A NEW NEIGHBORHOOD EATERY

The busiest man in cocktails is starting his fourth venture and first food concept with Old Main. Jeret Peña was busy putting on a fire sale for perfectly good furniture and hip fixtures from the former Beat Street Coffee Co. Bistro.

“It’s going to be completely different,” he said of the space at 2512 Main Ave. “Three or four long communal tables, lighter colors inside.”

Mr. Peña envisions the space as a convivial grazing spot/watering hole, a neighborhood spot with beer, wine, a small cocktail menu and pub grub. But with partner Lorenzo Morales in charge of the menu, it won’t be standard grub.

Pork-n-beans with braised pork shoulder and spicy white beans, fried chicken with mole, a burger with a bun of pan de huevo and a pecan aioli sauce … Chef Morales, formerly of the Arcade and Tuk Tuk, is extremely excited about marrying a modern food sensibility with the flavors and ingredients of his grandmother’s kitchen.

“We dug deep into our childhood,” Chef Morales said. “It’s very playful. We’re doing it and it’s so weird and it’s so San Antonio.”

Old Main will join Barbaro on McCullough in providing a Midtown neighborhood spot that offers contemporary fare and cocktails at a moderate price. Mr. Peña doesn’t see it as a competitor to the Monte Vista pizza-and-small-plates venue, but as a complement that shores up the area’s offerings.

“We dug deep into our childhood. It’s very playful. We’re doing it and it’s so weird and it’s so San Antonio.”  –Chef Morales

After winning accolades and national attention at The Brooklynite and The Last Word, Mr. Peña’s partnership, the Boulevardier Group, wanted to do something that could line the stomach as well as lift the spirits. The trick was finding the right space. When the opportunity arose, the site helped shape the plan.

“We had been wanting to start a food concept for some time but not knowing where,” Mr. Peña said. “The space came up and it was a no-brainer that it would be our first food concept. I saw a neighborhood pub that would sell a small but well-thought-out food menu.”

Target date for opening Old Main is “June-ish,” and once that’s up and running, the Boulevardier Group may concentrate on running what they’ve got for a while. Just to stay a little busier, Mr. Peña also has Stay Golden Social House, his venture with Chris Erck of Swig Martini Bar. ~ Elizabeth Allen