First Look: Mongers Market + Kitchen
A fishmonger and a chef open a raw bar …
By Virginia B. Wood, 10:15AM, Mon. Mar. 23, 2015
Now that they've finally opened their new fish market and casual restaurant in East Austin, business partners Roberto San Miguel and Shane Stark are only a few miles east of their former Downtown stomping grounds, but their situations have changed dramatically.
San Miguel continues to service wholesale restaurant clients such as Dai Due, wink, Cafe Josie, Hillside Farmacy, Perla's, chavez, and Black Star Co-op, but now he can sell fresh Gulf seafood directly to the public from atop shaved ice in his own fish market six days a week, rather than from a portable weekly farmers' market booth. And the casual atmosphere at Mongers' small raw bar and dining room is a far cry from the sophisticated see-and-be-seen scene at Downtown's Kenichi, where chef Stark served as executive chef for many years. The new business they opened quietly a couple of weeks ago is the culmination of well over a year of hard work, and the owners couldn't be prouder of the results.
The patio offers a few substantial plank picnic tables perfect for outdoor dining. Guests enter beside an enticing raw bar stocked with oysters, shrimp, and crab. From there, it's a short walk directly into a snug dining room with a rustic, seafaring theme evoked by wooden walls, ropes, large fish hooks, nautical charts on the bathroom walls, and clever light fixtures made with crab buckets. A black flag bears the fish hook business logo and blackboards announce daily market and menu specials.
The aromas emanating from chef Stark's small kitchen are fresh, clean, and enticing. The opening menu is small – a few raw selections, five appetizers, a couple each of soups and salads, plus a few sandwiches, sides, plates, and desserts. Craft beers and fish-friendly wines are available. Chef Stark says he'll be developing menu items seasonally, based on what's available from San Miguel's network of Gulf fish captains.
“The first three months of the year are the most difficult time to get Gulf seafood because the weather is so rough out there. Most of the captains take their vacations in late February and early March for that reason, but they're all getting back on the water now. I've just made a deal with a new captain who'll be bringing me mahi, different kinds of tuna, swordfish. Our supply is about to get really good,” San Miguel assured us.
For his part, chef Stark is gratified that some of his former Kenichi and Paggi House customers are finding him at his new spot, and he's looking for some oyster shuckers and cooks to round out his crew. “We're hoping to find a few more people now that South by is over. Right now, we're sharing a couple guys who work for me in the daytime before their night shifts at Swift's Attic (run by fellow Kenichi alum C.K. Chin),” Stark reports. “We've opened pretty quietly but we're thinking that after we get settled in good maybe we'll have an opening party with a crawfish boil.”
“We're seeing good support from the neighborhood and that's really wonderful. So many of our neighbors watched as the building was being built and they'd stop by and ask questions, wondering when we would be open,” San Miguel reports, adding that “we're seeing a lot of repeat business already, and that feels good.”
Mongers Market + Kitchen
2401 E. Cesar Chavez, 512/215-8972
Market Hours: Tue. - Sat., 11:30am-7pm; Sun., 11:30am-4pm
Kitchen Hours: Tue. - Sat., 11:30am-10pm; Sun., 11:30am-3pm
www.mongersaustin.com
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Virginia B. Wood, Jan. 2, 2014
Mongers Market + Kitchen, Roberto San Miguel, Shane Stark, Kenichi