Land Ho!
Beloved food truck Eatsie Boys envision a funky new look for Kraftsmenrestaurant takeover
The Eatsie Boys plan to bring some of that food truck funk to their newrestaurant in the old Kraftsmen Bakery spot.Photo by Ruthie Johnson Miller
The Krafsmen bakery spotPhoto by Chris Conyers
Montrose may never be the same after the Eatsie Boys roll in.Eatsie Boys/Twitter
The Houston foodie world is all a-flutter this week with word that the Eatsie Boys will be putting down roots in the beloved leafy space maintained by Kraftsman Bakery for the last decade.
"This is what we wanted all along," Eatsie Boy Ryan Soroka tells CultureMap. "After the last year and a half, we're super excited to apply all we've learned with the food truck."
Starting in early April, after Kraftsman clears out for its own yet-to-be-determined new location, the E-Boys — Soroka plus partners Alex Vassilakidis and chef Matt Marcus — plan to give the interior a "funky and fresh" remodel with the help of Houston graffiti artist Skeez181, who also painted the popular Eatsie food truck.
The Eatsie Boys plan to give the interior a "funky and fresh" remodel with the help of Houston graffiti artist Skeez181, who also painted the group's food truck.
"We going to use as much of the Kraftsman space as it is, but add more of our own feel," Soroka says. "We plan to up the firepower in the kitchen too."
The counter-service cafe is set to open sometime in early summer.
Menu wise, expect the classic food truck items along with an expanded sandwich selection and an extensive offering of pastries. The boys will also be serving breakfast and light dinners in addition to their popular lunch an ice cream options.
At the moment, the Eatsie Boys are looking to hire a few "fun and entrepreneurial folks" to get the new place started. Visit their website for details and contact information
Texas Blocked
The announcement of a permanent cafe comes as the three partners, along with brewer Aaron Corsi, continue their work at 8th Wonder Brewery on the East Side.
"Our friends have been asking why we're doing all of this at once," Soroka says. "Truth is, we originally wanted to open a brewpub, but we ran into a situation."
Texas brewpubs, he explained, are blocked from distributing the beer they make. "We're food and beer people and we want to make and share both. Because of these wacky laws, though, we're forced to go about it like this with two separate businesses."
"We're food and beer people," Soroka explained. " Because of these wacky laws, though, we're forced to go about it like this with two separate businesses."
As a result, the kitchen was detached from the brewpub concept to create the popular Eatsie Boys truck, while the brewery moved forward as it own entity.
In the end, splitting the original plan in separate operations — the "two brands, one brain" model, as the group calls it — looks to be a successful workaround. Nevertheless, Soroka says he wants more people to know about this odd food and beverage scenario in Texas.
"It's not like this in other states like New York and California," he says. "We hope to get the word out and push the issue to make Texas a friendlier place for all its craft brewers."
