Commercial Roofing Contractors in Josephine, TX

Long before it was slingin' signature chicken-fried steaks and whiskies, one of San Antonio's landmark restaurants was making sure the Alamo City was stocked with fresh beef. Now as the beloved eatery goes into its 44th year, Josephine Street is taking a beat to zhuzh up its century old headquarters.

With support from Jeff Davis Law Firm

Owned by the Molak Corporation (which also owns and operates Gruene Hall), Josephine Street first teased its current closure in late December with an Instagram post. "Please Note: We will be closed for maintenance Monday, January 2nd - Sunday, January 22nd."

The planned maintenance kicked into gear just after the new year and gave a peek at the building's early beginnings. According to Josephine Street's website, the building at 400 E. Josephine St., San Antonio, TX 78215, served as a meat market in 1906.

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According to City documents, the in-kind repair will update the stucco cladding.The current scaffolding and Tyvek HomeWrap now covers the building's original Fincke's Meat Market signage, but Josephine Street shared a few images of the process and its history.

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San Antonio's Office of Historic Preservation approved the repairs with the caveat that the stucco "must match existing in composition, texture, application technique, color, and detail."

Per Mary Jane Nalley, Molak Corporation's CEO the updates aren't going to be held to just the exterior of the building.

“We love being in the old Fincke’s Meat Market building and a diligent maintenance routine is important to ensure continued functionality. This month, we are working to replace the stucco, repaint, repair the roof and make improvements to the outdoor garden,” she said in an email to MySA.

The Pearl-adjacent restaurant is known for its Spurs season ride-a-longs to games at the AT&T Center, and their "friendly service, world class chicken fried steak, succulent pork chops & chicken, fresh fish, gourmet salads, scrumptious sandwiches, handmade desserts and upper end wines at uncommonly affordable prices."

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Josephine Street is set to reopen January 23.

Izakaya Could Also Come Back to Life

photography Ally Hardgrave

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Raw oysters, cocktail sauce, mignonette, horseradish, hot sauce and crackers are served at the oyster bar inside the new Josephine's restaurant in Midtown. (Photo by Ally Hardgrave )

Whether you call yourself a Southerner by birth or just happen later in life to find yourself residing south of the Mason Dixon line, you might want to consider heading to Josephine’s, a new Southern-style Gulf Coast restaurant in Houston, for a taste of a varied food with roots that spread far and wide. Created by the Azuma group, Josephine’s resides in the former spot where Izakaya once stood in Midtown. (Izakaya fans don’t despair, we’re told that the powers-that-be are searching for the right locale in Houston to relocate the popular restaurant.)

Josephine’s features Gulf Coast food that celebrates the Southern long-held family traditions of Mississippi-born executive chef Lucas McKinney and Louisiana native Joseph Ramirez, the new restaurant’s general manager. Named after Lucas’s great-grandmother with a nod to a steamship with the same name that shipwrecked in the Gulf of Mexico, Josephine’s serves ingredient-forward Gulf Coast food.

“We’re serving what we know,” Lucas says. “We’re proud to be stewards of Gulf Coast ingredients and traditions — honoring generations past while creating new traditions for the future. We love telling stories of the people we learned from, the people we source from and the people who inspire us.”

Lucas moved to Houston in 2018 and worked for Chris Shepherd as part of the Georgia James opening team, was sous chef at Hay Merchant and chef de cuisine at GJ Tavern. In addition, he spent a season as the chef at Jimmy Kimmel’s Southfork Lodge in Idaho before returning to Houston. Ramirez — a native of Metairie, Louisiana — was most recently managing the Houston’s famed Japanese restaurant Kata Robata.

With Josephine’s decor fashioned by Nest Interiors, the popular dumpling bar has been transformed into an oyster bar featuring both chilled and roasted Gulf Coast oysters. The dark reds and color-splashed murals inside have been replaced with rustic wood accents, painted tin ceilings, hex mosaic floors and vintage light fixtures. Cozy banquettes run throughout the indoor and outdoor seating areas, while a gallery wall is filled with collected art and mementos from Lucas’ and Joseph’s families.

The Josephine’s menu features seafood sourced predominantly from the Gulf. This includes smoked redfish dip ($15), blue crab fingers ($18) and a royal red shrimp salad ($18). Snacks — think house-made biscuits with onion jam ($12) and hushpuppies with a pickled jalapeno tartar sauce ($12) — will be served alongside a selection of small plates meant to be shared. In a nod to Lucas’ days cooking in Oxford, Mississippi, the chicken on a stick — an Ole Miss tradition — is a deep-fried chicken tender on a stick (easier for walking from party to party) served with buttermilk ranch for dipping ($13).

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In addition to classic po’boys, Lucas is particularly excited about the crabmeat melt po’boy dubbed The Biloxi inspired by the Vancleave Special ($18), a blue crab patty with American cheese that originated in the late 1940s at Rosetti’s Cafe in Biloxi. At $1.75, legend has it was the most expensive sandwich that Mr. Rosetti ever sold. You’ll also find a smashed boudin melt ($15) on the menu with pepper jack cheese and onions on Texas toast too.

Fans of a good Southern boil, can indulge in a variety of boiled seafood at Josephine’s from peel-and-eat shrimp to snow crab clusters to crawfish boils served in the classic style or with a wet sauce ($4), all market priced.

And we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the shrimp and grits ($24) studded with bacon and mushrooms in a sauce Creole, the bavette steak ($40) made with R-C Ranch raised Texas Wagyu napped with seafood butter and Southern-style sides like collard beans ($7), red beans and rice ($8), and chicken and andouille gumbo ($10).

Pastry chef Emily Rivas has designed a nostalgic dessert menu featuring Southern favorites like her take on Mississippi mud pie and the oatmeal moon pie. This pie is a hybrid of Lucas’s two childhood favorites — the oatmeal cream pie and the moon pie.

There is also a corn flan topped with cornflake clusters that will be featured when corn is at its peak season.

Josephine’s is located at 318 Gray Street. It is open from 11 am to 3 pm and 5 pm to 10 pm Sundays through Thursdays, and 11 am to 3 pm and 5 pm to 11 pm Fridays and Saturdays.

As we reported at the end of April, owners Yun Cheng and Sammy Saket closed Izakaya at 318 West Gray in Midtown Houston with plans to replace it with a restaurant focused on Gulf Coast seafood and southern dishes. That restaurant, Josephine’s, is now open with Lucas McKinney as executive chef, Emily Rivas as pastry chef and Joseph Ramirez as general manager.

McKinney was previously with Underbelly Hospitality and worked at Georgia James, The Hay Merchant, and, most recently, as a sous chef at GJ Tavern. Josephine’s is named for Lucas’s great grandmother as well as a steamship that sank off the Mississippi coast. The team represents quite a spectrum of Gulf Coast-state heritage, as McKinney is a native of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, Ramirez is from Metairie, Louisiana and Rivas is a born-and-raised Houstonian.

Some of the Gulf seafood dishes are New Orleans-style BBQ Shrimp with Worcestershire butter and French bread ($16), and Palacios farm-raised Halfshell Grilled Redfish with chermoula ($44). Alongside, diners can enjoy housemade biscuits or hushpuppies. Current boiled seafood options are peel-and-eat shrimp, snow crab clusters and blue crab — and you can bet when it’s crawfish season again, those will be added. The raw bar features various types of oysters, smoked redfish dip, amberjack crudo and blue crab fingers, as well as seafood salads and other selections.

Offerings that are not seafood-focused include an appetizer called Chicken On a Stick ($13), a traditional Mississippi dish served with buttermilk ranch dressing alongside; Sittin Sidewayz Burger with R-C Ranch wagyu, onion straws, burger sauce, bread and butter pickles on on a bun from Leidenheimer in New Orleans; . A vegetable-focused option is Southern Pea Salad ($16) with peas, diced vegetables, egg and cheddar. It comes with Bibb lettuce so the diner can make wraps.

Josephine’s also serves po’ boys, and one is the Biloxi Vancleave Special ($18) with blue crab patties and American cheese. The sandwich is an homage to a 1940s-era one served by Rosetti’s Café in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Rivas’ dessert menu leans on Southern nostalgia, offering creations such as Barq’s Peanut Pie ($12) with Barq’s root beer caramel, Oatmeal Moon Pie ($8) with, of course, marshmallow filling but also dark chocolate and cacao nibs and a take on Mississippi mud pie that’s presented in a jar. It consists of chocolate pudding, caramel, chantilly cream and Oreo pecan chocolate crumble. That said, there are off-the-beaten-path options, too, such as the seasonal Corn Flan ($12) with blueberry compote, corn flake clusters, thyme and chantilly cream, and Calas con Leche ($10) — sweet rice fritters with rye whiskey condensed milk for dipping. The full menu is available online.

To convert the space from a Japanese izakaya into a Southern restaurant, Nest Interiors completely redecorated it with a substantial amount of rustic wood accents, white painted tin ceiling tiles and vintage light fixtures. The color motif is natural wood and white with subdued accents of blue and green. A personal touch is the gallery wall, which showcases art from Lucas’s and Joseph’s families. The patio is currently being renovated but should open in time for Houston’s pleasant fall weather.

“Our goal is for Josephine’s to be a place to decompress, recharge, and let the gratitude of Southern hospitality take over,” said Ramirez via a press release.

This week, Josephine’s is only serving dinner starting at 5 p.m. Regular hours start next week and are Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 11 p.m., and Saturday is dinner-only from 5 to 11 p.m.

Phaedra Cook

Phaedra Cook has written about Houston’s restaurant and bar scene since 2010. She was a regular contributor to My Table magazine (now closed) and was the lead restaurant critic for the Houston Press for two years, eventually being promoted to food editor. Cook founded Houston Food Finder in November 2016 and has been its editor and publisher ever since.

Everything was lined up for Josephine Decker. Two years after breaking through on the art-house circuit with Madeline’s Madeline, the Park Cities native was ready for something bigger.

The filmmaker’s latest project, a haunting portrait of famed but troubled author Shirley Jackson, starring Elisabeth Moss, had garnered acclaim on the festival circuit and was primed for a theatrical release this spring.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted distributor NEON to pivot the release exclusively to digital platforms. While some directors might view that move as a consolation prize, however, Decker enthusiastically gave her blessing.

“I was excited about doing an unconventional release during this time when people are seeking connection through entertainment,” Decker said. “I love going to the cinema and connecting with work there, but I’ve grown up in such an indie-film world that I’ve never made movies that were playing in [wide release]. When you’re one of the first films to come out this way, it’s a story.”

The film is an intimate glimpse into the artistic process that finds Shirley (Moss) battling mental illness, alcoholism, agoraphobia, and other afflictions while living in Vermont in the 1960s. She’s visited by an aspiring writer (Odessa Young) whose husband (Logan Lerman) has landed a job alongside Shirley’s outspoken professor husband (Michael Stuhlbarg). As the relationship between the two women deepens, it affects Shirley’s work in surprising ways.

“It never felt like a biopic. We’re not trying to tell her entire life story,” Decker said. “I feel really grateful that we got the chance to delve into Shirley’s storytelling the way that we did. She’s such a genius. You cycle through a bunch of different realities when you’re inside of her work.”

Decker said she had just finished reading one of the author’s most famous horror works, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, when she received the screenplay by playwright Sarah Gubbins, which is based on Susan Scarf Merrell’s novel.

Then Decker spent a year reshaping the script with Gubbins prior to production. By carefully mixing fantasy and reality, she tried to strike a balance between Shirley’s unsympathetic nature and viewers’ need for an emotional entry point.

“We wanted to make the film feel more like a Shirley Jackson story,” Decker said. “There’s definitely a coldness to her. She’s a character who creates a lot of distance around her, so we have these moments where we could feel her writing and feel more connected to Shirley, and feel that we were going through something with her.”

During a time when people are watching more movies at home than ever before, Decker is confident Shirley can find an audience. She hopes the film prompts a resurgence in the popularity of Jackson’s books, too.

“I hope that connecting to Shirley’s story of being locked up in her house is something that, to some degree, a lot of people can relate to,” Decker said. “The house and the people in it, she finds a whole world to explore that unlocks her. Maybe similarly, something will come unlocked for the viewers of our film, and also connect them to her writing. If you really want to leave your body, go into a Shirley Jackson story.”

Izakaya owners Yun Cheng and Sammy Saket are closing their high-end Japanese gastropub in Midtown — for now.

The restaurant, at 318 Gray St., will close on April 30, or earlier, depending on food inventory.

While searching for a new Izakaya location, Cheng and Saket will renovate the space for their next concept: Josephine's, which is expected to open in June.

“We’re not closing forever,” Cheng said of Izakaya. “We’re making the move now because we’ve established the right team for the new concept, and we’re actively searching for an Inner Loop spot for Izakaya. Our current lease doesn’t allow us to serve sushi, and we feel sushi is a key component to the Izakaya concept.”

Meanwhile, the new Josephine's concept will focus on "Gulf Coast cuisine that celebrates the Southern family traditions of executive chef Lucas McKinney and general manager Joseph Ramirez," according to an announcement.

Originally from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, McKinney moved to Houston in 2018 and worked for Chris Shepherd's Underbelly Hospitality as part of the Georgia James opening team, sous chef at Hay Merchant and chef de cuisine at GJ Tavern, which originally opened as Georgia James Tavern. He also spent a season as the chef of Jimmy Kimmel’s Southfork Lodge in Idaho.

A native of Metairie, Louisiana, Ramirez comes from a restaurant family and spent more than 15 years working in New Orleans' restaurant, hotels and clubs. He also moved to Houston five years ago and worked as general manager for the Azuma group, including flagship restaurant Kata Robata.

Josephine's aims to source much of its seafood from the Gulf of Mexico, and the menu will feature classic po’boys as well as a crabmeat melt po’boy inspired by one that originated in the 1940s at Rosetti’s Café in Biloxi, Mississippi. Additionally, Josephine's will offer a variety of boiled seafood sold by the pound, along with salads and sides, and crawfish boils. The restaurant will serve snacks such as country ham and pickled okra or hushpuppies alongside a selection of small plates meant to be shared.

“It’s casual,” McKinney said, “but we’ll have a substantial raw bar with seafood towers and a sick wine program. It’s a come-as-you-are vibe with food executed at the highest level.”

Houston-based Nest Interiors will handle the transformation of the space, which includes turning Izakaya's dumpling bar into an oyster bar. The new design will feature rustic wood touches, painted tin ceilings, vintage Southern-style light fixtures and old-fashioned hex mosaic flooring. Cafe string lights will be woven above picnic tables on the renovated patio to evoke a “Biloxi-meets-Southern Louisiana” vibe.

Josephine’s will be open daily for lunch and dinner.