The long-anticipated new concept from Ryan Pera and Morgan Weber’s Agricole Hospitality – the restaurant group also operates Revival Market and Coltivare in The Heights – is finally open. Eight Row Flint icehouse had been announced for early October, but finally opened its patio gates to the public two weeks ago.
Eight Row Flint – the name comes from an heirloom corn – has modernized the neighborhood icehouse with its industrial design, cocktail program and impressive whiskey selection. The aforementioned corn is believed to have been the first corn variety made into whiskey in the United States. Makes sense now, right?
Inside the icehouse you’ll find a wrap-around bar that seats 20, a community table and lounge seating. Outside the icehouse is a large L-shaped patio with seating for 150. It’s a space fit for casual meeting and drinking, talking and eating. The bar features 16 craft beers on tap as well as 50 or so bottled varieties.
While jams from Weber’s own vinyl collection play in the background (it was Steely Dan this Thursday afternoon), you’ll enjoy browsing the cocktail menu, which is divided into a few sections: frozen cocktails, carbonated draft drinks, bracers (potent booze blends served neat or doubled on the rocks), short pulls (beer + a shot) and, lastly, margaritas.
We tried four drinks … and recommend them all. The Rosedown (Dripping Springs Texas vodka, St. Germain, Lillet Rose and Creme Yvette, photo above, on the right) is a tart, adult-version of pink lemonade. The frozen Coltivare Gin & Tonic (not pictured), also a stand-out, combines Citadel gin, grapefruit sherbet, lime sherbet, mint cordial and FeverTree Mediterranean Tonic. Classic G&T enthusiasts may find this rendition a bit too eclectic, but the My Table team appreciated the classic herbal and quinine notes mingling with acidic sweetness.
For a non-frozen option, order the Ranchwater (photo below), one of Weber’s favorites. Sotol Blanco is mixed with clarified lime, salt and lime oleo. There’s lime and more lime, but the drink is balanced well with minimal tartness. If you like blanco tequila, you’ll like this.
But if whiskey neat is your drink, you’ll have fun dissecting the menu of 100 or so whisky selections (with a bourbon focus). Don’t have your mind made up? Order one of six whiskey flights ($19 to $28) and enjoy a pairing of selected bourbon, rye and Scotch whiskeys. You’ll also see behind the bar single barrels of bourbon, which have been fitted with a custom-made tubing and tap system. There will be an evolving rotation of seven to 12 bourbon barrels. Bourbon on tap? Yes to that.
As for the food, it all comes from the Eight Row Flint food/taco truck, which sits in the back of the parking lot 24/7. Ryan Pera is the executive chef, with Vincent Huynh acting as culinary director. When we visited, there were four tacos on the menu, plus chips and salsa, guacamole and queso.
The queso ($8, photo above), served with freshly fried tortilla chips, is a blanco version topped with queso fresco and finely diced serrano peppers. Mix the peppers into the queso to mellow out the heat.
It seems that the most-talked-about taco on the menu is, surprisingly, a vegetarian option. The Brussels sprouts taco is topped with crema, radish, charred onion, queso fresco and cilantro ($4, photo above). You won’t miss the meat – the charred sprouts and onions provide that same earthy savoriness you want from a crusted piece of beef.
The braised 44 Farms beef cheek taco ($5.50, photo above) was the second favorite, prepared simply and topped with curtido (cabbage slaw). For something a bit more unusual, go for the roasted chicken taco ($5). The chicken may have been a bit dry, but the tangy sauce, guajillo cabbage and pickled onion added moisture and layers of heat and texture.
To sum it up – it’s the icehouse feel that you crave, with higher-end finishes, both in design and drinks. When the day-drinking hankering strikes, we’ll be back. See you soon, Eight Row Flint.
8 Row Flint, 1039 Yale, 832-767-4002, eightrowflint.com