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The pretzel at Otto\u2019s Ice House is one of its standout food items. Credit: Ron Bechtol<\/p>\nThe pretzel at Otto\u2019s Ice House is one of its standout food items. Credit: Ron Bechtol<\/p>\n
From its first appearances in the 1830s, the South Texas ice house evolved from a place to buy block ice to stock the family cooler to a kind of early convenience store selling milk, eggs and butter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The addition of beer to the mix changed things substantially, encouraging people to hang around, mostly outdoors \u2014\u00a0eventually, perhaps, with a jukebox playing ranchera music or Western swing. In time, ice, milk and butter made their exit, leaving just the suds and the sense of community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are still a few examples in San Antonio paying homage to the historical model \u2014\u00a0Dakota East Side Icehouse and the Friendly Spot among them \u2014 and the city also has more than a few beer gardens less consciously doing so. Meanwhile, a new phenomenon has arisen: places calling themselves ice houses whose focus foregrounds food over beer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With its $26 asada nachos, Otto\u2019s Ice House is one such place.<\/p>\n
At Otto\u2019s, which opened this spring at the Pearl, the beer list isn\u2019t encyclopedic. Apart from the small draft selection, it contains only one true San Antonio brew, and much of what it serves is in cans, perhaps the better for serving in convivial buckets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even so, some convivial stein-clinking might also have been good, given Otto\u2019s location and its naming in honor of the former brewery\u2019s founder, Otto Koehler.<\/p>\n
Beer is here, but it\u2019s playing sidekick.<\/p>\n
On the menu, San Antonio\u2019s brewing history is perhaps best represented by the German soft pretzel. This is a more complex recipe than I imagined, involving barley malt syrup, a bath in a lye solution and, of course beer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Otto\u2019s version emerges a burnished, deep mahogany spangled with crunchy salt crystals, and it\u2019s a winner, especially dunked in the accompanying \u201cpretzel mustard.\u201d But where grainy is good in the mustard department, it\u2019s perhaps less so with the \u201chouse beer cheese,\u201d which proved stiff and unnecessarily salty given the crunchy crystals on the pretzel itself.<\/p>\n
Otto\u2019s offers another German food staple, and also a good beer buddy, in the form of its Homemade Bratwurst. This is a sausage that can be stuffed many ways, one of which is pure pork bolstered by an array of warm spices such as coriander, ginger and nutmeg. <\/p>\n
Otto\u2019s came across as beefier, less fragrantly spicy and denser than many. It wouldn\u2019t be on my best wurst list. Along with the bock-braised onions, it was also served warm at best, not helping its case. An excellent side of bacony borracho beans pointed in another ethnic direction \u2014\u00a0and more effectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the ice house age, roaming chicharron vendors once plied West Side streets, hawking their wares. Appropriately, chicharrones make three appearances on Otto\u2019s menu: solo with white cheddar \u201cdust\u201d and as an alternative to tortilla chips with both the Cantina Queso and the made-to-order guacamole.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mound of crisp and convoluted pork skins which arrives is substantially more than needed for the modest serving of chunky guacamole \u2014 which in any case was in need of lime (wedge thoughtfully provided) and salt (you\u2019ll have to ask).\u00a0<\/p>\n
To pay even more direct attention to local food history, consider Otto\u2019s San Antonio Chili. It\u2019s surprising that, in the city which can legitimately claim credit for inventing the fiery stew, there are so few really good examples.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Otto\u2019s homage is a decent start but lacks any of the complexity that might be given by using a blend of chiles for both depth and zing, maybe some masa for binding, and, because why not, beer. If any of those ingredients were there, I missed them, but give Otto\u2019s points for keeping the tradition alive.<\/p>\n
If asked to name the most traditional Texas dessert, odds are pecan pie would be high on the list. San Antonio was once a giant in the pecan industry too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Enter the Goode Company Brazos Bottom Pecan Pie with its crown of flawless pecans and filling that didn\u2019t come across too sweet by half. The problem here is the third, essential part of the equation: the crust. Far from the flaky ideal, it was dense and sturdy. No ribbons here.<\/p>\n
When it comes to ice houses, it\u2019s not just about beer and food, of course. The feel of the the place can count as much if not more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Otto\u2019s interior, historical d\u00e9cor of heads and horns, beer memorabilia and the odd armadillo could be any Texas roadhouse despite a Pearl bent. However, a vestigial walk-in cooler may not hold ice, but it does keep kegs for the bar.<\/p>\n
Come more hospitable weather, the exterior experience should be more authentically ice house. A covered porch shelters serious picnic tables. More tables shaded by trees and umbrellas dot the \u201cyard,\u201d which also boasts a separate bar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Drink it all in, history chaser only a plus.<\/p>\n
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