SAN ANTONIO - Whoever said "less is more" must have had a prophetic connection to the dream Chef Paul Sartory and wife Peggy would cook up in San Antonio. For them, simple is the name of the game right down to their virtually invisible menu.
The two renovated a dual-purpose home in the Alta Vista community into a restaurant. The building used to be part beauty shop and part home.
"Two ladies...this was their childhood home," Sartory said. "They would come in and cut hair only on Saturdays."
Sartory had an impressive tour as a chef/instructor before moving to San Antonio. The jump to the Alamo City wasn't a hard sell for Peggy who loved the thought of living somewhere warmer than upstate New York.
Their backgrounds blended perfectly to transform the home into an eatery. Peggy's resume carries historical restoration. She also brought restaurant experience from her days of bussing tables as an aspiring actress.
"That's what we did was to build it...into what our dream was," He said. "A small neighborhood (place) feeding our friends...neighbors who live close by affordably as well but with very very high quality."
The restaurant, quite frankly, found its roots out of their apartment before its current location at 2919 N. Flores. The business' name come from their covert cooking operation in Mahncke Park.
"So Paul started making 20 dinners every night. Then, I'd jump in the Scion and deliver them all over San Antonio," Peggy said. "That's illegal. You shouldn't do that."
Call them outlaws or for the sake of business Outlaw Kitchens. It's a farm to table, scratch kitchen, live to work, eco friendly space. The property comes complete with furry chickens, a garden and luffa sponge gourds growing.
The menu? That comes from the fire in the bones of the chef. Sartory creates one dish for meat lovers and one for vegetarians.
"We do two dinners a week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we do one," He said. "Thursday and Friday we switch and do another menu."
During the week Outlaw Kitchens is only open from 5- 8 p.m. They are not open on weekends. Customers can grab a frozen meal from their takeaway market.
Neighborhood Eats brought along a guest taste tester from the Make-A-Wish Central & South Texas. Wish Kid Clair is 13. She was diagnosed with leukemia four years ago.
"I'm not going to die," She told her mom.
Clair kept that promise. The future movie star is a foodie. Her invitation on our fantastic fan tour was an easy one. In fact, the chef even allowed her to participate in the preparation of our taste test.
Outlaw Kitchens provided us with a two dish sampler. (We got a shamelessly delicious slice of cake off camera too).
Clair and I started with a vegetarian ravioli stuffed with butternut squash served with leeks, sauteed spinach, finely cut asparagus and parmesan cheese. ¡Qué rico!
The final dish was a pork cutlet charcuterie with brussel sprouts, gingered puree carrots and a German noodles-spaatzle. Clair and I thought this was sensational too.
That's this week's edition of Neighborhood Eats. If you want to send Marvin a suggestion send him an email (Mhurst@kens5.com), tweet (@Mhurstkenst5) or send it to his Facebook page. #KENS5EATS
