Is there a grocery retailer value driving three hours for? Completely, and it’s value staying a day or two to totally perceive it.
I’ve recognized the crew at Emmer & Rye Hospitality Group for some time now — chef Kevin Fink, his spouse Ali Fink, and pastry chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph are those I discuss to probably the most — and each time they open one thing new, I’m blown away. It’s not simply the ideas; it’s how they deal with their group and the vitality they carry as human beings. They’re simply good folks doing issues the appropriate means.
So when my spouse Lindsey and I deliberate a fast journey to San Antonio, we made it a degree to take a look at their newest mission: Pullman Market on the historic Pearl Brewery. I’ve recognized about this factor for just a few years now, however let me be actual — once they first informed me about it, I didn’t get it. These are the oldsters behind a few of Austin’s greatest eating places — Emmer & Rye, Hestia, Canje, Ezov — so once they talked about increasing to San Antonio, I assumed, “Cool, one other restaurant.” Then Kevin walked me as much as this large, empty constructing — 40,000 sq. toes — and stated, “That is going to be Pullman Market.” And he gave me that look, you understand the one: the lengthy stare the place he’s clearly seeing the long run, and I’m standing there like, “You’ve formally misplaced your thoughts.”
However right here’s the factor — Kevin and the group had a plan. I didn’t have to know the entire imaginative and prescient; I simply knew it’d be good.
Quick ahead three years, and growth — Pullman Market lastly opened in April 2024. I deliberately stayed away from any press or previews as a result of I like a superb grocery retailer (you’ll be able to usually discover me aimlessly wandering H-E-B or Central Market), and I needed to expertise this one recent.
We met up with Kevin, Ali, and their son Hudson exterior the market. From the second I walked in, I knew this wasn’t only a grocery retailer. First cease: produce. My jaw hit the ground. Nearly the whole lot is from Texas — peaches, melons, heirloom tomatoes, a rainbow of peppers. It’s a love letter to Texas farms.
Then we hit the ice cream bar, and issues bought wild. They use milk from Oro Blanco, an area cow’s milk dairy, which provides the ice cream this wealthy, velvety texture. I attempted a salted cream taste that tasted like cream cheese with only a whisper of salt. Then got here chocolate. Then got here a hen and waffle ice cream — sure, made with hen inventory. Then a lime leaf one which was shiny and punchy. And we’d barely made it 10 toes inside.
Previous the espresso bar and the rotisserie — the place chickens spin over trays of potatoes absorbing each final drop of drippings — you hit the bakery. Breads, cookies, pastries made all day, every single day. Then throughout the best way are, and I don’t say this frivolously, among the greatest flour tortillas in Texas. Made out of domestically grown Sonoran wheat and the rendered lard from native Berkshire pork and Tallow from Texas beef from the butcher store. Seize just a few dozen. Thank me later.
The seafood and meat departments are top-tier. The seafood is pristine. The ceviche bar proves that in a single chunk. Then, there’s the butcher counter, the place the whole lot’s whole-animal and dry-aged in-house. I’ve labored with entire animals earlier than — this place is the actual deal. Wagyu, Angus, pork, lamb, hen, dry-aged steaks, house-cured meats. It’s a playground. You may even seize a burger or bratwurst proper subsequent door at Burgers by the Butcher.
Pantry items? Considerate. From housemade pastas to chips, canned items, and a wine room that’ll make your interior wine geek do cartwheels.
The scenario will get even higher when you think about the eating places at Pullman. Having all that produce, meat, seafood, and bread underneath one roof means they will rotate components by means of each idea. Entire animal butchery simply is smart right here. You see it in motion.
We ate at Mezquite, which highlights Sonoran-style Mexican delicacies. The menu pulls straight from the market — crudos, squash dishes riffing on queso, tacos, and one thing known as a caramelo that’s principally the perfect quesadilla you’ve ever had. The tortillas are stars. Corn for chips and tostadas, and that unimaginable flour model for the whole lot else. I went again the following day to refill.
Subsequent up was Fife & Farro — pizza and pasta. The mozzarella’s made in-house from water buffalo milk and served simply heat sufficient to carry collectively. Paired with pesto and sungold tomatoes? Unreal. When the cheese companies up, it goes on their wood-fired pizzas with completely fermented dough. Pasta’s made steps away within the pasta store. Whether or not you purchase some to take residence or publish up on the bar for a plate of alla vodka with penne and Calabrian chile, it’s all fireplace.
Then, we made a selection. The perfect type of selection. Dinner was a double header: Nicosi, the 20-seat, dessert tasting bar, and Isidore, their dwell fireplace, steakhouse-style idea.
At Nicosi, they cowl your telephone with a sticker and ask you to simply be current. No pics, no texts. Simply be right here. The tasting explores candy, savory, bitter, acidic — it’s not simply chocolate and sugar. Tavel’s thoughts is wild, and the group brings it to life in a means that makes you pause. I’m not spoiling the menu. You’ve bought to stroll that path your self.
Then on to Isidore. The odor of wooden smoke greets you earlier than you sit down. The kitchen’s fueled by no matter’s freshest from the market. At some point it’s tomatoes, the following it’s lamb. Meat will get butchered steps away. It’s this stunning loop — the whole lot feeds into the whole lot else, and it really works.
Pullman Market isn’t only a market. It’s not simply eating places. It’s a dwelling, respiratory ecosystem run by individuals who really know what they’re doing. It’s disciplined, it’s considerate, and it’s rattling inspiring. Kevin, Tavel, and your entire group — what they’ve constructed is like nothing I’ve seen earlier than.
I hope at some point Houston will get a Pullman Market. Till then, I’ll pack a cooler, head to San Antonio, and cargo up on tortillas, meats, butter, and pasta. I’ll keep at Resort Emma, as a result of I’ll positively want one other meal — or three — earlier than I head residence.
Congratulations on a really profitable first 12 months of Pullman Market!
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On the lookout for extra San Antonio suggestions? Ask Chris for his favorites through e-mail at chris@chrisshepherd.is.
Chris Shepherd received a James Beard Award for Greatest Chef: Southwest in 2014. The Southern Smoke Basis, a nonprofit he co-founded together with his spouse Lindsey Brown, has distributed greater than $11 million to hospitality staff in disaster by means of its Emergency Aid Fund. Catch his TV present, Eat Like a Native, each Saturday at 10 am on KPRC Channel 2.
