Review: New King William restaurant Bar Loretta brings a New York shine to old Madhatters location
You wouldn’t recognize the new restaurant Bar Loretta in the King William Historic District as the former home of Madhatters Tea House & Cafe. The rambling bohemian sandwich spot is now a stylish bistro with a thriving bar scene from San Antonio restaurateur Roger Herr, with James Beard-celebrated chef Paul Petersen in the kitchen.
That’s the thumbnail, anyway. Tired old place gets replaced by shiny new place. Happens all the time.
But this one feels different. There’s a New York groove at Bar Loretta, an energy that flows beyond the glass and plate, beyond the muted greens and grays that come with a modernish makeover.
That energy was a long time coming. Herr spent 23 years in New York City, where he had Souths and the 11th St. Bar. He became friends with fellow New York bar owner Michael Neff. And it was in the city that he met Petersen, then a young San Antonian learning his trade at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park.
Petersen would go on to cook at Union Square Cafe and An American Place in the city before heading back to Texas to run the kitchens at the storied Gage Hotel in Marathon and his own Little Texas Bistro in Buda south of Austin.
Those connections forged decades ago came together when Bar Loretta opened in August. As beverage director, Neff put together a mature bar program with a sense of humor. As executive chef, Petersen folds Texas peaches, summer corn, grits and tomatillo into high-technique plates. As the frontman, Herr orchestrates a service team that flows with skill and ease among the pork pie hats of young scenemakers and the designer bags of the neighborhood elite.
Bar Loretta works.
Mike Sutter /Staff
I tend to gauge a restaurant by its roasted chicken, the canary in the coal mine that signals whether it’s safe for a deeper dive into the menu. Petersen’s Crispy Brick Chicken gave the all-clear with a deft balance of hard sear and juiciness, a base-level success driven home by a succotash of sweet corn and summer vegetables.
The season’s harvest will come and go, but the thought process behind Bar Loretta’s seasonal approach is likely to endure. Even in the fall, a summer salad of heirloom tomatoes, watermelon and goat cheese delivered bright acidity and cool sweetness, crowned with a bracing scoop of tomato-basil sorbet. And a lush corn soufflé held its own with fat, butter-roasted scallops on a starter plate that celebrated the simple fact that scallops do more when the kitchen does less.
Mike Sutter /Staff
It’s easy to appreciate how well Petersen put together the comforts of green onion polenta cake with wild mushrooms and goat cheese, letting salt do its thing to bring out the earthiness. And he can handle the sweet-and-spicy thing with chile-glazed quail and grilled peaches that let the perfectly roasted little bird have its moment.
But he’s not afraid to go big and bold, like the way chicken liver delivered its iron fist in a velvet glove of silky Gruyère gratiné. Or the way a demi-glace as deep as a tycoon’s gravy boat underscored a thick, pepper-crusted beef tenderloin that bled the crimson tears of rare-plus requested by a fussy diner (me).
I can’t find the same enthusiastic metaphors for lamb at Bar Loretta, a pair of two-bone chops that barely saw the fire from which they came, pale on the outside and blood-red in the center, although I appreciated the spark of a sour cherry demi-glace and the firm bite of chardonnay raisin risotto. Nor was there poetry in salmon al pastor, a great San Antonio idea wrecked by fish that was stiff and overcooked, resting uncomfortably on a tortilla shell filled with cabbage.
Mike Sutter /Staff
The poetry came back in easy verse, though, for two things that let me know Bar Loretta is a serious place that doesn’t take itself too seriously. To go with your Miller High Life pony (timeless) or your Buc-ee’s-inspired Big Red Sazerac (total camp), the Loretta Burger took the smashburger concept to another level with a smart dress of crispy prosciutto, Manchego cheese and arugula on a shiny-sweet challah bun. Or if you’re nursing a nitro-strong Black Manhattan with sweet vermouth and Fernet-Branca, there’s grownup tater tots with crème fraîche and caviar.
There’s more to come at Bar Loretta, including a late-night menu until 1 a.m. in the next two weeks, then brunch and a grab-and-go market by the end of the year, Herr said.
For now, they make the best vodka martini I’ve had in San Antonio, ice cold with daydreams of olive juice and vermouth. Ditto with a Hemingway daiquiri that sailed past citrus on its way to brandied complexity, “shaken hard,” the menu says. Much like I was by Bar Loretta.
msutter@express-news.net | Twitter: @fedmanwalking | Instagram: @fedmanwalking
Bar Loretta
****
320 Beauregard St., 210-757-3607, barloretta.com
Quick bite: Creative American bistro food and artisan cocktails in a renovated King William bungalow
Hit: Crispy Brick Chicken, scallops, Loretta Burger, cocktails
Miss: Salmon al pastor
Hours: 4-11 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 4-midnight Friday-Saturday; 4-10 p.m. Sunday; bar open until 2 a.m. nightly. Limited takeout available; no delivery.
Price range: Appetizers, $9-$18; salads, $14-$15; burgers, $12-$15; entrees, $19-$32; desserts, $10
Alcohol: Cocktails, wine and beer
***** Excellent, an almost perfect experience
**** Good, among the best in the city
*** Average, with a few standouts
** Poor, with a redeeming factor or two
* Bad, nothing to recommend
Express-News dining critics pay for all meals.