Hay Merchant offers new menu options
Two years ago when the Hay Merchant opened, the food menu took a comfortable back seat to the serious, almost geeky dedication to American craft beer. The grub, however, was anything but an afterthought: It was comforting, inventive stuff operating on the simple premise of what customers would want to eat while drinking good beer.
Today, the Hay Merchant’s food offerings remain guided by what tastes good with beer. But there are other factors at work:
1. Food at the beer bar can account for as much as half the daily sales (something owners did not initially anticipate), suggesting that people come to the Hay Merchant as much for a juicy burger as they do for a malty Doppelbock.
2. The restaurant is under the same roof as Chris Shepherd’s Underbelly and part of the Clumsy Butcher food and beverage empire, so culinary excellence is practically in its DNA and must behave as such.
3. With Dax McAnear acting as executive sous chef for both Hay Merchant and Underbelly, the menu at the Hay Merchant will continue to evolve in the most delicious ways possible.
The third factor is in play now. McAnear is making one of the first big changes to the Hay Merchant menu since he arrived there last summer. Perhaps the most significant change is that the poutine — that satisfying, heartwarming, artery-clogging dish of fries drenched in gravy and littered with cheese curds — has been discontinued. “It had a good run, but it was its time to go,” Underbelly executive chef Shepherd said.
But it’s not like Hay Merchant is saying bye to fries. In the place of the poutine, the loss of which was deep for some of the bar regulars, is a familiar, stick-tothe-ribs substitute that is just as satisfying: nacho fries. The Hay Merchant kitchen tops its famous fries with taco meat, refried black beans, cheddar cheese and Redneck cheese sauce, cilantro sauce, red onions and jalapeños. Also new to the menu is “Simple Hummus” served with pita bread and seasonal veggies.
McAnear, working with Shepherd, has other changes to the menu: The pork sliders now become a full-size smoked barbecue sandwich on a Slow Dough bun; the chicken fried steak is now served with a traditional black pepper cream gravy; the grilled salmon now comes with seasonal vegetables and Israeli couscous; and the watermelon and herb salad has been replaced by a toss of romaine, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and cojita cheese in a red wine vinaigrette.
While McAnear said he’s having fun with the menu, the food, while simple, is not necessarily easy to prepare. Even something as ubiquitous as the chicken tenders are given Underbelly-like attention and thought on the Hay Merchant menu. All the food, for that matter, may read like pub house fare but has fine-dining sourcing, prep and execution lavished on it.
“To me it comes off not contrived,” said McAnear, whose résumé includes Triniti and Textile, among other Houston restaurants.
Shepherd said the direction of Hay Merchant’s menu will still be aimed at good, top-quality fare at gentle prices. And still what people want to drink with beer.
“We’re trying to find stuff people want and crave,” he said. “Stuff that makes people want to come in and want to eat.”
greg.morago@chron.com