in Texas. 

Whether it’s beef, wine, or Gulf shrimp, Williamson applauds products from his adopted hometown, and was created by former Texas agricultural commissioner Susan Combs in 1999. Go Texan sports sound. 

"Kevin has such an extraordinary personality, charisma and magnetic energy that when he falls behind something, it reaches an escape speed. It's really incredible," Combs told the American politician, He added that Williamson was attracted by the vast sky, mountains, and vast spaces of the Big Bend area, "a bit of a reflection of all the feelings of West Texas."

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Tito Beveridge met Williamson in the mid-1990s and sold his first box of vodka when Ranch 616 opened. The founder of Tito’s handmade vodka said that before Tito entered the industry, Williamson helped promote his vodka at the Aspen Food and Wine Festival. The evaluation of the characters echoes. 

"He has all the cacti and legumes in his genes, and I think it affects him a bit," Beveridge said. "He captured the Texas spirit with his style, vision, courage and determination. He is a true ambassador of the hotel industry. He has his own style and brilliance. He likes food. He is always cooking quail."

Williamson serves his community by serving on numerous boards and hosting parties for non-profit organizations such as the Design Industry Foundation for Fighting AIDS and the Austin Film Festival. Barbara Morgan co-founded AFF in 1993 and hosted the festival’s popular dog hair brunch at Ranch 616 for more than a decade. She said Williamson is a continuous source of support and energy. 

"He is really a giver. He is really a man. He never asks for anything," Morgan said. "He's kind of like Austin and one of the people who makes this place interesting. He is so accommodating. He is amazing, and he really cares about our community."

Williamson was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2019, but De Gelin said that his friend finally bought a house in Marfa in the last year of his life. He refused to accept the disease and chose to continue traveling. , Celebrate and hang out with friends. DeGuerin said Williamson's unremitting commitment to life inspired everyone around him. 

"I think Kevin wants to continue living despite his hospice care," Campaigne said of his friends, who even planned holidays and sang karaoke in the last few weeks. "He said,'We all have a little Willie Wonka,' and then he can use magic like Willie Wonka. No matter what our environment is, this is a lesson for all of us to live. Be fulfilled. Continue to fulfill your life with generosity, love, creativity, and kindness like Willie Wonka."

Williamson's daughter Channing Wakeman (Channing Wakeman) and five granddaughters survived. The celebration of Williamson’s life is in the early planning stages of Ranch 616 spring; management stated that it plans to reopen the restaurant before Christmas, which has been closed during the pandemic.