Sudsy Acreage

A dollhouse of beer: New homey craft beer brewpub looks to shake up the drinksscene

The Victorian-style house that is home to City Acre Brewpub (as well as foundersMatt Schlabach and Meredith Borders) was built in the 1970s and containshandcrafted touches like stained glass windows.
Photo by Darla Guillen
Chowing down on Santo-marinated sausage and sauerkraut sauteed in Lawnmower atCABtoberfest.
Photo by Darla Guillen
The beautiful estate will eventually house the the brewpub.
Photo by Joanna Mok/Flickr
Owners Matt Schlabach and Meredith Borders enjoy the success of another SneakPeek.
Photo by Joanna Mok/Flickr
Daniel Glover pours a pint of the Bayouwulf India Black Ale.
Photo by Joanna Mok/Flickr
Sneak Peek invitees line up for a taste of the Texan German fare.
Photo by Joanna Mok/Flickr
City Acre Brewing Co.
Photo courtesy of City Acre Brewing/Twitter

To say that City Acre Brewing Co. treats its guests like family is an understatement. Arriving at the dollhouse-like Victorian-style homestead, I sat on the grass and chatted with friends as though we were in our own backyards.

Off the beaten path and outside of the inner Loop, this forthcoming brewpub offers the convenience of being just 10 minutes north of downtown in a beautiful 1970s construction that took six years to build. The original owner’s craftsmanship is evidenced by the stained glass work throughout the house, which is also home to City Acre founders Matt Schlabach and Meredith Borders.

The guests voted for their favorite autumnal beer by tossing golf tees into one of three labeled pint glasses.

Schlabach and Borders invited several Houstonians over for CABtoberfest, a sneak peek of upcoming brews and food pairings. The guests voted for their favorite autumnal beer by tossing golf tees into one of three labeled pint glasses. This was a tough decision given that all of the cleverly named brews were distinct and delicious.

The offerings included a malty Märzen named Leaf Drop Oktoberfest, a smooth, hoppy dark pint called Bayouwulf India Black Ale and a darker Hefeweizen-Doppelbock hybrid that the couple has dubbed Vexation Weizenbock. Four rotating City Acre beers will share a tap wall with 15 to 20 other Houston-based brews once the place starts pouring in 2013.

City Acre will also serve a tasty, sustainable food menu to pair with the craft beers. The Texan-German pub fare is homemade and comforting with a gourmet twist that Schlabach calls “nice but not fancy.”

Menu Secrets

The last time I came for a pairings event, Borders and Schlabach served pulled pork tacos alongside Brussels sprouts slaw. This time around they offered a slightly-spicy sausage marinated in Saint Arnold's Santo and served in a corn husk (it’s not a tamale!) with sauerkraut sautéed in Saint Arnold’s Lawnmower. Other sides included caramelized onions and homemade, honey-infused mustard made with Karbach’s Sympathy for the Lager and malty German hard rolls, otherwise known as broetchen.

“The Texas component of our concept allows us a lot of flexibility with the Cajun, Mexican and Slavic influences of the area.”

A longtime homebrewer, Schlabach is using the leftover spent grain from the brewing process to harvest City Acre’s on-site garden, which will provide the bulk of the ingredients. Everything they serve will be grown in the garden, made in-house or sourced from a nearby manufacturer.

“We will utilize our resources wisely and stretch them out through pickling and preserving techniques,” Schlabach says. “The Texas component of our concept allows us a lot of flexibility with the Cajun, Mexican and Slavic influences of the area.”

This will come in handy for the harvest dinners that the couple plans to host throughout 2013. These special meals will feature local, seasonal ingredients gathered especially for that season with beer to pair with each course.

City Acre is hosting events and previews leading up to the official opening. Sign up on the mailing list to cast your vote and weigh in on the pub's first official menu.

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New York Times critic awards Houston restaurant 2 stars in glowing review

Courtesy of ChòpnBlọk

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Let’s just call 2025 the year of ChòpnBlọk. In a review published Tuesday, December 16, the New York Times has awarded the Houston restaurant two stars (“very good”).

Written by chief restaurant critic Tejal Rao, the review touts many of the same qualities that the Times already praised when it included ChòpnBlọk on its list of America’s 50 best restaurants.

Rao writes that she usually avoids restaurants that serve food in bowls, but she’s impressed by the way that chef-owner Ope Amosu has put a West African spin on the concept.

“For inspiration, Ope Amosu looked to the kind of chain restaurants that were built to scale, where flavors are often subdued to appeal to the broadest possible audience, focus-grouped to death. But the delight of ChòpnBlok is in its sure sense of self, its lively, multidimensional cooking and clear, delicious vision for modern food from the Black diaspora,” Rao writes.

She singles out specific dishes, including the Nigerian red stew with short rib, the Black Star bowl with shrimp, and the signature Motherland, made with chicken, greens, and plantains. “It’s utterly simple, but draws you in for more with the mouthwatering twang of not-too-much MSG — an international shortcut to building umami that tends to be used carefully, and layered with other forms,” she writes.

The review also touches on the way Amosu switched the restaurant from counter service to full service — described as “warm, informal, and quick with the jokes” — and his time working at Chipotle to learn the basics of the restaurant operations.

A two-star review is only the latest instance of ChòpnBlọk receiving national attention. In addition to the Times 50 best list, Esquire recently named it one of America’s best new restaurants. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand designation for 2025. Amosu earned a semifinalist nomination for Best Chef: Texas in the 2025 James Beard Awards.

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