XL Food & Drink: On the Side

Red Bud Bar & Grille

Improving the food without spending a bundle on the space

I have long questioned the wisdom of restaurateurs remodeling perfectly good spaces just to update the aesthetics. I've watched renovation absorb owners' capital, leaving them struggling — and in many cases, doomed — from Day One.

Robert Godwin
FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN

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What goes well with a BLT? Shrimp. Red Bud Bar & Grille offers regular fare taken a notch higher.

Robert Godwin
FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN

(enlarge photo)

Red Bud Bar & Grille remodeled the old Rockfish space in smart ways. The new menu includes talapia, hamburgers, a shrimp BLT and a shrimp appetizer.

Red Bud Bar & Grille

• 3267 Bee Caves Road, 327-8746.
• Rating: Forks up.
• Price: Cheap.

Miles Frost is a different breed of restaurateur. He and his wife, Tamra Beasley, opened Red Bud Bar & Grille six months ago in the space formerly occupied by Rockfish on the southwest corner of Walsh Tarlton Lane and Bee Caves Road, making a few changes that didn't cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.

"Rockfish spent $950,000 on 5,000 square feet," Frost says. "They did a first-class job of remodeling."

So Frost and Beasley simply corrected what they saw as flaws. "When we took over the place, we made a few little color changes and minor changes in lighting and decor," he says.

They also removed 60 seats, moving some to a new outdoor patio and reducing indoor seating from 200 to 140. But when it came to major components, such as the bar and kitchen, Frost says, "everything is still in the same place as with Rockfish."

The menu, though, isn't an imitation of Rockfish's coastal selections. "We didn't open this restaurant to carry on the Rockfish tradition," Frost says.

His wife grew up in the same neighborhood — across the street from the restaurant — where they've lived for the past four years. Consequently, they feel they know their customer base: "We hear from our friends what they want to eat," he says.

They instituted a sophisticated menu of alcoholic drinks, a bit of a contrast to the reasonably priced menu that features dishes made from scratch.

The fare includes fried artichokes with a buttermilk garlic dressing ($5.95), fried crab-stuffed jalapeños with a spicy remoulade sauce ($6.95), shrimp brochette ($11.95) with sides such as rosemary potatoes and sautéed spinach, dressed-up burgers ($7.95 for the Westlake with grilled onions and Monterey Jack cheese) and key lime pie ($5.95).

For a guy who started in the restaurant business in 1979 at 19 years old, chopping vegetables for the salad bar at the old Victoria Station on Interstate 35, Frost has come a long way. With his common sense, he should go a lot further with Red Bud Bar & Grille.