Not just to drink
THE CONCEPT
The team from Better Luck Tomorrow (bartender Bobby Heugel, chef Justin Yu and partner Steve Flippo) has turned the former Southern Goods space in the Heights into the season’s most eagerly anticipated restaurant. The menu is local with Texas ingredients employing European technique and culinary sizzle from co-chefs Mark Clayton and Drew Gimma. The Squable team also includes Terry Williams (Anvil, BLT) as general manager.
THE SPACE
Without the aid of a designer, the partners have fashioned a beguiling space that appears plain at first but is full of impressive, thoughtful detail. Houston craftspeople have contributed to impeccably made furniture — tables, chairs, shelving. The brass-top bar gleams in muted-golden splendor (seats at the bar appear to be the room’s most coveted). Unadorned wood, cement floor and exposed bricks act like a monochromatic canvas for pops of turquoise and metallic twang.
A tight menu with a dozen small plates and a half dozen larger plates. Small: oysters (raw or broiled); kampachi crudo; Royal Red shrimp with white cocktail sauce; caramelized spring vegetables with chicken pan drippings; house-made stracciatella cheese with tomato confit and crackers; greens with goat cheese; marinated mussels and beans on toast; pork sausage with polenta cake and wilted greens; and housemade, irregularly cut pasta in a rich sauce of butter-braised onions, anchovy and Parmesan. Larger options include bucatini with roasted vegetable Bolognese; poached snapper; pork neck schnitzel; roasted chicken with bread dumplings; market steak with braised vegetables; and a cheeseburger smothered in melted raclette that already has our restaurant critic swooning.
THE DRINKS
The wine list is from the partners’ longtime collaborator, Justin Vann, with thoughtfully chosen red and white wines, a few sparklers and about 15 wines by the glass. The cocktail list (BLT’s Anna Wilkins is head bartender) includes clever concoctions such as Mint Fuji (a juleplike merger of rye, apple and mint), Chartreuse Daisy (yellow Chartreuse, gin, lemon and raspberry); a sparkling wine and jasmine cobbler; and a Negroni chilled with a frozen rock. Terry’s Martini, named for GM Williams, is fashioned with two types of vermouth and two gins and served with house-made pickled vegetables.
ONE MORE THING
Squable’s partners are also readying the opening of Penny Quarter — a Montrose Café & Bar offering an all-day menu of coffee, wine and food, set in the former Etro Lounge nightclub space just behind Heugel’s Anvil at 1424 Westheimer.
THE DETAILS