For many business owners, January is a time to regroup before the busy year. For Houston and Emily Carpenter, it’s a chance to go full steam ahead. With the New Year’s haze still lingering in the air, the hospitality dynamos will soon add another concept to their budding restaurant empire.
Go Fish Market will open on January 12 in an unassuming warehouse space at 125 W. Grayson St. According to Houston, the eatery will be Carpenter Carpenter Hospitality’s take on the neighborhood fish market, melding a retail counter with a full dining room and a wine bar offering more than 60 bottles.
“As you can imagine,” Houston tells CultureMap, “the menu will be seafood — from fried medai and calamari [to] a kingfish burger, a variety of fish on in-house sourdough, and of course the on-ice favorites including oysters on the half shell, snow crab legs, and caviar.”
Helming the kitchen will be Ruben Pantaleon. An alum of acclaimed restaurant chains such as Nobu and Roka Akor, Pantaleon has been running the sushi bar at sibling restaurant Up Scale for the last year. Dina Simoneaux, most recently at Allora, will be charged with the front of house as general manager.
Photo courtesy of Carpenter Carpenter Hospitality
Go Fish will open in a warehouse near the Pearl on January 12.
As usual, the group put as much stock into the ambiance as restaurant operations. Go Fish has a more casual vibe than its cousins Little Em’s Oyster Bar and the recently opened Restaurant Claudine. The original building’s warm brick offsets a cool color scheme of mint, baby blue, and crisp white.
Now that Go Fish is up to snuff, Houston shares that the group will turn its attention to Nineteen Hyaku, a sleek sushi concept coming to the new Jefferson Tower in October. But before the ribbon is cut, locals shouldn’t be surprised to learn there is yet another restaurant on the horizon.
Houston spilled the beans on Mailroom Cafe, set to open in the summer in the same building as Go Fish.
“This will be a bakery and cafe offering your favorite pastries, gourmet sandwiches, and a coffee program geared towards the crowd that wants to come in for a meeting or sit at their laptop,” Houston elaborates on what will be the sixth concept for the group.
