The CultureMap Interview
Elouise Adams Jones dishes on her new Bird & The Bear restaurant: Fromlate-night tapas to all that red
Elouise adams Jones at The Bird & The BearPhoto by Shannon O'Hara
Photo by Shannon O'Hara
Photo by Shannon O'Hara
Photo by Shannon O'Hara
Photo by Shannon O'Hara
Elouise Adams Jones has been entertaining at her own restaurants for a quarter century, with the current Ouisie's Table location on San Felipe a River Oaks staple for more than 15 years. Now, her new project, The Bird & The Bear: Ouisie's American Bistro, is set to open with an official launch on Thursday. The Bird & The Bear is taking over the spot on Westheimer that most recently held Tony Mandola's Miracle Location.
Jones talked to CultureMap about what Ouisie's fans can expect, her menu inspiration and serving food for a special production at the Alley Theatre.
CultureMap: What made you want to do something new? How did this all come together?
Elouise Adams Jones: Wafi [Dinari] and I had been looking for a place for about three years and couldn't find one that rang the bell. Tony Mandola is a good friend and we went over there when he was in the temporary location and watched the activity and what was going on, and he told me what a great landlord he had.
For a while he didn't know if he was going to keep the space and have two restaurants, and when he made up his mind I called the landlord and we made a deal. It was the right place — I wanted a neighborhood and that kind of ambiance and we got our wish.
CM: What should Ouisie's fans expect? How will The Bird & The Bear be different, and what will feel the same?
EAJ: It's different, but it's run the same way. We aren't going to do events, I wanted another restaurant to concentrate on customers who come regularly throughout the week and show up with friends and out-of-towners. I think there was some frustration of arriving on a Friday and there's a rehearsal dinner or something and there's no room at the inn.
We're sticking to what we do over there, but will stay available for regular customers.
We're bringing back our community table, which we plan to really make a community table — to put singles and tables of two there together rather than at a table for four, and be more cognisant of that. If they insist, they can eat at the bar — it's a bigger bar than ever — a lot of restaurants have a separate room from dining, but I've always liked it connected so you aren't missing anything.
We'll also have music late nights starting at 9, maybe earlier. We've had it at Ouisie's for some time. I love live music, the piano, it's romantic and it relaxes you.
CM: I'm intrigued by the modern colors, the red banquettes and the chandeliers. What inspired you to go with such a bold look?
EAJ: We all grow toward other things, no matter how much you love something, and I love Ouisie's Table. I was more interested in spreading my wings and letting it fly, my creativity went off the charts. I was working with a group that turned into four of us meeting everyday and we'd talk about what I thought about at three in the morning. We just left the doors open and did anything we wanted to do.
CM: How did you come up with the menu? I see you decided to include a tapas menu?
EAJ: We have a late night tapas menu, we'll continue dinner until 10 or 10:30. I'm not sure if it's a set time. All the dishes are completely different from Ouisie's Table, we're not repeating anything. There's still that Texas, a lot of Southern and a lot of French influence. We knew we wanted American, and I borrow from the French, but who doesn't.
They trickled down from Quebec to Louisiana, and that's where my grandmother learned the cuisine and brought it to Texas and taught us all.
CM: Where did the Bird & The Bear name come from?
EAJ: We wanted Ouisie's in there because it's known, so we did Ouisie's American Brasserie and we have an American flag with the Bird & The Bear flag. But I didn't just want it to be so-and-so's brasserie.
I liked The Bird & The Bear because it has that friendly sound an English pub has. I consider the bird feminine and the bear masculine, and we aren't just one or the other Z — we're not a tearoom, not a total pub. We want both men and women. I wanted to kind of have a story about what it's about, and we've got lots of birds and bears all over the restaurant.
CM: I heard that Dividing The Estate, the Horton Foote play currently at the Alley, is about your family. Have you seen the new production? What did you think?
EAJ: It is! I saw it first as a Broadway production, and I thought the Alley production was excellent. It represented the situation of the town very well, and the actors were superb.
We went down and were feeding them — when they have dinner in the second act, they pick their food up at Ouisie's so they can actually eat it. We went down to do promo shots and I was sitting in front row after the table was sorted the way we wanted. They started rehearsal doing that scene and right in middle the actress who plays the mother — Elizabeth Ashley, who is a scream — she was in middle of a sentence in the scene and looked out in the audience and said "Is Ouisie still here? What did you put in this eggplant? It is so good!"
Everybody just hooted because she interrupted the scene, and the director just laughed and they got back on track after we talked about the recipe.
