![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OutlawKitchens_AltaVistaRestaurantEatery_UpscaleDining_RestaurantWeeks_GardenIngredients_19_01.08.20.jpeg\")
Peggy Howe and Paul Sartory outfitted their former residential home with multiple kitchens, dining areas and gardens, transforming it into the Outlaw Kitchens restaurant it is today. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\nPaul Sartory takes a simple approach to food. He opens Outlaw Kitchens three times a week at 5 p.m. He offers one appetizer and a choice of three entrees and two desserts. He closes at 8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
See you next time!<\/p>\n
The other four days, Sartory rests and cleans and preps for customers who arrive by word of mouth, an email or an occasional social media post.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve never really spent anything on advertising,\u201d said Sartory, the kitchen\u2019s owner and chef.<\/p>\n
Evidently, he doesn\u2019t need to.<\/p>\n
An unconventional approach to business keeps Sartory in business. In 2012, Sartory and his wife Peggy Howe purchased a beauty salon in the Alta Vista neighborhood and made it their home. Five years later, they turned the front of their house into Outlaw Kitchens.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Peggy Howe and Paul Sartory outfitted their former residential home with multiple kitchens, dining areas and gardens, transforming it into the Outlaw Kitchens restaurant it is today. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
Positive reviews followed. A reputation grew. New patrons became regulars. Why pay to market a restaurant that has no trouble filling tables and chairs?<\/p>\n
Well, Sartory does pay to participate in Restaurant Weeks<\/a>, a biannual celebration that promotes more than 100 area eateries. For each customer that orders off the special Restaurant Weeks menu, Outlaw Kitchens contributes $5 to Culinaria, <\/a>a local nonprofit that supports Restaurant Weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other eateries contribute less, from $1 to $4 per Restaurant Weeks customer. Whatever the amount, the investment yields benefits.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe get a bump of maybe 10 or 15 percent,\u201d Sartory said.<\/p>\n Since 2010, Restaurant Weeks has supported local eateries through sluggish seasons. Participating establishments<\/a> offer three-course brunches from $20 to $30 and three-course dinners from $35 to $55.<\/p>\n Restaurant Weeks runs Jan. 17-31 and places fresh eyes on Outlaw Kitchens. The first week features a three course prix fixe menu of crispy saffron risotto, chicken fried steak and a flourless chocolate almond torte or apple blueberry cobbler. The cost is $55.\u00a0<\/p>\n For another $30, you can pair the meal with a house beverage. <\/p>\n Patrons, however, may order off the house menu. They can select one of two a la carte dishes or a three course prix fixe. Culinaria collects no fee from regular menu purchases.\u00a0<\/p>\n Outlaw Kitchens, like most eateries, experiences a post-holiday lull. Restaurant Weeks brings traffic, an injection of cash.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are several restaurants that do what Outlaw Kitchens does,\u201d said Suzanne Taranto-Etheridge<\/a>, Culinaria President and CEO. \u201cThey only participate in Restaurant Weeks because they see a higher influx of customers. That is their marketing strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n Sartory, 67, grew up in Pittsburgh and graduated from high school in 1976. His mother encouraged him to attend the Culinary Institute of America<\/a> in Hyde Park, New York. He graduated at age 20, studied with French chef Alain Ducasse<\/a> in Monaco and returned to run the American Bounty Restaurant <\/a>at the CIA.<\/p>\n Over the next 30 years, he opened several high-profile restaurants in the U.S. and taught at CIA campuses in Hyde Park, Napa and in San Antonio, where they moved in 2010.<\/p>\n His latest concept was born in an apartment in Mahncke Park. On Sundays, after a week of teaching at the CIA, Sartory cooked meals for friends on a four-burner stove. His wife made the deliveries. Operating a food service at home was illegal.\u00a0<\/p>\n If authorities busted him, Sartory thought, it might be good for business. That never happened but the bootlegging operation inspired a name: Outlaw Kitchens.<\/p>\n While driving through the Alta Vista neighborhood, a house nearly 100-years-old caught Peggy Howe\u2019s eye. The property had a quarter acre for gardens and an old barn for a workshop. Sartory and Howe bought it and transformed it into a farm-to-table restaurant with living quarters in the back.<\/p>\n \u201cI had been driving around San Antonio for two years, looking for a spot that was commercial, residential and in a neighborhood with gardens,\u201d Howe said. \u201cI had passed by the property many times and had said to myself, \u2018That\u2019s the spot.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Nine years after opening, Outlaw Kitchens draws much of its business from a mailing list of 2,200 customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey receive an email, usually on Monday, with pictures and descriptions of the upcoming weekly menu,\u201d Sartory said.\u00a0<\/p>\n A healthy customer base enables Outlaw Kitchens to thrive despite its limited service. So why open only three days a week for 3 \u00bd hours a day?<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s manageable,\u201d Sartory said.<\/p>\n The practice underscores the philosophy that drives the kitchen\u2019s business.\u00a0<\/p>\n Keep it simple.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Sartory takes a simple approach to food. He opens Outlaw Kitchens three times a week at 5…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[54813,52720,28910,25108,31130,54814,54815,742,54816,50157,82,84,83,54817,92,93,94],"class_list":["post-126949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-alain-ducasse","tag-alta-vista","tag-culinaria","tag-culinary-institute-of-america","tag-farm-to-table","tag-outlaw-kitchens","tag-paul-sartory","tag-pearl","tag-restaurant-week","tag-restaurant-weeks","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-suzanne-taranto-etheridge","tag-top-story","tag-typefeature","tag-wc-750-1000"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OutlawKitchens_AltaVistaRestaurantEatery_UpscaleDining_RestaurantWeeks_GardenIngredients_14_01.08.20.jpeg\")
The seared redfish dish served with spicy shrimp and sausage gumbo from Outlaw Kitchens was featured on its menu on Jan. 8, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OutlawKitchens_AltaVistaRestaurantEatery_UpscaleDining_RestaurantWeeks_GardenIngredients_13_01.08.20.jpeg\")
Peggy Howe and Paul Sartory began Outlaw kitchens as a covert operation before transforming their Alta Vista home into the restaurant it is today. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/OutlawKitchens_AltaVistaRestaurantEatery_UpscaleDining_RestaurantWeeks_GardenIngredients_01_01.08.20.jpeg\")
Peggy Howe and Paul Sartory stroll through their garden near a sidewalk in the Alta Vista where produce is grown for use in the dishes served at Outlaw Kitchens. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n