It’s been 7 months since we covered the opening of Blacksmith, the new coffee & biscuit destination on Houston’s Westheimer Street from David Buehrer and Ecky Probanto of Greenway Coffee. They’ve had a “super-serious food program” in the space since day one – the cafe is a collaboration with noted Montrose tastemakers Hay Merchant, Anvil, and Underbelly – but the food situation gets even more special on select Sunday nights, when Blacksmith plays host to noteworthy chefs from the intercontinental foodie paradise that *is* the city of Houston. Buehrer and Co. call it “Blacksmith By Night”, and so far they’ve featured chefs from Mala Sichuan, Oxheart, and Pho Binh (because really good pho in a specialty coffee bar, of course David Buehrer thought of this).
This weekend’s Blacksmith By Night is helmed by Grant Gordon, chef at Houston fine dining destination Tony’s. Sprudge.com had a chance to chat briefly with the very-busy Mr. Buehrer as he preps for Blacksmith By Night #4.
Sprudge: So what’s the deal with Blacksmith By Night? What’s the deal?
David Buehrer: These are chef inspired “popups” that happen the last Sunday of every month. The idea is we “close” at 5pm and “reopen” at 5:01pm with a different menu and chef from an exciting place. We try to make it affordable so even when we have some serious draw chefs come we keep the prices $10 and under for each dish. It’s gone smashingly well, and it’s so fun to see people associating good food with good coffee and tea.
How’s the coffee component work?
We usually come up with two drink pairings we only offer the night of the event, that compliment the food. We also have a t-shirt release for the people waiting in line (we only make 25 shirts a month, each month’s design is the chalkboard menu from the previous month) and people anticipate them now, which rocks. Seriously I’m tired but god damn we are having some serious development here.
It sounds like the food situation at Blacksmith is really blowing up (heaps of Eater Houston and Houston Press coverage). That’s not really a question, more of an observation.
You know I love food, and it’s nuts how much press the food side of things has gotten.. I mean, besides locally, we were listed as one of the top breakfast joints in America by Details Magazine and had a feature in Departures, which goes out to like 500,000 American Express users. It’s interesting because I really feel we are on some next level coffee sh*t right now. The path is getting clearer and customers are coming in with confidence and enthusiasm like never before.
Learn more and sign up for Blacksmith By Night on Facebook.
