The owner of two of Montrose's most carnivore-friendly restaurants is adding a steakhouse to its portfolio. Sambrooks Management Company, owners of The Pit Room, Candente, and Heights-area seafood restaurant 1751 Sea & Bar, will open a new steakhouse called Andiron in the first quarter of 2022.
Andiron will blend the company's wood-fired cooking experience from its barbecue restaurant The Pit Room and Tex-Mex concept Candente with its fine dining chops from 1751 Sea & Bar. Sambrooks Management owner Michael Sambrooks tells CultureMap he envisions a steakhouse built around carefully sourced ingredients that are cooked simply.
"This is a passion project for our team — we are excited to bring together all we do well in what will be one of the most exciting dining spaces in Houston," Sambrooks added in a statement.
That "exciting dining space" will be located at 3201 Allen Pkwy, the historic Star Engraving Company building that was most recently home to Stages Theater. Local developer Radom Capital has renovated the building, adding tenants such as Sugar Land-based coffee shop BlendIn Coffee Club and a 300-space parking garage that's shared with The Gordy, Stages' new home.
"We're going to try to flip the traditional format to where you can have a meal of smaller portions," Sambrooks says. "Almost like what we do at 1751 where it's small plates based and you have a family-style entree."
For example, instead of a giant crab cake, Andiron might offer diners a two-to-three ounce portion of fresh Dungeness crab that's grilled. These preliminary ideas will turn into menu items as the recipe testing process takes shape.
He's working with well-regarded California producer Niman Ranch to supply the restaurant with ribeyes, strips, and filets. In addition, he's looking into importing a wide variety of Japanese beef that will be cooked over binchotan charcoal.
Andiron will occupy approximately 4,500 square feet with an expansive, 2,800-square-foot patio. Sambrooks has enlisted New York-based design firm AvorKO and local architect Kevin Tietz with Phillip Ewald Architecture to create the restaurant's look.
Wood-fired restaurants look to be an emerging trend in 2022. In addition to Andiron, both Chris Shepherd and B&B Butchers owner Ben Berg have announced their own wood-burning concepts that are slated to open next year.
Andiron will open next year.
